Members of the Hopkins 4K for Cancer team take some time to enjoy a little 4-square game in the basement of the Summit Baptist Church in Wiggins. The church hosted the bicycle riders for a night last week.
Hopkins 4K for Cancer riders stopped in Wiggins and stayed at the Summit Baptist Church.
Wiggins Town Council member Brad Weese welcomed the Hopkins 4K for Cancer team last week.
A group of riders on the Hopkins 4K for Cancer team comes into the outskirts of Wiggins on Morgan County Road Q. They had come almost halfway through the 4,000 miles of their trip from the East Coast to the West Coast.
Every year the Hopkins 4K for Cancer bicycle marathon rides through Wiggins — and this year was no different.
Last week, 25 riders and three team support staffers rode to the Summit Baptist Church after a month on the road. They still had another month to go to finish their 4,000-mile ride from Baltimore to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, said team member Jesse Richter.
The church has hosted the riders for at least five years and others in town had done so before, said Wiggins Town Council member Brad Weese, who greeted the team.
Richter just graduated Johns Hopkins University with a B.S. in civil engineering. Taking the long ride was something he had always wanted to do and it was the perfect thing to do before he started his career, he said.
His family has been touched by cancer. His grandfather had died before Richter was born, he said.
Team member Jessica Arms' family was also touched by the dreaded disease. A week before she set out, her father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and he had surgery two days later, she said.
Fortunately, it had not spread and he's doing well, Arms said.
Others in her family have also contracted cancer of some kind. One died and another fought it for years, she said.
Both of the riders said cancer is something that seems to affect almost everyone, either personally or through knowing someone who has had it.
On top of raising funds for cancer research, the ride is an adventure because not many people get to make such a tour.
“But the cause keeps you going," Richter said.
The 4K is definitely about the cause. Each team member has to raise at least $4,000 in pledges for the effort and major sponsors also chip in. This team raised more than $100,000, he said.
This is no Sunday ride with the kids.
"The first 10 days were rough, but it got easier," Richter said.
On the other hand, the riders do not have to be champion bike riders. Richter said he's a runner and plays rugby, but not a road cyclist. Arms said she's not a serious bike rider, either, but is fit as a cross country runner who has done triathlons and backpacked across Europe and South America.
Of course, the riders don't do it alone. The support staff drive vans that carry gear and are also there with water and food for lunch stops, Richter said.
"They're really pivotal," he said.
Candidates for the trip are interviewed in October and chosen in November each year. Then the teammates get together for training and to work as volunteers at the Hope Lodge, which is a place for families of cancer victims to stay while their loved ones are getting treatment, Richter said.
Most of the riders do not know each other, but it is amazing how they "click," he said.
The team tends to stay in churches along the route, but also stopped at the University of Illinois, Illinois College and some YMCA chapters, Richter said.
Richter was the leg leader for the middle third of the trip, which means he serves as the spokesman for the group. He also has to beg lunch from places along the way, he said.
"We've had a lot of McDonald’s," Richter said.
It was easy finding food in Nebraska, but the job will be harder as the group heads over the Rocky Mountains, through Estes Park and over Trail Ridge Road, and when they hit the desert — not to mention the grueling effort, he said
Nonetheless, the group was excited about a change of scenery, Richter said.
Arms said she's taking the trip because people often talk about the "bleakness in the world … but don't do a lot about it."
"This is a chance to do something," she said.
Arms stresses early detection.
"It saved my dad's life; it will save a lot of lives," she said. Also, diet and exercise can help. "Two-thirds of cancer is preventable."
A third of cancer cases are attributed to smoking and another third to diet, Arms said.
— Contact Dan Barker at business@fmtimes.com.
