American cycling legend Lance Armstrong was joined by hundreds of other riders in B.C.'s Lower Mainland and Kelowna on the weekend, raising thousands of dollars for cancer research.

Lance Armstrong, shown during the Tour de France in 2005, was in the Vancouver area on Sunday to join riders who raised at least a thousand dollars each to cycle with the seven-time Tour winner.
(Alessandro Trovati/Associated Press)

On Sunday morning, adult riders who raised at least a thousand dollars each got to cycle with the seven-time Tour de France winner along a route in the Vancouver area as part of the Tour of Courage Community Ride.

On Saturday in Kelowna, about 50 cyclists who raised an average of $21,000 each rode alongside Armstrong, who was treated for cancer in his testicles, brain and lungs before going on to win the Tour from 1999 to 2005.

Armstrong told the crowd before the ride Sunday that his goal is to help find a cure for the disease.

"People ask me all the time, what are you going to do now that you've won seven tours … It's very simple: this is much bigger than one tour or seven tours or the classics or the Olympics or 20 tours … it's to see the end of this disease in our lifetime and I am fully committed to making sure I do my part."

Premier Gordon Campbell also hopped on a bike, something he said can help prevent cancer.

"One of the things we should know is this, each of us has an opportunity to … let me underline this … prevent cancer in our lives," Campbell said.

"If we all just get a little bit more active and exercise just 30 minutes a day, it's estimated we reduce the incidence of cancer by 50 per cent."

Organizers said they expected the weekend events to raise nearly $2 million for cancer research.

The money will help the BC Cancer Foundation fund blood-cancer research at the BC Cancer Agency.

Nearly 1,000 British Columbians and more than 7,000 Canadians are diagnosed every year with blood cancers such as leukemia, myeloma or aggressive lymphomas, among others.