"100 miles for 2 big smiles"
Read more: Local
HOUGHTON -- It's unusual for people to smile as they watch three young men riding unicycles and juggling at the same time.
"Eventually with enough practice, it becomes just like riding another bicycle," said Houghton native, Ben Bachran. "But at first, it's just about being able to balance and coordinate the way you pedal."
But it only took two big smiles from two young boys to motivate three Keweenaw unicyclers to plan a 100 mile ride from Houghton to Marquette. They're planning the charity rides the week of August 13.
Bachran, Bob Evans and Jason Cattelino hope to raise $20,000 for David Gockenbach of Houghton and Dustin Burkman of Marquette. Both boys are undergoing treatment for leukemia. The ride will be challenging. The farthest any man has ridden is seven miles.
"It'll be pretty hard," said Cattelino. "We'll get a little saddle-sore, but I think we can handle it.. Those guys are going through hard times, really painful times. I think we can endure a little leg pain for them."
Bachran, Evans and Cattelino will perform charity juggling shows along the route. They plan to reach Marquette in five days.
"Whatever we can do to raise a little bit more money and kind of spread some more joy with our juggling," said Evans.
The way they're looking at it, they're riding "100 miles for 2 big smiles."
