Hopkins Ride for Cancer

Last week, when I was in Paonia, my host took me and a buddy to his church for a pot luck dinner. They were hosting a group of kids (college age) that were riding across the country to raise money for cancer. Considering we had just done a killer ride of 20 miles and 6000 ft of climbing, we were just as starved as these riders were. We showed up just a bit late, grabbed some food and sat at a table full of riders. Conversation began about our different disciplines of riding mtn vs. road. It seemed that they were not all experienced road riders, but believed in the cause and were looking for a summer adventure.

They started in May from Baltimore and their goal was to reach the San Francisco Bay Bridge by August 1st. Our casual conversation ended and they gave a little speech to the large congregation that had showed up for the dinner. Large at least for the town of Paonia. Each of the riders stood up, gave their name, where they were from, what year they were in college and who they were riding for. Strangely enough the girl I was sitting next to was from Blue Bell, PA, not far from where I grew up. I was absolutely amazed how each of thier families had been affected by cancer, in different ways. In a very touching way they asked for members of the dinner to let give them names of cancer survivors and cancer vicitims. Almost everyone in the room had at least one name to give. The next morning they recited the list of names to give them strength and motivation to ride on. Our minion cancer survivors were definitely on my mind that night.

My buddy Nate and I got up early the next morning and rode our mountain bikes into town to get some coffee and wish them well on thier journey. Pretty cool to give your summer to go ride for a cause.

thier website http://www.hopkins4k.org/