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Ride for Jim transcontinental biking event raises funds for cancer
Pediatrician Doug Gardner will embark on a transcontinental bike ride, traveling from the coast of Oregon to Yorktown, VA, on June 4, 2010. His trip, in memory of a friend who died from cancer, will raise funds to support Massey Cancer Center at the Medical College of Virginia. Want to join in? Read on to learn more or check out rideforjim.org. More

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Ride for Jim transcontinental biking event raises funds for cancer

05.25.2010

Pediatrician Doug Gardner will embark on a transcontinental bike ride, traveling from the coast of Oregon to Yorktown, VA, on June 4, 2010. His trip, in memory of a friend who died from cancer, will raise funds to support Massey Cancer Center at the Medical College of Virginia. Want to join in? Read on to learn more or check out rideforjim.org.

Fellow "Cancer Fighters" & Fellow Cycling Enthusiasts,

I am Doug Gardner, a Pediatrician, a friend in the fight against cancer and I enjoy riding bikes. I plan on riding a transcontinental Bike Ride in 2010 beginning approximately June 1st from the coast of Oregon, terminating in Yorktown, Virginia. I will be riding on behalf of a transcontinental Ride in its 3rd year, in honor of my college roommate who passed away from cancer in 2007, James Douglas Popp. Jim was an MD, a rheumatologist practicing in Florida, a 1983 graduate of the University of Richmond, and the Medical College of Virginia in 1988. He was a tremendous athlete, and was passionate about the things he did.

A friend and mentor, Dr. Jack Haar, from Medical College of Virginia, began the Ride for Jim in 2008, riding across country on bicycle to honor Jim and raising money for cancer research for the Massey Cancer Center at the Medical College of Virginia. A Medical College of VA student, Charlie Nottingham, rode the transcontinental route in the summer of 2009.

It has been my hope to continue this ride in its 3rd year to raise money for the Massey Cancer Center but also to see if I can "grow" this idea and acquire fellow riders from states along the route, who might want to Ride for Jim, or anyone else, maybe one dear to them, who has succumbed to cancer.

I hope to find interested riders hoping to do "segment" rides, along the route, or it would be great to have someone join me for the entire route. Perhaps I can interest Bike Clubs along the route. The route could obviously be cut into fragments more workable for a group from your Bike Club. I also hope to interest Cancer Centers from the states along the projected route to use this as an opportunity to build a money raising event for your center. After all, beating cancer needs to be a priority for all, and in working together we increase the chance that our hopes, efforts and hard work might some day be fulfilled in finding new cures for cancer.

The Ride for Jim, as developed by Jack Haar, and the Massey Cancer Center designated raised money for a scholarship for medical students to do cancer research. However, Centers along the route are welcome to designate funds raised, for their own purposes, anyway they desire.

My hope is the Ride for Jim will gain national recognition, and become a national effort, and the money raised to help defeat cancer will grow exponentially.

So, if you know of an interested rider, or your Bike Club can help identify someone who might like to ride, or help organize such an event, please contact me. Likewise, if your Cancer Center would like to be involved in using this Ride for Jim as we pass through your state in a similar fund raising fashion, please contact me.

Growing this grass roots Ride for Jim to a National event that benefits so many more would undoubtedly honor my dear friend and roommate, James Popp. But more importantly, there is an opportunity to grow this into an annual, fulfilling and beneficial event that touches the lives, and perhaps saves the lives of many in the years to come.

Please think of the many possibilities involving your Cancer Center, or your Bike Club. I welcome the opportunity to work with all interested. Again, I will be coming through your state. My ride and journey will be all the more rewarding and fulfilling, if I can help people across the country along the way.

I look forward to riding with you, and/or helping your local center.

Please check the Ride for Jim website to see its founders, its history, its sponsors, and pictures from The Ride, and to read the blogs from the riders experiences. www.rideforjim.org

The itinerary is attached for you to review. Please determine if there is a site along our route that you might incorporate into your fund raiser and patchwork with our Trans America Ride for Jim.

I am enthusiastic about the road ahead and I hope my journey will cross your path. If you know someone who might like to be a part of this idea, again ask them to contact me.

Sincerely,

Doug Gardner