photo by Tim Engstrom

Two riders in the Freeborn County Bike-A-Thon on Saturday morning sport T-shirts promoting the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project. They headed south on Freeborn County Road 18 on their way to Glenville.

A good day for a bike ride

People ride to raise funds to fight cancer

By Tim Engstrom | Albert Lea Tribune

Published Monday, May 4, 2009

It was clear, 41 degrees, with a wind from the west at about 3 mph when we began pedaling from the corner of Front Street and Maple Hill Drive in Albert Lea on our way to Glenville.

It was the start to the Freeborn County Bike-A-Thon. The ride was shaping up to take place on a gorgeous Saturday in southern Minnesota.

My 2-year-old son, Forrest, rode in the Burley bike trailer while I pedaled my Trek bicycle. We had our photograph taken with riders from my Kiwanis Club, then we were off. Riders in a big pack soon broke into a steady stream of cyclists.

They headed south on Fourth Street, then east on Ninth Avenue, then south on South Broadway Street, which becomes Freeborn County Road 18 in the country. Forrest and I stopped occasionally so we could snap photographs.

As I turned east onto Freeborn County Road 13, I said thank you to the volunteer directing the corner. He replied I was brave, which I took to mean hauling the kid in the bike trailer.

Soon I was in a conversation with Brandon Brackey of Twin Lakes. I told him that pulling a child behind a bike seems relatively safe compared to hurtling down the freeways at 75 mph in an automobile next to big rigs and cell-phone drivers. I have heard of a lot more people being killed in automobile wrecks than on bikes.

Brandon told me how he and his mother, Joanne, enjoy riding bikes. He said they head from Twin Lakes down toward the Iowa border and the area is hilly. We talked about how the ride coming out of Albert Lea was hilly because the city is in sort of a bowl, with hills on almost all sides.

Joanne was riding, too. I spoke with her when we got to Glenville. They said they were going to stay on the ride until it reached Hayward.

They marveled at the weather.

“This is probably one of the best days they’ve had for this,” Joanne said.

Riders fed on oranges and bananas at the Glenville Fire Hall. They enjoyed Forrest and were glad to see him on the ride. He liked the attention and wanted to see the fire trucks. But first, I had to interview folks.

The same answer seemed to repeat. They rode to fight cancer.

The Freeborn County Bike-A-Thon is a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, after all.

It was Glen Juveland’s 30th year on the ride. He was riding for his mother, Darlene Juveland, who died from cancer in January.

“Every year there’s someone, a friend or a relative, who has cancer,” he said.

His wife, LeAnn, was the woman who checks people in at the warming house at Sibley Elementary School at the start of the ride. In fact, she tells everyone when to go. Glen said he could ride to his mother-in-law’s house in Freeborn, but, “I don’t know when I’m going to quit this year.”

Two workers from the Kwik Trip on Front Street, Steve Seul and Char Skogheim, were on the ride with Char’s daughter Crystal. The three were a team all in black Kwik Trip jackets.

They, too, were riding for the cause. But no farther than Glenville.

“I’m fat and old,” Steve let me know.

Twenty-six-year-old Alexis Karl said it was her second time, and, in addition to fighting cancer, she had a second reason for riding: “It’s fun.”

Glenville was the end of the line for her. She said she needs a new bike.

Forrest got to enjoy sitting in the fire trucks. And while some friends were near, I stepped away to disconnect the bike and the Burley and get the gear ready for the drive back to Albert Lea. Indeed, we were done. We would have gone farther, but I needed to get to work. I had some work for the Sunday newspaper to finish. Bummer.

Then this happened:

Bam! Forrest, running, smacked his head on a table and fell. Kim Nelson from The Children’s Center came to tell me. I comforted Forrest. Snot was hanging out of his nose while he was bawling, and Bill Danielsen took this opportunity to make a joke: “Look!” he pointed. “There’s that ‘Snot-Nosed Kid.’”

It was funny, and even I laughed. (Forrest starred earlier this spring in a children’s book for the United Way called “The Attack of the Snot-Nosed Kid.”)

But he needed serious help. A Glenville firefighter whose wife, like my wife, works at The Children’s Center, guided us to the men’s room. I think his name, like mine, is Tim. As soon as Forrest and I stepped in, the boy stopped crying. His lip was bleeding. I cleaned him up. We stepped out and drank at the water faucet. Tim brought us a cold pack and told me the signs I needed to watch for in case of a concussion.

I had a pleasant talk with veterinarian Steve Elwood on the ride back to Albert Lea. He remarked how tough Forrest was. My boy joined me at the Tribune offices while I did some work. He turned out to be OK.

The bad news was Forrest bumping his head. The good news was raising money to fight cancer. And on such a lovely day. Hopefully, the people going for Hayward and on to Albert Lea did it in the morning. By 10:14 a.m. it was fair, 57 degrees, with a northwest wind of 16 mph and gusts of up to 22.

Though to a dedicated cyclist, that’s nothing but a challenge. Some riders did the entire 100 miles. By 2:30 p.m., the air was 64 degrees, the skies were partly cloudy and the wind speed 13 mph out of the west.

The riders could be seen checking out the city that afternoon. Some rode around Fountain Lake. Others through the downtown streets. I saw one cross the footbridge over the creek on the west side of Dane Bay.

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