Prompt: Describe a defining moment or series of events that has affected your life this year.

Ha! Most of the blog so far is about the series of events that led up to Kickstands UP and Kickstands DOWN. Here’s a series of videos describing my life in the flow, from learning how to ride, getting a BMW motorcycle, traveling cross country and championing a cause.

I envisioned a cross-country motorcycle trip but had to cross three barriers: no motorcycle experience, no motorcycle and no money to buy one. How’d I do it? Here’s the beginning of the tale.

I believe in a life of service, so I looked for a cause to align with during my road trip. I found Conga — a group of Canadian and US motorcyclists who formed conga lines from their homes to the rally point in Cheyenne, WY and raised money for breast cancer research along the way. What I didn’t realize was the folks who would inspire me to live a better, more intentional life. You’ll meet some of them here.

In this segment I talk about some of my adventures on the road. Wearing a pink bra across the front of my motorcycle made me quite the road attraction.

People everywhere wanted their picture with the bike and wanted to tell me stories of their battle with cancer or a sister, or mother’s brush with the disease. I sometimes wonder if the bra wasn’t a good luck charm…

The fourth installment is here. It talks about the 2011 trip and a conversation I had with an oncologist about breast cancer research’s role in curing other forms of cncer. Too many videos bogs a page down so I didn’t include it here.