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KJCT News Channel 8 - 5/13/2009

Local women biking Arizona for a cure

Imagine riding your bike hundreds of miles in intense heat. Two Grand Valley ladies will be taking that challenge, all in an effort to fight a devastating disease.

Starting this Sunday, 73-year-old Charlotte Reicks and 65-year-old Marie Nemec will ride from Grand Junction to Phoenix.

They are riding to raise money for research into Huntington's Disease. This is the 11th year they have made a long distance trek.

They ride to the Huntington's Disease National Convention every summer. In previous years they have peddled thousands of miles, crossing the country both north to south, and west to east.

The convention is in a different city each year. This time it's in Phoenix, AZ.

The ladies enjoy the challenge of the ride, but say the mission to raise awareness and money to fight Huntington's is their primary focus.

"We're trying to bring hope to some of the families that we meet along the way," Nemec says.

During their journey, the ladies will stay with host families who are living with the disease.

"We feel blessed. We don't have it in our families but the families that do, it's a tragedy," Reicks says.

The ladies expect the journey to take 19 days. They will take occasional rest days and say they should spend about 15 days riding.

They plan to start early each morning and finish for the day about noon, in order to beat the heat.

Together the ambitious women hope to cover 50 to 60 miles each day. While one lady peddles, the other will follow in a car. They will switch off periodically.

One of the stops the ladies are looking forward to is on the Navajo Indian Reservation. The ladies will spend two nights at a church on the reservations.

For more information about their journey or Huntington's Disease...log onto




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