A cyclist is riding 150 miles a day for 13 days starting May 27 to raise $1 million for the Burke Center, which serves boys aged 11-17 who survived sexual abuse and trauma. Training rides of over 100 miles led to a conversation with a 14-year-old resident that made the purpose clear: when your why is strong enough, the pain stops mattering.
Chapters
I know you've raised over $300,000, so you're on your way to a million, which is amazing. The ride starts May 27th. Yep. May 27th. The plan is 150 miles a day for 13 days, which at my current mile per hour average is about 11 hours a day on the bike. That's insane. Uh, 150 miles a day. I think me and anyone listening is like, oh my gosh, that's crazy. And you're going to be so sore the next day. What I've really learned, Hal, is like, when the why is strong enough, the body becomes silent. If you're running for a cause bigger than yourself, when the pain kicks in, you persevere because it's not about you. It's about whatever that cause was. And when we did our first training camp 3 weeks ago, we rode 103 miles and we ended day 1 at the Burke Center for Youth. And the Burke Center for Youth houses young boys ages 11 to 17 who have all been victims of sexual abuse, neglect, and extreme trauma. These are people who have been dealt a hand that nobody should ever be dealt at that age. As we were getting ready to leave, a 14-year-old boy came up to me and he said, "Can I tell you my story?" I was like, "Yeah, sure, like, I'd love to hear it." He's like, "My mom's in prison, I never met my father, and my sister's been adopted, and I won't be able to see her or talk to her again until we're both 18, assuming I can connect with her because that's how the system works." And he's like, "I'm here to try to fix my anger issues." Come to find out he has no family helping him on this journey. Again, he's 14. And he looks me in the eyes and says, will you come back? The next day, Hal, when we did 105 miles, the hills were irrelevant, the headwind was irrelevant, the pain in my legs was irrelevant because I'm like, I chose this hard intentionally to impact people who didn't choose the hard that they're having to deal with and shouldn't have to deal with. And I want to show up to provide them the aid. But I just keep going back to like, what's the why? And this why is so strong. I don't care what hand I'm dealt on this journey. I'm going to find the way to get it done because it's for people who deserve to be seen, loved, and heard in this world, who have been dealt a hand that I don't think anybody should have to be dealt.
