A Ride with Heart - PPRAC

**Mom** · 11-16-07, 08:14 AM

The following article was in a cycling blog that Jay subscribes to. It mentions our very own Dadmo!

October 16, 2007

A Ride With Heart

Pedaling across a state is hard, but it's nothing compared to the fight against cancer.

By Christine Bucher

At the end of July, I rode in the Pennsylvania Perimeter Ride Against Cancer. It's a biannual event, started in 1983 by an everyman saint named Bob Freed. It raises money to benefit a local chapter of the American Cancer Association and a few other charities.

Those were 500-plus eye-opening miles. It's amazing that you can live in a state for most of your life and not see most of it. I had never been to Erie, the ride's starting point, nor seen the first oil well in the United States, near Titusville. It's amazing what you'll find along the road: an enormous, hip-high carved wooden rattlesnake ready to strike; a rusted-out school bus attached to a trailer, obviously someone's residence; one of the darkest spots in the eastern United States, Cherry Springs State Park; and a bakery with just three kinds of cookie, but all three warm from the oven.

It's also amazing who you meet. Walking to find a bar (hey, it's not all riding) in the small town of Warren one afternoon, my little group asked for directions from a blond woman walking past. She told us how to get to Snuffy's and continued on her way. We reached Snuffy's, found it was closed, and kept walking and ran into the same woman. Turns out her brother was an avid cyclist "the Lance Armstrong of Warren," she said, and had recently died of cancer.

At another town, we were fed, no, make that stuffed, by the Coudersport American Legion. There must have been 20 salads, from green to pasta to bean, as well as steamer trays of burgers and brats. Several of the ladies in the kitchen were cancer survivors, and one had found out the day we passed through town that she was cancer-free. It was hard to find a dry eye in our crowd of riders, but maybe that's because my own eyes were so moist.

But the best part of the ride was probably meeting my fellow riders. Cycling abilities varied, but every single person was an inspiration, from Bill, who rode for his son who had been diagnosed with testicular cancer, to Barry, a grandfather who rode a heavy, heavy hybrid up some pretty nasty hills, to Deana, who modified her bike to compensate for some lingering problems caused by Lyme disease. Kelly was riding for her brother Tom, who had died just three months before the ride at age 25 of cancer. Brian, the life of and soul of any group, rode for his dad, who succumbed to cancer in 2001. Eric lost both of his parents to cancer while he was still in his teens. Everyone had a story, someone close to them who had died or been profoundly touched by cancer.

But these tragedies dimmed no one's spirits. This ride was a celebration of life and determination. Eric, our map guy, found some tough hills for us to climb, but really, what's a hill compared to weeks of chemo? We ride because we can, and because pain, sweat and an achy back just might help someone in more serious need.

The next PPRAC is in 2009. Our fund-raising will put the ride over the million-dollar mark for cumulative dollars raised. That's a lot of money, a lot of miles, and a lot of heart.

**Already Bald** · 11-16-07, 08:36 AM

Diane,
Such a nice tribute to a great man!
Thanks for sharing.

**dadmo** · 11-16-07, 11:04 AM

Thanks for the post Diane. I hadn't seen or expect that. I can promise this, I will do that until either cancer is cured or I just have no more miles left in me.

**Jay68442** · 11-16-07, 11:20 AM

Nice Article. "A Ride With Heart" Says it all.

Dadmo maybe you could answer my question. Can you sign up for just one leg of the ride? I know the whole ride is something I'm not ready for but maybe I could work my way up to do one section.

**MRMRSU** · 11-16-07, 04:05 PM

Hey Dianne: Thanks for sharing...I love how the forum family is such a beacon of support for each other.

And Bill, you've got enough miles left in you than most people could ever hope for in a lifetime!

**dadmo** · 11-21-07, 05:34 PM

Everyone one who asked me about the ride all I ever said was that it was hard and I was one of the weaker riders. Well I just came across this today. I love it because Jason is in the backround clapping and Nancy is running to meet me. If anyone knows how I can download this picture (Scott) please help me.

**Jay68442** · 11-23-07, 11:37 AM

To save the picture. Right click on the picture. Then select Save Picture As.. from the menu that pops up. After you select Save PIcture As notice in the new window that pops up where you are saving it. It should be in my pictures by defaul but you naver know. Then click the Save button. Thats it.

**dadmo** · 11-23-07, 03:29 PM

I tried that and it saves with the title spaceball and when I open it there's no picture. I'm lost here.

**Jay68442** · 11-23-07, 04:02 PM

Ok I see what you mean. They are a little tricky at flickr.com.
here is the real path to the image. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1140/...ebd657eb5b.jpg

You should be able save it now, if not let me know and I will email it to you.

**dadmo** · 11-24-07, 03:02 AM

Thanks Jay. Now, how the heck did you do that?

**Jay68442** · 11-24-07, 08:56 AM

Originally Posted by dadmo

Thanks Jay. Now, how the heck did you do that?

Well as a web programmer I sometimes have to built things such as that. They are trying to keep people from stealing their images. But the part most people don't know is that if you see it then it is there somewhere in the page. What I did was view the source of the page and look for the actual image source itself. To view the source of a page you right click on a clean part of the page and then select View Source in the menu that pops up.