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Push-ing the pedals
Man's ride to benefit the disabled
Cycle WEB 1
Ethan Hyde is training for an upcoming cross-country cycling trip to raise awareness of people with disabilities. - photo by Autumn Vetter
Ethan Hyde knows that having one leg never held his grandfather back.He remembers the man in a wheelchair who kept a positive attitude and strong values despite having lost a leg in a farming accident in the mid-1980s.This summer, Hyde, 22, will use his two legs to raise awareness for people with disabilities by pedaling across the country in the Push America Journey of Hope.The annual Journey of Hope cross-country cycling event began in 1987 as an awareness campaign for the message of Push America, an organization for people with disabilities founded by Pi Kappa Phi fraternity.Hyde, a Forsyth Central High School alumnus, said the fraternity’s nonprofit is the main reason he joined the group at the University of Georgia. He’d never planned to go Greek, but the philanthropy of Pi Kappa Phi sparked his interest.The Journey of Hope, for him, embodies that commitment to service and awareness for people with disabilities.“We don’t say a disabled person. It’s a person with disabilities.