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Most of us can't even fathom a bike ride across town. But one Cupertino resident actually cycled across the continent this summer and helped raise money for charity in the process.
Sumeet Vadera, a recent graduate of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, spent his summer participating in the Hopkins 4K for Cancer, a 4,000-mile ride from Baltimore to San Francisco to raise money for the American Cancer Society. The trip began June 2, when the 24 participants dipped their bikes' back tires in the Baltimore harbor. On July 29, the riders rolled across the Golden Gate Bridge and dipped their front tires in San Francisco Bay.
It was an adventure Vadera only agreed to at the last minute. "I wish I had done more training than I did," he said with a laugh.
The neuroscience major had won a $20,000 grant to study in Cambodia for a year before entering medical school, but with SARS concerns and that country's political unrest, he decided not to go. A fraternity brother mentioned his plan to go on the Hopkins 4K, and Vadera decided to participate with only a month to prepare.
His short preparation time made collecting donations difficult, but he was able to find willing donors along the way. "Almost everyone I talked to gave money because they knew someone with cancer," he said. Riders switched off between cycling on bikes supplied by a Baltimore shop and riding ahead in vans to scrounge up donated lunches and find lodging.
The route took riders across the Appalachians, the flat plains of the Midwest and the Rockies before finally approaching the Pacific Ocean. "The Rocky Mountains were really cool," Vadera said, "but Kansas was a really difficult state. There was a strong headwind, and we just had to get it out of the way."
But one of Vadera's favorite moments of the trip occurred in Kansas. During a stop in Bird City, he took the challenge of eating a 21/2-pound hamburger at a local diner. He succeeded, and the owners pledged to name a burger after him.
After two months of strenuous peddling through a variety of weather conditions, Vadera and several of his friends rested at his home in Cupertino for a few days. But his rest was short-lived.
Vadera has already returned to the East Coast, where he will begin medical school at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia this fall. He grew up in Toronto, Canada, and his parents, Ajay and Mukta Vadera, moved to Cupertino while he was in college. His brother, Sameer, attends Monta Vista High School.
For more information on the Hopkins 4K or to donate to the American Cancer Society, visit http://www.hopkins4k.org.
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