 | In a benefit bike ride this summer Peter Chiu '07 hopes to cover 500 miles in two days. |
Peter Chiu '07 hopes that the Zen-like state that he usually achieves while biking for long distances will last for 500 miles, as he cycles solo from Hanover, New Hampshire, to Washington, D.C., with just a few stops along the way.
Chiu will make that trek June 25-27 to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation, an international organization that supports individuals living with cancer. He hopes to raise about $10,000 to donate to the foundation, which was established by five-time Tour de France cyclist Lance Armstrong, himself a cancer survivor.
Chiu is calling his challenging, two-day journey through nine states "Ride to Endure," and he has been preparing for the trip since taking a leave of absence from Yale in December.
"I decided to take a leave because I had a sense of aimlessness and wanted to take some time to figure things out," explains Chiu. "I had focused my high school years at Phillips Academy on getting into college. Once I was there, I didn't really know what my next goal was, and it was a tough time for me."
Once on leave, it didn't take long for Chiu to find that goal. The captain of his high school track team and a member of the school's cycling team, Chiu had always enjoyed endurance sports, and had a first-place finish for his age group in the 2003 Vineman Ironman triathlon in California. But during his high school years, he had not participated actively in community service, and wanted to do something that would benefit others.
Having lost his maternal grandparents to cancer, Chiu decided that using his athletic skills in a charity event to benefit those with cancer was a "natural marriage" that combined his love of sports and his desire to help others.
He selected the Lance Armstrong Foundation as the beneficiary of his charity bike ride because of his admiration for the world-famous cyclist during his own battle with cancer and his determination in the sport of cycling.
"I've read both of his autobiographies," Chiu comments. "He was an unbelievable cyclist before he had cancer, and then, to come back and win the hardest race in the world [the Tour de France] after being treated for testicular cancer that had metastasized through the brain and lungs is just amazing."
The Yale student had originally planned for his cycling trip to be a non-stop journey in May, but tendonitis in a knee forced him to postpone his mission. As much as he would prefer a non-stop trek, Chiu says that, on account of his knee, he will probably take short breaks as he travels. Several friends, along with his brother David Chiu, will follow him the distance of his journey in a car that will also transport food, water, extra jerseys, spare tubes and tires, and other equipment. The car's headlights will also supplement his bike light during night travel.
"My plan is to get as far as I can without stopping," says Chiu, who will ride on local roads and secondary state roads, passing along the seacoasts of several states.
Chiu began training for the journey in the winter, increasing the length of his bike rides as the weather got warmer. His longest non-stop cycling trip while training was 133 miles. He has scheduled his training around a part-time, unpaid job working as a researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, not far from his home in Wayland, Massachusetts. Every day, he has trained for at least three hours, sometimes working out for up to nine hours.
His greatest fear, he says, is that, despite all his preparation and training, he won't make the distance. "That would be the worst -- that halfway through I won't be able to turn the cranks anymore," comments Chiu.
Whatever the outcome of this ride, Chiu already has his next challenge in mind: a Half Ironman triathlon in California in August.
"I have to have a goal to strive for," says the Yale freshman, who recently competed in a Half Ironman in Lubbock, Texas. "I like to have a focus and tend to be passionate about it."
In the quiet of his solo journey, Chiu will be counting on that focus and passion -- along with a mind free of distraction -- to carry him the distance.
For more information on "Ride to Endure" or to donate to the cause, visit www.ridetoendure.org/.
-- By Susan Gonzalez
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