From Pennsylvania to Hog Days on a bike

As Lee Gelnett bicycled into the Kewanee Motor Lodge Thursday the thermometer read 92 degrees.

The former general manager of the J.B. Rombach factory in Neponset traveled 700 miles from Pennsylvania to meet up with old friends and co-workers over Hog Days weekend.

When asked the obvious question, Gelnett replied, "I'm retired now. I have time." But even more important, he says, is that he wants to promote bicycling and bicycle safety. "I want kids to know that wearing a helmet is cool."

Several things impressed Gelnett on the way here. "Everywhere I go there are friendly people," he said.

He's had issues with his bicycle and has had help and rides from accommodating strangers along the way. One in particular stood out, and that was the owner of the Big Apple in Princeton, who took Gelnett to a bicycle repair shop in Peru - twice - to repair the spokes in the bike's back wheel.

Another special impression was when Gelnett stopped at the senior center in Princeton. He was talking with someone about his trip and where he worked when a man's head popped up and said his name. It turned out to be a co-worker and neither could have been more surprised.

On his way through Neponset, Gelnett stopped at the Fast Stop and as he and the clerk talked about old times, she told him her mother had worked at J.B. Rombach.

Besides dealing with oversized loads on some of the roads, like the base of a wind turbine, Gelnett said the hardest part was trying to bicycle into 30-mile-an-hour west winds. At those points he got off his bike and walked it, one time for seven miles.

Gelnett has bicycled trails on the east coast, plus in the boot of Italy, Venice, Paris, Germany the Golan Heights and more.

Tonight at 6 p.m. at Cerno's Gelnett hopes to meet up with those he hasn't seen in 20 years. "And for those who can't meet then, I'll be here Saturday night too. I'm really looking forward to seeing these people."