The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

For the fifth consecutive year, I will be riding in the Great Cycle Challenge to raise money to fight children's cancer. In the past 4 years, I have ridden nearly a thousand miles as a part of the challenge, raising $3,227.01 in total. This year, I am increasing my fundraising goal from my previous target of $500 for the last 4 years to $1,000. I am also increasing the number of miles I intend to ride to 300, from my previous goal of 200 for the month. Throughout the month of September, I will be setting out to ride 10 to 20 miles at a time to raise awareness and support. Though the increased fundraising target will be a stretch, I believe the cause of helping bring an the end of children's' cancers is worth the effort.

Over the past few years, neighbors have probably seen me peddling out on the farm roads, on the highway, down Kenilworth, or just around town while participating in the fundraiser. My first year of riding in the challenge, I traded various stunts for donations. I rode in pink cycling gear donated by a longtime Twitter friend, added streamers to my handlebars in response to a gift from another friend from Michigan. That year, I raised more money than any other year I've done the challenge, well over $1000. During the years since, I have been more conservative in my riding, though my fundraising outcomes have been more modest as well.

Cancer is the leading disease cause of death for children in the United States, with an average of 38 kids dying every week. Every year, 15,700 children are diagnosed with cancer. The Great Cycle Challenge has been around since 2015 and has raised over $52.5 million dollars to fight cancer. Riders participating in the challenge come from all 50 states and have logged over 25 million miles together in their fundraising efforts.

The challenge is a fundraising initiative of the Children's Cancer Research Fund, which uses the money raised to underwrite initiatives that focus in several specific areas. First, they support research to combat hard-to-treat cancers, like brain cancers, sarcomas, and leukemia. Advances in treatments for these low survival rate cancers have the highest potential for change. Second, they support programs that aid children who survive cancer but face a lifetime of health complications as a result of the treatment. Chemo is extremely hard on children's bodies and the long term health care is expensive, but crucial. Third, they support efforts and initiatives to make data sharing and analytics better between research groups. Their goal is to make every bit of progress matter as much as possible through collaboration. Finally, they support emerging scientists. Qualified researchers rarely receive grants to fund their work during the early days of their careers. CCRF supports new and innovative research to ensure these areas of study are explored. You can learn more about the Great Cycle Challenge and the Children's Cancer Research Fund on the GreatCycleChallenge.com.

Those looking to support my fundraising ride and help fight kids cancer can donate on my fundraising page at https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/ErikSietsema1/b. You can also contact me at 406-399-3803 to donate without using the online mechanism if you are uncomfortable with online financial transactions. I will also be posting updates and links on my Facebook page for the next few months. Please consider helping me reach my fundraising goal and more importantly, help fight kids cancer.