Hopkins 4K for Cancer

June 2, 2007

by Kara Brown
65 miles of sunny skies on gloriously-paved roads along Lake Erie = amazing.

Today was heralded as one of the most gorgeous days of the trip, as we’d be riding right alongside the lake for the majority of the day, and the day certainly exceeded our expectations.

I rode with Drew and Allie and Nicole today, and well…Drew and Allie, how do I put this?, are wicked fast. Nicole and I, well, we try really hard. It ended up being quite a fun day though… Drew and Allie demonstrated mad patience…and I think Drew currently holds the longest no-hands record as of today…6 miles.

Lunch was basically amazing. Today's van drivers, Olympia & Michelle, did a great job of getting delicious food for us… a local Subway along Lake Eerie provided us with an amazingly generous donation of subs and the very nice manager made us some fantastic cookies (Subway seriously has amazing cookies). We learned later that the owner's wife is a 2-year survivor and we are honored by his support of our campaign.

Our last water stop of the day consisted of a little swimming in the lake…and perhaps the most amazing part of the day… In the parking lot to the swimming area, a man came up to us because he saw our vans that had been freshly painted with "Hopkins 4K for Cancer, Baltimore--> San Francisco" along with our website. After introducing himself as a 5-year survivor, he said, "Thank you for doing this. It is so important." It's amazing how moments like these just pop up throughout the trip, when we least expect it. This is when I know we are making a difference for people.

Arun got his 7th flat tire while his bike was literally laying underneath a tree. phenomenal. After lunch our group accidentally took a short detour, but Logan’s superior phone-answering skills saved the day, and we finally found our way to Jackson Middle School where Principal Scott and several other teachers had a truly fantastic spread out for us…fresh perch (basically delicious), lasagna, cake, fruit, and chocolate milk (which we downed in about 5 minutes). Everyone at Jackson Middle were such fantastic hosts, they welcomed us with open arms and fed us delicious food. We love you guys!!

After we stuffed ourselves, 12 of us decided to go to Cedar Point for a few hours, where Eric’s masterful knowledge of the park got us to all the good rides…including the one Eric had waited nearly 2 years to finally ride. Others crashed back in the school gym for the most part, as our group did when we got back, in preparation for our 102-mile day tomorrow!