Friday, February 19, 2016

Back in the saddle

And we start year number 12 of riding to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes. When we started this ride our son Jake was a 13 year old middle schooler who had been diagnosed with T1D seven years earlier. We heard about the Ride to Cure Diabetes and along with a dozen or so people from West Michigan we embarked on training for first ride in Death Valley. Along the way we ridden thousands of miles and raised tens of thousands of dollars for diabetes research.

This year we will be taking part in the JDRF ride on Amelia Island in Florida. This will be the largest ride ever for JDRF with 600 particpants. We took part in the largest ride ever up until now, that was in Nashville in 2013. That ride had a little over 500 riders. The Amelia Island ride has the potential to be the first ride to raise $2,000,000. That is something we want to be part of.

The weather still isn't conducive to outdoor cycling, but we have done some indoor training rides. We're hoping the groundhog was right and that we'll have an early Spring. I have a personal goal of 1,500 miles this season.

Speaking of goals, Mary and I have a fundraising goal of $5,000 each. That's $10,000 for the two of us. Ian is not riding this year, something about being in his senior year of college. So dear reader, you only have to pick between two of us this time around. On the left side of this page you'll see two links; Donate to Mary and Donate to Tom. Please make a contribution to the Scheidel you like best.

Eight months until JDRF Ride #12.