Brrr! Breast Cancer Awareness Ride

As you may know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Joe, my sisters Shannon and Jalene and I signed up to participate in a breast cancer awareness ride today that was sponsored by our local Trek Bikes store.

The weather forecasters had been calling for a nasty weather day.... rain and a chance of snow. It turns out that they were actually right. When we got up this morning it was COLD outside. As we were getting ready to leave I checked out the thermometer-clock that is on our wall. The temperature was about 36 degrees outside with a bit of a breeze. Nice huh? It probably only warmed up about 5 more degrees as the day progressed.

I looked out the window and what did I see? Snow on the mountains! Wahoo.

I guess we are a bit die-hard, because we didn't even consider staying home. We signed up for the ride, and we were going to do it! We grabbed our gear and bundled up.

We got to the bike store and signed in. They had a nice goody bag for all the participants, as well as snacks and water. We even got to put numbers on the front of our bikes. Here is a picture of us waiting to get going. You'll notice we are wearing our rain suits because it was a bit drizzly.

In this picture Shannon and Jalene are riding around the parking lot. If you click on the picture and enlarge it you'll notice that Shannon is sticking her tongue out at me. How rude!
I was pleasantly surprised by the number of cyclists participating in the ride, especially considering the weather. There were probably around 40 cyclists participating in the ride. Here is a picture that I took at the first stop light we came to.

And there were people behind me too! We made quite a sight I am sure.

The ride went pretty well considering the weather. I signed up for the 20 mile ride, which Joe and I both completed. Shannon and Jalene did the 12 mile ride. It was a bit windy and we got a little wet, but we all made it!

I stayed pretty warm, which is no surprise considering what I was wearing! I had on a sports bra, a tank top, a cycling jersey, a long-sleeved warm jersey, and my jacket. My bottom half got a little colder because I was only wearing cycling pants and my rain pants. Hopefully next year the weather will be a bit warmer!

After the ride they had a drawing for prizes, and we made out like bandits. They had around 12 prizes and each of us won something! Joe won a T-shirt, which I am currently wearing. It is super-cute! It's brown with pink lettering and I love it! Jalene and I won gift certificates to a local eatery (so you can guess where we went for dinner) and Shannon won a bike saddle (that's a seat for you non-cyclists). It was a NICE racing saddle, which she gave to me! Isn't she awesome? It is going to be SO nice on my bike!

My Grandma Heiner died from breast cancer in October of 1981. I was very young and never really got to know her. This was my way of remembering her and supporting breast cancer research and awareness. This month, don't forget to do your part to help us find a way to cure this devastating disease.