From September 21-25, 200 bicyclists will pedal 300 miles from New York City to Washington, DC for the 5th annual Climate Ride. CCAN national campaigns coordinator Ted Glick is on the road with them, raising awareness of climate change and raising funds for CCAN’s critical advocacy work.
Everybody doing this very challenging and strenuous ride believes that the climate crisis is real and action needs to be taken to solve it. Some are young people, students just getting into this movement. Some are definitely older and active in the field of conservation. Others are full-time climate activists like me.
All of us feel strongly about being part of the solution. We wouldn’t be climbing these steep and long hills on bicycles and doing the hard work of reaching out to friends, family and people we know to raise money if we weren’t.
Today was a beautiful fall day as we rode through central Pennsylvania. The Amish country was as captivating as I remember it was last year. We saw lots of farms, corn and soybean fields and other crops we couldn’t identify.>
Like yesterday, we also battled a pretty strong wind, and the temperature most of the day were pretty cool. It was in the mid-forties when we set out and with wind gusts that sometimes seemed as high as 20 miles per hour. I was glad I was wearing a sweatshirt in addition to my climate rider shirt.
We climbed some very serious long, steep hills today. And unfortunately most of them were toward the end of the ride. I noticed I was definitely slower when we went up hills then as compared to at the beginning of the day. This morning I passed a good number of people on some of the early morning hills. This afternoon I was the one being passed! I think that had something to do with my age being 64, while most of those passing me were under 30.
Tomorrow is the hardest day. Last year I felt the need to walk up parts of 8 hills on this fourth day coming up. My goal this year is to stay pedaling the whole time, but there’s a good chance I will feel the need to stop and catch my breath at least a few times before continuing the bike ride up.
We’re staying tonight at a beautiful Mennonite religious camp close to the Susquehanna River. The young women who make the food sing as they do so. And I expect the director, like last year, will say a very kind prayer on our behalf either at dinner or breakfast.
It’s a wonderful group of people who are going through a lot for these five days because of their commitment to our common future. I am very fortunate to be with this community again.
