It’s a noisy Saturday morning along West Broadway in Granville.
The bell at the First Presbyterian Church tolls steadily. The Granville High School Marching band plays joyfully. Cheerleaders line the road, shouting gleefully. And a cacophony of whoops and cowbells comes and goes with the swells of cyclists rolling through town.
Pelotonia is a bicycle ride from downtown Columbus to rural Gambier that raises funds for cancer research – research that improves and saves lives. The ride brings together survivors, supporters, researchers and folks memorializing those who have been lost.
But this is no mournful parade: It’s a celebration of life.
More than 6,500 riders traveling anywhere from 24-190 miles over two days pledged to each seek donations to fight cancer this year, and since 2009, the ride has raised over $309 million for cancer research at The Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.
And in Granville, it seems, cheering the riders has become a rite of passage, heralding August with the bright green Pelotonia flags and posters – this year punctuated by orange and white cones that dot the streets during construction season.
Standing in front of the United Church of Granville, Lisa Holtsberry is eagerly anticipating the arrival of her son Max, riding with a group of friends. She thinks he’s 15-20 minutes out.
She’s not anxious, though, because he rode last year. At that time, he rode, in part, to lift up a friend with cancer. This year, he is riding to honor that friend, Elliott King, who died from cancer in October, and to support Elliott’s brother Jacob, who plays in the band with him.
Max is not alone. He’s riding with friends Caden Bertke, Justin Cowie and Alex Washer. They are doing this together – for each other, for their friends, for Elliott.
“What I think is amazing is that it’s going to be life-changing, for all of them,“ Holtsberry said.
Riding in Pelotonia will be a memory they carry with them through their lives, a memory that pushes in alongside others – like the experience of losing a friend and learning how to seek counseling, support and love.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Holtsberry said, to parent through this. It has taught her something, she said, about the importance of being gracious.
These friends, she said, have learned to support each other, to rely on each other, in ways that they could not have imagined before.
Today, they’re relying on each other to get to the finish line.
“I think having the band and having everyone be there as a group and helping them understand that their struggles are understood by a community is helpful – so that they’re not beating themselves up for having those deep questions.”
It was a tough year, she said, but they learned what was important in life.
One of those things is riding with your friends in Pelotonia, supporting each other.
There was a lot of that along West Broadway – and so many stories.
Maria Fisher and her daughter Mary Beth Fisher, both from Columbus, were set up on the corner of East Broadway and Prospect Street next to the Post Office. Maria sat on the curb with a sign that read, “Thank you riders.”
Both have ridden before, but today they are cheering riders from The Spin Doctors, the team Maria’s son Mason was riding with for three years ago when he passed away during the ride.
He was a second-year medical student, and since then, Pelotonia has established a $50,000 research grant in his honor. The Mason Fisher Grant supports research on genetic mutations that can lead to cancer.
To say this day and this ride holds significance for the Fisher family is an understatement.
“We all have a rare genetic thing, so we all have cancer-type stuff,” Maria said. And they have all benefited from the research that Pelotonia supports.
Maria is a two-time cancer survivor.
“We’re still here,” Maria said. “It’s a ‘get busy living or get busy dying’ life. You wanna do the best you can day by day and enjoy the day.”
Cyclists pass, and Maria lets out a “Whoop! Whoop!”
Meanwhile, just in front of Village Hall, Barbara Poorman, from Akron, was waiting for her son Timothy, a six-year cancer survivor, who was riding with colleagues from J.P. Morgan Chase.
She stopped mid-sentence and shouted, “Here he comes!” and shook a cowbell. The tling-tling-tling of the bell rang out, along with lots of shouts and joyful laughter.
“So proud of you! So proud of you!,” she said to her son.
Barbara beamed and Timothy leaned in to hug his mother.
“It’s been good,” Timothy said. “We’ve been riding well this morning. Good vibe. A little windy which is kind of a bummer.”
“I”m a six-year cancer survivor,” he said. “So it’s a really good way to give back. I benefited from the years and years of research that went into curing cancer before I had it so it’s a really good way to pay it forward so that other people can have a similar story to mine.”
Further down the street, at the corner of Mulberry and West Broadway, Emily Edelman from Columbus holds up a large stick with 14 cowbells attached.
“My brother Miles has ridden Pelotonia for 14 years,” Edelman said, “and this is one cowbell for every year, including the 2025, that was added last night.”
“My mom is a survivor, and he started riding for my uncle Tim who passed away from cancer,” she said. “We’ve had many, many battles in our families since then. People who have survived and people who have passed.”
And yet, they are at this corner every year, she said. Cheering Miles on.
Back in front of the church, among the band contingent, there’s a debate about when Max, Justin, Caden and Alex will get here. Someone said it would take 15-20 minutes, but that was 30 minutes ago.
There’s a discussion about how fast they are riding versus Google Map calculations. Also, Max may have crashed and punctured a tire. And then word spreads that they were stopped by a train on Gale Road.
But the marching band played on.
This is not the first time the Granville Marching Band has played for Pelotonia riders passing through town, but after the death of Elliott King, their presence and their playing hit differently.
When a community loses someone, the loss radiates outward, and is noticed by the presence of an absence, by an instrument not played, a note not heard.
Elliott was a talented musician and played tuba, sousaphone and steel drums. And he played in the marching band. His brother Jacob is in the band. He plays the mellophone.
When the four friends started rolling in, Jacob was among the musicians who struck up “Long Train” by the Doobie Brothers, one of the band’s signature songs, a song whose chorus asks, “Without love, where would you be right now?” Keep going, the song urges. Do not give up. And do not forget the importance of loving those around you.
After a few bars of that song, the band moved appropriately to the Granville Blue Aces fight song while the riders greeted their friends and family.
It wasn’t quite noon yet, and it had already been an eventful day.
Max said he was doing well for about 21 miles, but then he hit Alex’s tire, slipped on a patch of gravel, flipped over his bike, and landed in some grass. With only his knees scraped, Max got back on his bike. But then he had a flat and had to change the tube.
And then the friends were separated by a passing train. Despite it all, they made it to Granville.
“I’m feeling good. Once I eat lunch, I could do another 50,” Max said. “I’m riding for my good friend Elliott King, who passed in October. That’s his brother right there,” and pointed to Jacob who was standing beside him.
“I’m here for all my friends. I’m supporting the band,” he said. “I like feeling like I’m doing something helpful out here riding for him.”
And it’s better to ride with others, he said, “Riding alone sucks! Being out with Alex and Caden and Justin is a rewarding and fun experience. It’s just been great. The guys are great.”
Then Jacob King added, “When you see everyone pass, a thought that goes through my head is that this person is not only biking for a purpose, but they are raising money for research. It’s like cheering on real super heroes, that’s what it feels like.”
Jack Shuler and Louis Shuler write for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.