For the third consecutive year, JoyRide Cycling Studio was the top fundraising team at the 15th annual SpinOdyssey, the annual indoor cycling fundraising event that raises money to fight breast cancer. This year, Team JoyRide raised $78,432, more than doubling their amount raised in 2012. Held on Sunday, March 30 under a tent in the Fairway parking lot in Stamford, SpinOdyssey raised more than $201,000 total, with approximately 350 riders participating.
Team JoyRide’s Andy Beal (Westport) was the top individual fundraiser, bringing in $30,970, surpassing his top amount of $23,500 in 2013. Team JoyRide was also the biggest team participating, with 58 people riding for two-hour, three-hour or six-hour increments.
Team JoyRide was led by JoyRide Owner and Lead Instructor Rhodie Lorenz of Westport, who was a key organizer of this year’s SpinOdyssey and a lead presenter at the event. She shared the stage with fellow JoyRide instructor Mo Prester (Wilton) for two hours, as well as Mackenzie Pretty (Westport) and Meagen O’Connell (Trumbull), followed by Emily Swet (Milford). Team JoyRide also surprised SpinOdyssey’s riders with an impromptu flash mob, choreographed by hip hop dancer and JoyRide instructor Brian Herman (Stratford) and set to Pharrell Williams’ infectious song “Happy.”
“Team JoyRide's energy and enthusiasm blew me away,” said Lorenz. “I am so proud that our efforts will fund research to save lives. I have always believed that indoor cycling has the power to change lives, and at SpinOdyssey I witnessed this on a grand scale!”
One of the largest indoor cycling charity event in the United States, SpinOdyssey has raised more than $4 million for breast cancer research and support services for patients and their families. One hundred percent of the money riders raised benefit the American Cancer Society’s breast cancer researchers. The proceeds from the SpinOdyssey store and merchandising, as well as a portion of the registration fees, benefit Norwalk Hospital’s Wittingham Cancer Center and The Smilow Family Breast Health Center.