Week 1: This is About Life

Day one: June 5^th, 2016  

Baltimore-York, PA

After 3 days of training in Baltimore, we dipped our rear tires into the inner harbor and took our first few peddles of our summer journey. It was a bit of mad house as we followed chalk arrows out of the city that our water van drivers had drawn minutes before. We quickly learned how to spot directions, point out holes in the road, and yell out when cars are approaching from behind. We look and sound like a bunch of hollering tourists, over excited by man-hole covers and broken glass.

When we were three hours into our ride, one of our teammates, Jen, crashed her bike into a curb while going down a hill at a fast pace. She was taken to the hospital where she had extensive surgeries for her many broken bones. Not only was Jen compassionate and generous, she is also incredibly strong. We have already received messages from her detailing her recovery!!

After waiting to hear from the hospital to see how she was doing, we continue our ride that day in honor of Jen and her strength. The rest of our ride consisted of wrong turns, missed arrows, and steep hills. Unfortunately, we seemed to always find out we had gone the wrong way after AFTER climbing a long, steep hill.

Finally, we found the correct path and got to ride on a bike trail that ran along a beautiful north-western Pennsylvanian river for about an hour and a half before we were caught in epic thunderstorm/down pour. It went from sunny to scary in about 20 seconds, and luckily we found refuge in the house of a very kind women and at least 8 friendly cats. Apparently she had had a party the night before and had tons of leftover cookies, cakes, apple pie, ice cream, and brownies. We huddled in her living room, eating treats and playing checkers for about an hour as we waited for the rain to subside.

Eating snacks

Checkers Champ Leslie

 Day two:

York, PA-Shippensburg, PA

A biking day is surprisingly diverse and almost never consists of just biking to a water stop, drinking water, and then biking on. Mechanical failure is a near constant occurrence, but we make the most out of being stuck on the side of the road with a malfunctioning gear shifter by having photo shoots, making flower crowns, and relaxing on people’s lawns. One of my favorite parts of 4K is how completely reliant we are on the generosity of the people around us. If we are in the middle of nowhere and need a shady place to have a water break, it is more than acceptable to knock on a door, and ask if we can sit on their lawn and use their bathroom. People are blown away by what we are doing, and often share their own connections to the cancer community.

An example of this universal generosity can be seen at the top of our first climb in the Appalachians.  Last year, Dave, a local to that area, saw 30 bikers laboring up the mountain and was deeply moved that there were biking for cancer. This year, he contacted us, and said he wanted to provide snacks and support for our first big climb of the summer. We struggled up to his driveway to find a table laden with fruit, bread, pb, Nutella, granola bars, and Gatorades. It is acts of kindness like these that make biking across the country possible.

Day three:

Shippensburg, PA- State College, PA

Every day, 4 people have to rack their bikes to drive our two vans. The water van chalks the route of the riders, and provides water/snack  at stops. The host van takes all our bags to where we will be staying that night, and then they go out into the community and ask for food donations. We get all our food donated by local groceries, restaurants, and our hosts. We simply explain what were are doing, and that we want every bit of money we raise to go to young adults with cancer. Most business are thrilled to give us twenty burritos or sandwiches. This day was my turn to drive the water van, and it was one of the hardest biking days because it was 87 miles over 3 HUGE passes. I was blown away by the heart of our team as they peddled their hardest to make it to the host before it was too dark to ride, and we would have to rack their bikes. We were greeted by a homemade taco bar that was complete with vegetarian beans. It was so good I teared up

Day 4

State College, PA

Rest day! It was a lethargic day of laundry and searching for the perfect Pennsylvania sticker to put on our bikes.

Day 5

State College, PA-St. Mary’s, PA

Every morning before we start our ride, we have a dedication circle. We hold hands and say who we are riding for that day, and then write those names on back of our calves. This day we rode for Sherwin, one of our teammates, and his mom.  This day also happened to be our first century ride of the season, and the first in my life. We originally only had to go 87 miles, but we got lost again, and ended up riding 100 miles over 4 passes in the Appalachians. We had to push the pace the entire time to make it before dark, and it was an exhilarating day. There is not much to compare to watching the country-side change around you as you move yourself across a state.

Day 6

St. Mary’s, PA-Oil City, PA

This morning, many of us rode for Marcella, a teammate’s grandmother who is battling Leukemia and met us at the church we were staying at to provide dinner and breakfast. We rolled away from the church with her name written on our legs, and our vans filled with yummy snacks. The generosity never ceases. That night, we arrived in Oil City, PA and were greeted by a reporter and a group of ecstatic community members.  That night, they shared their own connections to cancer, and one story told by a women named Peg, stood out to most of us. Peg is a breast cancer survivor, and also used to be an avid biker. Where most of the stories told that night were of loss, Peg started off by telling us our 4K ride is not about death, but about life. We are spreading inspiration and saving lives with what we are doing, so that is what we should focus on.

Day 7  

Oil City, PA- Warren, OH

As is expected by having 22 riders around each other every day Was tired, sick, 3^rd day in a row of long biking. Hit a huge ass hill, but to know that I was riding for Peg that day channeled my tiredness into happiness at the chance I have to ride and fundraise for amazing people such as her.