BY MELISSA SCOTT SINCLAIR

Snow-smothered sidewalks and cutting winds kept most Newark residents inside this week. But the few who ventured out may have noticed a lone figure on South College Avenue, struggling through the snow on a bike, pulling a trailer behind him.

Dave Boyd is not discouraged by a little snow. After 10 years spent cycling through 37 states, he still has 13 left to see - and not even Newark's worst weather can stop him.

"Weather really doesn't bother me - I've been in 15-degree weather at night and I'm warm," Boyd says, although his face is reddened by the wind. His hands are calloused and his fingernails are broken from miles of biking, but he still has a grin for anyone who asks him about his quest.

"People ask me 'Where are you going? Where are you coming from?'" His eyes shine with mischief as he gives his favorite sarcastic response to overly curious questioners: "I came here from my planet. I came here to look for my cell phone."

But that's not the real reason. Biking through all 50 states had been a dream since childhood, says the 45-year-old Boyd. One day he just decided to start, saying, "I'd better do it before I'm too old and I can't do it."

That was 10 years ago and he is still going strong. He's been in 11 accidents on the road, but he says he always wears a helmet and so far has escaped serious injury.

He's now taking a brief break from traveling to update his Web site, on which he chronicles his adventures as a "technomad." Click on "Where's Dave" and Newark, Del., pops up.

But that's only one town on a long list. Ask Boyd how far he's come and his hand describes a sweeping arc - from California to Florida and up to Maine - on the weather-stained map of the United States attached to the trailer on his bike.

The trailer holds the essentials of a life on the road - camping gear, extra clothes, bread and peanut butter. He also tows a 75-pound battery, powered by solar panels, for his ham radio and CD player.

" Jazz and 'Good ol' male-hormone, get-down boot-kickin'' music," he says. "Hell yeah - that's the kind of music I like."

All his gear and himself together totals 675 pounds. That's a lot to haul through the Rockies, across snowy Delaware or out of a Mississippi swamp, but Boyd says he prides himself on his self-reliance. He estimates he spends no more than four or five dollars per day on living expenses. At night, he camps out and he makes his own meals on a propane stove.

"How do I eat? With my mouth," he says with a wry grin. "Cook up some eggs, some Top Ramen, filet mignon, whatever kind of grub I like."

All the time he says he meets people who say they wish they could do what Boyd has done - leave their jobs, their bills, their responsibilities and just go. They often sigh and say, "Since I can't, here's a little something so you can follow your dream", and slip him a $20 bill. "So that helps out," Boyd says.

But he believes there's nothing to stop people from doing what he's done. Physically, all that's required is determination, says Boyd, a diabetic who gives himself insulin shots twice daily.

A solitary life on the road is another kind of challenge - a mental one. "I think anyone could do it - just have to have the mind for it," he says, tapping his head.

He's met hundreds of people, and his e-mail address book holds several screens full of names. But Boyd admits the life of a cyclist can be lonely. Just three days ago he started thinking about his father, whom he hasn't seen in a few years, he says. He says he plans to head to Oregon next summer to try to find him.

From his native California, where he was a Sailor, he cycled to Hawaii ("Had a long snorkel," he says - but then admits he flew) and then across the southern United States. After three-and-a-half years on the road, he took a five-year break in Jacksonville, Fla., where he started a commerciao window cleaning business to make some money.

"One day, I said it's time to hit the road again," he says. Boyd then decided to head north along the East Coast, bringing him through Delaware on his way to Maine. After hitting the northernmost point in the state, he's now southbound once again. This is his second time through Delaware and his first in Newark.

And who knows - he might pass through again before his travels are over. Boyd has no plans to give his wheels a rest anytime soon.

"Too many people live a life that they think they want to live, but I don't think it's the life they'd like to live," he muses. "They get stuck in a rut."

That's one thing that can't be said about Dave Boyd, bicycle nomad.

To follow Dave Boyd on his travels, visit his Web site at http://Bicyclenomad.tripod.com