Joseph Lynch, a former Kennedy resident, is biking from his new home in Iowa to his hometown in a five-day timeframe. Lynch’s ride will benefit the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism. Submitted photo

For most people, a bike ride lasts a few miles and they head home — but Joseph Lynch isn’t “most people.”

“My friends call me ‘Puppy,'” he said during a phone interview from the road.

Lynch, a Kennedy native, is currently taking a sojourn from his current home in Iowa City, Iowa, to his hometown on his trusty bicycle. However, the ride isn’t just a leisurely jaunt, but will benefit the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism. Lynch has kept an online log of his adventure on Twitter, a personal blog and Instagram with the help of his wife, Emma.

As of Thursday night, Lynch had traveled 479 miles since he left home on Tuesday.

When he’s not peddling across the country on his bike, Lynch is a post-doctoral autism researcher at the University of Iowa. His work is one of the reasons why he chose to ride to raise money for the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, along with the idea that Doug Flutie is a Buffalo-centric icon, which highlights the region he and his wife are from.

When asked why he decided to take the 750-mile journey back to his parent’s house astride a bike, Lynch said it’s because he’s “a crazy person.”

“That’s the best way to describe that,” he said with a laugh.

Lynch said he has been riding long distances for years. He and his best friend cycled quite often in their youth, but never did it “the easy way,” he said. At one time, the pair rode from Rochester to Falconer which is 175 miles in 22 hours. Another time, they undertook the 185 mile journey from Falconer to Kent, Ohio.

“I biked to my wedding,” Lynch said.

While his parents are supportive of his biking, they are not so fond of the dangers that he faces biking on the road. Lynch admits that it can be dangerous when dealing with distracted drivers. His mom has always worried about his safety on the road, Lynch said.

“I remember one summer I saved all my money from mowing lawns and bought an $84 bike from Wal-Mart,” he said. “And my mom wouldn’t let me bike to my friend’s house on Route 394 in Falconer. I had to take backroads.”

This journey, from Iowa to New York, is the longest he has undertaken yet. Lynch trained extensively for the ride, using his weekends to get ready. However, with only two days to train each week, he knew the third day of what will be a five-day journey would be difficult.

Yet, throughout the trip, there have been some setbacks that have made the going a little difficult, he said. With some physical pain and some minor setbacks, Lynch said he is about two hours behind. However, today, he is hoping to make up that time.

“It’s a very tight schedule between (stopping for the day), eating and going to bed,” Lynch said. “I got home from work on Monday and went to bed, then I got up at 12:30 a.m., I got dressed, ate and packed up and left the house at 2 a.m.”

He switched his sleep schedule to allow him to wake up during the wee hours of the morning to bike when it is cooler. As it stands, Lynch strives to ride 12-and-a-half miles an hour. He does stop for water during his rides, however, once he is on his bike, “that’s pretty much it for 12-14 hours,” he said.

Lynch stays at Airbnbs on his way, which are rooms, apartments or homes rented by the owners through an online company. He will stop for the night near his Airbnb, grab a bite to eat, stretch for a while and hit the hay.

“Then, six hours later, you get up and do it all over again,” Lynch said.

On Thursday night, he found himself in Perrysburg, Ohio, eating at a gastropub called “Swig.”

“I will tell you the two reasons why I picked this place,” Lynch said. “It is very close to the airbnb and the back of their menu says ‘Sammiches’ instead of ‘Sandwiches’ and I really like that.”

While he’s out on his journey, he said he tries to eat local if he can. Most of the time, he is riding through stretches of terrain that are vastly unpopulated, so chain restaurants are unlikely anyway, Lynch said.

Originally, he used Google Maps to plan out his route, going into each route to avoid dirt roads and paths that are dangerous to a road bike. However, due to a malfunction that re-routed his pre-planned routes when he opened the links on his phone, Lynch is currently using a combination of ways to make sure he’s on track for his destination.

“I wasn’t expecting it to go to plan, I just wasn’t expecting it to not go to plan this much,” he said with a laugh. “But, this ride is diggity chops.”

On the ride, Lynch carries a backpack with extra clothes, socks, biking gloves, waterproof gear, an extra tube for his tire and some sort of fluid like water or Gatorade. He also carries a bar bag which holds a bike pump, Gatorade, food and two external batteries. His handle bar bag carries his toiletries, while his saddle bag carries extra parts for his bike and a tool that functions much like a Swiss Army knife.

While the miles can be monotonous and the long days get exhausting, Lynch said he is confident he will finish the task.

“Now, I think the way it goes is when you’ve done one of these, it sort of changes the way you look at what is possible,” he said. “As long as you keep peddling, you’ll finish.”

Lynch hopes to arrive in Kennedy on Saturday evening, however, the time is uncertain. To follow him on his journey toward home, visit www.doctorofcycology.wordpress.com or follow him on Instagram @doctorofcycology. A link to donate to Lynch’s ride is located on both his blog and his Instagram account.