Ride to Conquer Cancer 2013

On the bus back home after two days and 250km on the bike. A healthy glow of the sun on my face and arms, burger and a beer in my tummy... and I feel tired, warm and happy :)

I was looking forward to actually riding it at my own pace this year after being the sweep crew last year. Funny thing though- I felt the same this time last year as I do now... Tired, warm and happy to have completed the ride.. Although last year I was warm a because I was in dry clothes after having ridden 10 hours in the rain! Met my friends from the sweep crew again at the finish line both days and met a bunch of people from the crew as well as riders from last year as well. Its a total sense of community.

leaving Canada

This ride is such a great weekend  and pretty unique in the 'event' world because its actually about the cause-  more so than any other event I know. There were so many yellow flags flying on bikes this weekend, indicating people that have had or still have cancer. 2600 riders raising minimum of $2500 each. this year the 2600 people raised ten point something million dollars. And yes, for your fundraising, you get to go on an adventure. Satisfies the desire to prove you are not dead after spending the week at work behind a computer and a bonus for the fact you can post some awesome pictures of yourself to Facebook in spandex.

Mt Baker looming in the distance for hours on saturday

It's a different crowd here though. For most everyone it's a personal thing. They want to remember someone they loved. They want to support Cancer research and sufferers....they want to stop this happening to someone else they love.

You can tell by how much people talk to each other, support each other, smile, share their story with you, encourage everybody. This isn't about themselves. This isn't about Facebook. This is about the people they love, and they recognize it is the same for everyone else involved. I got to share so many sad and uplifting stories with people as we huffed and puffed up hills, or sat on the grass at rest stops and devoured our food and hydrated.

Tragically there was a riding death of a young 16 year old on the course today. He was in one of the front packs and there was an accident with a car. Most of the riders had to dismount and leave the course to walk around the accident site. He was there to support his father who had pancreatic cancer... and today is Father's Day. Tragedy is the only word I know to describe it. It affected the whole atmosphere of the ride for many hours after. We walked past and saw him lying on the road surrounded by medics trying to revive him, and I saw many people shaken and crying. This event was supposed to be about prolonging life. 

Last night there was a marriage proposal on stage. The guy had ridden to support cancer for years after losing his wife to it. Her dying wish was for him to find a good woman to love him. Pushed along with the help of friends, he found a lady who had been through breast cancer, and proposed to her in front of everyone at last nights dinner. The introduction of their story was enough for the crowd.. They screamed and cheered for many minutes before he had to tell everyone to calm down and let him actually ask the question! 

A joyous note to counter the loss of the young rider in the crash.

The two freshest stories of love and loss in the battle against cancer.

I'm so glad we still have my wife's mother after her recent radiation treatment. And that my aunt is doing well after they removed her cancer just last month. And I miss my beautiful, funny, razor sharp and wise grandmother who fought cancer for years but lost the battle.

I am really proud of all the people who commit to raising such a large amount of money each, who put themselves well out of their comfort zone, and who open their hearts fully to everyone around them for the weekend. And I was very happy to be a part of it again. 

Thanks to Jimmy and the Riders for Ryder team. Thanks to Christina from my work who has ridden for her brother 4 years running and ride with us today. Thanks to Jeremy from my work, who we fundraised and trained with this year who rode for his recently departed sister. He was well out of his comfort zone and kept a great pace with us today.

Jeremy, Christina, Joey and I

Riders for Ryder 2013

Thanks to my amazing wife Joey.