Local Student Bikes for Cancer

Hunter College student to bike across U.S. to fight cancer

Most 19-year-olds spend their summers slaving away at a retail job or an unpaid internship, but not Kips Bay resident Jenny Pearlman. She is one of the youngest participants in the Big Ride Across America bike riding tour, which is raising money for the American Lung Association. The 3,300-mile tour takes place over seven weeks, and will take Pearlman and the 39 other participants from New York to Washington through 12 states.

As a licensed cosmetologist, Pearlman has been offering haircuts to people who donate to her cause, and has raised $6,000 so far ? just $500 short of her goal. She's riding in memory of her grandfather who died from lung cancer.

"My grandfather passed from cancer. He stayed with us when he was very ill and I'll always remember how terribly he suffered. No one should have to suffer like that," said Pearlman, an urban studies major at Hunter College, originally from Centerport, Long Island. "I also have a lot of friends who smoke, so this is important to me. I actually have one friend who I'm trying to get to quit before I leave."

The cross-country group will be riding for eight hours and clocking in 83 miles per day. Every night they will be sleeping at campsites or college dorms. The journey sounds like a real challenge for trained cyclists, but even more so for Pearlman, who just began cycling this past fall.

"I started riding in September, and I hadn't actually been on a bike since I was five years old," she said. "I got really into it, and decided I wanted to do a cross-country ride."

In fact, Pearlman said the first time she was out on a bike in the city, she crashed into a cop car, and the cop got out and started chasing her. Luckily, all she had to do was apologize. But since then, Pearlman has preferred to ride on Long Island, with less chances of being run over by oncoming traffic. She found out about the bike ride from a friend who had a done a similar charity ride last year, and decided to sign up.

Going from wobbly on her bike seat, to riding cross country was no easy task, however. Pearlman trained by riding 200 miles per week, which was difficult to fit in with schoolwork and a social life. On her trip, she is most looking forward to seeing Seattle and Chicago, because she has never actually been away from the east coast.

"It will be awesome having nothing to worry about but riding a bike every day," she said.