Cyclist hopes his own tragic experience will raise awareness

By Debbie Raney
Burns Times-Herald

While bicycling near his home on June, 2006, Pearson Constantino of upstate New York, was hit from behind by a sport-utility vehicle. The impact knocked Constantino off his bike and broke his left femur, crushed his lumbar vertebra and left him with head trauma. The driver who hit him fled the scene, leaving Constantino unconscious under a parked vehicle.

Two years and hundreds of hours of physical therapy later, Constantino and his brother, Peter, are traveling from the West Coast to the East Coast to promote safe co-existence between bicycles and motor vehicles. Constantino said that while recovering he has, “dreamed of that irreplaceable sensation and freedom that comes with riding. I willed myself to heal faster.”

On Aug. 12, Constantino’s 30th birthday, the brothers left Newport on their cross-country trek to Cape Cod, Mass. The trip is expected to take approximately seven weeks, following U.S. 20 about 3,500 miles. Along the way, Constantino hopes to share the story of his come-back with schools, cycle organizations and communities through 12 states.

The trip is also being filmed by Constantino’s wife, Julia Wrona, and will be made into a documentary. Wrona has chronicled Constantino’s recovery and training, and will be with her husband every mile across America. The project has been given 501c3 non-profit status through the Film Forum in New York City.

Constantino said he would like to use the film to lobby Congress, saying that  accidents such as his happen more often than people realize. In 2006, 44,000 cyclists were injured by motor vehicles in the United States. Of the driver that hit  Constantino’s, he said, “I want him to know his habits behind the wheel that morning forever altered my life. But I am using anger as motivation to ride, to share my story and to work to change the driving culture of our roads.”

On Saturday, Aug. 16, the cycling brothers and their two-person film crew, made their way through Harney County, reaching Juntura by evening. During the long pedal across the desert between Bend and Riley, the brothers said there were very few motorists who were not respectful to the cyclists. “There’s usually one or two a day,” said Constantino.

For more information on Constantino’s bicycle trip, and the film, go to:
www.longbikeback.com.