Colorado man bicycles 1,000-plus miles to college reunion at St. John’s University

The day was scorching and his location wildly remote when Chris Manning’s trek came to an abrupt stop in the sandhill ranchland of northwestern Nebraska.

A few hundred head of cattle stood where his map showed a road should exist. He knocked on a door and connected with a landowner, who explained that he was looking at an old mail route that was used years earlier to access ranches now gone to dust. Manning adjusted, and on he went.

Even if his route wasn’t clear in that moment in mid-June, his destination was: Collegeville, Minn., and his 35th-anniversary class reunion at St. John’s University.

A year ago, Manning had committed to cycling 1,000-plus miles from his home in Minturn, Colo., near Vail to Minnesota to make the Class of 1989 gathering.

Nebraska navigation challenges aside, the 57-year-old completed his ride a day ahead of schedule. He rolled onto the St. John’s campus June 17 after nine days and 1,082 miles.

Manning exudes Johnnie loyalty — he tries to get back every five years for reunions — but why make this travel an adventure?

“Getting back for a reunion is a good excuse for getting a hall pass” from his family for the audacious trip, he said. With the blessing of his wife, Tessa, he began planning. The multiday trek was wholly unlike his diet of ultraruns, long-distance cycling and skiing.

Some of his Colorado friends were significant contributors. Ryan and Michelle Wolffe pulled along their Rockwood A-frame camper in support for the first five days — a sag wagon if needed and a soft landing after Manning’s 100-plus-mile days on the saddle in heat and headwinds.

Michelle Wolffe said the original plan was to leapfrog ahead daily to a predetermined endpoint while checking midway to see if he needed support. Manning’s drive made that a challenge. Many times he was up before 4 a.m. and on the move.

“Chris was so fiercely independent he didn’t need us as much, but it was a pleasure to be available,” she said.

Coordinating with the Wolffes, Manning used paper maps and the Ride With GPS map to form his route, which shot north out of Minturn and into Wyoming before a long stretch across Nebraska and South Dakota. His last day was a ride out of Granite Falls, Minn. He’d hoped to ride his Salsa Cutthroat on gravel half the time but it became about 20% of the trip as he adjusted for some roads — such as the one that disappeared northeast of Alliance, Neb. — that were anything but.

Still, the trip delivered him — and internal rewards.

“I enjoy physical and mental challenges. This was the first time when I had to get up to do another ride [the next day]. This is something I’ll never do again. Type 3 fun. Very painful,” Manning said, not sounding entirely convincing.

Michelle Wolffe said he is a recurring inspiration to his friends. “Chris is a man of great adventure and capable of being superhuman.”

Not as intimately as the Wolffes, but several St. John’s classmates knew of Manning’s ride, too. Tom Morris, who lived briefly with Manning after they both graduated in the late 1980s, and a few other alumni figured in a small, pop-up celebration when Manning cycled onto campus.

Morris is the marketing staff photographer for St. John’s and the College of St. Benedict. His role helped when, on short notice, he learned Manning had arrived near campus a day ahead of schedule. Morris then coordinated with admissions staff, which coincidentally was present on campus for its own rah-rah event. The admissions crew brought the same energy — and their balloons — to Manning’s entrance, Morris said. Both men said it was emotional. Morris hadn’t seen his friend in about 30 years.

Morris recalled a long-distance, bare-bones bike trek that Manning, a newly minted business administration grad, took with another Johnnie just after graduation. They rode to Cape Cod, visited Martha’s Vineyard, and rolled back to Minnesota. He said Manning’s reunion ride fits the “sporting” sensibility evident when he first arrived in Collegeville from Omaha, Neb., in 1985.

“[This time was] a crazy trek, just like after college,” Morris said. “Chris himself, not crazy. Engaging, fun. He is a very organized, thorough guy.”

Bryan Olson of Victoria is a fellow Johnnie who’s nurtured a friendship with Manning since their college days. Both had been on similar personal and professional trajectories out West. They make a point of cycling with other alums when the reunions bring them together now.

Olson knew of Manning’s intent to cycle to Collegeville when he hatched it. They were on the reunion organizing committee, and Manning insisted on keeping his dream low-key. The message was, Manning is doing it if you want to ride, too.

Nevertheless, Olson was surprised by Manning’s self-powered, solo adventure.

“[The tone was] this is not a school fundraiser. This is not, look at me. It is all humility,” he said.

Photos tell where Manning’s heart was when he rolled into Collegeville: firmly true to his school, beating under his red-and-light blue cycling shirt. He counts his Johnnie friends — his Johnnie days — among his best.

“To me, I was just riding a bike and sharing [the trip] with friends,” Manning said, “and it grew from there.”