Minus two wheels.
My last two days have felt strangely temporary, as if homeis just another destination of a brief stay. I arrived home Thursday afternoon,and my 41 hours in town have already evaporated. We actually spent a few morehours in New Orleans last weekend than I have at home. Before I knew it, I hadmy duffel bag and backpack packed up again, ready to leave town. This time, I’mleaving on a bus with a few more people.
You’ve probably heard of the ride before if you know my Dad,or heard him talk about it for the last decade at St. David’s church. If you’reunaware of the ride or the house, allow me a brief description: the AnchorHouse is a shelter for homeless, runaway, and abused children in the Trentonarea. They provide life saving assistance to young children & adults. Theirservices range from emergency housing, life skills training, and counseling, toname only a few. A huge portion of Anchor House's operating budget comes fromthe funds raised by the riders every year, which is the main goal of the Ride forRunaways. This year is the 34th annual Ride for Runaways (my fourth year),where more than 200 riders and support crew will be bussing down to Staunton,VA to begin the 7-day, 500 mile bicycle ride back to Pennington, NJ.
We leave on the buses shortly from Waterfront Park. It’s tooearly for this stuff, but luckily this post is pre-written for posting thismorning. For those of you who wonder how I can possibly do this ride afterthree weeks on a cross-country road trip… you’ve got company. The hiking we didin late June may help, as well as the approximately 100 miles I rode in earlyJune, but I’m mostly relying on my soccer thighs and general athletic ability.It also helps that I ride with my Pops and his friend Dick Currie, who keep agood, steady pace during the ride while also letting me go finish the hills asquickly as possible. No, the ride is not a race. Yes, this IS the least I’ve trained for a ride in my four yearsof doing it. It’ll probably turn out to be thehottest as well. Wish me luck, ah?
This year, the ride’s route is very similar to the one I didin my second year (2010). The only differences lie in the first two days thruVirginia. This year we start in Staunton, and then go thru Woodstock on our wayto Winchester. In 2010, we started in Charlottesville (UVA!) and went thruCulpepper before getting into Winchester. The ride’s collective thoughts arestill with Doug McCune, who tragically died on the ride’s final day in 2011.
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| Different, but similar. No, we don't actually ride on the highways. |
If you’d like to donate to the House and help me reach myminimum, here’s the link:
For more information, you can follow these two links below:
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