Hopkins 4K for Cancer

June 15, 2007

by Jen Breads
We are officially one-third of the way to San Francisco! We reached this milestone on a busy day full of gorgeous biking, a community BBQ dinner, a bike-a-thon, a few shaved heads and an evening team pow-wow to thank Dewey for his tough work planning our route from Baltimore to Sweet Springs, MO. By the end of the day, many riders agreed that today was their best morning of biking yet! We spent many miles along the Katy trail, which is a gravel (but shaded!) bike path along the Missouri River. There weren’t any cars to worry about but we did have to keep our eyes open for occasional deer. We spent the afternoon on rolling hills and coasted our way into Sweet Springs in time to take a quick dip in the pool before enjoying a great BBQ and bike-a-thon hosted by members of the Sweet Springs community. The kids from Sweet Springs biked in a loop around the park and local cancer victims and survivors were recognized with luminarias. Some H4Kers even agreed to let others shave/cut their hair in “creative” ways if the price was high enough! A few of the guys walked away bald or with Mohawks, firetucks, and mullets. However, their style was sacrificed for a good reason because the bike-a-thon raised over $700 that was generously donated to our cause. For a small town of only 1,400 people, there was a great turn-out for our arrival and bikers will definitely remember the people of Sweet Springs for their extreme generosity and enthusiasm in supporting us.