Tour de Scottsdale

Call it the love of the smell of French fries, the power of positive energy/belief and the devotion of trust. That’s what Annette Anderson believes in, especially after a moment of serendipity as it pertains to the Tour de Scottsdale.

She’s been a fan of the Tour since 2014 when she and her husband, Gary, first took to the course. The love was once again renewed when Tour de Scottsdale came back a couple of years ago in its new form.

Well, they are back … of course, they are back. Destiny brought them back. In fact, they were all but prompted back by a sign – literally – from the bicycle gods.

A day before last year’s Tour de Scottsdale, while picking up their ride credentials, Annette walked past a promotional poster for the event.

“Tour de Scottsdale will be back March 28, 2026,” is what it said, with not thinking anything about it.

“I walked around the venue and shopped then thought, ‘those French fries sure smell good.”

She walked back to get some and there was that poster. Upon further review and a closer look, it was a picture of her and Gary on it. They were on the poster promoting this year’s ride.

“That poster felt like it reached out to me and tapped me on the shoulder to stop and look at it again,” she said. “And I did. I looked and said, ‘that’s me and my husband.

“… I was overwhelmed that Tour de Scottsdale had been using that image.”

Yes, it was a good thing.

“I told them it was pretty meaningful to me because I have breast cancer,” she said, just being diagnosed at the time.  “It was a personal message to me, saying ‘you’re going to be fine and you’ll be back.”

The next day, they were back on the course “and I got real emotional,” she said. “We’re out here. It’s beautiful and I’m alive. I’m happy.”

The words: “will be back” was what did it.

“I thought, ‘boobs or no boobs, I’m going to be back,’” she said.

She took a poster or two. They are now they are hanging back at their house in Albuquerque.

Gary said his wife “is the poster child for this recovery process and has beaten it down pretty badly,” he said.

What’s very clear is that he’s very proud of her, breaking up a bit in his response to her getting the news of cancer.

“Initially, we thought it would be a minor procedure,” he said. “Simple nip and tuck but then it got more serious … (he paused) … There were some low points.”

In the last year, she’s had a double mastectomy and she’s still on medication to get through it all.

“I’ve been very motivated to train,” she said. “I kept telling myself, ‘there is nothing wrong with your legs, Annette, get on your bike!”

So, they are back. Of course, she is.

The year itself has been “emotional and intense,” she said.

 But being recently retired, they’ve had time to focus on the “project of managing appointments and procedures.”

They’ve also decided to tour the country in their new RV. They’ll be traveling in it to ride Scottsdale on Saturday.  

“We love that we can camp at the venue,” she said.

Her voice is optimistic. They’ve already been on a bike trip to Texas, and another back in New Mexico and now Arizona.

“We’ve had this planned, so why not just go,” she said. “Let’s do it.”

Through it all she leaned on her husband, family and friends and her belief that she’d get through it.

“I got so much prayer support from my team that I do believe in prayer and people’s energy,” she said. “Their vibes and healing messages, besides, Zwift, was my medicine. My healing came from their support.”

The trust came from her husband, who is also a cyclist. He is the captain of the tandem; she is the stoker.

As a stoker you must put in a lot of energy into the pedals to make the whole process work, but as the stoker you have to give up a lot of control, she said.

“I don't have gears; I don't have brakes, so a tandem couple has to have a really deep trust,” she said. “I have to really trust him, and he has to respond to me if I get nervous about speed.

“If I'm not in a place I'm uncomfortable with, I just take my thumbs and rub the edge of his hips. And that's our little signal or image that says, ‘I'm uncomfortable, slow down,’ and he has to respond to that, because if he doesn't … if he blows me off and keeps going anyway, then I don't get on again. Because I don't trust him, right?”

She trusts - it’s a reason they’ve been married nearly 38 years and going strong.

“They say tandem riders will take your marriage wherever it’s going faster,” she said.

And here they are – taking it to Scottsdale for the ride of destiny.

“I knew I was going to get well,” she said. “I had adequate care and support, so I knew I’d be okay, especially because that prophecy was out there - that we’d be back.”