Move & Explore
Extraordinary effort
7-12
Just 'go for it': 9-year-old boy follows his own advice and goes cross-country bikepacking
Photo and reporting by
Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR)
Levi Moss, 9, rode 1,400 miles on his bike from New York City to Madison, Wisconsin, over six weeks, cutting through Amish country in Pennsylvania alongside horses and buggies. Family members rotated in for a week at a time, but Levi was the only one on the bike for the whole route.
The parent pitched in
Levi's parents and grandpa handled the route planning and the logistics of a six-week trip. The starting point was Levi's call: he said New York sounded like a good distance and a fun place to be in, so that's where they started.
Why we picked this one
Six weeks, five relatives rotating through, and one kid who didn't get to tap out. Everybody else's turn ended. His didn't, until Wisconsin.
Ask your kid to name the place, any place, without vetoing it for being too far or too random. Then work backward from there: how many miles a day it takes to get there, where you sleep along the way, what the turnaround point is if legs or weather give out. The destination is theirs. The spreadsheet is yours.
Read the full story at
Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR)
Where it happened:
Madison, Wisconsin
Levi's first real ride was one tenth of a mile. New York to Madison was next. Somewhere between those two numbers is a distance your kid could actually pick.