PORTLAND (AP) – A bicyclist from Maine is scaling back her plans to ride from California to Portland after being hit by a truck in Arkansas.

Regina Erskine of Portland left San Diego on April 25 and had put more than 1,500 miles behind her when she was hit last Wednesday by a pickup truck after leaving the town of Marvell, Ark. Erskine is making the trip to raise awareness of celiac disease, a chronic intestinal disorder that she was diagnosed with in 2003.

Erskine, a teacher at the Lyman Moore Middle School teacher in Portland, wrote on her Web log that the driver kept going but was eventually tracked down by police. She suffered from road rash and a compression fracture of one of her vertebrae.

“They have told me to stay off the bike for a little while,” she wrote on her Web site. “With time and rest I will heal, but for right now I am still in a lot of pain.”

Erskine said she wants to finish the ride, but will probably stop at the closest point along the Atlantic Ocean – perhaps Savannah, Ga., or Charleston, S.C. – instead of riding all the way to Maine. If she is unable to continue bicycling, her riding partner, Alex Berberick, will finish the ride in her place.

Celiac disease is a genetic disorder that affects the digestive system and is characterized by malnutrition and diarrhea.

Erskine has been giving interviews with newspapers and television and radio stations along the way to bring attention to the disease. She also has been accepting donations for the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research.

Erskine’s determination is no surprise to her friends. She once completed an Appalachian Trail hike with a broken leg, and finished the Boston Marathon after breaking a foot in the first couple of miles.