This is the next episode in our series of great rides around the U.S. for spring and summer 2026. Today, we visit Maine.

Lung diseases affect 35 million people in the U.S. and the American Lung Association is the first stop for advocacy, research, and funding for those people and their families. 

The 42nd annual Trek Across Maine – yep – 42 years! – has to be one of if not the longest running event of its kind – a fund raiser as well as what you will hear is almost a family reunion withf hundreds of folks, for what promises to be a lovely three-day ride around Maine.. And with a Father’s Day weekend date… it’s a great way to celebrate Dad!

My guests are Matt Sturgis, who has held many positions with the American Lung Association in connection with this ride and other offices around the eastern seaboard, and Lance Boucher, who is the voice of the organization in advocacy and public affairs.

My second guest today is Professor Chris Sweet.  He’s the Information Literacy and Scholarly Communications Librarian at Illinois Wesleyan University.  His just published book, a History of Bicycling in Illinois: 160 Years of Booms and Busts, goes all the way back to the late 1800’s, tracing the ups and downs of cycling from manufacturing and racing to how bicycles figured into the wars of the 20th century and beyond.

I didn’t think there was so much to learn about the history of bicycles and cycling in Illinois, and I was wrong!  Professor Chris Sweet, who is the Information Literacy and Scholarly Communications Librarian at Illinois Wesleyan University, is also an avid cyclist and a historian. 

His research reached back into the late 1800’s to explain the subtitle of his book, 160 years of booms and busts, and brings it right up to the to effects the pandemic had on cycling just a few years ago.