Route 66 Habitat for Humanity bike riders on a mission to help others stop in Lincoln

[June 07, 2018] 

LINCOLN 

Route 66 brings all sorts of interesting people to Lincoln. They come from Illinois, all over the United States, and overseas. It truly is the Main Street of America.

Monday a group of 41 bicycle riders and support staff arrived in town from Manchester, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. They were not just on a fun ride, though. The group is on a mission for their church, Manchester United Methodist, to raise money for Habitat for Humanity, Mo-Hab for short.

Twenty-one years ago the pastor of their church challenged the congregation to come up with a plan to raise money for their outreach for Habitat for Humanity. He said he would ride his bike across Missouri from Manchester to Kansas City and hoped for a sponsor.

Three members of the church, Dean Wilson, Jim Vail and Ray Smith, did him one better. Their suggestion was to do a fundraiser for Habitat by biking the KATY Trail from end to end. And that is all it took to start a tradition that has lasted more than two decades. “The three founding members are still riding with us each year,” said this year’s leader Alison Gaffney. She added “we plan to bike 250 miles each year over five days with members gathering donations to sponsor their ride. This year is our largest group.”

The fundraiser started out with many trips along the KATY Trail but that got old. “We needed something different to keep the energy of the event going,” said Jim Vail. They came up with the idea to travel along the Route 66 Bike Trail in Illinois to Pontiac. Now, they alternate routes every year. They have been through Lincoln four times.

The goal of the ride this year is to raise $25,000 to build house number 27 in the St. Louis area. They started at the Chain-of-Rocks Bridge and will end Wednesday in Pontiac. “We start planning the ride in January and then begin training rides in March,” said Jim Vail. “Some of the people try to ride all year, but most of us take the winter off, so we need a tune-up for this event,” he said.

Three days before starting out a crew drives the route marking the trial with orange paint so no one gets lost.

This Mo-Hab ride is not a speed event. The members try to visit towns along the way and see what is unique next to Route 66. While in Lincoln, they stayed at the Best Western and checked out the huge covered wagon. They also visited downtown Lincoln and saw the phone booth on top of City Hall, ate at Flossie’s, and checked out the Lincoln Public Library Carnegie building. Oh, and they mentioned trying to find the entire ghost Lincoln images downtown.

Many of the riders carry a teddy bear with them. That is the symbol of the group. They give a bear to each child moving into one of their Habitat for Humanity builds.

Raising money for Habitat for Humanity is not the only mission for Manchester United Methodist. “We have restored 6,800 bicycles and donated them to those who need one. We started this program nineteen years ago,” said Dean Wilson.

Wilson is a former runner who took up biking after two knee replacements. He has since traveled across the U.S. by bike. “Biking is a whole lot easier on my knees than running,” he said with a laugh.

After an early morning prayer for a safe ride and gentle winds, the largest group ever of Manchester United Methodist Mo-Hab riders jumped on Old Route 66 and headed north.

A family in St. Louis will soon have a new home to call their own thanks to these dedicated riders.

[Curtis Fox]