Update On Jay Blanchard's Ride for American Widow Project

Jay Blanchard's coast to coast bike trip to raise awareness and money for the American Widow Project is in its third week. The latest update from Jay says the race is tougher than he expected and he's not covering as many miles as he thought he would, but despite all the obstacles he's had to face already he finds strength from the heroes he's honoringr expected\ eIt's an organization that provides the kind of help military widows and their families need after the tragedy of losing their loved one.

I've known Jay for a number of years. He's my financial advisor and it was on June 2nd he started off on the Trans Am Bike Race, the world's longest unsupported bicycle race. From Astoria, Oregon to Yorktown, Virginia he'll ride his bike 4,200 miles coast-to-coast, covering 10 states. Jay was hoping to ride100 to 250 miles a day and his original estimate was that the trip would take him 25 days to complete.

Since this is an unsupported ride, it means that no support vehicles can accompany him along the way. Jay has to fend for himself against the weather, fatigue, hunger and any other obstacle that he may have to face and he's faced a number of them already.

He got caught in a hailstorm in Montana and had to take shelter under a tree until it cleared. He's currently at mile 944 and the past few days it's been mostly up hill thru cold rain and snow. He's at 5,000 feet after climbing up LoLo Pass.

Has he ever done anything like this before? He's ridden in the Ride for Roswell and other similar events, but those are one-day events. The furthest he's ever traveled in one day is 206 miles.

His goal is to raise $100,000 on what he's calling his Ride 4 Widows. You'll be able to follow along on his journey and track his daily progress at his Ride 4 Widows website. It's where you can also make a donation.

Filed Under: American Widow Project, Jay Blanchard, Ride 4 Widows, Trans Am Bike Race

Categories: Lifestyle, WNY News

Update On Jay Blanchard’s Ride for American Widow Project