All these years of training and all these years of praying and it ’ s finally come to fruition .
- Ed Abdella
All these years of training and all these years of praying and it ’ s finally come to fruition .
- Ed Abdella
The first few days are typically brutal , long stretches of desert road with scorching temperatures and no shade . The mountains will bring steep upward climbs and , sometimes , fast descents along winding roads . The winds of the Plains can be debilitating , and traffic in the eastern cities dangerous .
“ Going through the dessert , everybody says you are from Mississippi , you ride when it is 100 degrees out , we have seen you . You ’ ve got this ,” Abdella said . “ No , it ’ s a different type of heat .”
There is no prize money for the overall winner ; most riders use the race as a platform to raise money for a charity of their choice .
Abdella is raising money for Hope Village for Children , a nonprofit group home in Meridian that is licensed to provide residential care and services to foster children from all over the state .
“ I taught a lot of kids at Hope Village when I was at Meridian High . I have always been impressed with these kids ,” Abdella said . “ These kids are incredible . … They end up in Hope Village due to no fault of their own . They go into this place with despair , but they leave with dignity and a desire to make a better life for themselves .”
Followers can track their favorite riders on the RAAM website , and organizers spotlight riders and their charities across social media and in the national news media . Abdella , a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars , is counting on this attention , plus letters he has sent to VFW posts in the states he will be riding through , to help raise donations for Hope Village .
“ We raised money for Merrehope last summer , and we ’ ve raised money for the band three times now ,” he said . “ I know when we get to Oceanside and start promoting it , we are going to raise money for Hope Village .”
Originally from Connecticut , Abdella raced bikes as a teenager , but gradually got out of riding as he grew older and joined the Army out of high school . He served a tour as a paratrooper then spent the next two-plus decades in the Army Reserves , retiring as a First Sergeant in January 2006 .
“ I was in Grenada in ’ 83 . I was in Iraq 1990 to ’ 91 for the First Gulf War and then I was in Iraq from 2003 to 2004 , 15 months , for the Iraqi War ,” he said .
During this time , he also earned a bachelor ’ s degree in education , which is what brought him to Meridian 30 years ago .
“ When I graduated from college , I absolutely loved the South . I loved its people and I loved its culture and I wanted to live here . Teaching jobs in Georgia were very slim , but Mississippi was looking for teachers .”
Over the past three decades , he has taught history at Lamar School , Meridian High and West Lauderdale . His passion with cycling began about seven years ago as a way to help with back problems he was having . “ When I got back from Iraq , I had some really bad back problems . I ’ ve always had back problems in the military . I don ’ t know what it was … but you never complain about it . You just grin and bare it ,” he said .
His back pain continued to get worse , becoming almost unbearable , until he had an MRI that showed he had herniated disks . Steroid injections soon alleviated the pain , so when a friend suggested he try riding a bike , he decided why not .
“ We went out and rode 15 miles , and I remember being pretty tired when I got back . I am like , ‘ man , I am just awful ,’” Abdella said , laughing . “ But it just kind of blossomed from
Ed Abdella and his racing crew before he set out on his Race Across Mississippi tour last summer . Pictured left to right are Nick Berrington , Chris Perry , Kathy Parrish , Abdella , Clint Blackwell and Kevin Brooker . Photo by Glenda Sanders
26 • MERIDIAN LIFE