AUBURN - The Pink Sisters say they always find each other - they just know. But it was easy to spot them Saturday on State Street. They were the gals decked in all shades of pink and black and leather, idling in a mix of motorcycles and tough-looking, beefed-up bikers.

One-hundred one motorcycles took off toward Owasco Lake Saturday as part of the fifth annual RISE & Ride, an event intended to raise awareness about breast cancer, which claims the lives of nearly 3,000 women in New York every year, and honor those who have survived. In addition to being just a good opportunity for a ride, the event gave women a chance to celebrate surviving a disease that for years was taboo.

“It was kind of a hidden disease. People felt like if you said you had breast cancer, you weren't as much of a woman,” said Stacey Petrosino, founder of RISE, a breast cancer support and awareness group. “I always tell the girls - breasts don't define a woman.”

Petrosino founded RISE (Reaching & Inspiring Survivors Everywhere) in 2001 to tell women just that. Family and friends are invaluable, she said, “but our Pink Sisters are walking in our shoes.”

Or motorcycle boots, as was the case for Mary Frances Vadney and many others Saturday.

Vadney, 62, of Auburn, began riding when she was 20, on a 350 Yamaha in her white nursing uniform. She doesn't own a bike anymore, but brought her helmet and jacket with zebra print piping around the cuffs and collar over to Harley's Pub, the ride's starting point, anyway. “I thought I'd see if I could hop a ride,” said Vadney, a 10-year breast cancer survivor.

Vadney found a ride, but even if she hadn't, it was still important to show up, she said. “Breast cancer is no fun - I've been there.”

The event Saturday was intended to be all about fun. A party complete with hot dogs, drinks and a band, Ithaca-based Iron Horse, began after the ride.

Petrosino said she wanted to celebrate not only breast cancer survivors but the bikers who ride all summer in support of various causes by holding a ride that was free - a rally focused on pride and honor, rather than monetary donations. RISE's biggest fund-raiser, RISE & Walk, will be held Oct. 4.

Often what breast cancer survivors need more than anything is just to know someone out there cares, Petrosino said.

Paul Rowe, 56, came to the ride Saturday to support his partner, Dixie McElroy, 46, who has had six surgeries, including a double mastectomy, in seven years.

The past seven years have been tough, Rowe said. He has taken care of McElroy when she was unable to get out of bed, sneaked strawberry milk shakes into her hospital room and once beat the ambulance to the hospital.

“The not knowing whether you're going to survive or come out of it,” is the toughest part, said Rowe, speaking in second person as he clutched the shoulders of McElroy, her eyes suddenly red and watery.

McElroy said she can always depend on Rowe to be there when she needs someone. One time, she recalled, when her hair was falling out after a round of chemotherapy, he helped shave her head. Then he shaved his own.

“You do what you've got to do,” Rowe said. “You've got to stay positive.”

The two stood near Rowe's bike as others began to filter out from State Street storefronts toward their own rides. At the nape of McElroy's neck, around the blonde ponytail no longer than the top of her shoulders, he fastened a pink ribbon.

Staff writer Sarah Gantz can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or sarah.gantz@lee.net