It’s just how they roll
PIHS classmates pedal back roads for 30th reunion
By Mark Putnam
Director of News
PRESQUE ISLE — For David Driscoll and Jim Cotton it wasn’t a matter of if they were going to attend their 30th high school reunion but rather how they were going to get there.
Contributed photo
REUNION RIDERS — Getting ready to set out on a 150-mile bicycle ride to Presque Isle which began on July 17 from a Howland convenience store parking lot are high school classmates David Driscoll, left, of Virginia and Jim Cotton of Glenburn. 
They completed the trek late the next day in plenty of time for their 30th high school class reunion.
The Presque Isle High School classmates and longtime friends came up with an ambitious plan to pedal all the way home for their July 20 reunion back in January when an informal group of Class of 1983 members gathered over a couple beers on the occasion of classmate Paul Plissey’s induction into the Sports Hall of Fame. What better way to catch up on each other’s busy lives, they thought, than over the span of several days and more than 150 miles of back roads.
And that’s just what they did.
The pair rolled into town late on July 18 with sore legs and big smiles on their faces. The first day saw them cover 63 mostly-flat miles from Howland to Sherman Mills while Day Two took them 87 miles to the Star City, over considerably more rolling terrain. Although there were weather warnings all around them during the trek, Driscoll and Cotton made the ride along U.S. Routes 2 and 1 entirely unscathed.
The men took different paths in preparation for their reunion ride. Driscoll, a product manager for VISA who lives in Leesburg, Va., rides often, especially in charity events for worthwhile causes, while Cotton, an RN in EMCC’s cardiac catheterization lab, commutes to work on his bike when weather permits.
Both agreed the recent ride tested their limits.
“My friends on Facebook called me crazy … they thought I had lost my mind,” Driscoll said.
As they climbed one of the last hills coming out of Mars Hill, Cotton said a comment Driscoll made might have been a sign he had reached “the wall” in their 150-mile trek.
“I had to chuckle when Dave said to me, ‘I’m sure glad we didn’t graduate from Fort Kent!’,” he said.
The daring duo planned to “drive” back home after their reunion.
