I rode in my first Connecticut Challenge in 2007.  My best friend since 2^nd grade, Pat Sclafani, was in the midst of treatment for stage 4 thymoma, a treatment which included chemotherapy, aggressive thoracic surgery and radiation followed by still more chemo.  Pat, an avid cyclist, had heard about the Challenge and he suggested that we get a few people together to ride.  I didn’t have the guts to tell him that the date of the ride was only 7 weeks after his final chemo treatment. Maybe it was a little too much, a little too soon.  When he announced we’d be riding 50 miles, I didn’t have the heart to tell him he was crazy.  I wasn’t sure that I, in good health, could ride 50 miles, much less Pat.

I kept my doubts to myself as we gathered a bunch of old friends and family members and formed our first Team Sclafani.  We were a group of 15 riders and 15 volunteers.  On the day of the ride, we started together and at the end of the 50 miles, when we crossed that finish line, we crossed it together as a team.  There wasn’t a dry eye among us.  And by the way, we raised over $30,000.

Team Sclafani has grown in every Connecticut Challenge since then.  Pat remains cancer free, but other members of our team have since been touched by cancer, so our number of cancer survivors has grown as well.  We’ve raised over $150,000 to date.

To fully understand why I ride, you’d have to join us for our annual Friday night pre-ride dinner.  There, many of us are seeing each other for the first time since the previous year’s ride; that’s where we welcome our many new teammates.  You’d have to witness our Saturday evening beach dinner and awards ceremony where we laugh over the day’s exploits.  You’d have to see our good-byes on Sunday morning as those not from Connecticut head home to New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts and Virginia.  You’d have to look into the eyes of our many children on the team to experience the pride we share and the remarkable bonds being formed.   I’m not a cyclist, I only train so I won’t embarrass myself the day of the ride but, as physically challenging as those long hills might be, I feel like I’m being carried along by the spirit of our team.  That’s why I ride.