Paw Paw bicyclist to embark on ‘epic’ ride for late son
PAW PAW, Mich. (WOOD) — A bicyclist from Paw Paw will take on one of his biggest challenges this summer to help raise money for causes that are personal to him.
Mark Linder takes pride in every ride, especially this one, being about his pride and joy. In 2010, his 2-year-old son, Kevin, was diagnosed with stage IV neuroblastoma cancer.
Although he passed away three years later, Kevin never gave up – something that stuck with Mark ever since.
“There were days where we would go into the clinic in Kalamazoo, he would receive treatment… and then he would have a tee ball game that night and he would play like nothing was happening,” Mark said. “He loved the (Disney-Pixar) animated movie, Cars. He loved anything with an engine. He loved riding his bike up and down our driveway.”
To this day, Kevin’s bike is still parked in the family garage, always ready for its next adventure. So is Mark, who is embarking on his biggest yet for Kevin and those who helped their family fight his fight.
The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) is a challenging adventure in itself – about 3,000 miles of rough terrain with more than 200,000 feet of total elevation change from Banff, Alberta, Canada to Antelope Wells, New Mexico.
“I started looking at bicycle magazines and online… and found this continental divide route and thought, ‘Well, that sounds amazing.’ I love a good adventure. I love a good challenge,” Mark said. “It is going to be tough. There are certainly going to be times where I am going to be questioning everything about why I am out there. But then hopefully, Kevin will start saying something to me and I’ll keep going.”
Calling this the “Epic Bike Ride”, Mark’s goal is to raise $50,000 in total for three organizations he chose that help kids fight cancer:
DC Strong, based out of Plainwell, who provides care packages for pediatric cancer patients and supports their families.
CureSearch, a research organization dedicated to finding a cure for various cancers.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation, who gifted the Linder family a trip to Disney World for Kevin’s 4th birthday.
“He had the time of his life. We had the time of our lives. And it was an incredible experience. Once we got back, then we said, ‘Okay, that was amazing. How do we do that for other people? How do we pay this forward?’ Because… we were treated like royalty. We wanted other people to have that experience.”
If you want to help achieve Mark’s goal, you can donate by simply heading here to the Epic Bike Ride’s website. Donating through it will directly help tally the total amount.
To Kevin’s parents and sisters, he was a true king, brave superhero and fierce warrior whose adventure lives on through his loved ones.
“Kevin was such a strong, little guy,” Mark added. “And, I mean, I’m obviously biased, but he was an unbelievable source of inspiration and continues to be. Hopefully, we can use that to help some other people.”
If you are a bicyclist, you’re welcome to join Mark for any part of the ride. He plans to leave Alberta around May 20 and finish the route by the end of July for the Make-A-Wish Ride in Michigan — the event that sparked his love for bicycling.
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