What Can You Do?

The nicest day of the year, so far. Absolutely perfect riding weather, and I had to drive into work today.

I have a meeting for the Tour de Cure Committee tonight after work, and seeing as our ride is just over a month away (June 11th - mark your calendars), it is probably important that I attend.

At least I will be talking about bikes if I can't be riding them. That counts for something, right?

If you would like to help me with my fundraising goals for the Tour de Cure which benefits the American Diabetes Association, please click on the link http://is.gd/helpTdC. Any contribution will be greatly appreciated. This is a great cause, and one that is very important to me.

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Riding for a Cure

There are as many charity rides out there as there are causes. Unless you are a hermit and eschew all human contact, you can pick any one of the causes out there, and you probably know - or are related to someone whose life has been affected by it.

For the past 6 years, I have ridden in - and raised money for the American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure. I have several family members and good friends that are afflicted with diabetes, and this cause has become very important to me over the years.

Last year, a good friend asked me to ride with him and his family in the local Bike MS ride. This is a ride that I have thought about doing before, as my sister-in-law has been affected by multiple sclerosis for most of her adult life. I had such a great time riding with my friends over the course of 175 miles and 2 days, that I decided that this ride needed to become a regular event on my yearly calendar.

This year, I am registered for both rides, and have fundraising goals to meet for each one. I am asking for your help in raising money for both of these very worthy causes. Any amount will be greatly appreciated. Seriously, $1 will be as welcome as $10. Any amount.

If you would like to help in my fundraising efforts for the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure, click here, or on the ADA logo.

If you would like to help in my fundraising efforts for the Bike MS Best Dam Bike Ride, click here, or on the Bike MS logo.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me, and thank you for your support of these causes.

Tour de Cure - it was a great ride!

Well, another Tour de Cure is in the books. The new route was absolutely stellar. Picturesque and challenging. The weather? Well, at least it didn't rain... It could have been a little warmer. That said, I actually made some good choices on clothing, and I wasn't too hot, or too cold. The wind? The wind was brutal. Gusting, blowing, unrelenting. Only rarely was it a tailwind - where it could be useful. Most of the time it was a full on headwind, making the flats feel like hills, and the hills feel like walls.

After 82 miles of battling the wind (the first 36 miles, I rode with friends and we had a great paceline going. Pacelines are good things!) my rear tire flatted. At this point, I decided that I had enough of battling the wind, and averaging 13.6 mph, and I didn't want to waste a $4 CO2 cartridge only to push through another 18 miles of wind so I caught a ride with one of the support vehicles to the finish line.

Huge, huge thanks have to go out to the staff, committee, and volunteers who put this ride on! They did an incredible job! The course was well marked - if you went off course, it was because you were deliberately trying to get yourself lost. The rest stops were well staffed, and stocked with plenty of food and goodies - the ATK Rocket garden rest stop (by far the coolest place to have a rest stop, just look at the picture) had a volunteer out by the road handing pb&j sandwich quarters to the riders as they came into the rest stop.

This ride has been a mainstay in my season for the past five years. Nothing about this year's ride is going to change that. Everything that was under the ride committee's control was executed perfectly. Things that aren't, i.e. the wind, made it difficult, but not unbearable. I've already booked my hotel room for next year!

some of the 1500+ bags that had to be stuffed the night before.

part of the start/finish village before the ride.

The ATK "rocket garden" very cool place for a rest stop.

the top of "the wall" (that's what I'm calling it.  It felt way steep!) this is the view you are rewarded with after your grueling climb - right before you plummet back down to the valley floor.

2 rides, one Tutu...

Those of you who have read this blog for the past 2 years are probably aware that I am involved with a charity ride that is close to my heart because the disease we are trying to do away with has affected several family members and friends. The American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure. This will be my 5th year participating.

This year, I decided to ride in another charity ride, the bike MS, in honor of my Sister-in-law, Joan, who has suffered with MS for the past 15 years of her life.

The general idea of charity rides, as you know, is to ask people to contribute money under your name for the cause. 

That is what I am doing here. Asking for your help. but i'm going to use a hook to get your participation that I haven't tried before - public humiliation.

This is a picture of me cheezing for my wife's camera in a tutu my daughter made for Halloween. Now imagine me wearing my full cycling kit along with that tutu, riding my bike for 100+ miles.

Here's the deal. If I raise at least $2000 for the American Diabetes Association I'll wear this tutu on the 100 mile course. If I raise $1000 for the MS, I'll wear it for the first day, $2000, both days. I can guarantee that If I'm wearing a tutu, pictures will be taken, and I'll post them here after the rides.

Want to help me make a fool of myself in the name of two causes that are very important to me? Contribute.

Go here to contribute to my American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure cause.

Go here to contribute to my bike MS cause.

Contribute to one, contribute to both. If I reach my goal on both, I'll wear it on both rides.  There's not much time left.  The Tour de Cure is on June 12th, and the bike MS is on June 26th.

All joking aside, these are both very important causes to me.  I would be extremely grateful for any help you are able to give.  Thank you for your genorisity and your help in fighting these two, very serious illnesses.

I need your help.

I need your help.

I don't ask for much from my readers - aside from your continual overlooking of my poor grammar and bad spelling. And, of course, for you to keep reading my blog...

I do have to ask a favor from you now.

As you may or may not know. I have been involved with the American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure ride for the past 4 years. The first year I was only a participant, and since then I have been on the planning committee as one of the people responsible for organizing the event, and making sure that everything runs smoothly. The 2006 Tour de Cure was the first century that I ever rode, and it has been an integral part in me getting back into cycling.

Diabetes has touched many, people in my life. Several relatives and friends have been affected by diabetes. Needless to say that this cause is very important to me.

Now for the favor. I need your support, or more correctly the American Diabetes Association needs your support. Money raised for the ADA will be used to fight diabetes through research and education programs such as the Diabetes Expo on Saturday Feb 28th at the South Towne Expo Center (I will be there riding my bike on a trainer from 9:00 to noon. Come and mock me if you are in the area) Your tax-deductible gift will make a difference in the lives of more than 20 million Americans who suffer from diabetes and another 41 million people in the United States with pre-diabetes. Everyone knows someone who is affected by diabetes, it could be a friend, family member, or even yourself!

I know times are tough. but I am not asking for you to contribute large amounts of money to the ADA (I certainly won't discourage you from sending large amounts of money if you are able to...) Even $25 will help immensely.

What could do with $25 instead of giving it to the ADA?

$25 is movie, popcorn and drinks for two
$25 is a large pizza for your family
$25 is a date night for you and your significant other
$25 is a new shirt
$25 is a new release DVD
and so on...

I am asking you to sacrifice one date nite, or a new DVD and instead help the ADA fight diabetes. It's fast and easy to support this great cause - you can make your donation online by selecting "Click to Support Me" . I thank you for your support, and everyone who your contribution helps thanks you.

If you would like to join me, the Golden Spike Century is a really nice ride through rural northern Utah with a stop at the Golden Spike National Monument (one year, we even had to wait for one of the trains they use in the re-creation of the spike ceremony to cross the road). If you don't feel inclined to ride, volunteers are always needed - it takes a lot of help to put on a ride like this.

More information on the American Diabetes Association, its programs and diabetes in general can be found at the Association's Web site: www.diabetes.org

Click here for more information on the Tour de Cure Golden Spike Century

Click here to visit my personal page.

Click here to view the team page for Gold's Gym Utah