Bicyclist Rides Across Country to Raise Money for Lung Cancer Awareness

A trip from San Francisco to the East Coast usually takes about five hours on a commercial flight.

Jack Owens chose a more leisurely way to travel from San Francisco to Ocean City, N.J. – by bike.

Setting off from San Francisco Bay on May 20, he pedaled 3,600 miles over 48 days, finally arriving in Ocean City at 11 a.m. Sunday to the cheers of more than 100 family members, friends and other supporters.

“It was amazing to see,” Owens said of the enthusiastic reception he received at the 34th Street beach.

The arduous cross-country journey, powered by Owens’ legs, was a fundraising trip inspired by his love for his late grandmother, Kathleen Matthews, who died in December 2011 after a nine-month battle with lung cancer.

Although he was only 6 years old when his grandmother passed away, he remembers how she was able to unite her family and others in a common cause.

“She was a great beacon of joy and happiness for us,” Owens recalled in an interview Monday.

While biking across country, Owens raised more than $50,000 for Ride Hard Breathe Easy, a nonprofit organization founded by his uncle, John “Jack” Matthews, to help lung cancer patients and to provide cancer research funding.

Jack Matthews created Ride Hard Breathe Easy after losing his mother – Jack Owens’ grandmother.

Reminiscent of what his nephew would do this year, Jack Matthews biked across country in 2017 to honor his mother’s memory and to raise money and awareness for lung cancer patients.

However, Matthews’ trip started on the East Coast, in Newtown Square, Pa., and headed to the West Coast to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

“They thought I was out of my mind,” Matthews said of the family’s initial reaction to his cross-country trek.

“When mom was sick and about a week before she died, I said that I was going to do something. Before you knew it, I said, ‘I’m going to ride a bike across country,’” Matthews recalled.

    Jack Owens is joined in Ocean City by his uncle, John "Jack" Matthews, who completed his own cross-country bike ride in 2017 to raise money for lung cancer awareness and research. (Photo courtesy of John "Jack" Matthews)
  

When Owens told his uncle of his plan to duplicate his trip – only in reverse – Matthews jokingly said, “I thought he was out of his mind.”

“The whole family is proud of the person he is and what he’s done,” Matthews said in an interview Monday.

Matthews, who lives in Cheltenham, Pa., said he gave some simple advice to his nephew for the trip: “Trust yourself, trust your body and enjoy the beautiful country we live in.”

Owens, of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., had his uncle by his side during the first 13 days of the bike trip, from San Francisco to Grand Junction, Colorado. Matthews was also with Owens for the final leg of the journey to Ocean City, triumphantly posing with his nephew for photos on the 34th Street beach.

Owens symbolically dipped the back tire of his bike in San Francisco Bay to begin his trip. To celebrate the end of his journey in Ocean City, he symbolically dipped his front tire in the ocean.

The Matthews-Owens family has ties to Ocean City. The family once had a place at the Seaspray Condominiums at 34th Street and Bay Avenue. The condo was owned by Jack Matthews’ mother and late father, Bob Matthews.

Owens is a junior at Notre Dame University, majoring in business analytics. He spent months preparing for the bike trip “to have a solution to every problem we faced,” he said.

He encountered some setbacks, such as flat tires, but nothing major during his journey. He stayed in hotels while making his way across country.

Owens said he was relieved when he arrived in Ocean City, and felt overwhelmed by the love and support from his family. He also said he thought of his grandmother when his trip finally ended.

“While she would be proud of me, she would be more aware of how many people came together in one common cause,” he said.

Click on video above to see Jack Owens arriving on the 34th Street beach. (Courtesy of John "Jack" Matthews)