Austin Lanter says he and eight of his fraternity brothers have been called crazy a few times before arriving to International Falls last week.
“Maybe we are crazy,” Lanter wrote in his blog on May 21. “No, we are definitely crazy. And I love it.”
The group of students from Western Kentucky University took off Friday on a two-month bike ride from the top of the nation to Key West, Fla. to raise money for Alzheimer’s research and awareness of the disease. The goal is to raise $175,000 by the end of the trip. They call their trip Bike4Alz.
The bikers departed from outside the International Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and the International Falls, Ranier & Rainy Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau, after a brief send-off ceremony from the community.
The students’ friends had previously biked from California to Virginia and raised $56,000 for Alzheimer’s research. The idea to start the journey at the Falls came up about a year ago. The nine students talked about starting the bike ride along the Canadian border, to cycle across the country to the southern most tip of Florida. Will Owens, 20, chose the Falls.
“The reason I chose it is I’m sort of a weather nerd,” Owens said with a smile. “I remember reading when I was younger, something along the lines of International Falls having the coldest weather in the continental U.S. I’d always check International Falls’ weather from time to time to see how much snow there was.”
Followed by two support vehicles and a trailer, the students since Friday biked to Northome, Bemidji, Brainerd and Monticello. They are heading into Minneapolis today. The group plans to have fundraising events at the major metropolitan areas along the way, including Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Chicago. After the day in Minneapolis, the group heads for Wisconsin Thursday.
The group updates its location and information about their trip daily at http://www.bike4alz.org/
Although the Falls’ May weather did not offer the frigid temperatures Owens had read about, the group was sent off with Minnesotan advice and souvenirs.
Pete Schultz, director of the visitors bureau, gave the students a bag of Minnesota wild rice to cook and enjoy at the end of their trip in Florida. Community members who knew someone with Alzheimer’s or were affected by it through a family member wished the bikers farewell.
“Don’t forget to turn at the Y,” a woman said as the students got on their bikes.
“Look for the Sasquatch between Margie and Mizpah,” joked a man. Sasquatch is another name for Bigfoot.
“We’ll keep our eye out for him...try to beat him,” said a biker with a smile.
‘Grasp of Alzheimer’s’
The trip to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association is more than a driving force to send the bikers on a cross-country journey. For all of the cyclists, the disease hits close to home — some more than others.
The university students biking along with Lanter and Owens are Jonathan Caron, Trip Carpenter, Will Garcia, Ben Harris, Dylan Ward, Sam Wells and Tyler Wittmer.
Last semester, Carpenter’s father died with Alzheimer’s.
“What I loved most about him were not his words, or abilities, but instead his gaze,” Carpenter wrote on his Bike4Alz blog. “He always had this look in his eyes, which reflected profound wisdom and at the same time, loving compassion... It was as if he knew everything about me, from my most fleeting wishes to my deepest motivations, merely by looking at me. As the grasp of Alzheimer’s became firmer, this gaze began to slip away.”
The students said they all have seen first-hand the course of the disease.
“The last time I saw (my grandfather), he could hardly eat or form sentences, much less remember who his family was,” Carpenter wrote. “Alzheimer’s took away the last moments of his life; moments that are supposed to be full of memories. That’s why I’m taking this journey. I know it will be hard, but it will be an experience, one that will bring me closer to my grandfather.”
None of the bikers were avid cyclists before they began training for the ride, said Garcia. His grandmother is being monitored for the start of early onset Alzheimer’s, he said.
“Watching my grandpa have to live with that — she’s definitely started to slip quite a bit,” Garcia said.
The group chose to bike, they said, because cycling across the country is “a good medium” to raise money for a cause they are passionate about, Garcia said.
“It’s a terrible thing to have to watch people who are so strong just deteriorate and not be able to know who they are, and not be able to be themselves,” Garcia said of Alzheimer’s effect.
At the Falls, bunking at Faith United Church, the group told The Journal that the reality of the trip was beginning to sink in.
“It’s all coming together,” Owens said.
Although they are just at the start of their journey, the group said they are taking it one step at a time.
“I’m most worried about soreness from the bike seat,” Garcia joked last week. The group took a 58-mile bike ride and toured Voyageurs National Park while in Borderland.
“I’m afraid of dying from peanut butter,” Lanter said, citing his extreme allergy to peanuts.
Monday, Lanter wrote in his blog, “These days are already starting to run together. I forget what day of the week it is, what city we are in, where we are going next, and what events happened where exactly.”
As of last week, the group had raised $30,000 toward their goal of $175,000
“It’s been completely surprising, all the generosity we’ve received,” Carpenter said.
To track the group’s progress, learn more or donate toward their goal, visit www.bike4alz.com. Donations for Bike4Alz can also be sent to Faith United Church, 1001 5th Street, International Falls. The group has also created a YouTube page, and can be found on Facebook and followed on Twitter, under the name Bike4Alz.
