Dispatch: Injury Keeps Karey Harris From Road2Recovery Ride Thursday

Here is Karey Harris' report on Wednesday's ride featured on Patch on Aug. 25. Her was posted on Sept. 10. The next on.

The trip began Sept. 11 in New York and will continue through historic Pennsylvania via Philadelphia, Lancaster, Gettysburg, and Bedford, to the Flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, PA. The tour will end on Sept. 18 at the Pentagon Memorial in Washington, DC. Harris is cycling with 300 others to raise money for wounded soldiers.

"Hi everyone. This morning and early this afternoon, I thought I had the "theme" for today's note.  I was feeling very strong and was part of a really fantastic group of people. I was giving back all the positive energy I received from Eric yesterday. I wound up being a useful part of a group with a recumbent bicycle.

Recumbents are great on the downhill, but are slow on the uphill. To keep everything moving along, people push the recumbents with great precision and grace.  These wide lines of riders often interfere with traffic, so I was their "scout", making sure that cars could see us and that we were clear to work the way we needed to. The teamwork is a beautiful thing to watch. 

Then I wrecked my bike and the mood of the day switched for me. My bike is OK, but I may or may not be riding tomorrow.  Long story short I hurt my shoulder and rode the last 15 miles to the hotel in a van.  More than anything, it's a blow to my pride.  I'll find out in the morning if I'm cleared to ride, or if I'll be a cheerleader sitting in the passenger seat of a van making sure everyone has food and water."

Update: Due to Karey's injury, she won't be cycling on Thursday.

Ride2Recovery creates custom bicycles for wounded soldiers. Ninety cents from every dollar raised will go to building specially-equipped bicycles for the wounded soldiers to ride in the Road2Recovery event.

To make a donation, visit http://www.ride2recovery.com/sponsor-a-rider.html, type "Karey Harris" on the left hand side where you are asked to choose a rider to sponsor.