GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) - A pair of bicyclists rode from Buffalo to Gillette one Friday. By then, they had nearly 1,500 miles under their belts, but they still had a stretch to go before reaching their final destination in Maine.
Steve Rice and Dave Kummer, two cyclists from Denver, are riding across the country to raise money and awareness for a rare disease while honoring a friend who was killed last year.
For 40 years, Kummer, 61, said he had wanted to ride across the country, but he didn’t have the time. Then he retired and brought up the idea with his friend Rice, 66, who suggested they do it for charity. They decided to focus on Fanconi anemia, a hereditary disease that affects the bone marrow.
Fanconi anemia is categorized as an orphan disease, meaning it affects less than 200,000 people in the United States.
“If you’re going to do any research, (money for it has) got to be raised privately, and that’s what we do,” Rice said.
The pair have raised about $30,000 so far, and they hope to reach $125,000 by the end of their trip. All the money will go to the Kendall and Taylor Atkinson Foundation, which supports research to find a cure for Fanconi anemia. The foundation was started by Rice’s good friend Kenneth Atkinson, who lost a son and daughter, Taylor and Kendall, to the disease.
The ride also is a tribute to Atkinson, who was murdered last spring.
Rice and Kummer started their journey May 20 in Florence, Oregon, and they’re scheduled to finish July 14 at Popham Beach State Park in Maine, 4,068 miles later. Along the way, they dedicate each day to a different family that has been affected by the disease.
“We read these stories before we hop on our bikes, and they’re always very tragic,” Rice said. “They’re tough, but on the other hand, they’re inspiring.”
The day when the riders made their way through Gillette was dedicated to Nigel and Ann Walker, a couple from Texas that lost two children to Fanconi anemia. They were in town that day to meet the cyclists.
The Walkers’ daughter, Joanne, died at age 34. In 2012, she was diagnosed with cancer and started receiving chemotherapy and radiation, which turned out to be the worst thing to do to someone with Fanconi anemia, “because it basically destroys the bone marrow so they can’t repair their DNA,” Nigel said.
The doctors didn’t know she had Fanconi anemia until a few months later. She needed a bone marrow transplant and her brother Joel was tested. Turned out he also had the condition and was unable to be a donor.
Joanne died in 2013. Two years later, Joel was diagnosed with cancer. His voice box was removed and “we thought we got it, but then it reoccurred, and he was deemed inoperable and he deteriorated from there,” Nigel said. “They tried all sorts of different experimental treatments, but it wasn’t to be.”
Joel died in November 2016. He, too, was in his 30s.
Although they’ve lost their two children, the Walkers said they cherish the three-plus decades they had with their kids and that they still “have each other,” Ann said.
“We’re lucky in that respect,” she said. “There are some people that don’t have that.”
There was no sign of the disease in Joanne and Joel when they were kids, she added, so they were able to have a normal childhood, for which she was very grateful.
“You’ve just got to face up to the fact that everyone’s going to pass away at some time. You just don’t expect to outlive your children,” Nigel said.
Both Rice and Kummer enjoyed their time cycling through Wyoming, even though one leg of their trip, from Worland to Buffalo, included 35 miles of “brutal, never-ending uphill” through the Big Horn Mountains, Rice said.
The highlight of their time in the Cowboy State was biking through Yellowstone, but they enjoyed the state as a whole. Kummer said Wyoming’s roads “have been awesome.”
“Of all the states we’ve been in so far, I would say these roads have been the best,” Rice said. “Plenty of shoulder, it’s been clean, the rumble strip is right next to the white line. Those are things that you really appreciate.”
They also had good things to say about Wyoming’s drivers, especially on U.S. Highway 14-16, where they traveled the 97 miles from Buffalo to Gillette.
“The drivers, I felt, have been very courteous. Out on those rural roads, they give us plenty of room,” Rice said, adding that he didn’t think he and Kummer will get the same treatment in New York.
One thing that surprised them was Wyoming’s wind, or the lack thereof.
“We took pictures along the way of flags that were just hanging, and that’s not what we expected in Wyoming,” Rice said.
The two have faced a number of obstacles, including heat, headwinds and steep uphill climbs, but the one thing that’s bothered Kummer is the constant pedaling.
“The one thing that’s bothered me the most - not my legs, not my lungs - but my feet,” Kummer said. “Just the pressure on your feet all day, just pushing on the pedal, after a while it makes my feet get tired and cramped.”
Their wives, Angie Rice and Paula Kummer, have followed them the entire trip, allowing them to average 90 to 100 miles a day. Without the support team, Rice said they would only be able to ride 40 to 50 miles daily.
“Just having that support and help has been tremendous,” Steve Rice said.
Although Fanconi anemia is very rare, losing a child for whatever reason is more common, and it’s never easy.
“Hold onto the memories,” Ann said. “Remember the good times, because they get you through.”
The Walkers discovered on their trip to Wyoming that they’ve seen things that “takes us back to a time we had with the kids. We can talk about it and smile about it,” she said. “You really do have to hang on to the memories, think of everything good and wonderful.”
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Information from: The Gillette (Wyo.) News Record, https://www.gillettenewsrecord.com
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