Ride For A Reason Saturday

In 1998, when Lisa Frank was 36, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

"I was diagnosed and I didn't know anyone my age that had it, everyone I knew was in their 70s," she said. 

Shortly after, Frank attended a support group- Young Survival Coalition- and hasn't looked back since. 

More than a decade later Frank beat cancer twice and is now vice president of the organization's board of directors and will be in Manayunk Saturday to promote the YSC's eighth annual Tour de Pink bike ride at the end of September. 

The Tour de Pink, that was co-created by Frank, is a century, 100 mile, or metric century, 62 mile, bike ride that begins and ends in Princeton, NJ. 

"The whole thing really just started from two people's ideas and we tried to make it work," she said. "It turned into an incredible event."

Frank will be at Saturday at 9 a.m. to promote the event and participate in an hour and a half ride around Manayunk. 

Those who attend this weekend's event will also receive 50 percent off regular registration for the three-day ride and a $100 credit toward their fundraising goal. 

"The ride is definitely challenging," Frank said of the September event but added that people who want to participate can always sign up to ride one day. 

The ride, Frank said, spreads the word that women are never too young to be diagnosed with breast cancer. 

"We still have a lot of work to do, we still hear about doctors that turn young women away because they say they're too young to have breast cancer, there is a gap in the research," she said. "The problem is that when younger women get breast cancer it's generally more aggressive and because there is no research we don't know anything about it."

But, Frank said, the event is not meant to be sad. 

"The event creates such a unique community of people for three days," she said. "We always say that if the world worked the way we do in those three days we'd all be in good shape."

For more information about the event click here.