On October 21, 2006 I attempted to establish a record in New Jersey going North to South. I am an Exercise Physiologist and Fitness Supervisor with AtlantiCare, which helped sponsor me for this record attempt. My goal at first was just to establish a new record, but the more I trained for it and the closer I got to the date, I wanted to beat the time that was already established going south to north. The time was 10 hours and 31 minutes set in 1992.

I was also doing the ride as a fundraiser for Gilda's Club. Gilda's Club is a non-profit organization helping families with cancer. A lot of people might not recognize this organization, but might recognize the name of Gilda Radner from Saturday Night Live. Radner used to give everyone on Saturday Night Live noogies, and they just recently started a program called noogieland. The program is used to help families with children who have cancer. The way I looked at it was, if I didn't break the time I still won anyway. I was able to raise over $2,500 dollars with the help from AtlantiCare's Marketing (Rene Bunting) and Oncology (Laruen Ochs) departments as well as the members of the AtlantiCare LifeCenter.

The day started out at 7:25 a.m. at the NY/NJ border on Route 23. The sun was out, but so was the wind. It was 41 degrees when I started and the wind blew all day from 18 to 20 mph out of the west. I started the day riding my Litespeed Tuscany without aerobars and used that for the first seven and half hours before I switched to my Trek Madone with aerobars.

The ride started with a big climb up to High Point State Park; it tops out around 1800 feet above sea level. At least it was big to me considering that the biggest climb where I live in South Jersey is a speed bump. The climb was approximately six miles in length and I found a good rhythm out of the starting gate, but I was also hoping to conserve enough energy for the rest of the day.

I felt great after the climb and for the next five hours. I drank a lot of Gatorade (Lemon Lime) and I ate PowerBars and glucose packages. The next 70 miles were hill after hill but I felt really good and optimistic that I was going to break my personal goals. I was lucky there weren't any mechanical problems along the way, but I ran into a lot of traffic. I checked with the State of New Jersey about any construction projects, but I should have checked the college football schedule. I rode through Princeton University on Route 206 South when the Princeton/Harvard football game was just getting out. Traffic was backed up for miles. I was able to ride with the traffic flow while my support crew got stuck miles behind me and I had to call them several times to confirm directions, as I had to make a few turns through the college campus.

After I got through the congestion I was able to make good time on Route 206 to Hammonton. The road was straight and boring, nothing to see but open farm fields for about 50 miles. My legs felt great, but this my brain got a little fuzzy and I had a hard time concentrating on the road. I drank some Coca-Cola and felt a little better after a few minutes and ended up drinking a couple more for the caffeine fix. As I got closer to the end, I was familiar with the roads. I live in this area and I have ridden the course from my house to the Cape May Lighthouse many times. I also got to ride by my local bike shop, Pro Pedals, for whom I also race. They are a great family run business that makes anyone's bike experience a positive one. They had a handful of people cheering for me as I went by and that helped lift my tired spirits and at that point that I knew I was going to do what I set out to do.

Approximately 14 miles away I got to ride through my hometown of Mays Landing. My very patient and loving wife (Connie), who lets me ride like I do, and kids (Connor 5 and Erin 2) were there to cheer me on as well as my parents (Marty and Terry). They periodically would drive ahead of me and let me ride by them for the next 40 miles. My son Connor would scream out of the SUV window "Go Daddy". They eventually would be waiting for me at the end at the Cape May Lighthouse. The last 45 to 50 miles to the end were more mentally tough then physical, as my legs felt great and I was thinking of having that ice cold beer I promised everyone I would consume since I haven't had one since my wedding eight years ago.

I just focused on the speedometer and my cadence, not letting my legs stop moving. My ride time average speed on the bike was a little over 20.3 mph for the whole ride. All the stops for bathroom breaks, lights and traffic obviously brought my average down a little. About a mile out I could see the top of the Lighthouse and knew the day was coming to an end and I had earned the cold beer. Once I reached the Lighthouse at 5:18 p.m. I had an emotional moment of joy as I had family, friends and co-workers there to share it with. My time for the ride was 9 hours and 53 minutes for a total of 192 miles. This was the hardest thing I had ever done mentally on a bike, but it also was the most rewarding as I reached a personal goal, as well as raising money for Gilda's Club of South Jersey.

Afterwards we celebrated at a local restaurant in Cape May and I ended up having three ice cold ones.

I want to put a special thanks out to AtlantiCare for sponsoring me and all those who gave to the Gilda's Club cause. To a wonderful support crew Andy Rosenfeld and Jason Ruggiero who took more bathroom breaks than me and kept giving me the wrong split times to keep me pushing on; I wouldn't have had as much fun doing this without you guys.

Official record: 192 miles in 9 hours 53 minutes, average speed of 19.43 mph
Start: SH 23 NJ/NY state line north of High Point State Park
Finish: Cape May Lighthouse
Official: Christopher Steen