About Pedaling4Paws

In early 2009, Viktor Ohnjec planned a long-distance ride from West Chester, PA to his parent’s home in Montreal, Quebec.   A short time later, Viktor recruited a fellow cyclist, Mike Van Ryn to ride along with him.  Mike’s brother, a local business owner, caught wind of their adventure and offered to pledge a dollar to the local SPCA for every mile Mike rode.  The ride quickly gained the attention of the local cycling community, the media and residents and soon more money came in on behalf of the ride.  Eventually, nearly $2000 was raised to benefit the Chester County SPCA with the help of Ellen Zadoff and many friends who contributed.  Not bad considering this was not a charity ride.  

In 2010, Viktor and Mike were at it again. They founds cyclists to ride some or all of the segments from West Chester, PA to Ogdensburg, NY on some of the most picturesque roads in the country.  They climbed over mountains and glided through valleys.  They meandered along rivers and crossed-over clear-running streams.  They pedaled through State Parks and Game Lands and met some truly wonderful people along the way.  Most of all, everyone on the ride and who were involved helped to provide and care for the stray or neglected animals living at their local SPCA or Animal Rescue/Shelter. The result - over $5000 in donations received and from a broader audience!

In 2011, Mike, Viktor, and Gary and several others rode in Pedaling4Paws. The third annual event resulted in over $10,000 being colleceted for local SPCAs and animal rescue/shelters along the route. The event included local businesses acting as collection points for their local SPCA/shelter and local riders getting more and more involved. The media coverage was similar to 2010 but the weather was distinctly less hospitable with some form of rain each day. Though the weather did not deter the core group, it did reduce the day-of participation, but not the spirit of other local riders and businesses.  Like always, we posted Blog entries and when done, uploaded a bunch of photos on Facebook of the 5 day trek. Please enjoy them!

For 2012, we hope you can ride with us all or part of the way. You can donate to your local SPCA/animal shelter (please let them know it's on behalf of the Pedaling4Paws ride so we can track how much the ride collectively generates). You can ask your company and co-workers to put a donation jar in a common area and when the day the ride rolls through your area, please bring all the money collected to the SPCA/animal shelter and join us in celebrating the donation! There are many, many ways to help and many, many worthy SPCAs and animal shelters that need your help. Absolutely 100% of your donation goes directly to the beneficiary you choose. If you want to get in touch with us, please leave comments on the Pedaling4Paws Blog or like our Pedaling4Paws page on Facebook.

Anyone who has followed the ride knows that we complete the 500 mile journey in Ogdensburg, NY.  Our contact there is Yves Dupont and we've known Yves since his days in West Chester with the West Chester Cycling Club. He's now further north and living in Heuvelton, NY (just south of Ogdensburg). He and his wife Mary Lou have been gracious host since our first year and our media and SPCA coordinator for the area. Thank you, Yves!

For those who are members of a cycling club or who have businesses, especially high-volume businesses like restaurants, grocery stores or gas stations, please contact us via Facebook so we can get the proper materials to you so you can help spread the word!  If you want to ride with us, please contact us via Facebook. We strongly suggest riders group together with 3 or 4 people per vehicle (with a 4-bike rack on the back) to ensure maximum flexibility and support. As all costs are borne by the riders or by sponsors of the riders, you'll want to spread the word quickly and widely so you can get maximum support.

There are too many people to thank for rides like this, but our greatest thanks goes to our families who have watched as we prepare for our ride, watched our blog (as we hope many of you do) as we ride the ride and watch with bewilderment when we say we're going to do the ride again each year. Thanks for your support, for your understanding and for always being there for us!

To the many friends and fellow cyclist we ride with - either the full distance or just some part of it, we say thanks, ride safely and have fun! To the many people at the SPCAs and Animal Shelters that we support, we say thanks for the persistence, the patience and the love that you show the animals. To all who donate - be it money, blankets, newspapers, time to walk the animals or to volunteer your time helping, a big thank you. It may take a village to raise a child, but without animals in that village, who would the children (and the adults) play with?

Join us and help us to help your local SPCA / animal shelter!

Thank you,

Viktor Ohnjec,  Mike Van Ryn

Gary Bianchini, Yves Dupont

 

Day 1 - Berks Animal Rescue League

Day 2 - Carbon County Friends of Animals

Day 3 - Humane Society (Binghamton)