By Charly SHELTON

Door-to-door, it is 159 miles from the La Crescenta Presbyterian Church to the U.S.-Mexico Border in San Ysidro. Four members of the LCPC found out firsthand just how far that is during a round-trip three-day bike ride. Josh Horton, youth director at LCPC, his father David, and Duane and Ashley Fernandez, two parishioners at LCPC, rode to the border and back last weekend.

“We rode our bikes the entire way, and had support vehicles driven by two LCPC members – Jane Anthony and Kristin Jewell – who met up with us along the route and provided In-N-Out, Chipotle and any other food and supplies we needed,” Josh Horton said. “On our first day, Friday, March 1, we rode 140 miles from La Crescenta to La Jolla. On our second day we traveled from La Jolla down to the border and then back up to Seal Beach [130 miles] and on Sunday morning we rode about 40 miles from Seal Beach back to LCPC where we were greeted by around 50 cheering church members.”

The Abide Ride, as the journey was named, was a fundraiser for the Abide Student Ministries for Middle and High School Students at LCPC. The funds raised will go to scholarships to help students afford summer camp and the annual mission trip to Mexico to build orphanages.

“The trip impacted me in that I was surprised at the extent to which physical exertion really is mind over matter; there were many points on the ride, especially on Saturday night as we rode in the dark through pouring rain, in which I really wanted to give up,” Horton said. “But everyone who was a part of this trip – from the riders to the support vehicles to the people who sponsored us to ride – all deeply love the students of our church, and this ride was planned and done with that heart and focus.”

  Charly Shelton