Windsor motorcyclists take part in 'Ride for Dad' for prostate cancer

Windsor motorcyclists are set to take part in the national, ‘Ride for Dad,’ to raise money and awareness about prostate cancer.

The event will take place Sunday, May 28, and Windsor organizers are hoping for a big turnout.

But more importantly, they’re hoping for a change in opinion about the disease.

“Prostate cancer affects essentially every family at some point,” says Shane Miles, Windsor ride co-chair. “It's a disease that affects men directly with respect to the cancer, but it affects women in the same way because wives live with that. Children lose their fathers, their uncles, their brothers.”

Miles believes the ride is an opportunity to educate men about how simple it can be to get checked.

“Go to your doctor. Get the blood tests,” says Miles. “The digital rectal exam used to be a big thing, but they do it with a blood test now most often. And it's just less invasive. It's simply a blood test. But getting checked is what saves our lives.”

The “Ride for Dad” event will be held Sunday, May 28 across Canada and will begin at Windsor’s Thunder Road Harley Davidson. Pictured in Windsor, Ont. on Saturday, May 20, 2023 (Michelle Maluske/CTV News Windsor)

Miles says over the years, the Windsor ‘Ride for Dad’ has raised $1 million to support local prostate cancer research and it also helped pay for the DaVinci machine at Windsor Regional Hospital.

“All the money raised here, stays here,” says Miles. “It's our own area that saves and collects the money for our own area. That's really important.”

Registration is $35 in advance, or $40 on the morning of the ride, which will start at Thunder Road Harley-Davidson on Huron Church Road.

Riders are encouraged to raised pledges and for every $200 they raise, they will get one ticket towards a nation-wide raffle of a new motorcycle.

The ride will start at 10 a.m. and go through the county, making stops in Amherstburg, Harrow and Essex, ending at Wolfhead Distillery.

There, Miles says, there will be entertainment and the entire parking lot will be licences to sell alcohol.

For more information Miles directs people to their national website, but he says they are also posting updates on their Facebook page.