A life on the road

By FRITZ MAYER

NARROWSBURG, NY — He took his first bike trip across the United States in 1980 and thought it would be a one-shot deal. Walter Junghanel rode the hills, valleys, mountains and plains of this vast continent, gathering impressions and photographs. He took the pictures home to Ahaus, Germany where he taught high school geography.

Before long, he said, he got the fever again and wanted to hit the back roads of America. And while his wife at the time indulged his passion for peddling, he thought it best not to push for too much. He settled on making a cross-country bike trip once every three years and the trip became a ritual.

The 71-year-old rider, looking trim and fit, landed in the parking lot of Peck’s Market in Narrowsburg on June 29, where his riding shirt, emblazoned with the words New York to Arizona, July and August 2009, brought some attention and a call to the newspaper.

Junghanel, who also taught French and speaks five languages, gave a brief account of his cycling career, which in 2000 included a life-changing event. He was headed down to Mexico to hook up with an exchange student he’d met in Germany. On arriving, he learned that his wife had died, and he had no one to return to.

That left him quite sad, he said, but ultimately did not put an end to his cycling. By 2003, he rode across country again, and it “helped me free myself from sadness.”

This time around, he took off from JFK Airport in New York, and was pleased with his ride along the Upper Delaware River on Route 97. His plans include a hookup once again with a person from Mexico, the exchange student’s mother, whom he has since married.