Our Ride to Conquer Cancer is now just a week and a half away. Many of us will be out doing long training rides and getting our bikes (and legs) ready. The Heart & Stroke Ride is a fantastic ride for a wonderful cause. I know many of the RTCC riders will be doing the Heart & Stroke ride on Sunday. Sheila and Sarah and I will be doing the 75km and heading out at 6:45 am Sunday. As I have been riding I have especially been thinking about Eric Innes and Brian Laramie. Eric is the late husband of our wonderful board member and volunteer Candace Innes and Brian is the late husband of our equally wonderful board member and volunteer Marianne Harris. Candace and Marianne are inspirational to me. Eric did the ride last year and was such a warrior in the most positive sense of the word. He sadly passed away from cancer but mentioned the ride many times in his final months. Brian wanted to do the ride but passed away from cancer as well and never got to ride after he signed up. Both Candace and Marianne are riding this year and have teams and have done great work fundraising. I knew both Eric and Brian well and I think about them when I ride. They have these amazing legacies and people who loved and respected them.
Riding has turned into a real passion for me. The RTCC is an extraordinary event but an emotional one too. The vibe and camaraderie is like something I have seldom witnessed before (maybe just the Weekend to End Breast Cancer really). The feeling of a large group doing something profound for cancer research but also having SUCH A GOOD TIME……but it’s also the personal stories. Everybody has some kind of story who does the RTCC. My stories are many now, given all the people who I have come to know who have fought the battle with cancer. In particular I will remember Eric and Brian….and I will celebrate the wonderful Candace and Marianne….and their fine sons. Riding and Remembering.
See you on the road! A fair wind and full tires and friends aplenty to ride with!
Here is a photo from the end of Day 1 of last years Weekend to End Breast Cancer. Many of the members of our walking team “The Marilyns” are in the picture wearing our trade mark pink gloves. The Weekend to End Breast Cancer (WEBC) is one of the best weekends of the year for many many reasons. In these cold days of January I hope those of you who have participated or volunteered or thought about walking will remember Spring is just around the corner! The WEBC is such a hopeful and remarkable event. It has become a power house across Canada and supports many excellent initiatives. It’s never too cold for a training walk. I think of my Mom’s fight with breast cancer and I remember our key message for this years walk…..”Breast Cancer is Hard, Walking Isn’t”. Sheila and I are doing a couple of training walks this weekend…. We’ll remember the sunny days of September and the great friends we have made along the route…. We’ll remember all who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and the 1 in 9 women who will hear those words….”You have breast cancer”. Happy New Year and it’s never too cold for a training walk!
Last Tuesday a group of 5 of us from the foundation rode 140 km exploring the first day of the Ride to Conquer Cancer. We decided to shorten the first day of the Ride to 100km and I sent out an email message to all riders on the first day route update. It was a great ride and the picture is a group of us after the training ride last Tuesday. ….tired but PUMPED! I rode 75 km’s in the Heart & Stroke ride on Sunday. My old friend Rocco Rossi and Heart & Stroke do a superb job on this ride. It was great seeing and hearing from so many riders on the route who will be doing the Ride to Conquer Cancer (I wore my Princess Margaret blue Ride shirt). I’m really pumped and happy on these training rides as we are only 19 days away from the Ride to Conquer Cancer. On Saturday night Sheila and I attended a special event called Moto Amore. This was the 5th year of the event and special this year as it fell on the birthday of the late Rob Muzzo who passed away from cancer. Marc Muzzo did a fantastic job hosting this celebration of the life and times of his brother and this year it was a “Rock and Roll BBQ”. Bob Bell came out as did Dr. John Trachtenberg. Bob Bell had a spill on his bike on Saturday on a slippery road. It reminds me to say safety first to all riders as they train. Some great coverage of the Brazilian Ball where a record $22 million was raised for oncology nurses at Princess Margaret and across the province. Just a heads up for my blog readers, we have a HUGE announcement coming tomorrow…….just about the most exciting announcement we have ever had from the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation. I will have a special blog posting tomorrow afternoon on this. Safe riding to all who are training for the Ride to Conquer Cancer and many many thanks to each and every person who support our work. Last weekend was the ASCO conference (major cancer research conference) in Chicago. Lots of promising announcements, especially from Pfizer on discovery work on new drugs. I am more convinced than ever we will “Conquer Cancer in Our Lifetime!”. Watch for BIG BLOG POST tomorrow!
What a great weekend for bike riding! A little on the cool side but I had a chance to get in 4 long bike rides last weekend. And what a week coming up! We have the Pencer event in support of the Pencer Brain Centre on Wednesday (it’s always one of the best events of the year in Toronto). On Friday night we have a reception for the Brazilian Ball to welcome Ambassador Paulo Cordeiro de Andrade Pinto at the home of MP Mario Silva, on Saturday afternoon we have an event with the Toronto Blue Jays (Go Jays Go!) and on Saturday night we have the Brazilian Ball. I know the Brazilian Ball will greatly greatly miss its founder and guiding light-Anna Maria de Souza, but it will be the best Brazilian Ball EVER! We are working away on the organization and logistics for the Ride to Conquer Cancer in June (Toronto to Niagara Falls). On Sunday I will be doing a 3 hour training ride which I’ll need after the sambaing at the Brazilan Ball. We still need walkers for the Weekend to End Breast Cancer and volunteers for the Ride to Conquer Cancer. This week is a good example of what my work at PMHF involves……I am either working on behalf of PMH, attending events in support of PMH, or training for a future event in support of PMH! Our volunteers represent the best of the human spirit and we couldn’t do what we do without YOU! Thanks to all the volunteers! What a week coming up!
Great weather has finally hit the city of Toronto. I have been waiting for it to arrive for the longest time and I can’t wait to go out and start training for the Weekend to End Breast Cancer. I will actually be going for my first training walk of the season this weekend. We had a long winter and I really need to prepare my body to walk 60-kilometres in just TWO days!
I can’t express how amazing it is when people come up to me when I’m wearing my WEBC T-shirt and talk to me about how they have walked. Many of the friends I have made and the experiences I have been a part of are because of the Weekend so I am excited to take part again this year. I look forward to seeing all of my friends again during this wonderful summer. Don’t forget to start training! September is just around the Corner!