Many of you know that I recently took part in a journey across several states with an incredible group of people that make up the P3C3 organization. P3C3 stands for Palmetto Peloton Project Challenge to Conquer Cancer. This is the fourth year that the C3 group has ridden their bikes from Greenville, SC to Austin, TX all in an effort to raise money and awareness toward cancer research. Each rider and support person works really hard to raise money each year in addition to training very hard to prepare for the exhausting yet rewarding rides on the way to Texas. When I first started training with the group I mentioned that I wanted to ride AND be the photographer. Well our main man Ron, who organizes these rides each year told me that it probably wouldn’t work to do so. I thought “well sure I can!”. Ron, I must admit that you were (ahem)…right. This was something that I wouldn’t fully understand until after I finished our journey. So in the meantime, I did the training rides and planned to ride in Austin. At least ‘Ruby’ with the new pink tires could tag along and not feel left out! There were five relay teams: Polka Dot, Yellow Bonkers, Dream Team, Purple Power & Livelong. It was the responsibility of myself, Taylor & Kelly to make sure to take care of the teams as we went along. Kelly gave much needed massages after each leg, Taylor was our DJ, driver and amazing mechanic, and I…shot people! I shot people in the morning, at night, in the middle of the day, in rain, shine, fog, on top of cars, next to cars, hanging out of cars and anywhere else I can think of. When Ron said that the three of us would probably get the least amount of sleep I thought to myself that I was up for the challenge. Might I say that we got a little goofy, giddy and even grumpy a couple of times after about the third night of only 2 hours of sleep on a given day. I already came in a wee bit sleep deprived on the day we left because the night before I had an out of town wedding to shoot. Oh and I cannot write this without mentioning Keith who worked his tail off driving the big bus and took care of many important things the whole time.
The C3 group set out for Austin on October 9th from the Greenville Hospital Cancer Center at about 3pm. The energy was high and the emotions were intense. It was at that time that I took pause to really reflect on WHY I was doing this. Cancer has affected many of my family members & friends and I have friends that have had the very same. There are even C3 riders that are fighting their own battle with cancer and still manage to do this very challenging ride. Hats off to you all!!
I learned a little something about myself and left Austin a little bit changed. I am honored to be a part of such a loving and giving group of people that I call friends and I am SO looking forward to doing this again. Next time Ron…I wanna ride! 🙂
This is only part one of a few slideshows. This covers the day we left. Please take a moment to enjoy!

Thank you for stopping by.

~lisa