Hey, Wanna Go for a Bike Ride . . . Around the World?

If you have $36,000 and an entire year to spare, there are still a few spots available with Odyssey 2000--a 250-person, yearlong, around-the-world bicycle trip that will kick off Jan. 1 when it leads next year’s Rose Parade. Included in the tour are 21 flights, 11 ferry rides, breakfasts, dinners and accommodations. Also, a custom bicycle.

Odyssey 2000 is the brainchild of Karen-Ann Sutter, 49, and Tim Kneeland, 53, a former Air Force survival instructor who has been coordinating cross-country bicycle trips since 1980. The Seattle couple envisioned the idea in 1993.

“It just struck me that people willing to do a local event would be interested in a heavier challenge,” says Kneeland, who has spent the past several years traveling to the six continents and 45 countries that Odyssey 2000 cyclists will visit.

In 365 days, the riders will log more than 20,000 miles, which is not quite the circumference of the world. But, says Kneeland, “25,000 is too many. We’d have to add 10 miles a day, and that gets pretty extraordinary.”

As it is, riders are expected to cycle an average of 77 miles each day, though the schedule is padded in cities like London and Paris to allow riders time to explore, and in Sydney, Australia, where they will see (not participate in) the Olympics.

“As we get stronger and stronger, our discretionary time increases,” says Kneeland. “We can get to where we want to go more quickly, so we have more time for side trips.”

A medical van and support crew will accompany the riders and provide potable water in countries where it is not easily available.

Kneeland says he has commissioned a scientific study of the participants to see what physiological and psychological changes take place in them over the year.

Of the 246 registrants, 21 are from Southern California, including West L.A. resident Sue Figler. A divorced mother of four, Figler first learned about Odyssey 2000 in 1995 through a small advertisement in Outside magazine.

“I called the number and within two days had sent my deposit,” she says. “I just knew this was exactly what I wanted to do.”

Figler, who studies nursing, spends at least three hours in training each day. But, she says, “if I left tomorrow, I’d be sore.”

At 47, Figler is the average age for Odyssey 2000 participants, but riders range from 19 to 79 years old.

Peter Bolton, 40, works for a specialty bike manufacturer in San Diego. A Southern California resident by way of England, he was attracted to the trip because “it combines my three favorite things: bicycling, travel and people.”

Bolton sent his final payment two weeks ago, borrowing some of the money from his wife, who will not be accompanying him on the trip.

“She knows I like to cycle, and we’re in a committed relationship, so it’s not really an issue,” he says. He and his wife plan to meet up every few months while Bolton is on the road.

“I’m a big believer in goals. If you work toward them step by step, you’ll get there,” says Bolton, who in 1991 participated in a coast-to-coast Canadian bicycle trip. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do after this one. Maybe cycle on the moon.”

For more information on Odyssey 2000, call (206) 322-4102.