On September 15 of this year, Nice Bike will be hosting our first ever charity bicycle ride; the Dura Mater Hill Climb.

We have chosen to work with the National Brain Tumor Society because they are dedicated to helping those who have brain tumors, those who have Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), and for those with brain cancer.

Last year changed the course of our entire family. In one diagnosis, with just three letters, the world stopped. GBM. We didn't know what it was, or what the impact would really be.

In five days, from diagnosis to sitting in the waiting room of the hospital for 15 hours while a member of our family had their skull cut open and a tumor removed, we were overwhelmed and under educated.

We learned slowly, that we were lucky in an unlucky situation. The tumor was removable, the placement of the tumor meant that the deficits were minimal. For some families, that is not the case. The months that we were gifted by the surgery's success are not something every patient and family gets.

In those first days, we learned that the options are few. After surgery, you can have chemo and radiation with a side of horrible. The radiation guys blamed the horrible side effects and brain swelling on the chemo guys. The chemo guys blamed it on the radiation. But we all knew, that poisoning someone who already feels bad is just mean. We knew that there had to be a better way.

Now, we've had months to try to learn to try to understand. But mostly to try to spend time together. Because there's a clock ticking down in the background, and each month sees the hands move that much more.

The takeaway for us, is this: we’ve already exhausted the options that were open to us and can offer nothing else to our family member, but we can try to bring awareness and raise funds so that those who are faced with this terrible diagnosis in the future might have more options.

Having more options, more drugs that are directed at GBM can mean better quality of life, and most importantly, can mean that we can stop talking about the survival median (the average length people take to die) and start talking about survival.

We ask our Nice Bikers and the community that surrounds us to offer their support of our ride. Follow this link: https://nbtsevents.braintumor.org/campaign/2018-dura-mater-hill-climb/c185831 to learn how to support the ride as a participant, as a volunteer or to donate.

We ride to make sure that the next family might have options. We ride so that one day, others can survive.