A bike ride to raise awareness and money for cancer research went on as planned Sunday, despite the snowy weather.

"I thought it'd be nice," said Dr. Don Leuenberger, vice chancellor of the University Medical Center. "I was still hoping about nine o'clock."

Holly Rochelle organized "Rollin' to Colon," a 50-mile ride from Omaha to Colon, Nebraska to raise awareness about colon cancer. But after about two miles, Omaha police ended the ride for safety reasons.

Rochelle is a colon cancer survivor.

"I had told people of Nebraska, I would come here and raise awareness for colon cancer -- and would do it with everything I had," she said. "I want people to know that colon cancer is the number two cause of cancer deaths in this country. And I want them to get a colonoscopy."

Riders said they want to get the word out to young people that the disease does not discriminate for age.

"I was diagnosed at age 38 with stage-three colon cancer, and that was four years ago," said Lauri Wingerter, another colon cancer survivor. "It was awful and nobody thought, because I was so young, that I would have colon cancer."

The bike ride will be an annual event in cities named Colon. Next years' ride will take bicyclists to Colon, Pennsylvania.