We Did It!

$10,000.00 raised for the Susan J. Komen Foundation!

http://www.mountainshadowriders.com/

20th Annual High Country Toy Run

Bikers riding two up in a procession stretching as far as you can see in both directions is an amazing site, especially when they have toys strapped to their bikes for children from El Paso and Teller Counties. The United States Marine Corp sponsored the 20th Annual High Country Toy Run on October 7, 2007. The weather chilled down from a high of around 80 degrees on Saturday to a chilly fifty or so the day of the ride, but the chrome on the bikes and the biker spirit of giving brought the temp up so many could ride without jackets.

Hundreds and possibly more than a thousand riders gathered at the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Museum on north Nevada. Santa was there on his beautiful bike, and along with all of his biker helpers were Marines from Denver, soldiers from Fort Carson, and Boy Scouts selling raffle tickets.

After a short ceremony at the museum complete with the pledge of allegiance and a blessing by the Christian Motorcycle Association, the v-e-r-y long procession left headed for Cowboys on Academy Boulevard. We were escorted by motorcycle cops from the Colorado Springs Police Department on their speedy Honda 1100 sport bikes.

I was actually glad that I was about two-thirds of the way back in the procession. I got to see all of the people who had come out from their homes to wave and cheer us on and the riders in front and behind me. Watching the motorcycle cops riding around 70 MPH in the left lane was a lot of fun too. When we reached Cowboys there was a nice $5.00 meal and great stuff for the raffle and auction.

We left early hoping to get out of town before the rain storm that was moving in. We got a little wet, and it was chilly, but we had a great time and will attend the ride again next year.

Mountain Shadow Riders Seventh Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Ride

The day started out beautifully. It was already seventy degrees when I left the house at 7:30 AM bound for Colorado Springs on 115. The temp was uncommonly warm for an October 6^th morning in Colorado. It is also my mother’s birthday; today she would have been seventy-five. This year I decorated my bike’s windshield with pink ribbons and a picture of mom, and I attached a pink feather boa to the antenna.

Thirty years ago in 1977, I stood in Mom's hospital room while she denied that she had breast cancer. She didn't know that I had already spoken with her doctor, and he was pretty sure the lump he biopsied earlier that day was malignant. I was expecting twins and my beautiful but stubborn mother was determined she would shield me from the journey she was
about to take. Mom was only forty-four at the time. She had a radical mastectomy, and there was quite a bit of lymph node involvement discovered in the tissue they removed. The doctors predicted mom probably wouldn't live longer than another two years. My mother was strong though, and after several years of chemo therapy and radiation she won her fight against cancer. Unfortunately, chemo therapy can be hard on the heart, and I believe it contributed to her death from heart disease one month to the day after her birthday in 1993.

Breast Cancer has touched the lives of almost every member of Mountain Shadow Riders, and every year the members spend roughly five to six months preparing for the annual Breast Cancer Awareness ride. This year over two hundred riders attended our "Test Your Memory Run."

This year's route took the riders from Western Omelet on the
west side of Colorado Springs in old Colorado City, to Larkspur, through Black Forest, out to Falcon and back to the Dublin House at the north end of the Springs. The route was just under 100 miles, and while the weather was beautiful, it was windy.

Last bike in was at 3:00PM, with the post ride auction and ceremonies concluding at around 5:00PM. A lot
of beautiful people attended the ride again this year.

The members of Mountain Shadow riders will know this Saturday, October 13, 2007, how much money we earned for the Susan J. Komen Foundation. Our goal was 7500.00 and it sounds like we may have passed that amount.