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| Chris Pundzak, standing next to a statue of Our Lady of Quadalupe, talks to a group at St. John the Baptist Church in Jefferson about his “Bike to Mary” from Holy Hill in Hubertus to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse.(Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash) |
JEFFERSON — For the average UW-Madison student in his or her 20s, a bike ride from College Library to his or her apartment just off University Ave. is a little more than one mile. Getting from that Point A to Point B can seem like a long ride.
Multiply that ride by about 200. That’s what one man, along with friends and family, did this past summer as a way to get closer to the Blessed Mother.
Chris Pundzak is a 27-year-old volunteer at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse. For the second year in a row, he biked from The Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians at Holy Hill in Hubertus, near Milwaukee, to the shrine in La Crosse.
He calls it the “Bike to Mary.”
The journey took about a week to complete.
While Pundzak has cerebral palsy, he didn’t let that get in the way of his ride.
“I’ve always wanted to do a bike ride for a good cause and Mary is a good cause,” said Pundzak.
“He’s always been a disciple for Christ, ever since he was a little boy,” said Pundzak’s mother, Cecile Gregory, who also went along on the ride.
When Pundzak was born, doctors told his mother he wouldn’t be able to walk, much less use a computer. He now helps with information technology — programming computers and working with computer operations — at the shrine and has a passion for bike riding.
Reflecting on the ride
Pundzak recently spoke to a group at St. John the Baptist Church in Jefferson that meets every month to honor and learn more about Mary.
He said he makes the pilgrimage every year to draw closer to Christ through Mary and refresh the meaning of his daily life.
The Bike to Mary also helps supports the mission of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe through donations, gives friends and family a chance to spend time in prayer and with each other, provides an opportunity to meet new people, and helps bring a faith community together.
“You can’t beat having a beautiful countryside, people on a mission, having fun, working hard . . . and whenever something went wrong, something good came out of it,” Gregory later said.
She recalled a time on this year’s ride when something went wrong and it turned out to be a “miracle.”
As the riding group was nearing Beaver Dam, early in the ride, Pundzak’s bike chain broke. The group had to make a stop at a bike shop in Beaver Dam to get the necessary materials to repair it.
As the situation was explained to the bike shop owner, the owner said, “This is a sign to me. I’ve been considering going back to the Catholic Church and now I know I’m supposed to.”
“There it was, that’s why the chain broke,” said Gregory with a smile.
Ten-year-old Brooke Laube from Sun Prairie also went on the ride. “I really liked it; it was really fun,” she said. For her, the best part was, “when you’re all talking to each other and you’re just laughing and having fun.”
Plans for 2015
Pundzak plans on making the Bike to Mary ride again next year.
His goals for 2015 include: surpassing this year’s number of 10 to 15 people on the ride, raising at least $5,000 to help support the shrine, and getting more people involved with helping — such as planning and providing housing.
To encourage more people to ride, Pundzak said it is a good opportunity for prayer and discernment along the way
For more information on Chris Pundzak and his Bike to Mary, go to biketomary.com