Dear Friends,

On May 3rd, I completed my second bike ride for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training Program. The day of the race came faster than I would have liked as I kept waiting for the weather to warm up so I could get some good long training rides in before the big day. That never happened; I guess we’re still waiting for the warm weather!

They were calling for rain that day and as weather predictions go, thank goodness the weatherman was wrong and the rain never came. Most of the day was cool and overcast which made it perfect weather for the 100-mile ride down in the Flat Lands of New Jersey. I was very happy to ride with the stronger group and Greg Cordesco of Liberty Cycle led our group.

We started off at a good pace; the terrain was flat so cycling was not as tough as Lake Tahoe, however, the wind picked up and slowed me down a little, but I was determined to keep up with the group. When I reached the point where I felt I was going to slow down, I thought about all the people dealing with cancer and I pedaled harder to keep up.

There’s always a memorable moment around these rides that makes you realize why you do this fund raising and this time it was not on the actual ride, but months before. I was in the area of Greg’s bike shop, after taking pictures of a job we installed for a kitchen dealer. I stopped in to say hello and Greg was with a customer who was buying a new bike. We struck up the usual conversation around riding and the customer mentioned he had lost 80 pounds. For whatever reason I asked why he decided to lose the weight. He told Greg and me that his younger brother had died from leukemia not that long ago, and although his brother knew he was going to die, he did more in 2 years than most people do in a life time. You could see in the man’s face that he was not sad for his brother, but happy to tell the story and that his brother’s wife and two little girls were taken care of The reason he lost the weight was because the day his brother died, he wanted him (his brother) to lose 20 pounds and he did just that by riding a bike.

I finished my ride in about six and half hours and was happy to see my family at the finish line. It was a great day for all and I really enjoyed the ride and the fund raising. Cancer affects so many people and with your generous support, hopefully someday soon they will find the cure.

Thank You

Mike Norton