Hopkins 4K for Cancer

June 26, 2005

Arapahoe, NE
We had the luxury of waking up at 7:15 A.M. today after a wonderful day at Franklin, Nebraska. After the Relay for Life there, we came back to the church to prepare for bed, but some people went back to the Relay to walk a few extra laps- how awesome. After a delicious breakfast, we readied our bikes and prepared to head out. During our morning meeting, we dedicated our ride to Benjamin, who is now 14 and diagnosed with cancer at age 9. So, throughout the day, we would remember Benjamin to keep us going. Also during morning meeting, we were told the route today wouldn't be 50ish miles, but could potentially be around 70 since there was construction on the route we were originally supposed to take- thankfully our leg leader, Cheng, did her homework and we had a a way to get to Arapahoe, Nebraska. So, my group head out in good spirits since it wasn't that humid yet, and the weather was relatively nice.

Lo, and behold, soon as the weather seemed so gentle, the ogre of the raging winds came out. But before that, we were going north for a while, and we had tail wind the entire way. We were going 20 miles per hour with little to no effort. We stopped a few times to take pictures of the beautiful corn fields which stretched to the horizon with no sign of ending. As soon as we turned on the road, though, the raging winds came. To a cyclist, tail wind is frustrating because it draws energy out of the cyclist and extra effort is needed to even go downhill. But with the support of our group, we helped each other out by stopping on top of hills, and so forth. When going up hills, everyone goes at a different pace so the faster teammates wait on top of the hill to support the rest of the team. It actually turned out to be around 64 miles, but still a very pleasant day. In some ways, it was like most other days, where we yell out 'Hey cow!' and 'Mooo!' to get the cows to move alongside us. We actually got a whole bunch of them to stampede- it was a neat sight. In general, it was a lot of rolling hills with some stiff headwind but we all made it to the First United Methodist Church in Arapahoe.

We would like to thank all the gracious community hosts in Arapahoe who volunteered to house the Hopkins 4K riders in their own homes, thank you so much. I saw a television set playing in my host' s home and was amazed, since we had been so disconnected from civilization, especially the world of entertainment. We would also like to thank the First United Methodist Church for giving us a place to put our bikes, our bags and most importantly, for feeding us a delicious cream can supper. Thank you, we appreciate you supporting our fight against cancer.

-Amir