Ride For Mike

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Ride for Mike

David Edwards

MOTORCYCLING LOST ONE OF ITS GOOD guys this past September when Mike Traynor, co-founder of the Ride for Kids program, succumbed to a viral lung infection. He was 70 years old.

Back in 1984, Traynor and wife Dianne were moved to action when a co-worker’s 5-month-old daughter was diagnosed with brain cancer. Shocked to learn that brain tumors were killing more American children under the age of 15 than any other disease, and that the mortality rate of diagnosed kids was 50 to 75 percent, they wanted to help, if only in a small way. Long-time riders, they organized a single charity run in the Atlanta area, raising $4000.

For most people that would have been enough, a good deed done. But not the Traynors. Eventually, they both would give up their jobs-Mike as a marketing executive, Dianne as an accountant-and devote themselves full-time to eradicating pediatric brain tumors. In the years since, with help from American Honda, Ride for Kids has expanded into a nationwide program, to date raising more than $50 million. RFK brings in funds and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation (www. pbtfus.org), also co-founded by Mike and Dianne, administers the money, doling it out to hospitals and research labs, and for family-support programs. It is the world’s largest philanthropic organization dedicated to the search for the cause of and cure for childhood brain tumors.

“Mike’s strength and conviction were legendary,” said Ray Blank, Honda senior VP, and one of the many people who just could not say no when Traynor made his pitch. “He had his course and could not be swayed from it. I never met a man so committed in my life. When Mike first came to us, I could never have envisioned he and Dianne would accomplish a tenth of what they have.”

Traynor was big on getting you involved with “his kids,” as Blank would find out on more than one occasion.

“I always had a hard time accepting the microphone from Mike at an RFK event,” he said. “I’d get two minutes into it, look at those kids’ faces and get so choked up I couldn’t go on. I saw the tragedy. He always saw the hope. Amazing.”

Cycle World also became part of Traynor’s team. For nine years, we’ve sponsored a Ride for Kids raffle bike, so far raising $503,000 for the cause. And when we wanted to honor CW founder Joe Parkhurst after his death in 2000, we started the Joseph C. Parkhurst Fund to benefit the foundation’s college-scholarship program for brain-tumor survivors.

This year’s raffle bike, currently under construction, is “The Good Fight,” an appropriately named Honda CBR1000RR being transformed into a streetfighter by our talented friends at Roland Sands Design. It will be on display at the Cycle World International Motorcycle Shows (www.motorcycleshows.com), where attendees can purchase raffle tickets-$5 each, five for $20. Alternately, log on to www.rideforkids.org to buy tickets online. While you’re there, check out the schedule for upcoming Ride for Kids events in your area, guaranteed the best $35 you’ll ever spend-though as Mike would no doubt have me point out, larger donations are always appreciated...

CW Publisher Larry Little, who serves on the PBTF’s board of directors-he couldn’t say no, either-attended Traynor’s funeral in Atlanta.

“Everyone said their goodbyes to Mike and we were on our way with a wonderful warmth for the man who had meant so much to so many over the years,” Larry said. “While many may choose to quantify his life by the fact that the foundation he started has raised more than 50 million dollars for research into a terrible disease, most will remember him for his intense passion to find a cure, and for the special touch he had with the kids.

“I celebrate his life most because he was a class act, he cared, and in his fundraising efforts through Ride for Kids, he presented motorcycling in a very positive light. It is hard to imagine a man who touched as many lives as Mike has in the past 25 years.”

I first interviewed Traynor in 1991, just as Ride for Kids was going nationwide, and commented that it must have taken a giant leap of faith to give up a successful, high-paying career for the 24/7 toil of charity fundraising. “Yeah, but I’m sleeping very well at night,” he said, smiling. Sweet dreams, Mike.