It feels very different than last time. I think the excitement really hit in on our training ride today. We rode in our riding groups for tomorrow. I will be riding with my old friends Lizzy, Elan, Lauren, and Rob, and someone who I hope will be a new friend, Vanessa. At my insistence we gave ourselves a team name, because I love team names. We chose Team Expire, in honor of our various expired first aid certifications.
Tomorrow, however, we will be riding under a different name. Along our ride we came upon a very steep hill that caused one of our riders to drop his chain. It was too steep to restart riding so while we were walking up the rest of the hill with him a woman talking on her cellphone asked where we were biking to. We told her we were going to Seattle tomorrow to raise money to fight cancer. The woman then said told the person she was talking to on the phone that she had to go so she could talk to us. As it turns out, the woman, Jan, was diagnosed with breast cancer in October. She had a three centimeter tumor removed. We probably talked to Jan for 15 or 20 minutes about her cancer, her nervousness about her upcoming mammogram, the organizations that have helped her through her fight (including a beneficiary of the 4k, the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center as well as another fantastic sounding organization called Hopewell Cancer Support, based out of Lutherville.) Before we rode off, Jan told us that we inspired her, which reaffirmed to me why I ride. With a unanimous vote, we officially renamed ourselves Team Jan.
When we got back from the ride, I felt more excited than I had this whole time for the ride. I'm ready to go.
