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Rockville Man 'Pedals' Climate Change Cross-Country

Retired NOAA scientist David Goodrich is biking coast-to-coast to educate about global warming.

David Goodrich doesn’t just think there is a global issue with climate change, he says he knows it. And he’s so sure of the problem that he is willing to bike across country educating students about it.

Goodrich, 58, of Rockville recently retired as director of the Climate Observation Division with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He’s got the science to back up his claims that climate change is real and is taking to his bike to spread the word—emission-free of course.

“There is a line in the movie 'Animal House' that goes, ‘This situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part.’ This is my gesture,” Goodrich said just days before setting off on his two-and-a-half month trek from the east to west coast.

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He is mixing his love of biking and his concern for the environment. He’s lined up schools along his path, including Ohio University and high schools in Pennsylvania and Indiana, to talk about climate change and ways to stop the progression.

“Climate change is for real," Goodrich said. "There is a distinct warming trend. It is something that we will have to deal with in the short term and adapt to, but there are ways we can change the course of how the climate unwinds." 

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Those ways include conserving energy, reducing the use of gas-powered automobiles, building in more energy efficient ways and incorporating the use of renewable energy sources in our daily lives.

Goodrich has already talked to students at  and Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, as well as at George Mason University and SUNY Cortland. He’s now pedaling his scientific knowledge about climate change across the country one turn of the wheel at a time.

“It makes a stronger statement coming from a guy who got there by bike rather than by car,” he said.

He began his solo trip in Delaware and then followed the C&O Canal to Cumberland, before pedaling on to the Great Allegheny Passage toward Pittsburgh. After a stop for a lecture at Gateway High School in Monroeville, PA he moved on to the Appalachian Mountains with steep grades and 4,000-foot ridges.

“That’s the part that makes me nervous,” the avid bike rider who has more than 40 pounds of equipment strapped to his bike said late last month before embarking on his ride. “The grades eat you up. That’s why the Appalachians were such a barrier to the pioneers.”

Goodrich's online journal detailed his climb through the mountains late last week:

"Low point of the day was the high point," Goodrich wrote on Friday. "Climbing the first of the nasty PA ridges outside of Monroeville, burned out 2/3 of the way up in heavy traffic with a thin shoulder. My toe caught the front fender and broke it, so I had to unpack the took kit in heat and traffic and roadside garbage to get the fender off. Then, gradual improvement as I made it back onto the Great Allegheny Passage and up the Youghigheny Valley."

On Monday, he pedaled flat ground along the Ohio River he settled in for the night in Marietta, OH.

After a scheduled stop at Ohio University, Goodrich will head to Indiana, Illinois and Missouri along the Katy Trail south of Kansas City. His final destination is Oregon.

During bad weather Goodrich said he plans to spend the night in nearby hotels, but expects to camp out for much of his trip. He said he will rely on his smart phone Doppler radar app to help him navigate away from storms.

“Making this trip across the country is like a Holy Grail for me. I have friends who do think I am certifiable,” Goodrich said.

Goodrich is hoping fans follow him through his online journal or visit his Facebook page by searching under "Pedaling Climate."

To learn more about climate change log on to www.climate.gov.

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