Carnegie, PA to Cadiz, OH
This morning I had the mosher, which I have mentioned before, but never really explained. The mosher is a tradition within the Illini 4000, which started when the first team found a lost ski pass on thke side of the road with a hilarious picture on it. The pass was for a guy named Eric Mosher, and for the rest of the ride, having the "Mosher" became an honor. So, fast forward three years, and now, having the mosher means that each morning immediately before the ride starts, the person who has the mosher has a few minutes to do what they want in front of the entire group. Some people make everyone give each other hugs, most people give some sort of speech about their reason for doing the trip, or an inspiring speech of some sort. It has become a sort of game to secretly give the mosher to someone else after you have done it, and some people like to make it a challenge never to get caught with the mosher. Mr. Mosher apparently found out about this tradition by googling his name two or three years ago, and loves the tradition, so much so that he sent in a replacement ski pass when it was lost during last year's trip.
Anyways, thats the story as far as I understand. I had the mosher this morning, so I used the opportunity to talk about two different reasons as to why I really love this trip. First, I really love that we have the ability to inspire people. I love talking to people and telling them what we do, and hopefully, not only will some of these people donate to our cause, but my hope is that they will ask themselves if they are doing everything that they can in order to help the causes that they care about. If they see that 25 kids from Illinois can ride their bikes across the country in 64 days, maybe they can donate blood, or bone marrow, or work on their own organizations, whatever they may be. Maybe their little kids will grow up and remember us and realize that they too can do something as ridiculous as riding across the country for a summer. People are capable of amazing things if we just push ourselves. The important thing is that people realize that every little bit helps, and everyone can make a difference.
The second thing I love about this trip is that it is very relatable, and I mean that in a few different ways. Not only is the trip fun for us most of the time, it can also be pretty terrible at times. When we have been lost for three hours and have to ride up another super steep hill thats 4 miles long, I feel like stopping, I want to quit, we all get frustrated, etc. For me, I liken the ride to the life of a cancer patient, and I know there will be good days, like when we are only riding 40 miles on a beautiful day, but also, other days will be awful. We might ride through terrible weather up and down huge hills and the only thing I can think about is stopping and waiting for the van because there is no way that I could possibly make it another foot up this hill. Cancer patients face the same sorts of rollercoaster rides every time they go through chemo. But I also made a promise to myself to never give up on this trip, to never walk a single step of this journey, just like my father and all of the other cancer patients in the world who never gave up fighting for their lives. Cancer patients have good days and bad days, the same as us, and I try to think of that as I go up every hill, and just try to remember that whatever I am feeling, however hard it is for us to ride up these hills or through inclement weather, it is infinitely harder to go through chemo. For them, there is only the threat of death, with no support van to pick them up if their legs get tired. These cancer patients go to the hospital knowing that the nurses are about to try to push them as close as possible to death and then bring them back, so that their good cells can recover, and then repeat until hopefully, none of the bad cells remain. Cancer is terrifying, and the most devastating thing most people have ever encountered, and nearly everyone has been touched in some way by it, which just makes this journey that much more important for me.
In other news, today's ride was pretty uneventful, hills weren't too bad once we left Pennsylvania, and other than the awful roads we encountered in Ohio, the ride was pretty nice. We passed through West Virginia briefly and ended up in Cadiz, Ohio, at a beautiful church. Tomorrow we ride another 65 miles to Zanesville, OH, and are once again hoping for easier hills. Pics at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8300819@N03/
States traveled through:9(NY,NJ,PA, DE, MD, DC, VA, WV, OH)
Distance today: 65 mi
Total Distance traveled: 730 mi