"We're waiting for the doctor to come in to tell you that I have cancer."  My mother said those words when I was a 17-yr-old senior in high school; three months later, she was gone.  Since then, I’ve lost too many friends and colleagues to this scourge.  (My superpower on the ride is the list of their names that I carry for inspiration.)  Thanks to research that has led to advances in treatment, I also have friends and family members that have beaten cancer:  my mother-in-law has been cancer-free for almost 20 years.  You can help increase the number of survivors and hasten the day when every cancer diagnosis becomes just a bump in the road rather than the end of the road.

This will be my fourth year spending a week in July cycling 560+ miles from NYC to Niagara Falls to raise money for cancer research.  I'll be rejoining the hundreds of friends that have become like family as we hoot, holler, huff, puff across New York State.  The one thing we don't do is complain; we know that the burning in our legs and lungs as we climb the hills and ride into the wind is nothing compared to the pain endured by those fighting cancer.  I hope you'll join us in this monumental cause by donating or spreading the word.  I appreciate your support.

I’ll be riding in memory of my mother Lacy Cross, my uncle Terry Coes, our family friend Hugh Weidinger, and my college friend Kirby Lozyniak.    I know that a lot of you have already donated, and I am sincerely grateful.  For the rest of you that are seeing this, if you have the wherewithal and could take a minute to donate, you’ll be doing a good thing to help others and you’ll be honoring the memory of your own loved ones who’ve fought this battle. 

Together, we can bring an end to cancer and hopefully save someone else from having to always wonder what might have been.

This is the 10th anniversary of this life-changing cycling odyssey.  To mark such a milestone and to reach our goal of $10 million, we'll be riding extra miles and climbing more hills.  Please be as generous as you can be — every dollar that you donate equates to $23 in grant money that the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center receives.

Thank you.

-Jason