The two UConn medical students who are spending their last free summer bicycling across the country are more than halfway home.
Sonali Rodrigues and Brett Lehner, have been averaging about 64 miles a day since they started pedaling east from Anacortes, Washington, June 10.
They are the 12th team of rising second-year students to take part in what’s now known as Coast to Coast for a Cause, an annual cross-country cycling tour to raise money for, in this year’s case, is “An Apple a Day,” a public health project to improve access to and education around nutrition in Connecticut schools.
Using the predetermined bike route known as the Northern Tier as their guide, Rodriguez and Lehner making their way to Connecticut by way of the states closest to the Canadian border—and the Great Lakes, having reached Minnesota a few days ago.
“I’m feeling good, happy the weather has been nice for us,” Lehner says. “There are definitely a lot of places to see, and each is interesting in its own right.”
One night this week the weather wasn’t so nice in Dalbo, Minnesota. As it happened, rather than camping outside, they were spending the night in a converted barn, which kept them dry as a severe storm rolled by. Lehner describes this and other examples of the kindness of strangers they’ve encountered along the way on the riders’ blog, coast2coastforacause2017.wordpress.com.
“It has been interesting to see all of the tiny different towns and corners of state’s I’ve never been to,” Rodrigues says. “I also have been amazed by my appetite.”
The students are on pace for a mid-August return to Connecticut. They do plan to continue the tradition of biking with friends from UConn Health to the Connecticut shore to officially end the journey by reaching the East Coast. By then they’ll have covered about 3,500 miles.
Information about how to support Coast to Coast for a Cause 2017 is available at bit.ly/17c2cfundraise.
