Maria Parker

Last night we had the incredible experience of meeting Maria Parker and her daughter Lucia. For those of you who don't know who she is: She holds four world records as the fastest woman on a bicycle, and she broke the record for women over 50 in the Ride Across America (RAAM) in 2013. The RAAM is a non-stop race from San Diego to Annapolis, Maryland. It's about 3000 miles and she did it in less than twelve days. As an example of one of her feats, here are the results of the race in Sebring last February. Notice that Maria finished first, riding 100 miles in less than 4-1/2 hours. To put that in perspective, I rode 100 miles in about 8 hours.

Lief organized the event last night. Lucia was a member of the support team on Maria's fantastic ride in the RAAM in 2013. So here I am in the same room with three amazing people.

By the way, Lief is planning to compete in an upcoming race, riding the same model bicycle that Maria rides. It's a Vendetta model designed by CruzBike. You can see a photo of Lief riding his Vendetta bike on this blog in the "Winter Bike/Trike Ride" posting below.

Last night's event was actually for Maria's 3000 Miles to a Cure fund raiser to help research a cure for brain cancer. It was Maria's commitment to her sister Jenny, the "3000 Miles to a Cure" fund raiser, along with promises she made to lots of other cancer patients, that motivated her to the incredible feat of endurance in the RAAM of 2013.