Smooth ride for bicyclers riding for cancer charity

Group leaders Bob Freed (left) and Denny Snyder, both of Allentown, relax Tuesday evening during a layover at the Coudersport Elementary School. The group was up bright and early Wednesday morning, riding out to Fezz's Diner in Sweden Valley for breakfast and then heading east toward Tioga and Bradford counties.

About 60 bicyclists passed through Potter County Tuesday and Wednesday as they continue their six-day Pennsylvania Perimeter Ride Against Cancer (PPRAC).

"Everything has gone very well," said the group's leader, Bob Freed, as he and the other bicyclists relaxed at the Coudersport Elementary School Tuesday night after departing from Warren early that morning.

Their odyssey began at daybreak Monday in Erie and will conclude on Sunday some 550 miles later, in Palmerton. PPRAC members range from teachers, doctors and lawyers to college students. They're raising money for the American Cancer Society and Dream Come True, a fund for seriously ill children, based in Lehigh Valley.

Each cyclist had to raise at least $1,000 to qualify for the ride. PPRAC has earned more than $600,000 with the semiannual rides that began in 1983.

Support vehicles accompany the riders carrying extra equipment and supplies.

Freed said there have been a handful of flat tires and mechanical annoyances, but nothing that has caused any of the cyclists to drop out.

"We've also been fortunate with the weather," he added. "It has been hot, but not unbearable -- we've ridden in a lot worse."

Freed organized PPRAC in 1983, in response to the cancer deaths of two family members and a friend. He has been assisted in recent years by Denny Snyder, also of Allentown, a colleague and friendly athletic rival of Freed's.

The original PPRAC was a ten-day journey covering 1,000 miles around the border of Pennsylvania. It was completed by 22 riders. Since then, six-day rides have been completed every other year.

A trip log and additional information on the PPRAC, including ways to donate, are posted at the website pprac.net.