On Monday, June 10th, a group of bicyclists headed on a 4,000-mile ride to San Francisco, California, stopped in our community and were immediately met with local support, encouragement, and of course food and shelter.
The 4k for cancer originally started as the Hopkins 4k for Cancer in the fall of 2001. A group of students from the Johns Hopkins University decided to pair their need to fight cancer with their dream of cycling across the country. With the Ulman Foundation officially acquiring the 4k in 2011 the support since has garnered over 7 million dollars raised in the battle against cancer, no small feat.
The San Francisco Team started their ride on June 2nd in Baltimore, Maryland and had ridden approximately 900 miles before arriving just outside of Trinway, Ohio, where they met the rest of their team for lunch and a break at Ralph Emerson’s farm. Ralph was more than happy to greet the riders and had tables setup with sandwiches, bananas, snacks and drinks for when they arrived. The riders and their caravan arrived on time and aside from one injured rider the team was doing well and were glad to have the break. After meeting up the team was taken to the Dresden United Methodist church where they were being hosted by church members as well as other members of the community.
The next day, the team started out early to re-embark on their journey. The riders could be seen going through Dresden out onto State Route 60 Southbound. Ralph rode along for almost 40 miles.
On June 20th, I called one of the riders, Tai Melendy. Melendy said that the team had arrived safely in Chicago and that they would be meeting up with Team Seattle later that evening for dinner. After the two teams meet up they will be headed off in opposite directions across the country.
“I’d say that the hospitality of Dresden has helped us on our journey and this would not be possible without them. Cancer changes lives, so do we.” stated Melendy.
The stay in our community was just at the beginning of the long ride across the country for this team, in fact, they are not scheduled to arrive in San Francisco until the second week of August. It is great to see local support for such a large cause, and it is proof that every little bit can help no matter how small. The Emersons, the United Methodist church, and all of the other community members that had a hand in hosting these riders will have forever touched the lives of people who are spreading hope across our country, a hope that someday we may be able to beat this terrible disease!
