Atlee football coach to bike 1,100 miles to raise heart health awareness

MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — Mike Herrity is not your average football coach. The assistant football coach at Atlee High School rides his bike about five times a week and has completed regional triathlons. Now, he is taking on his biggest challenge yet.

Herrity is biking from Mechanicsville to Key West — a distance of just over 1,100 miles — and hopes to finish the journey in about two weeks.

"The hardest part is the mental side of things, just the monotonous routine of, okay, gonna wake up, gonna ride 100 miles or so, and then gonna go to bed, gonna do it again, and then again, and then again, and again, and I kind of love that routine, it's gonna be a challenge," Herrity said.

Herrity has been documenting his preparation on Instagram and recently spoke to summer football campers at Atlee about the upcoming ride.

"They thought I was pretty cool, though. A couple of them were mad that I wasn't biking back, too. So, you know, you get both ends of the spectrum," Herrity said.

The ride carries a deeper purpose beyond physical endurance. Herrity said he wants to send a message to young people about setting goals and following through on them.

"I think it's important to put yourself in the position to do hard things, because I think that is how you build true confidence, and that's how you have the best memories," Herrity said. "When you look back on it, you're becoming a better person, you're becoming a better man, because you're developing that that work ethic, you're developing that grit and that toughness that will help carry them into all facets of their life."

The ride is also deeply personal. There is a history of heart issues in Herrity's family, and his brother — a Henrico paramedic — recently suffered a heart attack. Herrity hopes to raise awareness for everyone to take their health seriously and never for granted.

"It's a blessing in order to be able to do any of this in the first place. So, God gives me the ability to run long distances, to bike long distances, to have air in my lungs, to have the strength and capacity to do these things, and so I think in order to honor Him, you're supposed to utilize your body, and you know, Philippians 4:13 says, like, you can do all things through Christ, who strengthens you," Herrity said.

"Some people can't walk, some people are in a hospital, some people, like my brother, would love to be doing the things to serve the community, being a paramedic for Hanover County, but you know that not everybody has that opportunity," Herrity said. "The fact that I get to put myself in a position to do this is is nothing short of a blessing, and that's that's why I'm doing it."

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