By Billy Dudjoc

I only started road cycling in 2009 and am by no means an elite rider. I bought my first road bike with the idea of riding 100 miles in the Sierra Mountains to cure cancer. That was a life changing year for me. I could not have done this without the help of my team. They showed me the right way to ride, call out road hazards, ride in a pace-line to save energy, how to fundraise, and to have fun.

For those who do not know, cycling is a true team sport.

Every professional cycling team has a team leader. The rest of the team is there to support the leader and try to get them to win the race. You will never see the winner of a race that does not have the support of their team.

I only started road cycling in 2009 and am by no means an elite rider. I bought my first road bike with the idea of riding 100 miles in the Sierra Mountains to cure cancer. That was a life changing year for me. I could not have done this without the help of my team. They showed me the right way to ride, call out road hazards, ride in a pace-line to save energy, how to fundraise, and to have fun.

AngelRide is no different. We have a team of hundreds of people, all of whom are there to support our team leaders…THE KIDS!

That’s right folks…this ride is not about you, Our job is to raise money to get the kids in the hospital visits from the Hole in the Wall Gang’s Hospital Outreach team. Many of these kids spend months in the hospital and look forward to having camp brought to them. “It’s all about the kids!”

The team starts with the volunteers: Folks who set up the rest stops, ride in the support vehicles & motor cycles, the medical team, people who run training rides, and of course Lynn and Fred. Try doing the ride without them…You won’t get very far.

Now let’s talk about on the course. The official AngelRide Ambassadors who make sure you are OK on the ride. The other unofficial ambassadors, who talk you up that long hill, give you a gel or power bar, share their water with you, help you change a flat or fix your dripped chain. The support vehicles, the moto crew, the bike mechanics, the rest stop workers.

My heroes on the ride are not the people who cross the finish line first. They are the folks who go above and beyond. The people who step out of their comfort zone and ride a bike farther than they have ever ridden before. The people who have raised well over their fundraising minimum. Remember the winners of this ride are the kids.

Whether for the good or the bad, Lance Armstrong has given us many reasons to remember him by. And before that sentence launches a diatribe of bad reasons, I want to say that the best thing I remember him for and the one that I always hold near and dear to my heart is his simple statement “It’s not about the bike.” The bike is the vehicle we use to help the kids…The ride is about all of us together…The Team!

Tailwinds!