I have been ruthlessly optimistic my whole life. Something I will continue to be until hovercrafts are a real thing and probably after that too (I really hope hovercrafts are coming more sooner rather than later). It’s a tough thing to be lately, as more and more it is clear how much hate and hurt there is the world, and hope can be hard to find for many. But If you need some hope, come see me because I GOT EXTRA FOR YA. I have always been optimistic because I believe in people and I have hope because I believe in people.  I have hope because from now until August 3rd more than FOUR THOUSAND people will be gearing up for 40th annual PMC weekend. Whether they are volunteers or sponsors,  first time riders like me, or multiyear riders like the women I am excited as heck to ride with (shout out to Chelsea & Dawn), we will be working our tails off to give cancer patients, their families, their friends, even their pets some hope of their own.

I am inspired to ride this year to honor the people that cancer has either fought or taken from me. I am inspired by their fight against a disease that didn’t deserve what it took from them. This ride is for my Aunt Joan, Nana Dorothy, Nana Helen, Uncle Pal, and my Auntie Kathy. This ride is also for my pup, Thor, who was diagnosed in 2018 with K9 osteosarcoma that not only took a leg from him, but will also likely prevent him from being the old man he should be. While cancer has been a consistently destructive force in my life, I know that our united fight against it is much stronger.  Despite not having it just yet, the cure for cancer is out there and by fighting together today and by riding together in August, we find hope for tomorrow. 

I hope you don’t know cancer the way I do, and that you never have to. I hope you believe just as much as I do that a world where cancer doesn’t have the power it currently does exists.  I hope you’ll help me and all of my fellow riders as we get closer by the mile to that world.