As if biking 100 miles in one day in the mountains around Lake Tahoe, Nev., isn’t enough of a challenge, Kate F.
Polk and Kimberly S. Amaral have set higher goals for their second bicycle ride for charity. The two women again will join the Central New York Team in Training, based in Syracuse, to raise money for the national Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This time, when they return to the Sierra Nevada on June 7, their goal is to raise more money and cut their riding time by two hours. They raised about $10,000 last year and completed the endurance ride in 10 hours. Mrs. Polk, Watertown, and Mrs. Amaral, Sackets Harbor, are the only women and the only cyclists not from the Syracuse area on the team. Since they are always at least an hour away from the team’s coaches, they train themselves. Mrs. Amaral, a personal trainer at the Watertown Family YMCA, said they started biking in late March and have added 10 miles to their long weekend rides each week until they reached 75 miles. Now, they’re tapering off and continuing Pilates and weight training at the YMCA, usually spending an hour or two a day working toward their goal. At first, they joined the team for the “sheer challenge,” but now they’re motivated by their ability to support the cause, Mrs. Polk said. At last year’s event, families of children with blood cancer told the bicyclists about a day in their lives and how the money raised can help their children, she said. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the place,” Mrs. Polk said. “It touches you so much deeper … When I think I can’t do it anymore, I think, ‘There’s people who are sick, hurting and dying from these diseases. I can totally do this.'” “We realized we were a part of something so much bigger,” Mrs. Amaral said.
They have raised about $4,000 each so far, and have two fundraising events scheduled.