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Rides, walks, and relays are great motivational events used on several levels. Participants in physical activities such as those usually demonstrate a will, a desire or fight to complete the task, and those same qualities are usually needed by those for whom they are participating for in the first place.

The Ride for Roswell event will be taking place today and for one Fredonia high school social studies teacher and her team the reasons to ride are many. In most cases riders today will be doing so because they know someone who has passed away from, survived or continues to live with a form of cancer.

"A lot of the team members have family members who have been affected by cancer, survivors and non-survivors," said Linda O'Connell, social studies teacher at Fredonia high school. "(Aside from the Ride for Roswell T-shirt) we have another set of T-shirts made up that have the names of those who we are riding for on the front. I think to some people it is personal, for myself it's for my dad ... others just like to bike ride and really want to give back and give back to the community and give back to people that help members of their family."

Teams participating will each produce a total amount in pledges for the event. Before collecting all of its money the Fredonia Teachers Association team raised $1,500 and is expecting that to rise to over $2,000.

"We had over $2,000 pledged so I think we'll be well over that. I had set my goal as $350," O'Connell said. "The team goal is an added amount between each member and their pledges. You'd be surprised how fast $2, $5, $10 adds up as you go along."

The Ride for Roswell has a range of distances from three miles up to 62 miles, and then an extra mile club peloton. Some people from the team are doing the 62 mile ride, some the 44 and others are doing the three or eight mile. Last year O'Connell joined the ride for the first time alone and at that time she was in the process of becoming a fitter person.

"It's a good motivation it really is," she said. "It gives you something to look forward to instead of saying, egh, I have to get out I have to go ride my bike just to lose weight. I keep up with it just because if you don't ride everyday or at least every other day it kind of goes by the wayside and I'd never be able to ride the 44 miles that I'm going to ride."

Last year O'Connell used the race to aid in her 70 pound weight loss.

"I had heard about this event before and I wanted to do it, but always said I don't think so. So last year I finally said I'll go and do it, but I did it by myself. I said I really had to share this with someone and I knew we, the Fredonia Teachers Association, has looked for different charities and I thought this was a perfect one. I sent an e-mail out to see who was interested and that generated 12 team members which will hopefully grow next year. I'd really like to make it an annual thing."

For O'Connell there was also a third reason to get fit and ride in the event. Her oldest daughter participates in Iron Man competitions, her middle daughter does marathons and her youngest runs.

The Ride For Roswell is an annual celebration of community support for Roswell Park Cancer Institute and its core mission to understand, prevent and cure cancer. The Ride is a year-round fundraising program for the Institute that culminates in a celebratory cycling event every June. It is a safe and healthy day of cycling fun for riders, teams, cancer survivors, and supporters.

For more information on the event visit www.roswellpark.org

Comments on this article may be sent to mrukavina@observertoday.com