Tammy Schurr ceremoniously completed her cross-country journey by dipping her feet and front bike tire in the Atlantic Ocean.

Combining her love of the outdoors, her passion for cycling, her fondness for travel and her knack for management, she decided to help lead an Adventure Cycling Association tour through the southern United States. The southern tier route from San Diego, California, to St. Augustine, Florida, crossed just west of Silver City, south of the Mesilla Valley and into the upper valley of El Paso along the way.

Schurr and eight other group members made the more than 3,000-mile trek, with no guide vehicle, from March 23 to May 27, 2004.

As Schurr and her group rode toward the Atlantic, Schurr made a radio diary of the journey, which was broadcast on KRWG-FM with the help of Carrie Hamblen ’95, KRWG-FM personality and project coordinator.

Schurr is no stranger to radio. She graduated from NMSU with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications and as a student, she worked as program director at the student radio station, KNMS, which is now KRUX. Schurr also worked at KRWG-FM as the student production director.

Once a week, Schurr called in to KRWG from the road with a cell phone, sometimes while riding, or Hamblen would play MP3 excerpts Schurr had recorded from the road and later mailed in to KRWG.

The tour was 65 days, but Schurr was forced to break from the tour nine of those days due to food poisoning, heat exhaustion and dehydration. She met up with her team members later to finish the route. The group concluded the trip by dipping their front bicycle tires and their feet into the Atlantic Ocean.

“It was a great project,” Hamblen says. “It was certainly something that was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.”

Hamblen says Schurr and her group had quite a following locally and internationally. The KRWG Web site had some of the most hits ever because of Schurr’s adventure.

For Schurr, the project proved to be rewarding as well. She says several people who followed her journey have recognized and praised her – something she has enjoyed tremendously.

Schurr, a New Mexican native and Las Cruces resident for 24 years, has been cycling most of her life, but didn’t begin serious tour cycling until 2002, when she did a mountain bike tour in Montana. In 2003, she took Adventure Cycling’s Leadership Training Course in Port Townsend, Washington. That same year, Schurr and a friend founded R.O.Y.A.L.S. (Riding Out Yonder At Leisurely Speeds), a local women’s cycling group.

Schurr says there are tentative plans for a new adventure but where and when are still to be decided.

“The biggest question now is how do I sustain myself by doing the things I love?” she says.

To listen to excerpts from the trip or to learn more about Schurr’s adventures, go to www.krwgfm.org/tammy.