Since the beginning...

Hey everyone, my name is Evan Hibbs, and I am another one of the riders going on the cycling journey. Laine and I are the two individuals that brainstormed up the idea for this bike trip. He and I share a sense of adventure and affinity for endurance sports that combined with our desire to do something for others on a large scale, which snowballed into a cross-country cycling trip. After Mrs. Melikian passed it became obvious to us what our cause was going to be centralized around, cancer. After struggling for a few months on who we would be riding for and where the proceeds would, Laine told me that he had been giving a lot of thought to a new direction he wanted to go. A few weeks after that Wendie’s Wish was official and our ride now had a purpose and a cause to benefit. All in all, I have been in this journey with Laine since the beginning. However, my contribution to the workings of the organization has been minimal. The organization is Laine’s brainchild, and he has done very well with it to this point. I have worked primarily with the Ride for the Wish, trying to organize that and make it as simple and feasible as possible.

As the past few months have gone by and the trip gets closer I have been thinking about why, besides my love of adventure, do I want to do this. What has been motivating me? Laine and I are very close friends, and I know that it was a difficult experience to have his mother pass at such a young age. I can’t imagine how tough it was, and I want to be there for my friend when it counts. That has been something that has motivated me since the beginning of our journey. The best example of what really lights my heart on fire for our cause is our newest beneficiary Charlie. Charlie is a four-year-old boy who has been diagnosed with leukemia. In my opinion, letting something as meaningless as money keep a four-year-old boy from getting life-saving medical care is indescribably inhumane. I want to do everything I can to make sure that people like Charlie, that can’t make money for themselves, have a way to overcome the financial obstacles that our society places in their way. I use that to keep my emotional fire going.

I’m finding that my motivation is building, as the trip gets closer too. I cannot wait to get out on the road with my friends and teammates. This experience that awaits me is going to be something that sticks with me and benefits me for the rest of my life. I hope to take what I learn with my friends on our trip and use it to make bigger and better events that will make a bigger and better impact on good causes.