Greg Taylor wrote an article for CyclingNews.com called Victory at 12 Miles Per Hour that really captures what the riders in the Tour of Hope DC Fund-raising Ride were feeling on Saturday. Taylor wrote:
… riding along Macarthur Boulevard on a sunny Saturday morning, the serious and sometimes sad business of fighting or surviving cancer was transformed into something different, something altogether joyful. As the riders slowly rolled along through the city with their police escort, the image of {Bill Cusmano, one of the top fund-raisers} and his fellow riders truly lived up to the name Tour of Hope. For the outside observer, it was a brilliantly endless parade of bicyclists, smiles, laughter, and the color yellow, in honor of Lance. For a few hours on a sunny Saturday afternoon, all of the hard work, dedication, hopes, and dreams of millions who have been touched by cancer found their expression and release in the simple joy of riding a bike.
I rode with a number of people wearing replica Tour de France yellow jerseys, including my friend Cecil Ledesma. I have always said that I won’t wear a cycling jersey that represents a championship or a leadership position that I haven’t earned myself, although I don’t begrudge others doing so. I hadn’t realized that in this context, it might be considered a way to honor Lance Armstrong.