A Brief History of Coast to Coast for Hope

Brian Alward decided to start Coast to Coast for Hope and ride to honor his father Pete, who had been diagnosed with and was fighting against prostate cancer. His father’s ceaseless positive attitude and search for strength encouraged Brian to rethink his perspective and look for ways to make a positive difference. Brian hatched an ambitious plan: to ride his bike across the country, from the Atlantic all the way to the Pacific, raising awareness and money for cancer research the entire way.

“The months following my father’s diagnosis and treatment were unlike any other time in my life” says Brian. “I decided to start Coast to Coast for Hope as a way for young people to actively address the problem of cancer on a large scale: to bring the discussion of cancer and the importance of raising money for cancer research to people throughout the entire country. The courage that I saw in my father exists in countless other people everywhere. This bicycle ride is a tribute to that courage, as well as a way to use that courage to help continue the struggle against cancer.”

Brian spent much of his spare time during his senior year of college organizing and incorporating a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, which he aptly named “Coast to Coast for Hope”. His friend, Travis Rave, agreed to join the trip shortly after Brian let his friends know about his plan during the fall prior to their departure. Travis’s grandmother, Patricia Scanlon Rave, passed away several months later, and suddenly the trip became even more poignant to Travis:

“About three years ago, my grandmother, Patricia Scanlon Rave, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She died in January (2004) after a three-year struggle with the cancer inside her. Despite her intense pain and discomfort, she was one of the happiest, most optimistic people I’ve ever known. Every moment of her life was filled with joy; a joy that she freely shared and spread with everyone around her. At her funeral, the three most commonly heard words were courage, happiness, and love. Over the last three years, she never gave up fighting or loving. Her death has affected me greatly, prompting me to ride this summer to raise money and awareness for ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is very difficult to detect. By the time that most people (including my grandmother) are diagnosed, the cancer has spread to other parts of their body.”

Another close friend, Ryan Burke, remained the skeptic. Though always up for an adventure, even Ryan questioned whether or not the plan was reasonable. And he had every right to do so; no one on the team had any real cycling experience. Plus, they were struggling to raise money. Ryan saw promise in the fledging organization, though, and he firmly believed in Coast to Coast for Hope’s philosophy of active philanthropy. He opted in for the trip and decided to ride for a cancer-related cause that he felt was of great importance:

“Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, with 80% of those deaths being preventable. Smoking plagues the lungs of over 50 million Americans and every cigarette they smoke takes an average of 10-11 minutes off their life. My journey from coast to coast will not only spread awareness that smoking is the #1 preventable killer in our nation, but will also stress that smoking is far from an individual issue. 53,000 people die each year from second-hand smoke related diseases and 125 billion dollars are lost in productivity and medicals costs because of smoking related deaths.”

Later that spring, Cameron Feist decided to join his friends when they departed from New Jersey. Although he had taken a job that started mid-way through the summer, Cameron wanted to ride for as much as he could before he had to leave the trip. Cameron devoted extra effort to fundraising for the team, and was indispensable in the group’s efforts.

As departure day neared, the group’s fundraising efforts had yielded results. They were well on their way toward raising over $40,000. Now their focus shifted to the thousands of miles and hundreds of hours of cycling ahead of them.

When the team departed from the Atlantic, they had a chance to ride with Pete Alward, Brian’s father and the original inspiration for the whole project. Pete trained prior to the trip in order to ride the first 10 miles with the team. His attitude had been a cornerstone of the fundraising, training, and now, on the first day of the trip, riding efforts as the team headed west. Three months later, the team would reach the Pacific, and Brian would reflect on a conversation he had with his father – the one that had started the idea of Coast to Coast for Hope:

“Many times, people will come up to you, look you right in the eye, and say, ‘ you will beat this.’ But that isn’t how I always feel. Cancer is scary. It scares me more than anything. I can’t look you back in the eye and tell you that I will beat it. But I can tell you that I have hope. I can live my life the best way I can and hope that it can be beaten. Hope is the strongest thing that I have.”

Please explore these pages to learn more about us and how we seek to achieve our ambitious goals. From our 2007 Coast-to-Coast Ride to our Horizon Campaign, we think you’ll find a number of ways that you can help contribute.

- The Coast to Coast for Hope Team