SAP worker pedals crosscountry to honor his son
SAP worker completes cross-country bike trip to raise money in late son’s name
NEWTOWN >> Price Burlington pulled up to SAP Wednesday afternoon to glorious skies and a round of applause.
It had taken him almost two months to make the
3,580-mile trip, in memory of his son, Carson, who died in a single-car accident Sept.
7, 2017.
And he pedaled every inch of it on a bicycle.
“Really, it’s all been about trying to keep his memory and his spirit alive,” the
60-year-old said of his late son. “It’s about persevering through life’s challenges. Certainly the death of a child has got to be the biggest challenge that I’ve had to overcome ... It’s all about trying to turn something negative into a positive.”
Burlington, an SAP employee from Lodi, Calif., had always had bicycling across the United States on his bucket list.
Then, his 29-year-old son died in a single-car accident and he decided to channel his loss into a personal challenge for a good cause. He and his family - wife, Joretta, daughter, Kelsey,
29, and sons, Keaton, 26, and Gus, 22 - are hoping to raise
$100,000 for the High Fives Foundation in honor of Carson. Carson, he explained, had been a snowboarding enthusiast and was the first to be by the side of his best friend, Travis, in New Orleans, Louisiana, after a climbing accident rendered him quadriplegic.
High Fives Foundation raises injury prevention awareness for outdoor action sports athletes and also provides resources and inspiration for those who suffer lifealtering injuries.
To prepare, Burlington began to plan his ride more than a year ago and also relied on the expertise of John Matthews, a former SAP employee, who rode from Newtown Square to the Golden Gate Bridge in 2017 in honor of his mother, Kathleen, who died of lung cancer in December 2011.
Matthews said he spoke to Burlington often, sharing tips on everything from what to eat and drink to where to go.
“It’s amazing that someone else took on the same idea,” said Matthews, who’s planning an 1,800-mile ride this year for the Ride Hard Breathe East organization. “I’m grateful to know him and I’m excited to see him finish.”
Burlington started his ride June 2 from San Ramon, California, and averaged about 70 miles a day as his wife drove their RV behind him along the route, so he’d have a place to eat, go to the bathroom and sleep at night.
“Every day, we talked to our son, Carson, and thanked him for coming along,” Joretta said, as she held Bailey, their 4-year-old golden retriever who also came on the trip for emotional support.
She shared the awe she had for her husband, particularly as he persevered through a multitude of challenges.
“For him to do this and see him struggle in high humidity and winds and having to stop for rain and slipping on the mud and keep going,” she said. “I would be driving and thinking, ‘OK, he could stop. I give him permission to stop.’ He just keeps on, (saying,) ‘No, I want to make this, I want to make this happen.’”
However, she understood his motivation.
“Tragedy doesn’t have to define us,” she said. “We all have a purpose. We decided to live on with his spirit and, you know, everybody has a choice when a tragedy happens. You either fold or you can take it and run and do something positive and wonderful not only for us but for other people.”
She shared how their middle son drove the first day of the ride with them and then how their youngest son drove two hours from Boulder to surprise Burlington as he pedaled through Colorado.
Joretta said her husband rode a total of 52 days, taking only eight days off total - one, July 4, was because of severe rains in Kansas.
“Nothing against Kansas, but I don’t think I would ride across Kansas again,” her husband said.
And, although he hired a professional cycling coach about six months before his endeavor, Burlington added, “There’s no way you can train for a 3,500-mile (ride). You can only do so much and your body sort of adapts.”
He spoke of what it was like going through weather, traffic, bad roads, more than 100,000 feet of elevation through the Sierra, then the Rocky mountains.
“Every day was its own challenge in perseverance,” Burlington said. “I have to say there were probably, maybe, three days of the entire two months where I could say, ‘This was a pleasurable day,’” he said.
Here at the Delaware County SAP campus, Christine Mertz, regional lead for SAP’s Sales Academy, joined a crowd of her colleagues to hail Burlington as he arrived Wednesday.
“We’re honored to celebrate him and to support him because we love him,” she said. “He hustled, he went extra fast to get here, to be here today. He’s amazing. He’s an amazing person.”
After Burlington made his final stop to cheers and applause, he thanked God, his wife, his dog and his coworkers for all of their support.
“There’s so many things that could have gone wrong and there were things that did,” he said. “I made it here in one piece ... This journey, I wanted to make sure that I started and finished here. Hopefully, in some small way, regardless of how much money we raised, through Carson, if we were to help just one person, ... help somebody do something they didn’t think they could do, be somebody’s inspiration, then it would all be worth this effort.”
“Really, it’s all been about trying to keep his memory and his spirit alive. It’s about persevering through life’s challenges. Certainly the death of a child has got to be the biggest challenge that I’ve had to overcome ... It’s all about trying to turn something negative into a positive.”
— Price Burlington, who made a 3,580-mile trip, in memory of his son, Carson, who died in a single-car accident Sept. 7, 2017