This week our ride is dedicated to our team honoree Chris States. AND Chris will be on the ride this Saturday. Here is a note from Chris:

"Thanks for dedicating this ride to me. It is such a great honor to be recognized by this team through your commitment to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The Society has touched my life through the funding of treatment research and support while facing my personal challenges with Lymphoma. So first I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for dedicating your time and money to this very personal cause.

I passed my 5 year mark this past March of being cancer free from my last joust with testicular cancer and it has been 23 years cancer free from my Lymphoma. Believe it or not these two diagnoses were completely unrelated. My fitness has been getting better and better with each subsequent year from my last treatment. Last year I rode as an honoree with the DR team in an effort to push my physical and mental limits. The tools and skills I learned from training under this amazing coaching staff enabled me to meet and far exceed my personal goals. I am currently training for the DR and the Furnace Creek 508 event coming up in October.

I also wanted to share with all of you what this specific ride (Big Basin) means to me. At the beginning of the season when I was asked which ride I would like to have dedicated in my honor, I struggled with this question for a moment. I reflected over the entire training schedule of last year and I thought of three rides that were very important to me: the Mt. Diablo repeats; the Mt. Hamilton and Sierra Rd Challenge; and the Big Basin ride. I knew I wanted it to be one of these rides because of the significance of the different challenges these rides presented. I quickly realized that the Big Basin ride was the most significant for me, as it was my personal turning point where I knew I was going to be able to accomplish the Death Ride. For those of you who rode with me last year, you know the significance of each of these rides, but Big Basin was the turning point in my confidence.

Each of us will reach this point at some stage of our training so I just wanted to wish you all a great ride on Saturday.

I would like to close by saying how honored I am by each and every one of you for dedicating this ride to me. Thank you! Chris T. States -Live to Ride & Ride To Live!"

Wow.....thank you Chris. I am in awe of cancer victims and survivors.......I don't know what else to say. LET'S RIDE!!! Yippie! I can't wait! Another sufferfest tomorrow! 110 MILES/11,000 ft of climbing! We'll see if I feel the same way Chris did after completing Saturday's Big Basin ADVENTURE. Is tomorrow going to be my turning point?