Jeanne Petzold with husband Tom

Jeanne Petzold with husband Tom

My first memorable biking experience started with my future husband in Chicago. I was visiting him in the city. Tom had helped me buy my first road bike in Saline, Michigan the previous weekend and thought it would be a good idea to take me on a 60 mile bike ride in St Charles (countryside of Illinois). This was my first road bike ride ever and I was ill prepared and food never tasted so good after a complete bonking episode. My face almost fell in my plate of food because I was so exhausted. Another notable biking story was when we would race our tandem in the 206 mile LOTOJA one day race in which the other opponents were all male. We found out that they had an advantage in terms of the frequency of bladder control. We found ourselves repeatedly chasing to catch back up to the other tandems. The reason we bought a tandem was to bring to an end the unresolvable debate of finding a mutually agreeable pace. The tandem was a great way for me to experience competitive cycling for the first time. The opportunity to participate in this ride has given us a chance to learn more about Less Cancer. This is particularly important to me because I lost my best friend to breast cancer when she was 32 years old. I look forward to completing this ride with Miles O’Brien and the whole team of riders! I will send a photo soon.