RIDING FOR LOVE

BY ALEX K.W. SCHULTZ SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

When Sam Van Why hops on his 22-speed Cannondale bicycle in a few weeks to take on a rugged 45-mile ride, it will be the perfect metaphor for what the Castle Rock resident’s life has been.

e ride won’t be easy. In fact, Van Why may feel like he’s “just surviving” at times as he pumps his legs over and over for nearly four hours.

But the retired college professor, you can be sure, will keep going. He won’t for a moment think about stopping, even if his 74-year-old legs and body are pleading with him to do so. He’ll push and push until he crosses the nish line. at’s what Donna would have wanted.

On Dec. 8, 2022, Van Why lost the love of his life, his wife of nearly 30 years, to Alzheimer’s disease.

Bike trip will be in memory of wife lost to Alzheimer’s

On June 11, he will ride for her. e Alzheimer’s Association Ride to End ALZ Colorado will start and end right outside Colorado State University’s Canvas Stadium. e route Van Why has chosen will take him south from Fort Collins, back north to Laporte, along the foothills of Horsetooth Reservoir and nally back to where he started — about the same distance from Fort Collins to Boulder.

“Oh yeah,” he said when asked if he’s looking forward to the ride. “Just surviving 45 miles.”

Van Why isn’t a stranger to the Ride to End ALZ — this will be his third one. He’s also not a stranger to the kinds of trials and tribulations most people can’t even bear to imagine.

In 1992, his rst wife, Carol, died of kidney cancer. e couple was married for