Why I'm Riding

Something happened to me in the midst of this very busy training and fundraising season. Or shall I say, some things. Just two weeks before Pelotonia I had a relative pass away following a battle with brain cancer. I am thankful to have been able to visit with him when he was doing better back in April, but my heart still aches when I think about what he and those closest to him had to endure.

No sooner did I return from that funeral than someone I know notified me that his wife, who had been in remission for breast cancer for six years, was recently diagnosed once again. They caught it early and surgery is on tap for this week. Hopefully that will take care of everything, but there is no way to know until after the surgery.

Moments after finding this out, I talked about it with another friend. I had no idea about this, but she told me that she also fought off cancer six years ago.

These are by no means the only people I have known to fight cancer, let alone those in the last year.

All of this caused my heart to sink. This disease can wield a sense of powerlessness. Sure, we know some ways to take preventative maintenance against cancer, but by and large it's a cruel game of genetics and awful, awful luck. For so many other diseases, we take a pill or get a shot. We balance our diet or we exercise more. When something happens to us, medically or not, we do something about it. In some cases there is simply nothing we can do.

Having never had cancer I choose to do this ride as a way to end both cancer and that feeling of powerlessness. In a moving opening ceremony to Pelotonia 2011, executive director Tom Lennox promised that cancer would be cured through this program. That is a bold statement. And I am holding him to it.

I truly hope that I can play some small part in making a difference with this disease. And I thank all of you who are behind me this cause with me. You are making that difference too by supporting Pelotonia.

To any other riders who might read this, let's have a great ride on Saturday!