NEWBURY PARK, CA (BRAIN)—More than 70 tired but very happy bicycle riders rolled into Pt. Mugu State Park on Sunday, completing a three-day trek through Ventura and Santa Barbara counties in support of breast cancer survivors.
The second annual West Coast Young Survival Coalition Tour de Pink bike ride began on Friday from the corporate offices of Giant Bicycle USA in Newbury Park, California. The route took riders into the mountains above Santa Barbara and ended up along the Pacific Coast near Malibu.
For four years, Giant USA has been a sponsor of the YSC Tour de Pink rides. Other Tour de Pink events include a yearly East Coast three-day ride that rolled out last month from Morristown to Long Branch, New Jersey. More than 100 cyclists took part in that ride.
The benefit rides support the work of the Young Survival Coalition, a global organization dedicated to the issues unique to young women diagnosed with breast cancer. The YSC works with survivors, caregivers, and the medical, research, advocacy and legislative communities to increase the quality and quantity of life for women age 40 and under who are diagnosed with breast cancer. The organization reaches well over 200,000 people every year.
Each rider who took part in the three-day West Coast Tour de Pink raised at least $2500 in donations for the YSC. The weekend ride totaled more than 220 miles. More than two dozen Giant employees rode or supported the event.
The Tour de Pink became a little more personal for Giant employees when Michelle Weiser, Giant’s gear marketing manager, passed away in July 2010 after battling breast cancer for more than two years. Giant employees An Le, Eric Christianson, and Ann Fischer rode the West Coast Tour de Pink as part of a six-person team known as “Weiser’s Army.” To date the team has raised more than $52,000.
A short video showing Friday’s start of the West Coast YSC Tour de Pink from the Giant USA headquarters in Newbury Park is on Giant’s YouTube page (click on above link).
