Following through

Next week I’m scheduled to be in Austin, Texas. Can”t wait. It’s been 5 long years since I did the “Ride for the Roses” with my wife and best friend Therese. She’s a cancer survivor (thyroid), adventure-seeker and doer of things memorable. She first encouraged me in 2003 to get my Clydesdale arse down there with her and be involved. We rode in chilly and windy conditions. In 2004, the conditions were blazing hot and, yes, windy. It’s Texas. I can’t remember the roads pedaled down, the small towns that hosted aid stations, or the landscape that clicked by. Nope. It was the people whom I witnessed on those two rides that are indelible. Seeing humanity on a large scale give back in honor of loved ones lost to cancer focuses your mind on a brutal reality. The disease is unworldly. Horrific. Life-altering. So getting a chance to play a small part in the fight this year is a way of following through on a earlier promise. One triggered by a medical diagnosis in 2000 that forever changed a woman, a man and their two children. Every mile this year I’ll be thinking about survivors I know, as well as families who’ve had to say goodbye to daughters, sons, wives, husbands, aunts, uncles, grandmothers, grandfathers, friends and colleagues. Following through is the weekend Crave. Livestrong. If you have someone you’d like to see carried on my bike jersey during the 90-mile ride, please DM me their name(s) or send an email to bikecrave(at)gmail.com.

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