Saturday, July 22, 2006

Update from the Bike-A-Thon



Hi Guys! I finally got some photos to go with my update from the Bike-A-Thon, so here we go. First of all, thank you to everyone who supported me. With your help I raised over $1,300 for the American Cancer Society.

Three days before the event I wrecked my bike in training. I scratched up my leg and whacked my elbow pretty hard. (It's still a bit swollen and discolored.) Worse, I did $230 damage to my bike! I was able to find a bike shop that could fix it in time for the Bike-A-Thon. Thank goodness for that!

I left my house Sunday morning for Philly at 4:00 am, with Marie as my support team. I wasn't sure I'd be able to make the whole ride because I was still hurting, but I was determined to go as far as I could since I had so many people contributing for my ride. I carried a cell phone with me and told Marie to stand by in case I needed her to pick me up during the ride. Surprisingly, other than skipping my chain about half a mile into the ride, I didn't really have too much trouble. I could feel my bruises, but I didn't really feel bad from the ride itself until about the 50 mile mark. By that time, I figured I may as well go ahead and finish!

I completed the 63 miles (it turned out to be further than forecasted because they changed one leg of the route) in just over 5 hours, including time spent in each rest area. I had a great time, the weather was nice and the people were friendly, and I will definitely be doing this again next year! I probably won't do a large fund raising effort next year, because it's not fair to all of you who really pitched in this year -- but be ready for the year after that!!

Once again - thank you everyone for your support!!

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Happy Birthday Meg

OK everybody, all together - a one, a two, a three....

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Meg, happy birthday to you.

Now make a wish and blow out the candles on the cake.

Love

Dad