SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2017
Cycling
from 1B
It was conceived by Chris
Condit, a UT Austin student
who himself was a survivor of
Hodgkin’s lymphoma since the
age of 11, as a way to not only
raise awareness for cancer
research, but funds as well.
Only a Herculean gesture
could fight the epidemic of
cancer, so the gauntlet was set;
Every year, undergraduates
and graduates from the Texas
school would make a 4,500
mile bicycle ride from their
comfortable dorm rooms in
Austin to the harsh environ-
ment of Alaska.
The riders — 71 in all this
year — ask anyone for dona-
tions toward cancer research,
or to simply share stories about
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Hoberg’s
Sandland Adventures. After
that, it’s off to Coast Fitness
for a dip in the pool and relax-
ation in the sauna.
Afterwards, a giant feast
awaits them at St. Andrew’s.
Finally, the cyclists break up
into smaller groups where
Andrew’s paritioners and local
volunteers invite the students
to spend a night in their homes.
Early the next morning
they’re back on the road again,
with a quick stop to the Sea
Lion Caves.
The pinnacle of Friday’s fes-
tivities was the St. Andrew’s
meal. Seventy-two people
were served: 23 Sierra route
cyclists and 49 hosts and
guests.
The meal is “Thanksgiving
in July,” a two-room buffet
featuring all the traditional fix-
ings: Turkey, mashed potatoes,
green bean casserole and every
type of dessert imaginable.
Elbow room was sparse in
the dinner hall, but the feeling
was intimate. Cyclists sat with
hosts and traded stories about
why they were there, what
Florence was like and the
problems of cycling through
adverse conditions.
The students stood up and
said who they were, what they
were majoring in and a funny
story about their journey. This
is where the complaints of the
snoring kept creeping up.
Toward the end of the
cancer survival.
The students split up into
three routes to work their way
to the “last frontier.” The
Ozarks route winds its way
through the Midwest; The
Rockies route cuts through the
great western mountain range.
And then there’s the Sierra
route, considered by some to
be the most grueling of the
bunch as it goes through the
sweltering deserts of Nevada
and up through the hilly
Californian, Canadian and
Oregon coasts.
It holds the toughest climb
of all the routes with a 15,000-
foot elevation and 111 miles in
the Lake Tahoe area.
“Brutal,” was the only word
cyclist Sarah Nielsen could say
of that leg of the trip.
And it’s not luxury living.
Sometimes on a desolate
stretch of the Nevada
“Extraterrestrial” highway,
they’ll sleep in tents. Food is
scarce and their breakfast often
consists of a bag of Skittles
candy. And, as many will tell
you, the snoring of fellow trav-
elers keeps them up at night.
But that’s generally not the
norm. Riders rely on different
host institutions along the
route to put them up for the
night. St. Andrew’s in Florence
is one of them.
When cyclists first arrive in
town, they’re treated to their
own dune buggy tour at
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NO N-PROFIT SPOTLIGHT
Boys & Girls Club of Western Lane County
Q: Describe your organization.
A: We know the future of our country rests with our children.
Today’s kids will become tomorrow’s parents, workforce, and
leaders. Our community of staff , volunteers, parents, and
supporters believe that the promise of tomorrow begins today.
Together, we give our youth a sense of hope, opportunity, and a
sense that Anything Is Possible.
Q: What are your greatest accomplishments so far, this year?
A: 21 of the 30 teens that attend the Teen Center at least 3
times a week were on the Middle School Honor Roll. 8 of the 21
had a 4.0 GPA. 100% of the teens that attend the Club at least 2
times a week are on track to graduate on time.
One of the most important roles we perform is fi ghting the
issue of homelessness. One of our primary eff orts is to teach kids
life skills and help them learn how to be successful in life so that
they don’t become homeless. Keeping kids off the street every
day in a safe, supervised, fun, positive environment while they
learn is what we do best.
Q: Do you have a personal story that describes the impact
your organization has had in the community?
A: What sets us apart from other organizations is our only
focus is kids and all our programs are specifi cally designed for
kids from 6 - 18. Every day we touch at least 100 kids and
their families in this community. We teach life skills to build
character, citizenship and academic achievement. We actively
focus on “catching kids doing it right” and to show them what
success looks like. We mentor kids of all ages on topics that range
from safe dating practices, to hygiene, how to handle confl ict,
and how to communicate eff ectively. We share their joy, their
struggles, their fears, and their achievement every day.
Q: What is your current greatest need?
A: 64% of the students in our Programs have been identifi ed
by multiple state agencies as Economically Disadvantaged. 11%
identifi ed as Underserved. 40% of our current members come
from single parent households that have no other place that they
can aff ord. During our Summer Program, 48% of the members
were on full scholarships at a cost of $18,800. Because we do
not receive any state or federal funding for any of our programs,
our greatest need is donations that fund our programs so that no
child is ever turned away because of money.
Q: Describe your organizations
personality in three words.
A: Hope, Love, Faith
Boys & Girls Club
of Western Lane County
1501 Airport Road,
Florence, OR
541-902-0304
evening, a small group of
cyclists got up in front of the
crowd and shared the ideals of
the Texas 4000; hope, knowl-
edge and charity. The points
were covered with personal
stories of those who cycle,
why they cycle and the cir-
cumstances that led them to
take this journey.
They asked for money at the
end, but they felt it wasn’t the
driving force of the evening.
Comradery, they agreed,
was the true spirit.
When asked about what she
learned about herself on the
trip, cyclist Brittany Perez said
she was so surprised by the
basic common kindness of
people.
“I had never realized that
before,” she said, looking
around at all the smiling faces
in the room. “I was so scared
to go up to people and ask for
help; we have to ask for dona-
tions all the time. I didn’t think
anyone would ever say ‘yes.’
But so many people did. You
just don’t realize how many
good people are in the world.”
Chuck Pennington, Terri’s
husband and co-organizer,
agreed with that sentiment.
“What we get out of them
here is just amazing,” he
explained. “There’s not too
many people here under 40, or
even under 50.
“To get that many young
people together gives us hope
for the future. It helps us real-
ize it’s in good hands.”
Looking at the group, one
would never have guessed they
were cyclists, aside from their
garb. Body types ran the
gamut. The rules disallow any-
one from repeating the jour-
ney, becoming mentors in sub-
sequent years. Most new par-
ticipants have really just biked
around their childhood towns.
This isn’t about the sport of it
all; it’s about the cause.
Matthew Blake Lovelace is
the most experienced cyclist of
the bunch, riding since he was
11. As he did charity rides with
his father and grandfather,
cycling became a way of life.
“I love riding because it’s a
place where I feel completely
at peace,” he said.
His experience is the excep-
tion however, not the rule.
Most are only casual riders
with past excursions being
their neighborhood cul-de-sacs
or paved bike lanes, not the
steep terrains of the Sierras.
And then there’s cyclist
Natalie Bonjourno.
“I’m the one who didn’t
know how to ride a bike,” she
said. When asked how she got
to her 20s without ever being
on a bicycle, she had no idea.
“It just didn’t come up,” she
laughed, explaining that she
learned to ride a bike the day
before the group started train-
ing.
“I called my dad and was
kind of freaking out. He got on
an airplane to fly from Dallas
to Austin just to teach me to
ride a bike,” Bonjourno admit-
ted.
Now she’s an avid fan.
“Sometimes people on the
route say, ‘I’m never going to
ride a bike again.’ I could do
this every day now.”
But why did someone who
never rode a bike before
decide to take a summer spin
to Alaska?
“My cousin was diagnosed
with ovarian cancer,” she
explained. “Right around the
time I heard about the Texas
4000, she was in hospice care.
I thought that by riding and I
could continue her battle. I
found out I got in (the race) the
day after she passed away.”
Every rider had, in one way
or another, a personal experi-
ence with cancer.
Lovelace’s grandfather, who
he used to do charity rides
with, was diagnosed with
prostate cancer.
“I ride for him every day,”
he said.
Nielsen’s father was diag-
nosed with terminal kidney
cancer. He died within a year.
“I don’t want another
daughter to go through that
experience,” she said.
For Terri Pennington, a
retired nurse who had fre-
quently seen the devastation
that cancer could leave behind
through her work, the ravages
of the disease hit her at an
early age. When she was 16,
her mother, at 52 years of age,
lost her battle with cancer.
“That was a big motivator
for me to host the group,” she
recalled.
The stories go on and on.
This became particularly
noticeable
during
the
Thanksgiving dinner, with
hosts and cyclists sitting side
by side, sharing their stories of
survival and loss.
For the cyclists, cancer had
come as a sudden shock in
their young lives: A mother, a
father, an aunt, an uncle or a
friend.
For the hosts, the wounds
and tolls of the disease were
long felt and continuing: A
husband, a wife, a son, a
daughter and even sometimes
themselves.
Younger generations looked
to the future with fear, and
older generations looked to the
past with grief.
Cancer was the grim unifier.
But on that warm summer
afternoon at the St. Andrew’s
Episcopal Church, fear gave
way to hope. For every tragic
story of loss that was recited,
even more stories of survival
were revealed.
Survival that, they believed,
was only made possible with
moments like these; disparate
groups from across the nation,
overcoming socioeconomic
and generational barriers, sit-
ting down together and simply
talking, sharing and giving.
Selfless acts in defiance of
fear, with the ultimate hope
that cancer would one day
fade, dinner-by-dinner, story-
by-story.
And mile-by-mile.
HARDWARE
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rear
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