IN
THE
WIND
P48
Tommy joined the lead peloton,
along with Johnny O'Mara, Jeff
Ward, Brian Lopes, Peters, Ford
and Sheldon among others.
"I don't think Nicky would
have wanted it to be easy," said
Ford. "We thought about making
it 69 kilometers, which would
have been only 42 miles, but we
thought, 'Let's keep it 69 miles
and make this hard. Make it legit.'
And it was. I think everybody
had a good time and it was a
great way for everyone to come
together."
Riders set off from the Rock
N' Road Cyclery in Irvine, made
a stop at another Rock N' Road
shop before heading to the Troy
Lee Designs boutique in Laguna
Beach where Nicky Hayden's
Honda 450 flat tracker was on
display, the bike he piloted to the
win at the Springfield TT where
the Hayden brothers swept the
podium.
Donations to the Nicky Hayden
Memorial Fund were rewarded
with Nicky Hayden commemo-
rative water bottles donated by
Specialized, and Nicky Hayden
riding socks from DeFeet. Red
Bull and Monster Energy also
joined in the fun, providing food
and beverages. Squadra created
cycling kits for the lead riders,
and Ducati Newport provided a
Ducati Scrambler to lead the way
for the peloton.
"These things that people
have done and came together,
I can tell you, has meant a lot to
the family," said Tommy Hayden.
"It's definitely helped us get
through this tough time to see all
the people that Nicky's touched
and that he was important to.
These types of things have defi-
nitely meant a lot. For sure this is
something that Nicky would have
been proud of."
With only a few weeks to
prepare the event, the organiz-
ers admitted they kept things
modest, given the turnout the
ride could have garnered. "We're
really excited with that turnout.
We didn't want to make it too
big," Ford explained. "Obviously
we were concerned logistically
with having too many people, so
that was one of the reasons we
held it midweek and at 10 a.m.,
to kind of limit some access and
then make the true fans and true
supporters show up."
"I look at is as more quality and
not quantity," Victor Sheldon add-
ed. "I think we had a really quality
group of friends out today and
that's really the important part of
it. If we decide to do it again, we
can try to do a little bit more for
the memorial fund; we can grow
it year after year to something a
little bit bigger."
At the conclusion of the ride,
many were talking about the Ride
For Nicky becoming an annual
event; something Peters says is a
definite possibility.
"I think the next couple weeks
we'll talk with Tommy and the
family and everybody and see
where we want it to go," said
Peters. "There's some things that
the family were talking about and
we decided to regroup and talk
about possibly next year… may-
be we go to a different location
and maybe we keep it in Orange
County. We'll look at all that."
Donations to the Nicky Hayden
Memorial Fund can be made
HERE.
The special Ride for Nicky
cycling kits worn by some of the
event's leaders can be pur-
chased HERE.
Visit CycleNews.com to see
more photos from the Ride For
Nicky.
Jean Turner
Conditions were near perfect for the road
bike ride, which totaled 69.01 miles.
