Feel Good Friday: One couple and their Pink Pedals for a Cure bike ride
CUMBERLAND, Wis. (WLAX/WEUX) – Thousands of miles with tens of thousands of dollars in return for charity. One Minnesota cyclist’s legs are sore. But the cause is what keeps him going. First News at Nine’s Daniel Gomez catches up with him in Northwestern Wisconsin.
“Every day.” Al and Terry Reszel say they have been stopped on the street, “We talk to people every single day. And there are so many affected. And they want to tell their stories.”
The couple is raising money for breast cancer research through Pink Pedals 4 A Cure. Al on his bike, riding from the Florida Keys back home to Minnesota and making a stop in Cumberland. He got started in late March, “And once she got done with her surgeries and treatments, we decided we wanted to do something to help fund a cure.”
Terry is a survivor herself and has been now for over a decade. She explains, “Here I am. I’ve got 5 grandchildren because I’m here.”
Al is just days away from completing his seventh ride. The married couple say they’ve raised more than $60,000 over the years. “I was always a weekend warrior bike rider. And I thought, well I can do some biking.”
If that isn’t impressive enough, Al pedals even on days where the weather isn’t as beautiful as it was Wednesday, “The ride itself is probably the worst, from a weather perspective, that we’ve had from all 7.”
“It’s been really tough. If you look back on our Facebook, we’ve got videos of him ringing out his gloves. You name it. It’s been tough.”
Still, they ride along. “I couldn’t do these rides without her.”
Terry paving out the logistics, like lodging and driving when Al is satisfied with his ride, he shoots for 85 miles a day, “We’re a team, we’ve gotten really good at it.”
And they say this ride isn’t about them though, it’s about those they’ve met along the way. The CDC says breast cancer impacts about 240,000 women in the US every year. “Get the mammograms. You got like a 99% rate of survival if you catch it early.”
“The women are younger and younger. And at 19 years old you’re not even checking for it. It gives us the motivation on why we’re out here. I always say I can’t do research, but I can ride a bike.”
“I’m proud of him. That he could do this, and that he does it every single day.” With just another few hundred miles to go, the couple’s goal is to make it to Albany, Minnesota by Mother’s Day, Sunday (5/11/24), while reaching the goal of 4,100 miles.
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