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Team Anti-Oxidants
Team Anti-Oxidants is looking for riders to join our team and ride with us on July 10, 2011 in the LIVESTRONG Challenge Davis. All levels of riders are welcome and encouraged to join! Last year our team won the Team Time Trial Award for fundraising, having the most individual contributors, proving it takes the efforts of the whole team and not just one individual. As a team we are connected by a common goal, to end cancer and support those living with Cancer. Individually we are from all over the Bay Area ranging in age and occupation. We know Cancer does not discriminate, but we believe together we can find a cure. Please consider joining our team and riding with us on July 10th in Davis, CA
We will have several group rides leading up to the event open to all and posted to our Yahoo Group. If you have any questions, please contact Michelene Moayedi michelenesm@gmail.com or Rick Graves rkgraves1@gmail.com
Letters from two of our riders and why they joined Team Anti-Oxidants:
“Two years ago I signed up for the Livestrong Challenge having decided I would join “the team” in spite of the many insecurities that I had: I can’t keep up, I can’t ride fast or well. I can’t, I can’t I can’t. I thought to myself: These young, fit team members race on their bikes. What exactly am I thinking? Little did I know that I would be facing a different challenge. I relapsed –I had another lump in my breast. I started treatment and couldn’t ride. This incredible team rode for me. It was then that I realized that team members matter to each other. There are no criteria other than to ride for the same cause. Doesn’t matter how far, how fast or slow you ride.
Last year I signed up again. I had to stop getting in my own way. I knew that I did not have to be a racer to ride Livestrong. I knew that Team Anti-oxidants had riders of all abilities and had signed up to ride for the same cause: Raising awareness of and funds for cancer patients and survivors. That cause united us. I was now a part of something bigger than me and I knew that no matter how far or fast or slow I rode my team was there. I rode the 50 mile challenge and it was the best ride of my life.
I signed up again this year. I will ride the 100 mile challenge. That is a personal goal. It will take me some time to finish but I know that Team Anti-Oxidants will be there at the finish line cheering me in. I know that I will have raised money for direct cancer patient and survivor care and I know that being a part of the team means that I have people around me with the same goals I have.
I’ve learned that I can do this. So can you! Join us!!!!” – Cathy Portje
“When you’re cycling up hill and a man passes you smiling, offering a place on a charity ride, you’ve got to stop and listen. Last year marked 25 years since my diagnosis with Cancer. I was new to the bike and 100 miles sounded daunting, but Rick has a reassuring “it’ll be fine” that he rolls out on these occasions. I signed up instantly and turned up for the first team ride the following week. Training was relaxed and followed a steady progression riding 30 and 40 miles building up to 75 miles nearer the event. These group rides were a fantastic environment to get to know other team members who’d signed up for the challenge. Getting miles in the legs is key and getting them in as comfortably as possible made sense. I expected the fundraising to be a major hurdle. It wasn’t, Livestrong is a far-reaching and well respected charity. I was humbled by the generosity of people I hardly knew and raised considerably more than the target I’d set myself. I can’t say that the event was completely pain free. It’s a long day in the saddle but an immensely enjoyable and rewarding one. Riding as a group in our sponsored Jerseys I felt a part of something big. The Livestrong Challenge has distances for all abilities. It’s a great way to help in the battle against this terrible disease. If you’re thinking about it, stop thinking, sign up and join the fight. Cancer doesn’t have an off day.”- Raoul Sarcouf
