By Alan St. Peter

Nine years ago, Alan St. Peter and Angela “Angel” Uihlein rode the first leg on day one of AngelRide 2006. Angel was 15 and was still recovering from her bone marrow transplant. Alan had rearranged his chemotherapy treatments so that he would be able to ride that year. Alan wrote the following article after that ride for an AngelRide newsletter. This was just six weeks before he lost his battle with cancer. He put into words something that we could only feel and left us with a true understanding of AngelRide. We miss you Alan.

“AngelRide is a celebration of the human spirit, with one hell of a bike ride thrown in.”

Nine years ago, Alan St. Peter and Angela “Angel” Uihlein rode the first leg on day one of AngelRide 2006. Angel was 15 and was still recovering from her bone marrow transplant. Alan had rearranged his chemotherapy treatments so that he would be able to ride that year. Alan wrote the following article after that ride for an AngelRide newsletter. This was just six weeks before he lost his battle with cancer. He put into words something that we could only feel and left us with a true understanding of AngelRide. We miss you Alan.

Like most Angel Riders, Saturday morning was time to kick the tires and light the fires. The fundraising was done, the training was done, and the anticipation of a long hard day was rumbling in everyone’s stomach.

The 17.5 miles to the first rest stop is usually the fastest. Adrenalin pumping, mostly down hill, and somewhat cool in the early morning. I was gonna tear it up! That was my plan, especially since I was only going to do the first leg. How my plans changed for the better.

Angela “Angel” was also going to bike the first leg and I was given the honor of riding along with her. She cut the ribbon, the riders rode off, and she lingered for some additional pictures. We left a full 10 minutes after the pack. Right from the start I wondered if we had gone in the wrong direction. I usually just follow the pack. We all know that the ride starts out uphill and I soon figured out what our pace was going to be.

We began to talk, about anything and everything. How much training had we done, would the weather hold, when does the down hill start. All of a sudden Angela stopped and to avoid a collision, I had to unclip quickly and almost fell. She had stopped to look at an orange salamander in the road! We discussed what it was and agreed it had met its demise. We continued on. By this time the conversation had changed to guessing how old some of the houses along the route were. We walked up some of the steeper hills and I kept telling her that it was all down hill, soon. I will always remember the look I got back, which said, “yea, right!” . She had a problem with her front break and I spent some time convincing her NOT to disconnect it! There was some concern that we just ran over a caterpillar. For a while we sat on the guard rail and watched the river run by. The SAG wagon giving us our space, but ever present.

It was not my plan, but we did talk about cancer. How could we not. It is such a large part of both our lives. We talked about, Hickman ports, chemotherapy, anti nausea meds. I thought I knew it all, but this wise young lady offered me some tips. She told me how I could get a t-shirt at Igotcancer.org. She wanted the one that says I Kicked Cancers Ass, but she couldn’t wear it to school. I think I will order one for both of us.

We rolled into the first rest stop long after the pack had left. I was sorry the ride was over. I had seen things on this ride that I would have missed if not for Angela, including the fact that she had just ridden her bike to help OTHER kids with cancer! I half heartily tried to convince Angela to do the next leg, but with the monster hills looming, we both knew we were done for the day.

I didn’t tear up the course, but it was a time I will cherish forever. I’ll choose a ride with Angela over a ride with the pack any day. We shared the freedom of bicycles, the realities of cancer, and the joy in knowing that we had not run over the caterpillar.