PANAMA CITY BEACH, FLA. – Only “robbery, death” or a bum knee could keep Austin Kidder and Mic Loupe from completing their spring break adventure.
Kidder, psychology senior, and Loupe, photography senior, rode bicycles from Baton Rouge to Panama City Beach, Fla. – a five-day journey where they pedaled more than 400 miles.
Kidder got the idea for the bike trek from a friend.
“I have a friend named Beau who is in his 50s,” Kidder said. “He did a similar trip in college. He rode his bike to Denver, and I thought it’d be so cool. I’m driven by challenges and adventure.”
Though Kidder invited many of his friends, only Loupe agreed to join him.
“My parents have no clue I’m on a bike,” Loupe said when the pair stopped in Ocean Springs, Miss. “They would’ve thrown a fit, but they’ll laugh when they find out. Most of my friends confirmed suspicions about me being crazy.”
Some of Kidder’s friends also had doubts, and his family had mixed feelings about the trip.
“My mom did everything in her power to stop me, and my dad thinks I’m an idiot, but my brothers think it’s kind of cool,” he said.
Kidder and Loupe brought backpacks with clothing, energy bars, water, tire supplies, pumps and maps. Because state law prohibits bike riding on the interstate, the pair took back roads and highways the entire trip.
Kidder mapped out stops at Covington, La., Ocean Springs, Theodore, Ala., and Pensacola, Fla. The pair stayed in a hotel and the homes of friends and relatives.
A friend, business administration senior Matt Jennings, drove Kidder’s car to Florida to meet up with the bikers, who left Baton Rouge on April 8.
“There were no doubts the whole way,” Kidder said. “The only thing that would stop us was if we got hit by a car and died or if we got our bikes stolen.”
But trouble hit the bikers April 12 near Destin, Fla., when Loupe began feeling a pain in his knee.
“By the time we got outside of Destin, it was killing me,” he said. “I had to walk my bike into town, met up with Austin and tried to figure out what to do. At the last minute, I decided, ‘You know, I’ve come this far, and I don’t want to hop into anyone’s car yet, so I’ll walk the rest of the way,’ which was a bad decision. Fifty miles is a long freaking way to walk.”
Kidder continued along and made it to Panama City that evening, but he blew a tire a mile away from the hotel.
“I was kinda mad because the trip was so close to being near perfect, and then a mile before the hotel my tire blows out,” he said. “I didn’t want to stop and fix it, so I wobbled to the finish line.”
Loupe walked along the beach during the afternoon and into the night, taking naps on the side of the road, and he went more than halfway before he finally gave up and got Kidder to pick him up in the morning.
“At least I tried to do it,” Loupe said. “I was a little upset because I trained really hard for it and definitely would’ve liked to have gotten all the way there, but to say I rode my bike to Florida is still good.”
Loupe and Kidder stayed in Florida for three days – most of it in the hot tub and relaxing on the beach – before driving home. Both said the trip was completely worthwhile.
“There were a couple of great days on bikes when we felt we were on top of the world, doing what we were doing,” Loupe said.
Daniel Lorrain, accounting freshman and Kidder’s second cousin, said he was inspired by the bikers who stayed at his home in Ocean Springs on April 9.
“I’m going to wake up in the morning and join the guys, but I’m going to run,” he joked. “You’ve got to be dedicated to take time out of spring break to do something like this. You’ll be talking with buddies and come up with crazy ideas, but in an hour you’ll forget them. These guys actually did something.”
While Kidder said he has not thought of a follow-up adventure for this “once-in-a-lifetime, unique” experience, Loupe is already scheming for another odyssey.
“As soon as I got home, I went through the Cabela’s catalog to see what kind of trouble I could get myself into,” he said. “I’m definitely up for doing something crazy again.”
 
Contact Parker Wishik at [email protected]