Father Blenkle’s Bike Ride Spins Rewarding Results

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In the end, Father Joseph Blenkle had two sets of numbers of which he could be proud. One was the $33,000 he raised for his parish school, St. Mary, Mother of the Church in Fishkill. The other was the 15 pounds he lost during his sometimes-grueling 350-mile bike ride from Connecticut’s Lourdes in Litchfield Marian Shrine to the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Md.

As reported in CNY’s May 28 edition, Father Blenkle was the lone New York priest taking part in “Our Father’s Ride,” a pilgrimage of seven priests in the northeast who took to their bikes to raise money for Catholic education May 29-June 4.

“No matter how many miles I trained—and I was up to 30 miles a day—nothing prepared me for the hills,” he acknowledged, “the hills of Connecticut, the hills of Dutchess County. There is a Pleasant Ridge Road. There is nothing pleasant about Pleasant Ridge Road.”

He had to battle extreme heat part of the way as well, and heavy rain in Pennsylvania. But Father Blenkle also said he saw some beautiful Americana along the back roads, met some terrific people and shared fellowship with the other priests.

“It was a very good, rewarding experience. I would do it again, riding with those guys, ” he said of his co-pilgrims.

“And I lost 15 pounds!”