Day 4- Everett to Fayetteville and then on to Cumberland Valley High School

Yesterday, we had frigid weather, and today we woke up to the gusts of howling winds. They had been calling for rain (based on the weather forecast that the Blacksmiths so dutifully put under our hotel doors each night), so as I gingerly pulled the curtains back at 5:30 am at the Hampton Inn in Bedford, PA I was at least happy to see that the skies were clear.

The staff at the Hampton prepared a healthy breakfast for us (thank you!) complete with turkey sausage instead of regular sausage. They said it was the first time they had don that in honor of the Health Ride and people seemed to like it. Good job Bedford! Thank you for your hospitality.

When I walked outside the hotel, I was nearly blown over (no kidding) by the gale force winds outside. It wasn't cold, it wasn't raining, but it sure was blowing. Luckily for us the winds were from the West, and we were heading East :)

We headed to Everett elementary to take off from our last point yesterday. The briefing took place and we had a motivational talk from Steve Shultz (driver of Penske truck number 1). Today was hump day. The middle of the week and it would be the longest and hardest day of PA Health Ride. The route would take us over 80 miles through Breezewood, over the Allegheny Mountain, and through the Buchanan State Forest to Chambersburg and on to Fayetteville, where we would have an early afternoon assembly. Then we would hightail it over to Mechanicsburg to take part in Cumberland Valley High School's heroic assemblage for Healthy Lifestyles Day. The day would prove to be even longer and tougher than anyone thought.



We (Ellen, Mike, Jeff, Dad and I) mounted our bikes and we were off feeling the blustery wind, hoping that it would stay at our backs. I made a stop after about 15 miles in Breezewood at a Holiday Inn Express to get on a land line and do an hour long radio show on WITF "Smart Talk" with Craig Collingsworth and the Head of Pediatrics at York Hospital, Dr. Paul Terkewitz. The interview can be heard here: http://www.witf.org/news/smart-talk/2133-childhood-illnesses-radio-smart-talk-wednesday-october-7

It was very interesting in taking questions from the community and to talk about challenges we are facing in getting our children to eat better, and be more active. Speaking with Dr. Terkewitz was great, as he is an avid cyclist and works for WellSpan Health with my former fiance Tessa's step-father. Excellent comments he made in the interview.

I then got back on my bike to chase down the rest of the pack. That was the longest radio interview I've ever done, so I had my work cut out for me. Little did I know that Ellen, Jeff and Mike had followed an informant named "Ross" through a series of tunnels from the old PA Turnpike that supposedly would cut off the need to ascend over the incredibly steep Allegheny Mountain. It turned out they needed flashlights to go through the tunnels, made some wrong turns, and had to walk through a lot of grass fields, but they made it. I just went over the mountain, and proceeded down trying to navigate the gusty winds catching on the rims of my ZIPP tires on my ORBEA bike. It felt a bit like coming down from Hawi during the bike portion of Ironman World Championships on the Big Island of Hawaii. The crosswinds there are so intense that it can literally blow you off your bike and into the lava fields (happened to me there in 2004). Safely down the mountain, I entered the Buchanan National State Park and soon saw the trio of rider ahead and went by them encouraging them to pick up the pace. "We have less than two hours to get to Fayetteville for the kids, and 35 miles to go", I said and dropped the hammer. The rolling hills and often headwinds now were unbearable, but once out of the park we turned East again on Route 30 and flew with the wind at our backs. The land was leveling out again, and we were soon in Chambersburg where we saw a number of riders from Summit Health Bike Club in bright green jerseys wanting to join us. "Sure", we said, and continued on towards Fayetteville Elementary. When we were about a mile away even more riders from Summit Health joined in, including a woman named Karen who started the bike club and is an absolute inspiration. She has breast cancer, and after having a double mastectomy this past spring, she still went on to do an IRONMAN TRIATHLON at Lake Placid this summer, just a few weeks later.
She is going through chemotherapy and showed off her bald head in pride as we rode to the Fayetteville Elementary School escorted by her whole crew and mine and the Chambersburg Fire Department firetruck.

Once reaching the school, the Health Ride team sprung into action assembling the props, music and giveaways. I changed quickly and was led by the Principle to a back room where there were a lot of media people assembled. Wowsers! It was a makeshift impromptu press conference, but we knocked it out and the outlets provided some great quotes from the kids. Check them out here:

http://your4state.com/content/fulltext/?cid=82651

http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=231872&format=html

http://www.publicopiniononline.com/localnews/ci_13520316

We were on a tight timeline and I got pulled out of there and thrown back on my bike to ride onto stage. Mike Montgomery joined me as we rode out into the gymnasium to a crowd of roaring Lions from Fayetteville Elem. The program went extremely well, and we were able to incorporate the new Red/Yellow/Green traffic light sign that Steve Shultz put together for Whoa/Slow/Go. Thanks Steve!

The kids came up and gave hugs afterwards, and I had to again be dragged away in order to get in the truck and on to the next event in Mechanicsburg at Cumberland Valley High. We parked the trucks a few miles out and were joined by teachers, leaders, superintendants of the CV School District and Kim Sokoloski (lead organizer) all on BIKES! The wind was still whipping as we rode through the farmlands of central PA. Kim kept us moving on schedule and pushed the pace.



I got goosebumps when the band played upon our entry into Everett Elementary but nothing prepared me for this. As we approached Cumberland Valley, about 50 riders strong by this point, I again heard the sound of a band playing, but also the cheering, and up ahead I saw the massive crowd- over 2000 children screaming, the high school band playing, and all the CVHS cheerleaders lined up and cheering us in to welcome us to their school. There were people in yellow with EVENT STAFF across their shirts that tried to whisk me away after I had passed through the crowd, but I asked to stay with my team and say hello to the thousands of children. It was palpable excitement and again made me feel so happy to be from Pennsylvania and see this degree of school pride. After many hellos, signatures, and photos we took a tour around the various health promotion and wellness activities they were putting on throughout the school. It was so impressive, for a minute I thought I was dreaming. It had been a long day in the wind, 80 miles by bike, an assembly, but this energy gave me a push, and I was excited to share the message that evening with a Panel of Distinguished guests from the PA Depts. of Health, Education, Transportation, and PA Academy of Family Physicians. The panel discussion also included Julie Moreno from the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. Senator Pat Vance started off the program by presenting the two Resolutions (one from the House and the other from the Senate) proclaiming the week of October 4-10 Children Healthy Lifestyles Week in PA in conjunction with the Cross-PA Health Ride and Kids Fitness Days. The dialogue at the Panel was wonderful and probably the best part was the question posed by a middle-school student as to why the only options he had for breakfast at his school were powdered donuts and pancakes with syrup. All I have to say is that heroes come in all sizes and it took guts for that child to stand up and ask that question, and I can assure you that there will be healthy breakfast options in that school next week and no more donuts.

To use a twist of a quote from Admiral Farragut, "Damn the Bureaucracy, Full Speed Ahead"


More photos here from CV Event:

http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2009/10/08/news/local/doc4acdcf21ad3e0083671575.txt

http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1254968730167900.xml&coll=1