This Is Why - The Lobster Roll
“625 miles. If we don’t get lost. Which we will.”
On June 21st, Brian, JB, Mike, Nathan & Tim will roll out of the Philadelphia suburbs with the goal of arriving on June 26th in South Bristol, Maine, 625 miles from door to door. It started as a casual comment. How hard could it be? Let’s see if we can agree on some dates that might work. Let’s do it as a fundraiser for the Team. Do you know anywhere we could crash for free? Could the route pass each of our childhood homes? No chance.
Two weeks later we had a route, broken down into six nearly equidistant days. We agreed on dates that have us rolling north through Pennsylvania, chopping off the northern tip of New Jersey, before making a hard right turn in Woodstock, New York, eventually arcing towards Portland, Maine and beyond. We’ll make hundreds of turns, each one a 50/50 chance of adding a few more painful miles. But we’ll figure it out and keep rolling. Lobster Roll-ing our way to Maine’s mid-coast.
People will ask us along the way why we’re doing it. By now, we’ve given that a lot of thought. Our riders will all be sharing their “This Is Why” stories for us to enjoy. But six days in a row of 6+ hours of riding will inevitably change our perspective on a lot of things. It will give us plenty of time to consider our relationship with cancer, our feelings on suffering, and our small but important impact on the larger cancer community.
This ride will be a success no matter what but it’s easy to have doubts. We hope that we easily exceed our fundraising goal of $50,000. That we grow closer as a team. That our snoring doesn’t ruin the trip. That our bodies can withstand the effort. We of course hope for sunny skies and steady tailwinds and kind drivers and friendly waves, but mostly we hope for generosity. We hope that you’ll consider making a generous donation in support. We hope that you’ll pass along the story of our ride to your generous friends or local news outlet. We hope that you’ll consider generously sending a TIHC hat or shirt to a friend dealing with a cancer diagnosis. We hope you’ll help us to help others, generously.
Every last mile will be worth it with your generosity. Every one of those 625 miles. If we don’t get lost.
Visit our Lobster Roll page to learn more.
