Philadelphia bicyclist honoring grandmother in cross-country journey for cancer research
A special group is taking part in a cross-country journey by biking for cancer research. Among them will be a rider from Philadelphia who's pedaling in honor of his grandmother.
Denny Lai trained on the Schuylkill River Trail, getting ready for the Coast 2 Coast 4 Cancer ride.
"I'm doing this for my grandmother," Lai said. "She was diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2014. And due to the vigilance of her medical team, she was able to go into remission within a year."
Lai works for Bristol Myers Squibb, which sponsors the 3,000-mile cross-country ride from Oregon to the Jersey Shore. Hundreds of its employees are biking to raise money for the V Foundation for cancer research.
"It basically is to fund different NIH grants for cancer research, just to be able to allow the scientists to do the bench work behind being able to find a cure," Lai said.
Lai, who's never done a long-distance, multi-day bike ride, has been intensely training.
"I went from going like 12 to 13 miles an hour, now around 20 on straightaways. So yeah, over the last four months a lot has changed," Lai said.
Lai will be riding with eight colleagues. Their 250-mile portion of the 3,000-mile relay will be through Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia, ending in Pennsylvania.
"The last day will be about 4,000 feet of elevation gain, getting up to that hill in Pittsburgh," Lai said. "The streets around Philly, Wissahickon, the Valley Forge rolling hills, they prepared me and I'm ready to kick off and do this."
Lai said that compared to the challenges cancer patients face, the bike ride should be a breeze. He's raised more than $5,000 of the $1 million that will go to cancer research. His biking team is called Tour de Cure.
