Professor bikes across country, teaches online course

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Even as a child, Greg Brock dreamed of pedaling his way across the United States. Now, the 53-year-old University of Kentucky professor is doing just that, biking from Santa Monica, Calif., to Savannah, Ga. and teaching an online family studies course along the way.

''I've always wanted to do this kind of thing,'' said Brock, who has done trips across individual states. ''I've never been able to do this because I always needed to be around to teach or whatever. Over the past few years, with the establishment of these Internet courses, it allows me to go anywhere or be anywhere and still be able to teach my class.''

Brock began the trip, which is expected to take 60 to 90 days and is being promoted as UK Across America, on June 1 with the rear wheel of his bike in the Pacific Ocean at the Santa Monica Pier.

He'll travel through the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, continue through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama before finishing the trip with his front wheel in the Atlantic Ocean in Savannah.

Brock pulled into Tucson, Ariz., Tuesday night and took Wednesday as a day of rest before continuing the journey. The trip is being sponsored by the university, and several corporate entities have donated equipment, so he is sleeping in hotels and eating in restaurants to travel light.

''It's been great so far, and I'm not too exhausted yet,'' Brock said from his cellular phone as he approached Tucson on Tuesday. ''It's 111 degrees right now, but I'm managing. I try to start at daybreak, but even at 5:30 a.m. the temperature is about 85 degrees.

''I've already topped the 100-mile mark three times and I've gone more than 90 twice. I think by the weekend I'll be coming up on Las Cruces, N.M., which is another concern. It's hard enough to breathe out here because of the heat. Any lingering smoke from the huge fires that have been burning out there will make it that much more difficult.''

Instead of using a typical bicycle, Brock is riding a recumbent bike, which has a low, chair-like seat with a back.

''Compared with ordinary upright bikes, a recumbent is heaven,'' he said. ''No sore bottom, pinched neck or sore arms and shoulders. I wouldn't even consider riding an upright bicycle from coast to coast.''

Brock's wife, Jeanette, and three children also are outdoor enthusiasts and are excited, although slightly apprehensive, about the trip.

''I know he can handle himself out there,'' she said. ''What I worry about are the unknowns like the weather and the traffic. I'll be in contact every day, though, so I'll have a good idea of what's going on.''

Daughter Kelly, a 21-year-old sophomore and soccer player at Grinnell College in Iowa, rode with her father across Tennessee several years ago.

''No, he's not crazy, he just likes the challenge,'' she said with a grin. ''I thought about going with him for awhile, but I'm just not in shape for that kind of trip.''

Brock said the excitement of the trip outweighs the fear of injury or even death on the highway.

''The sheer heat coming off the pavement is really going to beat me up and become a considerable obstacle as I continue through the desert southwest. Big trucks and people who aren't necessarily watching out for bicyclists are other chronic problems I'll have to worry about.

''But the thing I'm worried most about is the day-to-day grind. I'm going to have to keep a positive mental focus or it could turn out to be simply overwhelming. It's like a marathon. The first third of a race is fun, the second third is work and the last third is pain. I think when I get east of the Mississippi, it's going to be painful.''

One obvious distraction will be the undergraduate family studies class, which began on Wednesday and includes about 30 students. Along with his cell phone, Brock is carrying a Palm Pilot computer from which he can send and receive e-mail and grade quizzes and papers taken from the course Web site in the evenings.

''The course has all the regular stuff, including several downloadable lectures,'' he said. ''The only difference is that the interaction with the professor is through e-mail and discussion boards.

''Throughout the course, students and I discuss contemporary family related issues such as the influence of divorce on children or how society should best deal with domestic violence perpetrators.''

The issues are discussed using an e-mail discussion list in which student messages and replies are sent to all class members.

Brock, one of the first UK professors to design an online curriculum, said the course actually provides more student interaction than a typical large lecture class.

''All students are expected to participate actively in the discussions and to contribute material they find on the Internet for the benefit of classmates,'' said Brock, who has taught the course online for the past three years. ''I can monitor which students are participating and e-mail the ones who are not. Both the quantity and quality of their contributions are evaluated.''

As he makes his way across the country, Brock also plans to be in contact with hundreds of UK alumni.

''The idea is to talk to people about the university along the way and let them know what is going on at what we like to call ''America's next great university,'' he said. ''I'm going to meet up with alumni along the way and try to involve them in what the university is doing.''

Besides fulfilling a lifelong ambition, Brock said the trip will be an opportunity to learn something about himself.

''There's a chance I won't make it ... 3,000 miles is a long way,'' he said. ''But undertaking arduous challenges where the outcomes aren't assured, or perhaps even when it is unlikely, teaches the most valuable of lessons. That's as true for research on the important questions of our times as it is for bicycle treks.''