 Music Professor Emeritus Donald P. Lang |
Donald Lang is gearing up, as they say, to ride a bicycle across the country – from San Diego to his home in Dunkirk -- and he’s inviting friends and colleagues from SUNY Fredonia to come along for the ride. Not as bicycle riders, mind you, but as sponsors of “Donald Lang’s Bike Ride,” a fundraiser the recently retired choral director will mount this spring to benefit Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
“I’m trying to get 200 sponsors to come along with me and I’ll show them America that they’ve never seen and introduce them to the cool people that I meet along the way,” Lang said. So far, 60 have signed up.
These supporters can experience the 3,000-mile journey through images relayed to them on Lang’s new iPad. The slick Apple device boasts two cameras, one for each end of the bicycle, so we’ll be able to see where Don has been and what lies ahead. He’ll also routinely file blogs and update his Facebook page along the way.
Logistical assistance for the journey will come from support networks, such as Warmshowers.com, HospitalityClub.com and CouchSurfing.com, that serve the 10,000 bicycle riders who cross the country every year.
Travel is certainly nothing new for Lang, who directed the Fredonia Chamber Singers for three decades and accompanied these students on spring tours every year in the Northeast and eight trips abroad. “I believe that travel is the greatest educator of all; you learn things that you cannot learn in the college classroom or textbook.” Lang will be staying in private homes, as his students did on their tours.
An admitted jock his entire life and a former high school state cross country champion, Lang hatched the idea for the cross-country trek early last fall. His systematic approach to the journey began with the purchase of high-end touring bicycle that boasts 24 speeds and is amazingly “as light as a feather” in Buffalo, and took shape with daily rides that topped off at 50 miles.
And he delighted in every minute.
“I love being outside, and just being out on the roads in Chautauqua County is a great way to spend your time. It was a beautiful fall.” When snow began to fall Lang simply moved indoors to a gym to maintain his conditioning level.
The idea to bicycle across the country literally “came out of the blue,” Lang said, while the selection of Roswell as a beneficiary for funds raised by Lang was a no-brainer. “My goal is to get 200 people who will sponsor my ride at one penny per mile. It’s 3,000 miles, so we’re talking a grand total of $30 per sponsor,” he explained. “That will equal $6,000 for Roswell Park.”
How can you become a Don Lang sponsor and raise money for Roswell?
“The easiest way is to friend me on Facebook, and tell me you want to be a sponsor, and I will send you a link to Roswell Park, or email me at Donald.Lang@fredonia.edu and say you want to be a sponsor.”
Lang is coordinating the fundraiser with Stefani Trpcevski, a 2008 alum now working at Roswell. “I’m gonna do the ride anyway, so we may as well help out other folks along the way,” he said.
Lang’s journey has a tentative March 29 start in San Diego and wraps up in May or early June.
