In the summer of 2018, just three months after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Redwood alumna Geneva Gondak embarked upon the journey of a lifetime, biking nearly 3000 miles from Virginia to Oregon in support of affordable housing.
Before graduating from Redwood in 2014, Gondak was a dedicated varsity volleyball player who received the Principal’s Award for her significant contributions to the athletic program. At this time, she had not yet developed her passion for biking.
“I didn’t bike that much,” Gondak said. “I had a bike. I biked to school. When I went to Redwood, I’d bike a mile to school, but not that far.”
During Gondak’s freshman year of college, she discovered Bike and Build, a non-profit organization that leads service-oriented cross-country biking trips across the United States to raise awareness of the affordable housing crisis. After researching, she found that they were hosting a three-month ride that stretched from coast to coast, stopping in various towns along the way to volunteer and build homes. Based on her athletic history, she found the program enticing and decided to submit her application.
Once she had been accepted into the program, she began to fundraise, which was tricky without much prior experience. From there, she underwent months of vigorous training to prepare.
“As part of the preparation, you had to ride at least 500 miles and you had to do certain types of rides,” Gondak said. “You had to ride in the rain at least a few times, do some rides over a certain distance and you had to do some group rides. Then finally, by May, I felt ready to do it.”
Out of the three routes available through the organization, she chose the central Transamerica route, a popular route that cuts through the Midwest along the Rocky Mountains from east to west, beginning in Virginia and ending in Oregon.
The tour was guided by four experienced riders, previously affiliated with Bike and Build, who were in charge of curating paths, organizing accommodations and leading morning route meetings. Each day, the group would average 70 miles of biking from sunrise to sunset. A van would meet the group halfway along that day’s path, where they would stop to refuel, rest and eat. Since a portion of the journey was during the summer heat, the bikers and van drivers communicated beforehand, establishing the 90-90 rule: If they had to bike 90 miles in over 90-degree weather, there would be two lunch stops to suffice for the uncomfortable conditions. The group alternated between camping outdoors and staying in accommodations organized by group leaders, such as churches, businesses and school gymnasiums.
Before becoming the co-head coach of the Mountain Biking team, Steven Scott had used his biking experience in training the 2023 State Champions through independent, long-distance rides similar to Gondak, including a ride spanning across the country as well. Scott participated in a cross-country bike ride stretching nearly 1000 miles from New Mexico to Wyoming along the Great Divide route. Prior to his ride, physical training and supplies were his main consideration when preparing for such distances.
“In my opinion, it’s the same as backpacking. You need to get your body used to doing something day after day after day. You don’t want to do so much in the beginning that you get injured,” Scott said. “Some days I was riding from the desert up into the mountains. In the beginning, I didn’t really need much [gear] because it was going to be warm. Then later, I was going to need more gear as it cools, so I sent it to myself ahead of time. If you have a lot of weight, that’s the thing that kills you the most.”
In addition to riding, the group participated in service days, where they learned fundamental carpentry skills through building, painting and volunteering with housing organizations such as Habitat for Humanity to help address the prevalent housing crisis. They participated in twelve service days across the country, soaking in the various atmospheres and educating themselves on the individuality of each road they traveled.
As a Bay Area native biking through rural America, Gondak shared how enlightening it was to witness a different kind of America, one she had little familiarity with.
“In Wyoming, there were all these cows one day just in the middle of the road. We were afraid of them and kind of hid, but then actual cowboys came in the road to get them out of the street,” Gondak said.
Currently, Gondak lives in San Francisco, where she works in water efficiency at East Bay Municipal Utility District, where she continues to use her experience from the trip as an alternate perspective in her work when it comes to helping Americans with such fundamental and crucial necessities such as water and housing affordability.
“Although [the work I do] is not housing, everything’s related. [East Bay Municipal Utility District] is always thinking about water affordability. I learned a lot about housing, housing policy and how it looks very different in different places across the US,” Gondak said.
From 2018 to now, Gondak went from owning one cruiser bike to over four bikes, where she continues her love for riding and leaving her impact not only on the Bay Area, but the entire country.
