Pedal Power

Every breath, every turn of the wheel, every cheer, every mile of pavement proves that Pedal the Cause is people-powered.

Every year in the St. Louis region, this cycling event raises money for cancer research that stays at institutions in the metro area. In 2024 alone, Pedal the Cause raised more than $5.2 million for research at Siteman Cancer Center and Siteman Kids at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

“Everybody on a bike that morning is thinking of someone in their life that they’ve lost or is in the fight or has survived,” says David Drier, executive director of Pedal the Cause. “And they’re grateful, or they’re hopeful — one of the two, right? And they’re trying to do something about it.”

The relatively small St. Louis-based nonprofit has greatly impacted families here and nationwide. Since its first ride nearly 16 years ago, Pedal the Cause has provided more than $51 million towards research. Over the years, at its major cycling event in September, 41,000 people have participated as riders and 9,500 as volunteers. More than 480,000 people across the country and the world have donated.

The organization was founded by Bill Koman and his wife, Amy. Bill had fought lymphoma twice and received treatment at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine. He survived, and the grateful couple wanted to give back.  

That first year, 800 riders converged in Downtown St. Louis and raised $910,000 for research.

Over the years, the event has grown and evolved, with the event moving from Chesterfield Amphitheater to Chesterfield Mall. Last year, it moved to the Family Arena in St. Charles and is set to be held there again in 2025. The celebration to kick off the ride, which includes family activities, food, and an inspirational program, is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 20. The ride is set for Sunday, Sept. 21. 

At press time, almost 2,500 riders were signed up for the 2025 event, with more than $840,000 raised so far. In 2024, more than 4,000 people rode. Pedal the Cause celebrated a milestone the same year, being recognized as one of the country’s top 10 cause-related cycling events. It’s the St. Louis region’s largest peer-to-peer fundraising event, which means individuals reach out personally to others in their networks to raise money for the group.

“Any cancer survivor or fighter loves being a part of it,” Drier says. “It brings so much hope and positivity. When I came in, I said, look, our message has to be centered around hope and possibility. Because cancer in and of itself is a very downer sort of subject, right? It’s like, so sorry, this is horrible. Well, yes, thank you for saying that. But you know what? We have to do something about it.”

WG Warriors

Signing up as a rider is easy: Riders can choose to take road rides that range from 10 to 100 miles, or pedal a stationary cycle in a “spin zone” during Pedal weekend. They can even choose their own activity or challenge to complete, and raise money individually or as a team. Teams can be with a corporation, friends and family, or affiliated with a hospital. 

Kimberlee Bleyer of Webster Groves first signed up five years ago with a friend to honor another friend undergoing breast cancer treatment.

“We wanted to do something,” Bleyer says. “You know, it’s like the doctors can do something, the family can do something, friends can do so much. But Pedal feels like, I don’t know — it gives you this whole other avenue to help.”

In 2020, Bleyer’s mother, Candy Fink, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Due to hospital restrictions in 2020, Bleyer and her sister couldn’t sit with their mom during treatments. And that year, Pedal the Cause fundraised virtually. 

“She triumphed and did amazing through all of her treatments,” Bleyer says. 

In 2021, Bleyer rode for her mom, and both she and her dad greeted her at the finish line, joyfully ringing cowbells. 

As Bleyer rode each year, she wrote the names of her mom and friends who had cancer on her arm. “As you’re pedaling, you look down and you’re thinking about these people,” she says. 

But in 2024, Bleyer had to add her own name to that list when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“What’s wild about my breast cancer story is I had no symptoms,” she explains. But after a routine mammogram, she got a letter recommending that she get an MRI because of her dense breast tissue. The MRI and then further tests at Siteman confirmed she had cancer, and her doctor recommended a double mastectomy. Surgery was scheduled for July 2024.

“One of my biggest questions to the doctors, and there’s a lot of things to decide, but I was like, ‘Can I bike in September? Can I train for Pedal?’” 

Bleyer had the surgery and spent the summer recovering. For the event, she decided to do the stationary spin ride, and the ride itself was canceled that year due to rain. But the day before, she attended the inspirational program that Pedal the Cause hosts to honor riders, researchers, survivors, and those who have died of cancer. 

“Cancer is such a hard topic, and people are grieving and processing so much, but they are able to hold that and allow that space,” she says. “But they also have such hope, even in the midst of that, which I think is really special about that organization.”

This year, she and her friends are organizing a team for the first time. It’s called the WG Warriors, and they plan to recruit friends and neighbors in Webster Groves to encourage each other and honor those in the fight. 

Asking people to help feels good, because she knows the money is used wisely, Bleyer says. “I just don’t even feel a hesitation to say: Do you want to be a part of this?”

The Cancer Lasers

WashU Medicine neuro-oncologist Dr. Milan Chheda, MD, rides for his dad, Girish Chheda. The elder Chheda was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in his late 40s and went through several rounds of treatment and remission, but died at age 58, when his son was in his early 20s. 

“His presence is there,” Chheda says. “Especially during fundraising events like this.”

Chheda also rides for the patients he treats with brain tumors, and for the research he and his colleagues do to fight aggressive brain tumors. 

“While treating patients with brain tumors, it gives you a perspective on what’s important in life,” he says. “I have clinics each week, but I still lose perspective pretty quickly. Everything we’re doing in the lab is really focused on improving those patients’ lives.” 

Siteman Cancer Center loves Pedal the Cause, and encourages researchers and employees to sign up and support the organization, Chheda says. And researchers are grateful: When they present their scientific work at seminars, they include a slide that mentions the support of Pedal the Cause, he adds.

Pedal the Cause has funded Chheda’s research since 2018, a total of $2.7 million, which includes collaborative projects he has led with other scientists. The idea is that the research leads to more funding from the National Institutes of Health. 

Chheda was most recently named a Pedal the Cause Investigator. This supports the pursuit of new ideas in his lab, which is focused on developing new treatments to eradicate brain tumor cells that are resistant to treatments like radiation and chemotherapy. Another Pedal the Cause-funded project focuses on how the aging brain impacts the development of some tumors. 

“Anybody who donates to us through Pedal the Cause — all of their money is going to research,” he says. “So it’s super, super attractive. That alone tells you that the organization is legitimately wanting the money to be pumped directly into research.” 

Chheda rides with a team of colleagues called the Cancer Lasers. The name alludes to their laser focus in their work and the special goggles surgeons can wear that use light to find cancer. 

Pedal the Cause is a joyful event, he says, and he often runs into patients and their families, or families of patients who have passed away. 

“It’s great to see them outside of the clinic, and also great to see the strength of their family and friendships,” he says. “In things like this, you see them in a new light.”

He feels supported here in St. Louis and at Siteman in his research, he says. “I think the whole culture here is one of humble excellence,” he says of Siteman and WashU. “When you’re talking to people who are senior, they’re always willing to help.”

He adds that he speaks at Pedal the Cause functions throughout the year, such as house parties and lunch-and-learn events sponsored by local companies, who are committed to supporting the community. “I’ve gone and spoken at those, and that is actually going into neighborhoods, homes throughout the St. Louis community,” he says. “And I think that’s something unique as well about St. Louis.”

A Determined Future

As a private funding organization, Pedal the Cause ensures that St. Louis researchers and physicians can continue to conduct life-saving research and work in the community. Drier emphasizes that this is a credit to the people of St. Louis who have made the organization what it is today. “I’m very proud of what St. Louis is, and the St. Louis institutions that keep our city so vibrant and strong and such a great place to live and work and raise a family,” he says. 

Drier adds that St. Louis also now attracts health-care professionals from across the country to move here to do pioneering cancer research and treatments. “They bring their families, they’re buying homes, and supporting the local economy,” he says. “And so by supporting the research, we’re supporting researchers and making a more vibrant community.”

But Chheda and Drier both worry about the future of federal funding for research: The National Institutes of Health is facing significant funding cuts under the Trump administration. Chheda says it’s important to note that Pedal the Cause funds help get research to the point where it makes meaningful sense to fund it further with federal money. 

“When we’re using taxpayer dollars, there’s even more data that supports that an idea might be helpful for the public good,” he says.

Drier points out that researchers end up getting $13 for every dollar Pedal the Cause contributes, as the organization also receives funding from other sources. 

“Our $51 million over these last 15 years has generated another $600 million plus that has come to St. Louis to further the research we started,” he says.

Due to federal funding concerns, Drier says Pedal the Cause will shift support to research that is further along in development but might be on hold because of lack of federal support. 

“We’re not going to let those die on the line because of politics,” he says.

Team Victoria

Drier remains determined. In 2006, when his daughter Victoria was 16 years old, doctors found she had two golf ball-sized tumors in her brain.

Drier and his wife Julie knew Bill and Amy Koman socially. In 2010, when the Komans started Pedal the Cause, they approached the Driers about forming a team for Victoria. They said yes.

David Drier thinks of his daughter as a research pioneer. She volunteered for clinical trials to help raise the standard of care for others, including the first personalized vaccine for a brain tumor patient in the world.  

Victoria Drier loved Pedal the Cause and the joy she received there.  

“Wow, five years,” she says in a video of her talking at the event in 2014, the non-profit’s fifth anniversary. “It doesn’t even seem possible. You certainly have a lot to celebrate. Actually, we both have a lot to celebrate. Pedal the Cause, you and I have practically grown up together. We’ve learned a lot on this journey, like how incredibly supportive people can be.”

She cheered on her teammates at Pedal the Cause for years before she died in 2019 at age 28.

Drier joined the Pedal the Cause board a couple of years after his first ride in honor of Victoria and her journey. This is his fifth year as the organization’s executive director. 

He knows everyone at Pedal the Cause is riding for someone, and that determination helps them power through. He thinks of his daughter, who loved ringing cowbells for riders at the finish line.

He knows everyone there is powering through for somebody, for a cure. 

He still rides for Victoria. 

Team Victoria St. Louis has raised nearly $1.5 million for cancer research since first riding together nearly 16 years ago.

“When you come back into that finish line, and you cross it to the exuberant fanfare of people ringing bells, you’re really like, wow, wow, wow,” Drier says. “Then in my case, you see your daughter there, and in the later years in a wheelchair, ringing that bell for you with a big smile on her face. 

“And you’re like, all right, we are doing something here. Instead of being victims, we’re doing our best to overcome, and fight on, and fight through, and make a difference.”