2026 Ride - September 28 through October 2
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The Ride Starts on Monday at 9:00!
We're excited to start our ride, and are motivated by the people of Haiti, who never give up, by the Outreach to Haiti staff and volunteers, and by all the people who have donated to the bike ride and who have expressed their support! Our friends and family have been very generous with donations, and this, along with the great work Outreach to Haiti does to help people help themselves, motivates us to do this ride.
Each day, energy and time permitting, we will post a brief description of the day's ride here.
Also, you can “like” Outreach to Haiti on Facebook to get updates, photos, and live videos.
September 28 - Day 1
If you been following the weather, you know that Southern New England experienced a major Nor'easter over the weekend, with heavy winds and a few inches of rain. There was some clearing on Monday, but not for us, it rained all day!
Despite the forecast, we decided to ride. As my friend and fellow-former OTH Board member, Ralph Stewart put it: "At least you get to make that choice. I know the people that you are riding for often have no choice but somehow make it through. Your ride is a prayer for them and for OTH." This was our thoughts during today's ride. We are thankful for several things today:
- We have the ability and energy to ride
- Our route was on several bike trails, so we avoided busy roads for most of the ride
- We had the gear to keep us warm and (relatively) dry enough to continue
- We were able to ride side by side at times and keep each other motivated
We had two riders today: Ron Paine, and Tom Campbell. Steve Cuddy was injured, but he met us along the way for morale support. Jim Hubert will ride with us on Wednesday. Dorothy Paine will provide support for most of the week. Thank you, Dorothy – we can’t do this without you!
We started on the Farmington Canal Heritage Bike Trail in Cheshire, CT (at Jarvis Street). This is a wonderful rail trail and a great recreational resource for the state – it follows the historic path of the Farmington Canal, which goes back to the 1820, and runs from New Haven to Westfield, MA. We headed north towards Massachusetts. The trail turns into the Southwick Bike Trail, and once we hit Massachusetts it turns into the Columbia Greenway Trail. The last 11 miles were on the Manhan Trail, the New Haven and Northhampton Canal Greenway, and the Norwottuck Trail into Hadley, MA.
We want to shout out the very nice people at Our Lady Blessed Sacrament in Westfield, MA. They were happy to allow two very wet and dripping bike rides to come inside for a break. And many thanks to Dorothy who was able to arrange this just before we arrived.
Because of the steady rain, we weren't able to stop to take photos, but here are a few photos at the beginning and end of the ride. There is also a video on OTH's Facebook page of our arrival at the hotel.
Getting ready to go Start of the ride End of the ride
As you can see, we ended the ride in Hadley, MA very wet, but safe and happy. The total for the day was 70.3 miles.
Tomorrow we are riding back to CT - to Glastonbury. It looks like we might get a tail wind – that is always welcome!
September 29 - Day 2
The rain has ended, and even though we didn’t get much sun today and we didn’t get the forecasted tail wind, it was a good day to ride. We started a little early - around 8:30. A nice morning – low 60s and overcast. We did a good job again choosing our gear for the day, so we were very comfortable – not too hot, not too cold. We started in Hadley, MA and rode Glastonbury CT.
Ron and Tom at the start of the ride
The route took us back to the Norwottuck Bike Trail – we rode east to the end of that trail – and then south Belchertown, Ludlow, Wilbraham, and East Longmeadow (all in MA).
Photos from Wilbraham, MA (taken earlier on a sunny day)
Leaving from our break at St. Cecilia Church in Wilbraham
This took us to CT, where we rode on busy roads and country roads.
Fruit trees and a tobacco barn in northern CT
We made very good time and arrived at the hotel in Glastonbury at 2:30 pm.
Arrival at the end of the ride
Total distance today – 69.4 miles.
Tomorrow we are riding to the Cathedral in Norwich, and then to St. Mark’s in Westbrook CT. We’re expecting more sun and temps up into the 70’s!
September 30 - Day 3
Today was a day for meeting friends and supporters of Outreach to Haiti. We began the day in Hebron, CT, visiting the Haiti Committee at the Church of the Holy Family. After spending time with them in conversation and prayer, and after taking a few photos, we started today’s ride just before 9 am. It was cool and partly sunny, but we expected more clouds and temperatures in the low 70s.
Jim, Ron, Tom and Dan with members of Holy Family's Haiti Committee
Tom and Ron were joined this morning by Jim, who rode with us to the Cathedral in Norwich, the next stop on the ride. Jim rode the first 21 miles with us and then rode back to his home in East Hampton, CT on his own. It’s always great to spend time with Jim on the bike. The route to the Cathedral takes us on road that goes from Colchester to Norwich, and it is the most direct route to the Cathedral. A few miles before the end of this road, we saw a sign that said the road was closed. It directed us to a detour that would take us on Rte 2, which is a highway! We were concerned that we would have to find another way to the Cathedral, which would require several more miles and steep hills, but then decided to continue down the closed road to see if we could walk our bikes through the closure. The photo below is what we encountered! The workers in the photo were nice enough to wave us through and even help us carry our bikes up the small dirt hill.
Pond on the same road, before the closed area
We were greeted at the Cathedral by the entire Cathedral school, the principal, and several friends. The students were very polite and asked a lot of questions about the ride. We jokingly apologized to them for taking them away from their classes to meet us.
We left the Cathedral, and headed towards Westbrook CT, backtracking the last 6 miles or so we rode to get there. It was then that we realized we had to pass through the road closure. There were different workers there, who told us we couldn’t go through, but after informing them we already passed through, they wave us through. We continue to Westbrook by way of Bozrah, Salem, Lyme, and Old Saybrook, (all in CT). The ride included Saybrook Point, one of our favorite places to ride, where we stopped for a few selfies.
We ended the ride at St. Mark’s Church in Westbrook, where we were greeted with hot beverages, snacks, and a very generous donation from the parish’s Walk with Haiti ministry.
Total distance today – 68.3 miles.
Tomorrow we are going to ride from Old Lyme to Wallingford CT, including a ride on the Farmington Valley Heritage Trail from New Haven to Wallingford. Stay tuned!
October 1 - Day 4
Ron and Tom started the ride in Old Lyme, CT at 8:30. The weather continues to improve – it was foggy at the beginning of the ride, then partly cloudy with temperatures getting up into the 70s.
We rode west over the CT River, towards New Haven, riding along shore roads (on the Long Island Sound) in Old Saybrook, Westbrook, Clinton, Madison, Guilford, Branford, and East Haven. The first 25 miles (to our first break) went by quickly. The break was at West Wharf in Madison, where we encountered a friendly seagull – you can see it in the photos below.
The next 20 miles to our second break was a bit more challenging – including a very scenic 12-mile up and down section through Guilford and Branford.
As we entered into the New Haven city limits, we rode by Tweed Airport in time to see a 737 coming in for a landing right above us (we didn’t get a photo). Shortly after, we stopped for our second break (thanks Dorothy).
We then rode through downtown New Haven to the Farmington Valley Heritage Trail. Yes, the same trail we rode earlier this week, about 20 miles south of where we rode on Monday. We took the trail through Yale University’s campus and headed north towards Quinnipiac University.
Trail Head in New Haven Yale University
From the trail, we headed towards our hotel Wallingford. This was a new route for us, and probably one we won’t use in the future. There were several very steep hills, which sapped our energy after 58 miles! But we made it, and had a fun and restful evening in Wallingford.
Total distance today – 68.7 miles.
Tomorrow is the final day of this year's ride. We will visit Mercy High School in Middletown and then head to St. Patrick in Farmington to finish the ride. Stay tuned!
October 2 - Day 5
Our last day of the ride – and the nicest day weather-wise. Upper 60s and sunny at the start and into the upper 70s by ride's end.
At the start of the ride (we should have consulted on colors...)
Our first stop today was at Mercy High School in Middletown about an hour into the ride. As always, we received a great welcome and felt very welcome. Click here to see the video of our reception at Mercy High School. As you can see in the video and the photo below, we gave high-fives as we rode by the students, which almost knocked us off our bikes!
Don't fall off your bike!
OTH Director Sandra Chipanta, Ron, Tom, Mercy HS President Alissa DeJonge, OTH Board President Dan O'Sullivan
After a short break and refreshments, we left Mercy, thankful for the warm greeting and hospitality. We rode through Middletown, Cromwell, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield and Newington (all in CT), with a short break at a park in Newington.
We then picked up the bike trail along the CT Fasttrack Busway. The busway is a two-lane road that runs from New Britain and Hartford, solely used by commuter buses. When they built it, a bike lane was installed to run along the busway. This took us into New Britain, where they are in the process of extending the trail through the downtown streets. It was a little confusing figuring out where the paths started and stopped, but we took our time and made it through. If we come back this way next year, we think it will be all sorted out, and we will be able to enjoy trails all the way to Plainville. This will definitely cut back on the time we spend on busier roads!
Ultimately, we rode towards the Farmington Valley Heritage Trail for the final stretch. This portion of the trail is where I used to ride when I lived in the area, so it is always fun to be back.
Old Railroad Bridge from the trail in Farmington
We arrived at St. Patrick Church in Farmington right at 2:30 – the ETA at the start of the ride – to another wonderful greeting and a reception in the church hall. The greeting was not as loud as the one from Mercy HS, but it was heartfelt and enthusiastic. We saved the high-fives until we got off our bikes!
Two happy but very tired riders!
Total miles for the day – 60.2; Total for the week – 338 (one more than planned)!
Thank you!
We have a lot to be thankful for. We thank God for our health to be able to do this, our safe passage during the ride, and the fellowship amongst the riders and those we met along the way. We’re also thankful for no major mechanical issues along the way.
There are so many people to thank for the success of the ride. First, the riders - Jim, Ron, Tom, and Steve. A great effort, and it was wonderful spending time together, struggling together, cheering each other on.
Thank you to the donors. While many are repeat donors, there are several new ones. Spreading the word of our mission in Haiti is part of the reason for the ride, and it is great to see new donors, and even better to see repeat donors who learn about the mission and believe in it. In all, there are over 70 people who have donated so far this year - THANK YOU!
What is inspiring to me is when I thank someone who donated to the ride, and the response is "no - thank you for doing this." Responses like these keep us going!
A special thank you to our families – Mary Ann, Dorothy, Lynn, and Linda, who encouraged us and prayed for us during the week.
We thank the parishes and the school that reached out and met us, giving us great receptions and send-offs - Mercy High School, St Patrick's Cathedral School in Norwich, St. Mark's/St. Pio's in Westbrook, and St. Patrick Church in Farmington. Thank you for your warm welcome!
Finally, a very, very special thanks to Dorothy Paine. Dorothy supported us all week, encouraging us, praying with us, making sure we were hydrated and nourished, and she took most of the videos and the photos in this ride summary (and many more). We wouldn’t have done this year's ride, nor would we have made it to the end without you! Thank you, Dorothy!
What all of you have contributed helps move the mission in Haiti forward and helps to improve the lives of deserving Haitians every day.
Donations are still coming in - it is not too late! Please, please, please - if you haven't donated, do so now.
Click here to Donate!!!
Can't wait for next year's ride!
Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts, and God bless you.
Description of Ride
The 12th Annual Bike Ride for Haiti begins Monday, September 28, 2026. The Outreach to Haiti team of riders are once again riding 337 miles, the length of one tip of Haiti to another, over 5 days. We'll be riding in Connecticut and Massachusetts. During the ride, we will visit some of the parishes and schools in Connecticut that are twinned through Outreach to Haiti with parishes and schools in Haiti. This includes a visit to St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Cathedral School in Norwich.
The purpose of the ride is to raise awareness and funds to support our mission in Haiti. Outreach to Haiti has been in Haiti for almost 40 years, serving the poor in the Christ Roi community of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas with a healthcare clinic, food and nutrition programs, education programs, developing and maintaining twinning relationships, cultural immersion trips, and the FAK program, which empowers women to start their own businesses. Our motto is Helping Haitians Help Haitians, and Outreach to Haiti is truly changing lives in Haiti. More information about Outreach to Haiti can be found on other pages of this website.
The people we serve in Haiti ARE IN GREAT NEED OF OUR SUPPORT. Due to the political and social unrest, the demand for our services and the challenges associated with delivering those services have increased significantly. Despite these challenges, and with your help, our staff in Haiti heroically continues to maintain services to their community.
Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for a safe and successful ride (and an occasional continual tail wind would be nice!)
These are the daily rides (subject to change):
Day 1 - Cheshire, CT to Amherst, MA - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55282770
Day 2 - Amherst to Glastonbury, CT - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/54226220
Day 3 - Hebron, CT to Westbrook, CT - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/56650765
Day 4 - Old Lyme, CT to Wallingford, CT - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/56347315
Day 5 - Wallingford, CT to Farmington, CT - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/55300330
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