Hello there, friend!

I am Lauren, an idealistic, 31-year-old from Florida with an amazing spouse and a house full of animals.

I assume you are here because I sent you the link or a friend of a friend did or my mom did… sigh, let’s be real, it was probably my Mom. (Hi Momma!)

So for those of you who are new here, I am not a professional cyclist. My average bike ride is 5 miles- to or from work- weighed down by work necessities, a change of clothes, and my lunch.

Lauren, a white woman with brown hair in a blue tank and rainbow striped shorts, stands astride a blue bicycle. She is leaning forward with her elbow on a stack of books in the front basket of the bike. Her chin rests in her hand.

You may be asking yourself: Why now? Why this?
To that I say: I honestly don’t know. Pandemic induced wanderlust? The bookstagram community inspiring me to do hard things that matter? Almost a year of sporadically riding my bike to work again? The voices of all those memoir authors, like Shonda Rimes and Cheryl Strayed, finally coalescing into some kind of drive to Say Yes to the Physical Exertion? It just felt right. So I’m doing it.

Lauren, a white woman in a bike helmet, black face mask, black tank top, black and white floral print shorts, and chacos with socks, stands with her hands on her hips in front of a bike and a floral mural painted on the side of a building.

Yeah, I don’t look like your ‘average’ cyclist, but this is my body, and I can ride a bike too! There’s going to be lots of early morning training rides between now and August, but I’ll have audiobooks and Taylor Swift to keep me company, and what more can a girl ask for?

The pandemic, and my job with the City of Jacksonville Parks Department, helped me realize the importance of parks and trails as a source of sanctuary and to maintain my own mental health during the last year of constant unprecedented scenarios. The East Coast Greenway Alliance is working to have a protected multi-use trail, a linear park, from the Canadian border in Maine all the way down to Mile 0 in Key West. Help me raise money to support their mission and offset travel costs to make it up to NYC for the ride!

Lauren, a white woman in a bike helmet, glasses, a yellow safety vest, and black shorts stands next to the MILE ZERO sign in key west, pointing to it and smiling.

TL;DR: I am riding my bike 125 miles from New York City to Philadelphia in August with V (my spouse) and the East Coast Greenway Alliance! Please help out if you can! <3

ECGA NYC to Philly ride

By Lauren Christiansen

ECGA NYC to Philly ride

Team Members