ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — One man is going on a second journey from Rock Island to Massachusetts after originally flying into the Quad Cities — but this time, he's biking all the way back.
Ronald Bauer, a Rock Island native, got on his bike at the Hennepin Canal on the Rock River and took off on the first steps of a 1,300-mile journey to his home in Fall River, Massachusetts to raise money for cancer research.
It's an issue that's very important to Bauer, who has lost his father, grandfather and a family friend to cancer over the years. He said he's going to be thinking about them along the journey.
"Stuff starts going through your mind. People that you've met, the people that you know who have passed from cancer, the ones that you know have been fighting cancer, and surviving it or are in remission," Bauer said.
Once he's finished that ride, he's got another one scheduled right after — a 190-mile bike ride for his 13th Pan Mass Challenge, a bike-a-thon he participates in every year to raise money for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
Bauer said that he hopes to complete the 1,300-mile ride in about three weeks.
Donations can be made by visiting the Pan Mass Challenge website or by mailing a check made out to Pan Mass Challenge to 739 High St. in Fall River, Massachusetts.
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