The Big Ride is more than just a bike-a-thon. It is a community on wheels working its way across 12 states to remember past and present friends and family suffering from lung disease, and to raise awareness and funds for the American Lung Association's fight against it. Most of the riders have important personal reasons for committing to the Big Ride and its goals.

The Big Ride route across America Image Credit: RadioShack Big Ride Across America

With lung disease on the rise and the death rate from lung disease steadily climbing (it is the third leading cause of death in America and the number-one killer of babies younger than one year old), no one is immune to its effects, either directly or through the knowledge of others who suffer.

	Inspire a Big Rider The Big Ride cyclists are pouring energy into a ride benefiting those unable to do it themselves. Let them know that you appreciate them.

The American Lung Association is the oldest voluntary health agency in the United States, with a national office and 96 constituent and affiliate associations. The ALA was founded in 1904 as the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis. Throughout the years, as the number of tuberculosis cases drastically declined, the association widened its interests to include work on the prevention, cure, and control of all types of lung disease such as asthma, emphysema, tuberculosis, and lung cancer.

This Big Ride, the sixth of its kind, is raising funds for, among other things, the ALA's community service, public-health education, and advocacy and research programs. These include: Open Airways for Schools, designed to help the estimated 4.8 million American children with asthma; tobacco prevention and control programs to educate people about the effects of smoking on themselves and those around them; and environmental health programs making available information about the health hazards of indoor and outdoor pollution.

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