Oshkosh cyclists finish Bikecentennial

April 16, 2026

by Tom Ewing

In spring 1976, several cyclists from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, began the Bikecentennial ride from Yorktown to Astoria. Lynn Sitte, a senior at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, began riding with a group of seven cyclists in May and completed the journey on July 11, according to an article in the Oshkosh Northwestern, July 27, 1976, p. 5. John Coumbe, 19; Jim Rather, 17; Les Matz, 19; and Gary Soles, 15, began their ride on June 2 and arrived in Oregon on August 2. Their recollections of the trip, as reported in the Oshkosh Northwestern, August 17, 1976, included some similar elements: hot weather in the prairies, too much rain in Missouri, lots of peanut butter sandwiches, and many friendly people along the way. Echoing the impression of other cyclists, the four men indicated that “climbing the much greater heights in the Rockies was actually more pleasant than going up the slopes in the Appalachians and Ozarks. The climb in the Rockies was comparatively easy because the Rocky Mountain highways, unlike the roads through the Appalachians and Ozarks, are graded with a gradual slope.” One member of the group, Gary, suffered a serious injury while descending a mountain in Virginia. After returning to Oshkosh for treatment, he was able to join his friends in Illinois and complete the rest of the ride. A photograph in the newspaper showed three of the cyclists with Bikecentennial T-shirts looking at a folded map.

John Coumbe’s Bikecentennial ride was just one stage in a lifetime committed to cycling. In 1974, he and a friend rode from Seattle to Oshkosh, as reported in the Oshkosh Northwestern on August 30, 1974. In the 1980s, Coumbe managed TriSports, a bicycle store in Oshkosh, and later he became a manager at Wheel and Sprocket, another bicycle store in the same town.

On August 30, 2003, Wheel and Sprocket encouraged cyclists to “come say goodbye to John Coumbe” (and save on a new bicycle or accessories). For many riders, the Bikecentennial became part of a lifelong commitment to riding bicycles.