Wausau Daily Herald (June 4, 2018) by Keith Uhlig – USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Brett Stepanik was 22 years old and searching for a place in the world when he took off from Rib Mountain on his first cross-country bike trip in the late summer of 2007. The 2003 graduate of Wausau West High School had been a summer bike mechanic at Rib Mountain Cycles and a winter worker at California’s Mammoth Mountain ski resort. Brett was tall, lanky, tattooed and aimless, the kind of guy who spent his high school years bombing around on BMX bikes in the summer and on snowboards in the winter. He had planted the flag of his personal identity out there somewhere between extreme-sport athlete, punk rocker and hippie. 

But Brett really didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life, except “I wanted adventure. I wanted to see the world a little bit,” he said.

To read the rest of the article, including mention of Brett’s ride across the Arizona Trail and the deep connection he found with Grand Canyon, click here.