Cycling for children's hearts

Bruce Crosby/McCook Daily Gazette

Nels Matson, center, his girlfriend and support staff Denise Pizzo, left, chat with Thomas Poore of Tinker Tom's bicycle shop in McCook, Nebraska, before setting out on Friday's leg to Holdrege. Matson's Bike 4CHF hopes to raise $100,000 in research dollars for the Children's Heart Foundation, as well as raising awarness of the number one birth defect in America, congenital heart defects, which affect 40,000 births every year and one in every 100 newborns. Matson, himself a survivor of a congenital heart defect, started riding his bicycle in Santa Monica, California, on June 8 and hopes to complete the 3,709 miles to New York, New York, by July 20, averaging 100 miles per day. Along the way he is making contact with kids with congenital heart defects who are keeping track of his progress with Internet updates. Matson, 27, who underwent heart surgery for an uncommon congenital heart defect at age three, went on to wrestle for Iowa State University in college. In 2009, he raised funds for the CHF by completing an Ironman 70.3 race and his first marathon. For more information or to make a donation, visit http://www.athletes4heart.com, on Facebook (Athletes4Heart) and Twitter (@aAthletes4Heart).