Hopkins 4K for Cancer

Chris Flory

Trip Year: 2005
School: JHU
Hometown: Richmond, IN
Email: cflory@hopkins4k.org

There are so many reasons that I can't list them all, but here are the top three:
#1) You miss too many of the important things in life if you move too fast, so riding a bike seems like a much better way to absorb and respect the greatness of the country than driving across it in a car or flying over it in a plane.
#2) I'm looking forward to the intense challenges of the journey--both physical and mental. I am also looking forward to sharing in and discussing these experiences with 25 amazing, like-minded individuals.
#3) I absolutely believe in the message and the mission of the Hopkins 4K. Everyone has been touched by cancer in one way or another, whether they have had it themselves or know a friend or relative who has. I myself lost a grandmother to cancer before I was old enough to know her, and lost a classmate to leukemia in elementary school. I also have friends here at Hopkins who thankfully fought and beaten cancer. It is in honor of the people that my friends and family have lost, those who have already won the battle, and those who are still fighting courageously to overcome the disease that I will ride this summer and spread the 4K's message of awareness and hope.

Age: 22
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Future Plans: Stay in the Baltimore/DC area and find a job! Any job will do--life is an adventure after all--but ideally I'd like to work in environmental consulting, environmental law or an environmental non-profit. Notice a trend? Notice what my degree is in? OOPS! Longer term goals are to go back to school for an advanced degree once I get bored with work and to make cycling and rock climbing an integral part of my life until I'm too old and arthritic to do either (at which point I'll just continue to wander and enjoy the countryside by foot).