“Cowbells, always a lot of cowbells,” says Nancy Cayton, a staff assistant at Berkeley City College who biked over 300 miles Sept. 7–12 to raise money for the Arthritis Foundation.
Cayton reminisces about people who rang cowbells on the bike trail in support of the participants as they passed by.
The 363-mile ride took place from the tip of Astoria along the coast to the Californian border, in Brookings,
Oregon. There were 45 riders along the path mostly covered by Highway 101.
And this wasn’t Cayton’s first ride. She also biked from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2013 to raise money for arthritis. That ride was 525 miles, spanning eight days. “If I can do it, anyone can do it,” Cayton concludes.
“If I can ride that many miles, anyone can.”
Although not a victim of arthritis herself, Cayton has watched her mother suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, which Cayton describes as “one part of a body attacking another” for 25 years now.
“Unfortunately for her,” Cayton said, “at the time that she was diagnosed, there was not a lot of good treatment and so she’s had a lot of joint damage.” Her mother’s fingers became deformed (left) from the disease. There are now better medications available, although there are not many doctors that specialize in the disease.
Cayton has raised around $9,000 biking for the Arthritis Foundation from the California and Oregon rides combined. To donate to the foundation, go to PeoplesCoastArthritisBikeClassic.kintera.org/nancycayton.
For more information about Cayton’s story, visit her blog at ncontheroad.blogspot.com.