Motivation for miles

John Hall’s left knee ached as he pedaled into Newport Beach late Wednesday night. Averaging about 18-miles per-hour, there were times when he felt like he would fall asleep on the bike during the 105-mile ride down Pacific Coast Highway from Oxnard before he got a room for the night at a posh Newport Coast hotel. He set off again in the early morning hours Thursday headed south toward San Diego.

The thought of more money for cancer research and patient support services keeps him motivated as he begins the next 100-mile leg of his 12,000-mile trip each day.

“It puts a little more pressure on me to finish, because we have people who have pledged so much money per-mile,” John Hall said. “We want to get it all from them.”

Hall, 62, of Anchorage, began a four-month bike trip Tuesday across the country from Lompoc, about 200 miles north of Newport. His wife, Jane Hall, travels with him by car to offer moral support and haul the couple’s luggage.

The Halls are riding across the country to raise funds for cancer support and research as well as awareness about the disease. Jane Hall was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago in March. After a lumpectomy, three months of chemotherapy and 36 radiation treatments, she considers herself a “one-year survivor.” The couple decided to use the cross-country bike trip as a way to raise money for cancer research after Jane Hall’s diagnosis.

“Having a diagnosis of cancer is very scary — it also has a hard emotional impact on your family,” Jane Hall said. “I think we were so appreciative of the outpouring of kindness from friends and strangers after my diagnosis, we wanted to raise awareness and support.”

The Halls are traveling south, turning eastward just north of San Diego, where they will continue through Arizona, inching across Texas and across the Southeastern United States. When the Halls reach Florida, they will head south to Miami and then north again to Bar Harbor, Maine.

Proceeds from the trip will benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Susan Butcher Family Center in Anchorage. The Lance Armstrong Foundation, based in Austin, Texas, was founded by cancer survivor and seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong in 1997. Susan Butcher, who died from leukemia in 2006, was a champion dog musher who won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race four times. The Susan Butcher Family Center, at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage was established by her family in her memory and is a special, supportive place for children to go while their parent or sibling is being treated for cancer. John Hall works at Providence as an emergency room doctor.

His wife’s experience with cancer has had an impact on how John Hall approaches treating cancer patients in his work as an emergency room doctor. He and Jane Hall want their cross-country bike tour not only to raise money, but also to raise awareness and spread a hopeful message, he said.

“I always treated [cancer patients] well, but always had in the back of my mind to feel sorry for them — but they don’t want you to feel sorry for them,” John Hall said. “They want you to feel hope for them.”

For updates on the Halls’ trip or to make a donation, visit www.bikeridearoundamerica.org.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].