The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Ride to benefit children with cancer
Current Rutgers University senior and Connecticut native, Phil Lubik, is one of five cyclists embarking on a daunting 1,500-mile journey from New Brunswick, N.J. to Orlando, Fla. to raise money for the Embrace Kids Foundation.
Five months ago, Lubik and a small group of college students got together with the dream of raising $1 million to support the families of children with cancer.
They were inspired by the dance marathon held at Rutgers, which originates at Pennsylvania State University, and decided to have their own charity event. Dream4TK was born out of the group’s interest in cycling and philanthropy.
“Most of us are involved with the dance marathon,” Lubik said. “As for Dream4TK, this is first year in existence. We saw all the good the dance marathon does and we thought we could do something different and still give back. The riding to Florida started as kind of a joke but enough people heard about it. We thought we could do this.”
The Dream4TK team knows how unbelievable their goal sounds. On their website it said, “$1,000,000 for families of children with cancer and a 1,500-mile bike ride from New Jersey to Florida sounds crazy — we know.”
Their website stipulated that they decided to set out on the bike ride because they wanted to do something “unexpected and extraordinary.”
The Embrace Kids Foundation is the team’s sole beneficiary. According to their website, “Embrace Kids Foundation exists to help families whose children have cancer, sickle cell disease or other blood disorders. The foundation is committed to enhancing the quality of life of the children and relieving families of emotional and financial pressures.”
The Dream4TK team is choosing to donate the money they raise to this charity because the foundation helps families in the greater New Jersey area where Rutgers is located. The school’s annual dance marathon also benefits the Embrace Kids Foundation.
Lubik, who is originally from Harwinton, has been riding bikes since he was a kid. His grandfather taught him how to ride a bike when he was 5 years old and he quickly graduated to mountain biking.
“I’ve always loved the woods. Growing up in Connecticut definitely helped with that,” said the 21-year-old.
While he has years of experience biking in the woods, the mechanical engineering major said he only began riding on the road about five months ago when the team set their goal.
“One of the coolest things, not many of us are road cycling experts. Learning how to ride on the road has all happened in the last five months,” said Lubik. “The cool thing for us is trying to learn something new.”
Gabrielle Rossi, a member of the Rutgers cycling team and member of Dream4TK, has been showing the other cyclists the ropes of riding on the road. With mountain biking the biggest concern is the trees. Riding on the road with cars who don’t necessarily want you to be there is a completely different thing, said Lubik.
Since officially deciding to make the charitable ride down the coast five months ago, the group, which consists of Lubik, Rossi, Brendan McCartney of Brown Mills, N.J., Richard Trent of Franklin Park, N.J. and Sameen Jalal of Edison, N.J., have been hard at work planning the route, recruit- ing members and training. A group of supporters will go along with the team to document their journey.
Now the Dream4TK team is under a week away from their big launch celebration set for July 28.
The team will be riding a 25-mile bike tour around New Brunswick and Franklin with friends and family before heading to Philadelphia later that day. Lubik said the team is encouraging people to get involved either by registering to ride with the team on that first day or making donations to support their goal of raising $1 million.
From New Jersey, the team will head down the coast over the course of a month making stops in the major cities to take part in service projects. Lubik explained that they will be working with organizations like the Ronald McDonald House and others with a similar mission as theirs - to help kids.
“We’re trying to spread the dream, spread the movement down the coast,” said Lubik.
The team plans to ride between 70 and 80 miles per day and camp overnight or crash at the homes of other bike enthusiasts and bike shop owners. The team won’t be staying at hotels in order to save money.
Emerging from the past week when the temperature in New Jersey soared near 100 degrees, Lubik said the heat during their journey is definitely a concern of the riders. To avoid cycling in the hottest part of each day Lubik said they plan to head out early each day before the sun comes up and get a bunch of miles under their belt before 11 a.m. They will get out of the sun for a few hours in the afternoon and get back on the road later in the day.
“It’s just way too hot,” said Lubik.
On the last day of their marathon ride, the team will push a little harder and ride 100 miles into Orlando. After they complete the journey their plan is to spend a few days in Florida going to Walt Disney World before flying back to start their next semester of school. It will be a much- deserved mini vacation, one that Lubik is looking forward to. He joked around and said, “I’m going to Disney World!”
Aside from raising money for a deserving charity, Lubik said he’s looking forward to seeing more of the country on the ride. He said he hasn’t been many places and can’t wait to ride along the Outer Banks in North Carolina for example.
As a senior, Lubik is looking to the future. He said his dream job would be working for Google but he’s open to lots of possibilities, including teaching English in a third world country.
“My future plans are up in the air,” Lubik said with a laugh. Right now, he’s just focused on the long road ahead.
For more i nformation on their journey or to learn how to donate visit the Dream4TK website at dream4tk.org.