Breast Cancer Fund - Bike Against the Odds

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07-08-2008, 09:35 PM
tararat

Breast Cancer Fund - Bike Against the Odds

Bike Against the Odds is coming up a little earlier than usual this year, so I wanted to get the word out and encourage everyone to register and get ready for an amazing ride.

If you don't know about this ride already, it's a beautiful tour through the Oakland/East Bay Hills that has some very challenging routes. (ranging from 30 to 100 miles.) Now in its 6th year, it primarily benefits the Breast cancer Fund, an organization that works to identify and prevent environmental causes of breast cancer.

Here is more info and the place to register:
http://www.breastcancerfund.org/site...dPaE&b=1303479

I have to tell you, when I started working with this ride I wasn't a parent, and my appreciation for what they do was initially limited to thinking that if they work against cancer, it must be good. But since becoming a mom, I've had to battle the daily challenges of trying to raise my kids in a healthy environment without lead/BPA/phalates/mercury - all without driving my family crazy by eating nothing but locally grown organic flax seed and playing with nothing but unpainted blocks carved by hand. I'm a very educated person, and I can't keep it all straight - when my daughter was born I bought her the best bottles, only to discover by the time was son was born (thanks to work done by the Breast Cancer Fund, in part) that they contain dangerous levels of an estrogenic chemical that was first used as hormone replacement therapy prior to DES. AND that it's know to leach into the formula. If I feel overwhelmed, how can parents much less equipped to process this kind of information make healthy choices for their families? It shouldn't be this way - it doesn't have to be this way -and the Breast Cancer Fund is working to make companies and governments change the way they operate.

BUT - it's also just a really great ride! :)

Tara Runyan
07-09-2008, 05:56 AM
beccaB

Would like to see an event like that spread to other parts of the country, like the Susan Kommen Race for the Cure.
07-09-2008, 06:59 AM
Trek420

Meanwhile, come here and ride Bike Against the Odds. Where else can you stay in downtown and ride to the start? The ride starts at lake Merrit. Within a few miles the city vanishes as you climb the East Bay hills.

You'll climb some of the same roads the Tour de California, through Redwoods and be rewarded with incredible views of the Bay. The ride is limited to a few riders, you may feel it's your own supported tour :cool: especially if you're in the back of the pack like me :rolleyes:

Food and support are great, especially the organic lunch at the end. Route marking gets better each year, last year they took a page from AIDS Lifecycle and had moto-crew, roving and stationary motorcycle support (yeah!!!!).

I rate rides by the food and this is one of the best around. Chico Velo Club centuries food is as good as BATO but the two are tied for best food in my book.

Pledge goals are very achievable and the prizes .... well I think it was last year one of the members of the Velo Girls club won in a random drawing her choice of ANY K2 bike! :D
07-09-2008, 07:04 AM
OakLeaf

Yes! The Breast Cancer Fund is a great organization - one of the few medical charities I wholeheartedly support!
07-09-2008, 07:18 AM
Trek420

Quote:

Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Yes! The Breast Cancer Fund is a great organization - one of the few medical charities I wholeheartedly support!

Yes, cancer is horrible (it's cut a swath through my family, I know). Susan B. and other organizations that focus on prevention and access to early detection are important. TBCF has this attitude of identifying the root causes and grabbing them by the b@lls regardless of the corporation and tacking them to the wall.

I like their attitude. They have spunk, I like spunk, we need spunk :cool:
07-09-2008, 02:23 PM
tararat

Thanks for the great feedback. I'm in charge of rest stop food this year so I'm working to make it even better - particularly getting more variety at the rest stops! We had a bit of a supply snafu last year with some things (like our bagels didn't show up) so expect food to be the best yet this year.

Tara

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trek420

Meanwhile, come here and ride Bike Against the Odds. Where else can you stay in downtown and ride to the start? The ride starts at lake Merrit. Within a few miles the city vanishes as you climb the East Bay hills.

You'll climb some of the same roads the Tour de California, through Redwoods and be rewarded with incredible views of the Bay. The ride is limited to a few riders, you may feel it's your own supported tour :cool: especially if you're in the back of the pack like me :rolleyes:

Food and support are great, especially the organic lunch at the end. Route marking gets better each year, last year they took a page from AIDS Lifecycle and had moto-crew, roving and stationary motorcycle support (yeah!!!!).

I rate rides by the food and this is one of the best around. Chico Velo Club centuries food is as good as BATO but the two are tied for best food in my book.

Pledge goals are very achievable and the prizes .... well I think it was last year one of the members of the Velo Girls club won in a random drawing her choice of ANY K2 bike! :D
08-23-2008, 10:08 PM
jobob

So, who did the ride?

I was out riding my permanent route today which covered some of the same roads as the BATO century.

I passed by the LunaChix rest stop at the corner of Bear Creek & San Pablo Dam Rds, and I stopped to see if CindySue was there & say hi, but I missed her by about a half-hour. :(

I was told Gnat was there in all her pink glory :D

Anyone else do the ride? Any reports?