Registration opens for the 2025 Pelotonia Ride Weekend in a few hours, and while normally I would be revealing which route I am planning to ride, that will not be the case today. Last November, my mom told me about a family reunion that could potentially take us out of Ohio that weekend. I thought that I was in the clear when I learned that it may be rescheduled due to a wedding involving one of my cousins, but found out that is not the case after one of my mom’s cousins dropped in for a visit recently. Unless something changes in the next few weeks, I will have to keep that weekend open just in case, and will not be registering to ride at the 2025 Pelotonia Ride Weekend at this time.

However, that does not mean that I will be completely sidelined this year. I still plan to fundraise and participate as a virtual Challenger, and will look into volunteer opportunities with Pelotonia to make up for not riding at Ride Weekend. As a Challenger, you can set your own fundraising goal (minimum $100) and complete up to 5 tasks to raise money towards the fight against cancer. The best part is you don’t necessarily need to be a bike rider like my self to participate as a Challenger, and is also a good option if anyone is unable to make it to Ride Weekend. I will have more information on my version of this, the 2025 Pelotonia Challenger Series, sometime next week.

While Ride Weekend is out of the question for now, that doesn’t mean that I will be slacking off either. I still plan on going on rides like I normally do. This year, I will be starting my on bike training at the end of March, and plan to ride through the end of October. I will be documenting my progress on social media (you can find the links to my social media pages at the top of the homepage), and right here on the blog. In addition, I will be taking photos and videos to use for this year’s campaign and beyond.

All donations to my Pelotonia fundraiser this year, go towards funding the live saving research and innovative treatment development that takes place at the Ohio State University’s Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, as well as other Pelotonia-funded cancer initiatives throughout the state of Ohio. You can read more about those initiatives by downloading the organization’s annual report at Pelotonia.org. In terms of donating, you can donate at my fundraising Page online, or you can mail your donation to Pelotonia (details on that in a future post.)

While things may look a little different this year from my end, my goal of helping end cancer is still the same.