Even record-breaking heat isn’t going to stop Mike Dritlein from his training Thursday. Pushing his limits on his road bike up South Mountain, the thought of his mom not far from his mind.
"My mom was the one that would show up to every one of my sporting events, my games. She was the person I called every day on the way to work, she was the one I really leaned on when my times were tough,” said Dritlein.
The former Kansas City Chief wide receiver turned cyclist is pedaling for her. Last December, the woman who gave him so much lost her battle with brain cancer not long after winning her battle with breast cancer.
“She just tripped by the pool and did a scan of her brain, and they discovered it, and six months later she passed away,” said Dritlein.
Her sudden passing left him yearning for more time. Along with 126 coworkers, they hope to deliver that for someone else.
“I don’t want people to have to go through the pain that I’ve gone through in the past six months, it’s been really hard, a lot of tears, anything I can do to prevent that in other people's lives, that’s my goal,” said Dritlein.
In September, he’ll kick off the first leg of a relay race across the country. Riding from Cannon Beach, Oregon to Bend, Oregon, the first 240 of a 3000-mile trek to New Jersey, to raise money for cancer research. He and his fellow Bristol Myers Squibb colleagues are participating in the 10th annual Coast 2 Coast 4 Cancer ride. They hope to raise $500,000, which will be matched by their company, totaling $1 million. Since 2014, the effort has raised more than $14 million in donations.
“We have about six weeks left until we have our ride, and I was always one of the guys that tried to stay late at practice and put in the extra effort,” said Dritlein. “That’s what I’ve been doing here.”
It’s an attitude he’ll use every day until he hits the starting line in September.
“It’s gonna get tough, you know I think about who I’m doing this for, friends, family colleagues, but when the hills are tough and the heat's high, it’ll be my mom that I’ll be thinking about and doing it in her honor,” said Dritlein.