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Monday, November 18, 2002

By Carmen J. Lee, Post-Gazette Education Writer

By the time you read this, Dan Oshop of Greenfield could have pedaled to Miami if his bike had been on the road.

Dan Oshop talks with his friend, Darlene Kuhn, while pedaling on a stationary bike at Bruster's Old Fashioned Ice Cream & Yogurt shop in Squirrel Hill. Eleven-year-olds Jimmy Lehner, left, and Robert Cronin check out one of the bikes. (Martha Rial, Post-Gazette) To pledge: Oshop's Bruster's is at 4070 Beechwood Blvd., Squirrel Hill. His phone number is 412-805-7795 and his e-mail is doshop@aol.com.

But round-the-world cycling was his adventure for 2000.

Since 5 a.m. Saturday, he's set his sights on breaking the world record for nonstop cycling by riding a stationary bike in the window of his Bruster's Old Fashioned Ice Cream & Yogurt shop in Squirrel Hill.

Besides trying to get into the Guinness Book of World Records, Oshop, 50, is raising money through pledges for Katie's Fund, which supports pediatric cancer research at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

He said after meeting some Children's Hospital officials at a PNC Park event last year, he tried "to think of something I could do to help them that wouldn't cost a lot of money."

Clad in black biker tights and two T-shirts -- a white short-sleeved one layered over a long-sleeved tan one -- he was hundreds of imaginary miles on the way to his goal yesterday. In an arrangement designed to make nonstop pedaling more bearable, he cycled in front of two television sets and a medium-size white screen.

One television had a donated satellite hookup that allowed him to watch the Steelers football game. The other had a VCR that he used to regale friends with a video of him bungy-jumping in South Africa. On the screen, he showed slides of his around-the-world cycling trek in 2000, which also raised money for cancer research.

Family and friends, including a group of neighborhood boys who made several trips to the store counter for ice cream treats, took turns riding on another stationary bike as they kept Oshop company. Under Guinness rules, he has to alternate bikes, both of which were donated for the event, every eight hours.

Oshop also has kept the store open around-the-clock so visitors can stop by.

"Four people came in at 3 a.m. They were some of my good buds," he said. "It's so much easier when it's like this, with friends. It takes your mind off your legs."

Oshop said that at 6:45 tonight he will have broken the world mark of 60 hours. But he plans to cycle for four or five more hours after that to raise more money, put the record further out of reach and coincide with 11 p.m. local newscasts.

By yesterday's Steelers game, he had pedaled more than 704 miles at an average rate of 21.35 miles per hour.

Oshop's nourishment included protein drinks and bars and a couple of sandwiches. He's allowed 15-minute breaks every eight hours, which he uses for quick 10-minute naps and a change of clothes.

When nature calls, volunteers cover him with a blanket so that he can use a plastic, medical urinal as he continues to pedal.

"I think he has a good attitude and a great spirit," said Pam Glaser, an operating room nurse at UPMC Montefiore and one of the medical specialists who volunteered to monitor Oshop's progress. "He has to be commended for what he is doing."