Bike trip from Seattle to Gloucester to raise awareness of PTSD

Vacation Spent Helping Veterans
Cyclist Rides Across Country

By LORETTA WALDMAN | Courant Staff Writer
September 5, 2007

SIMSBURY - In mid-June, 53-year-old Tariffville resident Wayne Coste began a 4,200-mile coast-to-coast bicycle trip.

The 64-day journey, which took him and 25 other cyclists through 13 states and a Canadian province, began in Seattle and ended Aug. 18 in Gloucester, Mass.

That may seem less than relaxing as vacations go, but Coste wasn't looking to kick back.

He was on a mission to raise awareness about the plight of returning military personnel suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, an invisible but devastating psychological wound affecting one in five veterans returning from Iraq.

Coste, an engineer with ISO New England, is not a veteran, nor is he close to anyone diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. His interest in the condition, he said, began with reading articles about how difficult it can be for veterans to get treatment. It solidified in October when he attended a presentation by Dr. Edward Tick, director of Soldier's Heart, an Albany, N.Y.-based nonprofit that promotes community-based efforts helping service personnel and their families heal from the effects of war.
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