New Canaan Man Bicycles 4,000 Miles for Charity

On Aug. 29, 58-year-old New Canaan resident Mark Thorsheim completed a 4,000-mile cross-country bicycle journey, successfully raising over $100,000 and counting for local charity Career Resources Incorporated. 

Mark Thorsheim shows off the bike that accompanied him across the country, a Lauf Seigla. Credit: Connor Markey

Starting his trip in Norwalk, Thorsheim would bike across 15 states, ascending 125,000 feet of elevation before reaching his final destination, Journey’s End Espresso, a coffee shop located in Astoria, Ore.

“In the back of my mind, I’ve always wanted to ride across the country,” Thorsheim told NewCanaanite.com. “I started riding actively again when I turned 50, I used to play a lot of soccer, and just probably wore a few too many joints down. I had my knee replaced a few years ago and my hip replaced in February. And so biking became a passion. It was a passion when I was a kid, I raced BMX bikes and I loved riding/cycling in college, but then after college, I was in urban environments where cycling isn’t as easy to do.”

It was after he became involved with Career Resources Inc., a Bridgeport-based charity which focuses on helping adults find meaningful employment, that Thorsheim would realize his dream could be used to help others.

“Once I joined the board of Career Resources, it immediately struck me about four years ago that it would be a great fundraiser idea,” said Thorsheim. “To do a cross country bike trip like this solo, you gotta have a purpose, if I was with a whole group of friends and it was social the whole time and it had a different theme to it, I suppose that’s a purpose, but this really drove me to really want to make the most of this experience and document the experience”

While his involvement with Career Resources Inc. made it possible, Thorsheim’s main motivation for the trip was to honor one of his closest friends. 

Chris’s helmet. Credit: Connor Markey

“I lost my older brother Chris three years ago, he was 57 at the time,” said Thorsheim. “We were best friends, and Chris and I did a lot of cycling together. Some mountain biking, some road cycling, and he and I talked about doing something like this together, so I thought it would be a good way to honor him, and a bit of an inspiration to do something like this cross country. So I told everybody that I have his helmet and I wore his helmet for the whole trip. So the tagline was that he’s always in my head, but now he’s on my head to protect me.”

On the last day of his trip, that very helmet would save Thorsheim from a potentially serious injury. 

“The only part of the trip, the only, any sort of accident, was eight miles to go in Astoria,” said Thorsheim. “What happened was I got off the main road to get on a cycling path. It was a walking and cycling path along the waterfront, which you think is safe, and then it turned into a trolley path. So they had trolley tracks mixed in with the walking and cycling path, It was awful, so I went to get off it, I realized I got to get away from this, it was just too cumbersome, and as I went across the trolley track, my tire slipped in, I was probably going too fast, slipped in the track and stuck in the track and then launched the bike and me. I wound up landing first on my ankle, then my hip, then my elbow, my hand, then my head.”

Luckily, Thorsheim was only a few blocks away from his final destination, where he arrived safely to treat his injuries and celebrate the completion of his trip, which took a total of 61 days.

Originally from Minnesota, Thorsheim has lived in New Canaan for around two decades now. He is married and has two sons. He and his wife are both heavily involved with the local St Marks community.

When asked if he would consider a trip like this again, Thorsheim was enthusiastic about the prospect. 

“Now that I’ve done it solo I’ve checked that box. I would absolutely positively do extensive cycling trips again,” Thorsheim said. “I think I’d like to go to Europe, or do some sort of coastal, up and down the east coast, up and down the west coast, do other types of themes. And I’d probably do it with more people. Because this was unique in its own way, to kind of find a time in my life where I could dedicate two months, do it with the solitude that I wanted. But I’m a real social person, and so I think that sharing this experience with others would definitely be high on my list if I were to do this again.”

More information about Thorsheim’s trip, as well as the donation page, can be found on his blog: https://www.thortour.org/.