On June 6, two CitySquash players, along with Director of Squash Bryan Patterson and three students from Fordham University began a cross-country bike ride to raise money for the Bronxbased Urban Squash Program. Tenth grader, Angel Maldonado, and 11th grader, Felpie Pantle, Fordham team members Andriy Kulak, Raymond Chen and Jack O’Brien, plus Amherst College squash player Zach Porges, expect to complete their journey by the weekend of July 10 (at press time the riders were in the Appalachian Mountains with three days to go). The 35 day journey, which began in San Francisco, covers 13 states and stretches nearly 3,000 miles.
The group cycles all day, usually covering between 80 and 100 miles. The Fordham students and Patterson alternate driving the van, and every 10 or 20 miles Felipe and Angel take turns on the bike they share. They eat granola bars for breakfast, PB&Js and cold cuts for lunch, and cook meals at campsites at night. When they have downtime, they nap in the van or read—Angel has been working on Howard Wasdin’s Seal Team Six, and Felipe is almost done with Christopher Mc- Dougall’s Born to Run.
They have seen much of America. They rode through the Rockies and the Great Plains, over the Mississippi River, and are now in the Appalachian Mountains. They visited Denver and St. Louis, but mostly they’ve passed through small towns like Carson City (NV), Eureka (KS), Marshfield (MO), and Barstown (KY). All the while, they have been raising money for CitySquash, generating more than $15,000 in donations. To get involved, visit CitySquash.org.
