Each day, we dedicate our ride to someone. This inspires us to keep going, even when things might get tough. Our ride today was dedicated to an individual from our community who was diagnosed with cancer recently, and fights the battle each day for their two young children. She shared her story at one of our fundraisers, and it made an impact on our team.

Our team put in a lot of hard work today and successfully completed the first day of riding! We started off in Central Park where we met with the Be Positive Foundation, another one of our wonderful beneficiaries. We are so inspired to see the work of these organizations and are thankful that we have gotten to know so many great people while in New York! You can read more about B+ here: https://bepositive.org/

We have to admit… New York is a little different than Illinois in terms of the landscape… lots of hills for us to conquer. Today we did a total of 64 miles and had elevation changes of 3,600 feet. In Illinois, there is only a 1,000 foot difference between the highest and lowest point in the state. Everyone stayed strong and positive and made it to Beacon in time for a Spaghetti and Lentil dinner, a LOT of stretching, and a little bit of time to relax.

We have a long journey ahead of us, but all journeys must begin somewhere, and today’s began with our first peddle, first mile, and first completed day!

Stayover Shoutout: Thank you to the St. Andrew and St. Luke Episcopal Church for giving us a place to sleep after our first day of biking.

Rider Shoutout: Marie was an awesome rider today (as always)! She stayed very positive even when her team took a little detour, and took control of asking for help when needed. We are glad to have Marie on our team!