In a world awash with iPhones, Facebook and vacuity, a group of Eagle Scouts from Fredericksburg has fought the meaninglessness by cycling across America.

Riding their bikes from Stinson Beach, Calif., clear to Virginia Beach, the boys from Troop 165 say they wanted to show the world how Scouting develops character with physical and mental challenges.

“It’s a two-pronged purpose: One, to promote Scouting generally, and second, to promote cycling as a means to a healthy lifestyle,” said Bob Herman, event coordinator, when about 20 riders stopped for breakfast under the Suffolk Visitor Center pavilion Friday.

Riders had cycled from Franklin in the morning and were due to hit Virginia Beach at the end of the day, marking 3,770 miles in 63 days for the core group.

The event began two years ago with fundraising and “training in earnest,” he said, including spinning gym classes through winter, core strength training and, for some of them, weightlifting.

“The whole idea was they needed to stop just cycling and start training with a very specific purpose in mind — to ride day after day after day,” according to Herman.

Nine or 10 of the boys have stuck with the ride from the start, Herman said, including 17-year-old Michael Combs.

“It’s a very interesting experience,” Combs said, citing the journey through Colorado as his personal highlight.

“It was a challenge at first, but we all expected it to be.”

A lot of boys did part of the ride, Herman said. Scout leader Bruce White and assistant leader Michael Prevost have both ridden the entire way.

After putting the pedal down — so to speak — on June 14, they rode out of California and across Nevada, Utah and Colorado, then encountered what Herman said was probably one of the toughest legs — Kansas.

“In seven days they covered 600 to 650 miles, and they had one day off,” he said.

After Missouri they took a little detour up to Illinois — to visit the Superman Museum in the city of Metropolis — then they rode on into Kentucky and across Virginia.

The group averaged 70 miles a day, but it did have rest days, Herman said.

“We have had some accidents, as one would expect,” he said. “Occasionally something will come along that will trip you up — we have had a couple go down and hurt themselves, but nothing to put them permanently out of the situation.”

The youngest on the ride was 15-year-old Tucker Cullen, and 64-year-old Jerry Gerard was the oldest.

Ben Prevost, 18, said his favorite section was across Utah and Colorado. “There was a lot of climbing, but gorgeous scenery,” he said. “You couldn’t take a bad picture.”

His father, Michael Prevost, the assistant leader, said the ride has been “mentally taxing, physically grueling, and just incredibly rewarding.”