By Alan Van Ormer
Tribune editor

Courage and endurance are two words that describe Mary Jo Vogel and her battle with cancer. Those two words could also describe what the 68-year-old Colton resident did when she rode her bike 3,200 miles from California to Florida.
“When I finished I felt grateful to have the gift of health to be able to do it,” Vogel said. “You have a dream, you just go for it and you do it.”
Her daughter, Stephanie Wolles, who has students attending Dell Rapids St. Mary, said at first it seemed a little bit crazy what she wanted to do, but it was also inspiring.
“She has given so much of herself to members of her family, it was nice to see her do something for herself,” Wolles said. “It has been inspiring to all her grandchildren to see their grandmother do something like this.”
Jackie Marchand, the president of WomanTours, the organization that plans the bike ride, said women like the challenge of the bike ride. “It allows a woman to live a dream to do something they have always wanted to do and never thought they were capable of,” she said. “The trip teaches them they can do more than they thought they could ever do.”
Vogel was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, had a mastectomy and went through chemotherapy. This is the third summer that she has been cancer-free. Ten years ago, she was on a trip in Alaska when she saw another group riding bike and that was something that she thought she would like to do. At that time, Vogel was up to almost 240 pounds and decided to exercise and ride her bike to help lose the weight.
It was actually her husband, Harvey, who encouraged her to take the 3,200-mile bike ride. He even put her in the car and drove her to San Diego where the bike ride started. Harvey followed his wife on her trip on the blog.
“I think it is amazing that she is physically and mentally able to do a ride like that,” Harvey Vogel said. “She is the one that did the work. She deserves the credit for doing it.”
The cross country trip started on March 4 in San Diego and included visits to Phoenix, Ariz., Las Cruces, N. M., El Paso, Texas, Lake Charles, La., Pascagoula, Miss., Dauphin Island, Ala., and ended on April 29 in St. Augustine, Fla.
The bike ride consisted of 21 women – the youngest being 41 and the oldest being 70. The mileage per day varied. The longest day was 111 miles, while the shortest day was 32 miles. The bike riders averaged 58 miles per day. There was also one day per week where the riders could relax.
“When I first started the ride I was fearful wondering if I bit off more than I could chew,” Vogel said. “What I learned over this ride is not worry about today, I just pedaled. You just do it. You don’t worry about tomorrow. All you can control is the moment.”
Marchand said the women learn that any goal is accomplishable if they break it down one day at a time. “They just have to worry about getting to the next stop the next day,” she said. “It helps women put the rest of their lives in perspective. It is really nice to have that one small thing in their life. It is a really nice escape for a lot of women.”
Vogel said the difficult part was riding through Texas with the wind. One day the wind was so strong it blew her off the road into the ditch. “It just blows you around,” she said.
Then there was the portion coming out of California through the mountains. “There were a lot of mountains and a lot of climbs,” Vogel said. “I just put my head down and did it.”
The most exciting part to Vogel was that the women were all amazing. “They have a can-do attitude,” she said.
Marchand said the ride is challenging and it brings the women closer together.
Vogel said she is a woman that has been cancer-free for the past three years and women out there, who do have cancer, need to know it is not the end. “Don’t let the disease control you,” she said. “If you have cancer, deal with it, fight it and go on the best you can.”