Julia, Laura, and Greg Teufel, on the 2020 Bike4Haiti

They say that necessity is the mother of invention and Haiti H2O’s Bike4Haiti event was certainly born of necessity. In 2019, Church of the Ascension’s youth group was preparing to send its youth group to Haiti, with Haiti H2O, for a mission trip. The teenagers and adult leaders had signed up, and training had begun. But by March of that year, the US State Department issued a warning for travels to Haiti, so the youth group pivoted, opting instead to bike all the way from Pittsburgh to the Haitian Embassy in Washington, D.C. By 2020, when it was clear that it would still be too unsafe to take groups to visit our partners in rural Haiti, we decided to move forward with an annual Bike4Haiti event. This began as a ride from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, with shorter options offered as well. One of the first families to join us were the Teufels.

Laura, Greg and Julia Teufel signed up for their first ride in 2020, for the ‘family friendly’ ride, a 15-mile loop around Pittsburgh’s southern neighborhoods. The Teufels attend one of Haiti H2O’s partner churches, Bellefield Presbyterian Church. “It’s nice to invite church communities [to the ride], because you get to know your fellow church goers as you are doing this event together,” said Laura. The Bike4Haiti event helped familiarize the Teufels with Haiti H2O’s mission, as well as enjoying an activity they knew they liked to do as a family. They have cycled together for a long time, particularly on the Panhandle Trail near Pittsburgh and on vacations. “We just did a trip [in July] to West Virginia and biked all around,” said Laura. “When we went up to Maine, we drove [our bikes] all the way from Pittsburgh and did the carriage trails up there. So we bring them when we go on vacations. It’s nice to have your own bikes!” Apart from vacations, the Teufels stay active in Pittsburgh. Greg cycles regularly to work in Mount Lebanon, and Julia is one of the few teenagers at her high school who cycles to school. “I’m not generally comfortable with cars zooming by me on the street,” she admits, “I’ll bike happily on trails where there’s space and no cars—that’s the type of biking I’ve done in the past.”

In 2021, the Teufels decided to cycle all the way to Meyersdale, PA over 2 days. “It was fantastic,” she said. “All three of us did it, and it was the first time doing any kind of endurance or distance challenge—it was a nice pace.” After the 2020 ride, Laura invested in an electric bike: “With an electric bike, you basically can bike regularly—100% your effort—but if there’s any point in the day where there’s a hill or you want to relax a little bit, you can hit the assistance and it’s great.” Laura enjoyed many parts of that 2-day ride, but one of her favorite moments was arriving in Connellsville. The Connellsville Festival was in full swing and having just biked 50 miles, their daughter Julia got up and started dancing to the live music. “And she made the front of the newspaper in Connellsville!” Laura recalled. “Another highlight was being with more seasoned bikers that knew what they were doing—I liked the pace, the cadence of it.” Across the 1-day, 3-day and 6-day rides, there are always many opportunities to slow down and take in the scenery and local attractions, including a beautiful mosaic art space and the Youghiogheny River.

This year, Laura and her daughter Julia rode to Connellsville (with Greg joining them for the initial 15-mile loop) and stayed the evening with the rest of the group, to rest & enjoy the community. “It’s just such a great cause,” said Laura. “Communicating what the cause is has been done very well and that’s part of the reason why people want to do these types of events—that’s all been done very, very well.”

Thank you to the Teufels for riding with us and we look forward to seeing you next year!

On the Trails Again

Prayer for Haiti

Peyi Lok