| | Published September 14th, 2011
| Bike Trek: A Journey of Hope
| | By Lou Fancher |  | |
When Drew Dashner mounted his Cannondale Caad 8 on June 11th in San Francisco, the Lafayette born and raised University of Colorado graduate was planning to attend law school.
“There is no doubt in my mind that this trip is one which will have an incomprehensible effect on not only my life but those who I am fortunate enough to meet along the way,” he wrote in the blog account he kept of his journey.
67 days and almost 3,000 miles later, dismounting on the White House lawn in Washington, D.C., Dashner’s prediction had come true. He and 70 fellow Journey of Hope riders had completed not just a cross-country bike trek, but a magnificent transformation.
Journey of Hope began in 1987 when Bruce Rogers bicycled across the country, raising funds and acceptance for people with disabilities. Since then the Pi Kappa Phi sponsored event, operating under the fraternity’s philanthropic umbrella, PUSH America, has grown. Journey of Hope now consists of 35 teams, three routes covering 32 states and 12,000 miles, and raises $500,000 annually.
“It’s still hard to wrap my head around what I have done,” Dashner said two weeks after his return. “The magnitude is amazing.”
The ride was hard and the schedule taxing, Dashner admitted.
“The cycling was very challenging,” he said. “After riding maybe 100 miles a day, we would have two or three hours of interacting with kids at Friendship Visits. It was a stretch, but some of the parents said it was bigger than a birthday for their kid.”
Friendship visits, including puppet acts to expand awareness about people living with disabilities or shared activities with a host community, were a daily element for most of the journey.
“At one, we met a handful of people who got sick one night and the next day had to have a hand amputated,” Dashner recalled. “To lose something so important in the blink of an eye is so profound.”
The generosity of local residents, who provided home cooked meals, along with astounding demonstrations (including one gentleman who rose from his wheelchair and scaled a 25 foot rock wall in seconds) had a resounding impact on Dashner.
“I learned to focus on their abilities, not their disabilities,” he said.
About himself, Dashner learned that he can change not only his life, but the lives of those around him. His interest in working with populations he described as “on the fringe of society” blossomed, from anxious to enthusiastic.
“There was an initial hesitation, because I was not sure how to interact with them. You have to be conscious about not offending someone—that is what I was scared of,” he confided. “Now, I want to get into corrections to work with youths.”
Brian Wolfman, the college buddy whose journey in 2010 inspired Dashner to sign up, said everyone takes something different away from the experience.
“With Drew, I picked up on his sense of accomplishment,” Wolfman wrote in an email from Colorado, where he is completing his final semester of college. “He continually reminded me that this summer is not about the biking. What the men are really doing is raising half a million dollars for people with disabilities and [giving back].”
Dashner was gradually forgetting the worst days: a 12 hour, 93 mile ride over the Kirkland Pass and a heat index of 128 while battling headwinds in Iowa. “Some people think that Iowa is very flat…and that’s not true!” he laughed, before selecting one last story.
“In Park City, we had a campfire with some blind children and it was cool to hear them say what they wanted to be when they grew up. One wanted to be a fireman and asked, ‘What does fire look like?’ They had lots of imagination and enthusiasm…and hope,” he added.
The 93 riders raised $647,000 for people with differing ability in 2011’s Journey of Hope. |
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