Profile

About: Born in Houston, Texas, I have lived in Texas nearly my entire life with a brief stops in California and New Jersey. From age seven to seventeen I grew up in The Woodlands, a rapidly growing suburb north of Houston, where I went to The John Cooper School. At John Cooper I ran cross country and track for all four years of high school which culminated in earning a spot on the University of Texas track team. I'm no longer running track for UT, but I can't seem to shake my affinity for endurance sports...or sports in general.

Why I Ride

I am fortunate. It is a sentence composed of just three words, but it is the reason I have been afforded more advantages and luxuries than many on this planet will ever hope to receive. My parents raised me with unbounded love and support. They worked each day to ensure that a firm moral standard be impressed upon me. They provided opportunity after opportunity, both scholastic and athletic. They were the epitome of parental figures, as they both facilitated my growth and sheltered from the harsh realities that many daily endure. At eleven years old, I came to find that my shelter was not impervious and that the world lay waiting. At the age of 42 my father had been diagnosed with brain cancer and I was summarily ripped from my haven. A fourteen month battle ensued before the virulent disease took its toll and on December 7, 2000 my father passed away. In reflecting upon the loss of my father I have come to realize that the loss of a family member to cancer is a plight suffered by far too many and action must be taken. The capacity to inspire hope in a cancer patient or the family of that patient is something that every human possesses. Whether it be running a marathon, having a friendly conversation, or riding one's bike from Texas to Alaska, the opportunity to fight this destructive disease is everywhere. I feel it is my responsibility to resiliently survive my father by attacking cancer through spreading hope to victims of cancer, proliferating knowledge of cancer prevention, and contributing to funding for cancer research.