You have one more full day! Curt's Ride starts Saturday morning!
Here are my thoughts on being a participant in Curt's Ride:
It’s Hard…
It’s hard to even fathom riding 620 miles down the coast of Florida as part of Curt’s Ride to Cure Cancer. I’m not saying it isn’t fun; we all have amazing experiences while we are there, from touring NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, to seeing manatees, to eating fresh seafood every night. But sitting on a bike for hours on end to cycle up to 110 miles in a day is hard. Especially when the wind is at your face and the sun is beating down as it does even in October in Florida. And then we have to do it again the next day, and the next day, and the next day. And the trip planning…a big thanks to Dave who plans the routes and the breaks and the stops for the nights; and to Deb for planning our send-off hosts and meals (and cake); and to Stacey who keeps us all communicating and comes up with new ways to support Curt’s Ride. But the planning is still hard on our end, saving our vacation days, tearing apart and packing our bikes for shipment, the expense of the flights, and trip costs, spare parts and gear.
It’s hard to train for such an endeavor. You know that word “dedication”? Well it actually means giving up a lot of other things, to do one thing that is hopefully noble and good. We spend hours and hours on our bikes, hours and hours that we could be doing other things. It’s hard to train in the Rochester winter because that means sitting on a bike for hours that doesn’t go anywhere. It’s hard to train in the Rochester spring that doesn’t seem to ever arrive. But the summer is glorious! For that brief time period we are excited to know we are part of the Curt’s Ride team as we ride the roads of the Rochester and Finger Lakes areas, dodging freshly graveled roads and the innumerable of cars and trucks that we annoy as we ride. But fall comes too soon. It’s hard to train in the fall because the days get short so fast and there we are riding circles in the school parking lot because it is the only place with enough light and no traffic to make it safe to ride in the dark, in sweatshirts and leggings, pining for the too hot Florida sun we will soon experience.
It’s hard to ask for money from all of our friends. We send e-mails, snail mail, hand out letters to family, friends and to an ever reaching circle of acquaintances and colleagues. We talk about it everywhere we go. I post on Facebook and other social networks, cajoling and hopefully coercing you all to donate something to the American Cancer Society. I wanted to let you know that it is hard to do that. It’s hard to spend the hours that it takes to write the letters and update the mailing lists when I could be riding my bicycle. It’s hard to ask you for money when I know finances are often tight. I know that you are inundated by other requests for donations and mine is just one of the many. But Curt’s Ride to Cure Cancer isn’t just a ride down the coast of Florida. We do it to raise awareness and to raise funds. So it’s an obligation we have as part of the Curt’s Ride Team. I get excited whenever I see that one of you has responded positively to may request! But it’s hard to watch that fundraising total climb ever so slowly to the goal, knowing that I’ll need to send out one more letter, make one more plea, be that annoying person once again.
It’s hard…cancer that is…with its devastating effects on our families and friends. What a horrible illness, all different types, all parts of the body affected, all called cancer. It’s hard to see your father, mother, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, neighbor, co-worker get that diagnosis; undergo that treatment that ravages their body to try to kill the cells of cancer that are attacking that same body. It’s hard to be that person going through the treatment, trying to reassure your family that no matter the outcome, things will someday be all right. It’s hard to watch a child lose a mother or a father, knowing that the rest of their life will be different from that point on. Even harder is to lose a child, a beloved sibling to something you can’t control, can’t fix, can’t make all better. We all know someone, we all hope it isn’t us, and then all of a sudden, it is. Cancer sucks.
Because cancer is hard, ugly, treacherous, unforgiving; it makes all of the other things that seem hard in this note that much easier, that much more necessary.
I’m honored to ride as part of the Curt’s Ride to Cure Cancer Team. I’m willing to train as hard as I can to be ready to ride those 620 miles along the coast of Florida. And I’m willing to run the risk of nagging all of my friends and neighbors to donate to help find a cure for Cancer.
If you’ve donated, thank you. Please ask a friend to donate as well. If you haven’t donated, will you please consider donating? If you aren’t able to donate, I do understand. Please pray for the Curt’s Ride team to have a safe journey and many opportunities to continue to raise awareness for the need for more cancer research to find a cure. Now.
Follow our journey on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/curts.ride!
The link to our donation page:
www.curtsride.com