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HURRICANE — A high school principal who has been riding his bike from Washington to California to teach his students about service broke his collarbone on the journey last week.
Jody Rich, Hurricane High School principal, rode from California to Florida with former Hurricane Middle School principal Roy Hoyt in 2013 to teach students they could do hard things. Ever since, that message has resonated with them, Rich said.
The first ride raised about $30,000 for school computers, but this year, Rich said he changed his focus to service and helping his students understand how it leads to a fulfilling life.
Hoyt, now living in Wyoming, joined Rich and together they rode with the theme "spreading a hurricane of service across America … from the community of Hurricane."
Starting at the top of Washington, Hoyt and Rich rode about 120 miles a day, with an end goal of making it to Southern California, a total of about 1,700 miles. The trip was supposed to take about two weeks.
But 1,200 miles into their journey, Rich was riding downhill just south of Big Sur near a cliff face leading to the ocean when he came around a corner and clipped the base of a construction cone, which then catapulted him over the handlebars and down the road.
Rich said the rest of his body is bruised and sore, and he had to have surgery on his collarbone. His son Jordan Rich said Jody came through a successful surgery Wednesday and is doing well.
"My helmet saved my noggin," Rich said. "I mean, it broke my helmet and so forth but I had no concussion, no negative impact from that."
Though Rich is unable to finish his journey, he still managed to spread service along the way by passing out cards he made that encourage others to perform random acts of kindness.
The front of the cards explain what PAACE (Principals Across America for a Caring Education) is and the back suggests 10 random acts of kindness participants can do, such as paying for a person's meal behind them in a drive-thru or leaving an anonymous note on a car.
Also on the front side of the card is five lines, where five different people can write their name, age and where they're from once they complete a random act of kindness. Once they complete the kind act, they leave the card with the person they served.
Once four additional people complete their service, the last person can mail back the card in the self-addressed envelope Rich provided so his students can see how their one act of service spread to others outside the state.
Rich said the community and his family has been really supportive through the whole process. Before he left, many people donated sponsored nights at hotels he could stay at along the way, and when he got home, people welcomed him with banners and signs at the high school.
His 84-year-old father, Budd Rich, has driven the support vehicle both times they've done the ride, following them along their route.
His son Jordan, who has been monitoring the PAACE Facebook and Instagram pages, sent out a call for the community to help finish the 444 miles his dad couldn't by riding those miles on their bikes and doing acts of service along the way within the next three days.
Jordan Rich told KSL.com in an email that he lost count of the miles after the community reached more than 1,000.
"...hopefully it's started something that's a way of life and not an event and that's kind of been the response, so it's really been cool," Jody Rich said of the journey.