Among 650 cyclists prepared to pedal 100 miles from Wrigley Field to Miller Park in Milwaukee are two west suburbanites – each with a story to help them bike the distance Saturday morning.
The bike ride, called “Wrigley Field Road Tour,” begins at 8 a.m. Saturday to raise money for Chicago Cubs Charities and World Bicycle Relief, a non-profit that designs and builds bicycles to help people living in sub-Saharan Africa to gain better access to education, health care and independence through transportation.
13-year-old is among the top fundraisers
Garrett Higney, a 13-year-old Western Springs resident, has always been an active biker, said his mom, Shelia Higney. So when he had to find service projects in order to complete Confirmation at Saint John of the Cross Parish later this year, World Bicycle Relief’s cause really hit home. Since he started fundraising, he’s hit $9,100 – and with more money pledged to come in this week.
“The fact that this charity raises money to buy bikes for kids and families who need them in order to sustain themselves really meant something to him,” Shelia Higney said. “He knew that every $134 he raised buys an actual bike for someone, so it was easy for him to make that connection.”
While his initial goal was just to reach $1,000 in fundraising, Garrett Higney said it has been cool to see his goal increase nearly tenfold.
“It’s a great feeling of accomplishment and excitement,” Garrett Higney said. “I think (the charity) is a really cool way for people to have fun and also help others out.”
Garrett and his father, Andrew Higney, used a 10-week training program where they rode six days a week – with one long ride each week. The two often biked from their home in Western Springs along the Salt Creek bike trail to the Brookfield Zoo, he said. On the weekends, the father and son would head to the city and bike along the lakefront for the longer rides.
“On our last 65-mile ride, I felt sick for the first 20 miles,” Garrett Higney said. “But at about 25 miles in, I had energy kick-in and I bounced back.”
Since Garrett Higney is currently in the top 10 fundraisers for the century ride (he’s at number 3 as of Friday night), he’ll be honored in Saturday morning’s ceremony before the race.
“It’s going to be really cool,” he said.
Blind man to ride tandem with brother
Ed Hill, a 64-year-old Elmhurst resident, has been blind since birth and was diagnosed with Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy – a degenerative eye disease – in his later adulthood. But blind or not, he’s pledged to ride the 100 miles to Milwaukee via tandem bike with his younger brother, Bruce Hill this Saturday.
“I remember hearing about the ride last year, and at that time I asked my brother if he would be interested in riding 100 miles on a bike with me,” Hill said. “He agreed – he’s got no more sense than I do.”
Hill, who uses a seeing eye dog, was a teacher in the Chicago Public School system for 34 years and worked with high school-age special education and visually impaired students.
Training for the race was difficult, Hill said, because he and his brother had trouble getting a hold of a tandem bike. Thus, 90 percent of his training was completed on a stationary bike at the Elmhurst Park District fitness center.
“The longest ride in my program was a 65-mile ride; it’s not the most exciting thing to sit on a stationary bike for 65 miles,” he said. “But I was able to work in a couple of spinning classes at the health center to make it a bit more interesting.”
Hill said he doesn’t think of himself as inspiring, but hopes his journey will show others with disabilities what they can accomplish.
“I think I present a role model to the rest of the world with disabilities to show there are far more things we can do than we can’t do,” Hill said. “I hope that people begin to understand people with disabilities are people first and the disability is something they deal with second.”
After the race, Hill said he hopes to stay involved in recreational cycling, and has already looked into tandem cycling clubs that have partnerships with visually-impaired groups in the Chicago area.
bdoyle@tribune.com
