Marci Singer: Cycling Strong

Aug. 10, 2005

For those of you not familiar with Lance Armstrong - he of the superhuman accomplishments and ubiquitous yellow “Livestrong” bracelets - he just won his seventh Tour de France cycling race, is a cancer survivor (Armstrong’s initial diagnosis had him at only a 30-40% chance of survival), and is the founder of the LAF (The Lance Armstrong Foundation), a non-profit organization whose purpose is to help people living with cancer to live strong.
An inspiration to athletes, cancer survivors, and ordinary folk worldwide, Armstrong’s influence has reached into Northern Michigan, as well - most recently, to cyclist Marci Singer, who recently rode part of Armstrong’s path during this year’s Tour de France.
Singer, who works at the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council in Petoskey, became aware of Armstrong’s cancer outreach efforts in light of the fact that she recently had a family member diagnosed with cancer.
“I was so excited to hear of Lance’s recovery from cancer,” Singer explains, “and I made a donation to Lance’s foundation, oh, probably a year and a half ago.”
LAF’s funds are earmarked for cutting-edge cancer research that highly-regulated government research programs won’t often pursue. “I liked the fact that LAF was looking into alternative medicines,” Singer continues, “and they’ve already raised over $9.6 million in research grants.”

OFF TO FRANCE
A casual cyclist, Singer deeply admired Armstrong’s accomplishments, and thought that going to France to see him ride in person would be a great way to show her support.
Meanwhile, one of Singer’s best friends, Sarah Rossi, had the “brilliant idea,” as Singer puts it, of not just watching, but figuring out a way to ride along if Lance decided to go.
“I only started cycling in April of this year,” Singer chuckles, “so obviously, we had some training to do. I took spinning classes over the winter, and did circuit training at NCMC on the bikes and weight machines, and spent much of this past spring on my bike.”
Singer also joined Armstrong’s Peloton Project, an outreach and fundraising project comprised of cyclists, cancer survivors, and other volunteers. It’s a grassroots group that organizes cancer research-funding events and gets together for mutual support.
Once she was a Peloton member, Singer began to seek out a company to help her and Rossi get to France. They ended up signing on for a tour of the Alps through cycle-touring group, Alpine Rootz, which provides fully-supported cycling tours (at a cost), and which was offering several tour packages which would allow participants to ride the Tour de France route.
One thing kept leading to another -- and once the Alpine Rootz plans were made, it became obvious to Singer that the next thing she needed do would be to utilize their trip to help raise money for LAF, since her Peloton association already qualified her as an official fundraiser for Lance Armstrong’s associations. A couple of months’ worth of preparations later, and Singer and her friend Rossi were on their way to France.

TO THE FINISH LINE
“The experience was... awesome,” she exults, “we rode 15 kilometers to the finish line of Courcheval, which is Stage 10 of the Tour de France” (the race is broken up into 21 stages that criss-cross France and also go through the French Alps).
“For Stage 11, we stayed in Briancon and watched the racers, and then for Stage 12, which is Briancon to Digne-les-Bains, I watched, and Sarah rode 40 kilometers. We didn’t have the opportunity to meet Lance in person, but we were right by the Stage 12 finish, and he went right by us,” she continues. “It was amazing to see him riding -- to see all of these cyclists riding, 100 kilometers a day up such inclines and with such speed. They’re true athletes.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Singer and Rossi participated in one more highlight.
“On Sunday, July 17th, we both rode the Alpe D’Huez, a 15 kilometer ride that Lance made famous when he rode it in 37 minutes,” she says. “This particular stage wasn’t in this year’s Tour de France -- and, well, we didn’t do it in anywhere near 37 minutes, but it was still just so great to be part of it all.”

ON TO AUSTIN
Singer is planning to continue being part of LAF’s efforts. She will be cycling in the Ride For The Roses, October 21-23, Lance Armstrong’s annual cycling event that takes place in Austin, Texas for Peloton members.
“There are four fundamental places that Lance funnels monies into,” Singer explains, “research, advocacy, education, and public health. And they’re all equally important, as are the fundraising events.”
Singer didn’t quite reach the fundraising goal of $10,000 that she was hoping to hit with her Tour de France efforts -- she got nearly halfway there, at around $4,500 -- but she’s continuing to accept donations, and plans to continue cycling, too.
“Hopefully, as a result of Lance’s work on the bike and off, we can remove the word ‘cancer’ from our vocabularies in our lifetime,” Singer confirms, “and that’s why I’m doing all of this.”

To learn more about the Lance Armstrong Foundation/Peloton Project, visit the website at www.laf.org. Donations to Marci Singer’s LAF fundraising efforts may be made online at www.laf.org by clicking “Donate” and entering Singer’s Peloton ID number, which is 200277926. Donations may also be sent via “regular” mail to LAF, c/o Marci Singer, 326 1/2 East Mitchell, Petoskey,
MI 49770.