For a lot of us, it was the first real group ride in months or longer. There couldn’t have been a better way to come back together than this year’s Less Cancer Bike Ride.
The June 5 ride is kicking off a full month of fundraising and riding to support Less Cancer, a non-profit that works to promote cancer prevention education to healthcare providers and legislators across the country. They’ve worked tireless to keep issues like PFAS, smoking, environmental and lifestyle risks front and center of the national debate on health.
Our group ride raised over $2,000 to get things started for the month, with over $50,000 raised by over 100 riders across the country and in Europe. All of those riders kicked off the effort this morning, but we’re rather confident no one had as much fun as we did.
Meeting up at Brew, Sean and Missy Kickbush (and let’s be honest, it was Missy) hooked up our riders with a $5 gift card for after the ride or anytime riders could make it back. We were even graced by Sean’s presence for the full 64 mile route, a rare treat, to be sure.
It was a bit of a rolling family reunion; swapping stories on kids and family, work and life, and how the pandemic has been for friends we are used to seeing two or three times a week that, for a year, we may not have seen at all. For others, it was a way to put names to faces; after six months of Zwift racing and chatting, we all finally met Alex Theopolis. He actually looks suspiciously like a Zwift avatar.
For me, it was like a time machine. For the past year and half, being a new dad and being isolated from rides has really put life before having a baby and life with a family in especially harsh contrast. So much of who I am is a result of bikes and the people we ride with that, to be separated so completely at the same time my wife and I also experienced a profound change, made it perhaps more difficult. However, five minutes into the ride, it was like old times, and it’s a good feeling knowing that cycling life and real life can overlap successfully.
We’ve got a lot of riding left to do this month for Less Cancer, and you can still get involved as a rider and as a donor. Learn more about the ride and get committed to cancer prevention over here.
A big thanks to everyone who rode here in Traverse City and across the country. We’d also like to thank Brew for the gift cards and Slabtown Cookies for supporting our riders in delicious fashion!
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