September 29, 2026
Provided Image/Denny Lai
Denny Lai, of Fishtown, has logged more than 1,600 on the streets of Philadelphia while training for his leg of a coast-to-coast ride that raises money for cancer research.
Denny Lai grew up in Orange County, California, next door to his grandparents. He was very close to his grandmother, Baoling, an anesthesiologist who originally practiced in a rural part of Western China, near Xi'an, during the 1960s.
"She was always very much like, 'Patients come first, and if there doesn't seem to be a way, I'll find a way,'" Lai said about his grandmother's approach to practicing medicine.
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That positive, can-do attitude made an impression on him, Lai said. He also remembers being very affected by his grandmother's breast cancer diagnosis in 2014.
"My grandma was the first person that I knew who had cancer, and I was just really scared," Lai, 30, said.
Fortunately, Baoling went into remission and lived until 2019. It is in her honor that Lai has been training for the Bristol Myers Squibb's Coast 2 Coast 4 Cancer ride to raise $1 million for cancer research in support of the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Bristol Myers is matching up to $550,000 for every dollar raised. And each of the more than 100 participants has been personally impacted by cancer.
The 3,000-mile ride started Sept. 10 in Oregon and ends Oct. 7 in New Jersey. Lai, who has raised more than $5,000, starts his leg of the journey with his nine-member team, Tour de Cure, on Thursday in Indiana. He finishes in Pittsburgh on Saturday.
"To go for a 250-mile bike ride over three days was something that when I started this journey, I definitely didn't think I'd be able to do," Lai said last Thursday. "Now staring it down a week from today when I kick off, I'm really excited. So much training has gone into it."
Lai has logged more than 1,600 miles in training rides on Philly streets.
"In the hot sun in the middle of the summer, when it's 100 degrees and 87% humidity, there were days when I've wanted to give up," Lai said. "But I've come to really embrace and love the city. Riding through Spring Garden, coming from Fishtown, knowing every single pothole, it's been a really endearing journey. It's really gotten me closer to the city as well."
The memory of his grandmother has helped him keep pushing, Lai said.
"She would be the biggest cheerleader," he said. "She always said that things that are worth doing aren't easy."
Baoling, Lai said, would have been "really proud of" how he has continued "to champion for patients each and every day, and with every mile, with every pedal stroke."
Training has also brought him closer to other Fishtown residents, Lai said.
"Some of my neighbors have since dusted off the cobwebs from their bikes," he said. "It's been a journey of people joining me in my rides, and then my neighbors being able to share about how their families have been impacted by cancer along the way."
