Members of Pi Kappa Phi braved high winds, rain and even a tornado during their weather-shortened Pi Kapp 100 on Saturday, April 1, but record number of cyclists brought in good amount of donations and goodwill.
The 100-kilometer cycling ride from Zionsville, founded by two undergraduates 25 years ago, came to an end with an arrival in front of the fraternity house during the chapter’s annual Moms Day. The event raises money and awareness for people with disabilities alongside the national fraternity’s outreach program, The Ability Experience.
A group of 29 undergraduates – 18 cyclists and 11 crew members – raised nearly $4,000. One rider – 2023 Journey of Hope rider Nick Reid – raised $1,000 through the event for his personal fund-raising efforts to support this ride this summer. And the top effort for the chapter’s annual event came from Liam Heinrich who raised $500.
The chapter’s to-date annual campaign for The Ability Experience stands at $15,316, just $2,200 shy of last year’s effort nine months left in the year.
Hodson’s Bay, family-owned local bike shop in the Levee Plaza, was the major sponsor of the event by providing some bikes to be used for the cause. St. Alphonsus Ligouri Catholic Church in Zionsville offered its youth center for cyclists to sleep on Friday night. And undergraduates Grant and Greg Gottlieb’s parents provide a Friday night dinner in their house in Carmel.
Early Saturday morning temperatures were below freezing when the riders headed north. Winds, which at times exceeded 50 mph in the riders face along with light rain provided challenges. As many as six tornados from Friday night into Saturday morning occurred in northwest Indiana, the ride was halted and cyclists were driven to the campus staging route due to extreme conditions.
“The ride itself was challenging given the high winds and storm the previous night that had knocked down trees on the bike path we used,” said Andrew Eichmeier, the ride’s coordinator. “Furthermore, I thought crew did a good job of getting to cyclist when they needed it, and the crew stop cars did a good job making sure they were supplied with snacks/water/Gatorade etc.”
Riders completed about half of the route before conditions made it unsafe to continue.
The riders were escorted by West Lafayette Police cruisers as they made their way through the edge of campus to the fraternity house shortly before 1 p.m.
Donations for the event are still being accepted at:
https://give.abilityexperience.org/team/473546
You can also support Brother Reid, who needs to raise $6,500 to be part of the 2023 Journey of Hope team at:
https://give.abilityexperience.org/fundraiser/4250460
See video of the arrival here.