By Daily Press staff
A Santa Monica woman felt the pain of millions of people who suffer from arthritis when she recently biked more than 500 miles.
Lynn Rubin participated in the “2003 Amgen California Coast Classic Bike Tour.” Benefiting the Southern California Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, the tour started in San Francisco on Sept. 20 and finished in Los Angeles on Sept. 27, about 520 miles later.
Lynn, a mountain biker who tried road cycling for the tour, road on behalf of her mother, who had rheumatoid arthritis for 40 years before she passed away 10 years ago.
“I watched my mother crawl out of bed when I was a kid because she couldn’t walk.”
Rubin does not have arthritis, but her brother does.
According to the Center for Disease Control, arthritis affects one in three Americans, more than 70 million people. It is the No. 1 cause of chronic pain and disability that strikes without regard to age, afflicting about 300,000 children each year.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 6, 2003. Read the original PDF.