FEATURE JESUIT PERSPECTIVES • SPRING 2017 17 His mother, Leah, has been engaged in fundraising and planning. Dad is on the crew, too, as is his wife Jane, daughter Emily (who recently graduated from UF and soon starts graduate school), and brother Greg. They are a lot more than just moral support. The logistics of getting a team The 2017 Race Across America On June 17 at Noon, George Pollock’s 8-man cycling team and 10-person support group traveling in fi ve motor vehicles will take off from Oceanside, Calif. in the 36th edition of the famed Race Across America. They’ll continuously race some 3,100 miles across 12 states and climb more than 170,000 vertical feet to the fi nish in Annapolis, Md. on – hopefully – June 23, to meet their goal of completing the race in less than 7 days. Each team member will ride nearly 400 miles. Follow Pollock’s FSHD Cycling team during the race via live tracking at the Race Across America website, www.raceacrossamerica. org. To learn more about his team and its mission to raise awareness and funding for FSHD research, please go to www.FSHDcycling.com of eight cyclists and 10 crew members across the continent in less than seven days are mind-bending. A partial list of items meticulously charted in detail on spreadsheets and checklists would include things such as rider schedules, sleep, food/hydration/ nutrition, medical needs, vehicle movement, lodging, course route/ traffi c, gear/equipment, etc. The team has fi ve support vehicles, including two RVs. There will be a vehicle with a rider at all times. There are 55 time stations across the race route, check-in locations each team must pass through to satisfy race requirements. Pollock has every 30 minutes precisely calculated for 150 hours straight, where all riders and crew will be, and what they will be doing at that moment (riding, driving, eating, sleeping, buying food/drink, etc.), through the rain, wind, heat and any other harsh element Mother Nature dishes out. “I think what keeps me up at night are the logistics and safety,” Pollock said. “We are doing a ton of planning.” .............. The Race Across America starts on Saturday, June 17 at Noon, from its customary starting point in Oceanside, Calif. A week before the race, the FSHD Cycling riders and crew will depart Florida in the fi ve race vehicles, stocked with all of their equipment and supplies, embarking for California. They arrive on June 14, attend an FSH Society kickoff event the next day, go through check-in on Friday, and begin the race Saturday on the coastline of the Pacifi c, as one of 15 teams registered in the 8-person category. If all goes as planned, the team will arrive in Annapolis, Md. late on June 23, having traversed the Sierra, Rocky, and Appalachian mountain ranges, crossed the Colorado, Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio rivers, the Mojave and Sonoran deserts, and the Great Plains. And having made a difference in the lives of those with FSHD. “We are racing for an important cause, and we do want to raise awareness and funds for research,” Pollock said. “However, there is a deeper mission, to inspire people to live their lives no matter the challenges, and for those fortunate to be healthy to have compassion and truly live a life of ‘Men for Others.’”
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