Profile

About: Bellaire, TX is where I call homeâ??my parents still live in the same house I grew up inâ??but Iâ??ve found over the years that Iâ??m somewhat of a nomad. I attended the University of Richmond for three years and then transferred to UT in Fall 04. Iâ??m a studio art major at UT and I live and breathe photography. Iâ??m a person that needs the outdoors to feel alive so Iâ??ve spent the past three summers as a raft guide in South Carolina, sharing a beautiful Wild and Scenic river with people who donâ??t normally appreciate nature. I enjoy camping, sports, art, road trips, coffee (way too much), biking (obviously), and people who can say theyâ??re passionate about life and a cause. I think experiences should be shared, stories told, so that we help each other along the right path and grow to be better people. And that sounds cheesy, but it's true, eh?

Why I Ride

I am riding for my family, which has a history of cancer that is ongoing still. For my aunt Cindy who passed away last fall, my great-grandmother Ruth who died before my grandmother was 14, my grandfather Jan, my cousin Starr, and most of all my grandmother Emily - perhaps the strongest women I know and someone I think of everyday on the bike. She has battled cancer for over 20 years and no matter how many times it tries to beat her down she overcomes. Although we don't always see eye to eye, I know we see heart to heart. I'm riding also for my friends, family friends that are dear to my heart, Christie Cummins, Gerald Williams, Barbara Fitzgerald, Alice Clarke, Sue Coker, and so many others. Lastly, I'm riding for the future, in the hope that we can truly help find a cure. I'm riding not only for those who battle cancer, survive cancer, or lose thier fight with cancer, but also for the family members of those with cancer. Because cancer doesn't just affect one person, it affects everyone around them, in a ripple effect that can be felt in so many degrees of seperation. Being on this journey I'm finding how many people have been affected by cancer and how strongly they support us in our fight for a cure. I'm riding for our supporters, and I ride for myself.