Not Your Typical Long Weekend Trip: 360+ Miles on a Bike
Pratt & Whitney employees often work together to solve technical challenges, but in a unique partnership, employees in East Hartford and Montreal joined forces for the second straight year to benefit community agencies at a four-day, 360 mile bike tour during Labor Day weekend from P&W's East Hartford plant to its facility in Montreal. More than 30 UTC employees participated in this year's ride: 12 from Connecticut operations (P&W, UTC Aerospace Systems and United Technologies Research Center) joined 19 P&W Canada cyclists to raise more than $13,000 for the United Way and Centraide, a similar organization in Montreal.
UTC's corporate shuttle transported the P&W riders to Connecticut on the morning of Aug 9. Following some minor assembly and checks at P&W's East Hartford campus from mechanics provided by Cycling Concept, a bike shop with locations in Glastonbury and Rocky Hill, the group set out. First stop was New Ashford Massachusetts. From there, the route took them via ferry to Ticonderoga, New York; to Burington, Vermont, on day 3 across Lake Champlain and ultimately on to Montreal on day 4. Connecticut riders then returned via the corporate shuttle.
The group covered about 100 miles per day at an average pace exceeding 17 miles per hour. "This is definitely the longest United Way bike ride within all of UTC," said Kevin Rich, F100-PW-220 program manager. "This year, we doubled the number of participants, which was great." Click here to continue reading.
About United Technologies Corporation
United Technologies Corp., based in Hartford, Connecticut, provides high technology products and services to the building and aerospace industries. To learn more about UTC, visit its website at www.utc.com, or follow the company on Twitter @UTC. For more information on UTC's commitment to the community, visit www.utc.com/makethingsbetter.
