Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: It's Mark and Brittany on the Morning Journey. And today we're joined by one of our very own meteorologists, Will Stafford from wset. Thanks for joining us.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Not a problem. Thanks for having me.
[00:00:09] Speaker A: So you just got back from the Five Borough Bike Tour, which is a 40 mile bike ride throughout the five boroughs of New York City. This is your third time doing this ride. Why did you want to do this ride in the first place?
[00:00:20] Speaker B: You know, I. I can't run.
[00:00:22] Speaker A: Me either.
[00:00:23] Speaker B: I have horrible knees. So biking was a good way for me to kind of stay in shape, somewhat fit.
I bought a road bike when I signed my first contract at SCT about 10 years ago. That was what I spent my first big boy check on was a road bike.
So I've had that bike now for 10 years and it's really held up. I bought it right here in town.
So I've been biking for about 10 years. We started doing this ride because I was looking for another ride to do other than Thunder Ridge.
[00:00:54] Speaker A: Why this particular ride in New York?
[00:00:57] Speaker B: Because, I mean, what other way can you see the city other than, than the fact that they shut down the entire city for this ride? I didn't know that they shut down virtually the entire city for. Until the first year we did it. But they shut down roads like 5th Avenue. They shut down roads like FDR Drive. They shut down rides at the BQE.
At one point you're driving literally, or you're riding down what is actually an interstate. They shut down part of an interstate for you, and you just ride down. Now it's you and like 30,000 other people.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:01:24] Speaker B: So, I mean, you feel like you're still on the interstate because there's people all around you. Don't someone you go up and then down the Verrazano Brid. That's how you end the ride. They shut down the lower level of the Verrazano Bridge for you.
So, I mean, it's something really cool to do, I don't think. And they only do it once a year.
And you've got people, even for like local people that live up there full time, they will sign up to do it because there is truly no better view of the city than that.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: And you actually do this for a cause. It's not just about bike riding.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: So I put a little purple sticker on my bike this year and I put a little purple ribbon on my jersey this year for Mark.
For Mark Spain, our anchor that passed away from pancreatic cancer.
That was a personal cause for me because My grandmother also passed away from that back in 2006.
I've done it now for about three years. I would come back, first year I did it, Mark would be the first person asked me how the ride would go.
[00:02:19] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:02:20] Speaker B: The next year, first day I came back, Mark would ask to see pictures of the ride. And I told him last year, I was like, hey, man, you should do it with me this year. And obviously he is no longer with us.
So I thought, you know what, I'm going to make sure that Mark is there with me on the ride this year. And so I put the little sticker up there, I tagged. I did not expect it to get as much traction as it did.
One of the groups, it's called Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.
They're a good fundraising group for research on pancreatic cancer. Anytime you can raise awareness for something like that, yeah, I think that's, that's kind of the best thing you can do.
[00:02:57] Speaker C: You want people to remember about Mark and about your grandmother.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: I mean, they were just very kind.
Mark was my sounding board. Mark would always be that guy that would just calm you down, would give me some great advice.
I was thinking about it last night.
There were days to where I would fill in for George on Nightside and somebody would be off on Nightside and it would just be Mark and myself. And Mark would come in every day at about 3 o' clock, say, oh, just you and me tonight, Will.
And, you know, I always appreciated that because I always enjoyed just doing the show with me and Mark.
[00:03:31] Speaker A: I remember working with him a little bit at wset and he was always just one of the most positive people you could ever be around.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. He, he, he would always, anytime you would ask him a question, you'd be like, hey, Mark, how's your day going? Oh, I'm blessed. That's what he would always say, or, it's good to have you with us. And it was good to have him with us for 10 years that, that, that we had him. My grandmother was the same way. She was just always very kind. She always made everybody feel welcome.
And it's a shame that both of them were taken far, far too early.
But that's why, you know, if I can just do my little part and putting a sticker on my bike. Because pancreatic cancer is the. I think it's the third or fourth leading killer of all cancers. It's also one of the least funded. Yeah, there's not a lot of research going to have been. By the time you catch it. It's. It's oftentimes too late.
But one thing that I say, you know, we are closer to a cure today than we were yesterday, and we'll be closer tomorrow than we are today. We just have to keep fighting the good fight, staying the course, all that.
[00:04:30] Speaker C: How can people get involved then, in the fight against pancreatic cancer?
[00:04:35] Speaker B: So one of the groups that I'm a part of, it's called Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, they have Facebook pages, all. I mean, you've got local branch. I think they have a Richmond branch. We actually don't have a branch in Lynchburg. We have a Richmond branch.
[00:04:45] Speaker A: I think you might have to start that one.
[00:04:48] Speaker B: I don't know if I have the time to do that. That's a problem.
But if you just go on Facebook, it's called Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. They have a website, they have a store.
[00:04:56] Speaker C: It's called the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. Will, thanks for coming in.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: Not a problem, man. Thanks for having me.
