Tour de Cure 2009

Wow, its been a long time. I've been trying to think about what the next post would be and I considered posting a description and pictures from our trip to NYC back in December. I've decided to keep that one in my back pocket and instead, let you know about an important bike ride that is coming up in a few weeks.

TOUR DE CURE 2009 - Atlanta Ride


On Sunday May 17, Andrew and I will be participating in the Tour de Cure to raise support for the American Diabetes Association. Please visit our personal tour pages to learn more about the ride and donate if you feel led. We will be riding with Team Lockheed Martin.

Logan: http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/TDC218008030?px=4608481&pg=personal&fr_id=5592

Andrew: http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/TDC218008030?px=4608479&pg=personal&fr_id=5592

Team Lockheed Martin: http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/TDC218008030?team_id=351658&pg=team&fr_id=5592

Thanks for your support. This ride is for a great cause! Pictures to follow after the event...

Bike MS: Atlanta Ride - This Weekend!

This weekend we will both be riding in the Bike MS Atlanta at Callaway Gardens, a fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. We are riding with the Lockheed Martin Team. This is a two day event with the option of different distances each day. My goal is to ride 62 miles on day one (yikes!) and 26 on day two. Andrew's goal is to ride 100 miles on day one and 61 miles on day two.

Every hour of every day, someone is diagnosed with MS. That's why we've registered for this event, and why we're asking you to support our fund raising efforts with a tax-deductible donation. Any amount, great or small, helps to make a difference in the lives of people with MS. We are trying to help our team reach their fundraising goal of $15,000. Many of you reading this blog have already donated. We appreciate your support and look forward to letting you know how we do.

If you would still like to donate you can follow the links below:

For Logan : http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/GAABikeEvents?px=5328104&pg=personal&fr_id=8885

For Andrew : http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/GAABikeEvents?px=5296183&pg=personal&fr_id=8885

We took a little trip...

In early August we took a trip up to the Northeast. On Wednesday we flew from Atlanta to Rochester, NY. We picked up our rental car at the airport and set out for Toronto. The drive is approximately 170 miles with a stop for the border crossing. I found it humorous that Andrew wanted to switch the GPS to metric once we were in Canada. (Note from Andrew: The metric system is cooler!) Mark, Janet and Parks were in Toronto when we got there so we met up with them for a late dinner. They had already spent the day in the city so they left after dinner to head back south towards the US. We would see them a few days later at the reunion.

During our first night, there was a 2:30 am hotel fire drill but we didn't let that dampen our spirits. We woke up Thursday morning and rode the subway down to the ferry to Centre Island. There we rented bicycles and did some geocaching.

Here is a view of the Toronto skyline from the ferry.

Afterward we wondered over to the CN Tower but didn't feel like paying $20 cad to go up.

Instead we toured the Steamwhistle Brewery and were happy with our decision.


That afternoon we went over to the Kensington Market area to visit a cute little yarn store called Lettuce Knit. Then it was back to the hotel for a rest. For dinner we decided to to to the Historical Distillery District. We had a nice dinner at the Mill St. Brewery with some tasty food and good local brews.


Friday morning we left Toronto and made a stop at Niagara Falls on our way to Geneseo, New York for the Bickel Family Reunion. We spent some time taking in the beauty of the falls and snapping some pics. We thought about riding the Maid of the Mist or doing the tour behind the falls but decided to save the money and head out for the reunion.

Geneseo is a cute little college town (SUNY-Geneseo) about an hour south of Rochester. The weather there was great! Sunny and warm with little humidity. We spent most of the reunion weekend outside under a tent visiting, eating, playing Euchre and horseshoes, and even playing Wii with the younger folk. This was our first experience with rock band and it was a hoot! Here's the whole group.


While in Geneseo, we rented the world's smallest cabin in Letchworth State Park. How cute!

This park is beautiful with an amazing gorge and nice scenery. We were only in the cabin a few hours at night for sleeping so the size didn't really bother us. We spent the rest of our time in the park hiking, geocaching, and of course taking pictures.


All in all it was a great trip and I enjoyed getting to meet the extended Bickel family. We're looking forward to the 2010 reunion in New Mexico!

68 Miles on a Bike = Sore Butt

First real post! Yesterday I rode in the Atlanta running of the Tour de Cure, a bicycle ride fundraiser for the American Diabetes Association. You could choose to ride 100 km, 50 km, 25 km, or an 8 mile fun ride. I chose to ride the 100 km (62.1 miles) route with a team from work. Our team raised over $10,000 in support of the ADA. Many thanks to those who supported me! The group of guys I ride with weekly participated in the 50k and had a blast as well.



The first 10 miles were ridden Tour de France style with a huge peloton of probably 60-70 riders. The draft is pretty surreal with that many people and we averaged close to 27 mph. At one point the people in front slowed to navigate a turn, the whole group compressed, and two guys touched wheels with one wrecking pretty hard. Luckily he didn't suffer any major injuries. This happened a few riders behind me and a few riders in front of my boss. We both commented later in the day that we had experienced our own personal Tour de France moment of chaos.

Shortly after the wreck we reached a four lane highway and figured we had missed a turn some ways back. This resulted in a six mile detour, so at the end of the day we totaled 68.3 miles instead of 62.1.

The remaining miles were fairly uneventful. My boss and I rode together for the rest of the day, stopping periodically at the provided rest stops (port-a-potties, water, powerade, fruit). A friend of Logan's mom even found me on the course and we chatted for a few miles.




Logan played the part of support car driver and photographer extroidinaire. She hung around the start finish/area with our friends and took pictures of their husbands who rode the 50k.

Once they were done she drove the car out and took pictures of my boss and I on the course. Most of the pictures are her work.



The next bike challenge is the Bike MS: Cox Atlanta Ride, a two day 150-mile fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society - Georgia chapter. Maybe I'll be used to the bike seat by then.

Complete photo album:

080518 Tour De Cure

~Andrew