CRESTLINE — Adam Paynter, a 2012 Buckeye Central graduate, recently went on a bike ride to raise money for the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio (DSACO).
“I actually had a trip planned to go hiking out in the Northwest United States and then that got cancelled over COVID concerns, and it wasn’t going to be as much fun as it should have been with all of the regulations and restrictions,” Paynter said. “I started looking around at things I could do in Ohio or close to Ohio, and I always had my eye on the OTET (Ohio to Erie Trail), but it never came around to planning it and going after it.”
Paynter had a professor in college who went on a coast-to-coast bicycle ride, and after talking with him about it, he decided that it may be too much for him, so he settled for the OTET.
The OTET spans from Cincinnati to Cleveland, a distance of 326 miles. Paynter’s plan was to start the trip on September 3 and travel around 60-65 miles a day to finish five days later, on Labor Day.
Before deciding upon whether he could make the trip, Adam took a trip over to the Richland B&O bike trail in Lexington and rode 60 miles.
“I felt pretty good for most of the ride and at the end I definitely started getting tired, but I was like, ‘Okay, I did 60 miles, I can do this,’ and after that I officially posted the fundraiser because I wanted to make sure that I could do 60 miles a day before I put anything out on social media about it,” Paynter said.
When it came to choosing what organization he wanted to support, Paynter selected DSACO because it holds a special place in his heart.
“My little sister, Hannah, actually has Down syndrome. Growing up, I was always around her and went to her therapies with her and was around a lot of her friends and their families,” Paynter said. “DSACO actually provided our family with a lot of resources as well as I was awarded a scholarship through them for being a sibling of one of their members. It’s a good organization and cause to raise money for.”
When Paynter reached out to DSACO to see what they would need money for, they expressed their desire to help support their learning initiative that they are currently providing, which includes resources for individuals with Down syndrome during the pandemic as a lot of schools closer to Columbus are 100% virtual. Those kids aren’t getting the one-on-one individualized attention that they are used to and that they sometimes need.
So, they expressed a desire for more funding and donations to go towards that as well as they talked about their iCan bike camp, which is an annual bike camp hosted in Columbus each summer for individuals with this disability. They provide scholarships to help individuals with Down syndrome to go to camp.
“My little sister actually attended the iCan bike camp probably 10 years ago, so I kind of remember going to that bike camp with her and watching her,” Paynter said. “So, I decided to raise money for them and it’s going to be split between those two different resources that they provide.”
Paynter began his fundraiser on Facebook, “Adam’s fundraiser for DSACO: Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio” at the end of August, and originally had a goal of $500.
“The idea to make it a fundraiser kind of just dawned on me. I had previously done a fundraiser for them when I ran my first marathon, and that had a good response and raised like $600, and that was awesome,” Paynter said. “I decided to make my bike ride a fundraiser, too, and see if I could maybe raise another $500, so I didn’t expect this one to blow up and raise just over $4,500.
“I decided to make it a fundraising ride because I just feel that social media is mainly negative right now with all of the bad news out there,” he continued. “So, I thought that maybe I’d try to unite people on a common cause and see what we could do. The response was overwhelming and so much better than I could have anticipated.”
Though the physical aspect of the trip was rough, Paynter said that what was probably more mentally challenging was camping outside the whole time.
“Along the way, I tried to silence my self-doubt. I had extra days off work, so if I wanted to take extra days off work I could have, but the plan was to do it in the five days and be done on Labor Day,” Paynter related. “Luckily, that’s how it worked out, even through thunderstorms and rain on the last day. I don’t know if it’s true, but somebody told me that it was the third wettest day in Cleveland history. It rained the whole morning in Cleveland and into the afternoon. There was some flooding that I went through, but that just kind of made it a more fun and exciting finish.”
And there were other memorable moments.
“One highlight from the trip would have been just meeting people along the way who were also active individuals who were out and enjoying the great outdoors, and talking to them and sharing my story — I had a lot of them donate money to the cause without even asking because they thought it was pretty neat, so that was really cool of them,” Paynter said. “Another highlight, I would say, would just be seeing some of the views — whether that be some of the smaller towns that it goes through, some of the countryside through Amish country, and also the views of Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Akron. It was really neat going through Fredericksburg, Apple Creek, and Dalton, which is like the main stretch of actual backroads through Amish country, so a lot of rolling hills and quiet countryside.”
Along the way, Paynter tried to only eat at local businesses to make it more fun for himself.
As a local physical therapist who graduated from BGSU in 2016 with his bachelor’s degree in athletic training and from Ohio University in 2019 with his Doctorate in physical therapy, Paynter said another one of his goals was to promote physical activity.
“I definitely achieved the goals that I set out in the first Facebook post like raise awareness for Down syndrome and the capabilities of individuals that have it, which I definitely think we did, and also to encourage physical activity because as a physical therapist, I like to practice what I preach, and to advocate for the benefits of physical activity, and to flood social media with love and put some positive media out there,” Paynter said.
Paynter’s trail began in Smale Riverfront Park in Cincinnati, and ended up in Edgewater Park in Cleveland, with stops in Xenia, Westerville, Millersburg, and Clinton along the way.
In Cincinnati, he dipped his back tire into the Ohio River, and in Cleveland, he dipped his front tire in Lake Erie.
“I was definitely ready to be done when I finished. Overall, it seemed like a very safe trail and I never really felt worried while on the trail. It’s pretty well marked, though I did get lost just a few times for a turn or two,” Paynter said. “It was unbelievable to see the response from family friends, strangers, and people on Facebook who I have no clue who they are, donating very generous amounts of money. I know DSACO is super thankful for it all.”
Though Paynter enjoyed the trip, he did say that if he were to ever do it again, he would take more than two weeks to plan it, have other people go with him, and he would take a little longer to do it.