College cyclists pass through Paradise

PARADISE – An enterprising group of young college students stopped in Paradise last week as they continued their bicycle trek across the nation.

The Plains Paradise Methodist Churches hosted the student cyclists at the Paradise United Methodist Church on North Avenue in Paradise on the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 5.  

In addition to cycling from the Atlantic Coast through the nation’s interior to the Pacific shoreline this group of students also helps out the local communities they pass through, volunteering on the days they are not pedaling over miles of countryside.

The student organization, Bike & Build, raises money for affordable housing efforts across the country on their annual cross-country bike treks during the summer months.

Donna Maughlin noted the group is able to save money, which they then put towards their fundraising efforts, by staying with organizations during their trip.   

“Anywhere they can stay or be fed saves their program money,” Maughlin said.

The cyclists also bring camping equipment with them for when they stop off at campgrounds during their journey.

Maughlin noted the small church was packed with students.

“Kids flopped out on couches and camped out on the lawn in tents,” Maughlin said.  

The Plains Paradise Methodist Churches came together and provided the traveling students with dinner and an evening swim, before they continued their journey on to Kellogg, ID early on Wednesday morning.

According to Maughlin members of the churches provided side dishes, grilled up bratwursts and prepared packed lunches for the long distance cyclists to enjoy on their next day of adventure.

Maughlin added this is not the first time the Methodist church in Paradise hosted students from this group and cyclists from Bike & Build have made Paradise a part of their route for the last several years.

Before arriving in Paradise the Bike & Build group spent several days in Missoula helping out with projects in conjunction with the Habitat for Humanity of Missoula.

The students started their summer travels on June 7, in the coastal city of Providence at the head of Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island.

So far this summer the students who passed through Paradise have raised well over $148,00 for affordable housing projects.

They will wrap up their fundraising journey at the end of August in Seattle, Wash. after covering 3,940 miles over 71 days.

The over two months of cycling included three rest days and ten building days, including the one the group participated in during their time in Missoula.

In total 29 students and their support van driver were housed and fed by the Paradise church, on Tuesday evening.

The Bike & Build program includes several different teams who travel across the United States on various different routes in addition to the Providence to Seattle route, which passed through Paradise.  

The group’s trip to Idaho will mark their last 100-mile day of the summer, which includes peddling up Thompson Pass, the final days to Seattle will be a little less arduous for the athletic students.