Coming soon

Or should I say leaving soon? Our bikes leave Tuesday, we have to drop them off tomorrow. And we leave Wednesday at midnight. More on the trip later. Today was our last ride before Killington. We missed the team ride because we were visiting our friends down on Lake Paw Paw. Susan and Elvin have a cottage there and we rode with them today. It was a 39 mile ride from their cottage over to St. Joseph on Lake Michigan. It was a little cool but a great day to ride. That gives me 1064 miles for this season. A little less than last year, but we are also doing the JDRF ride 6 weeks earlier. So I'll probably get more miles in post-ride. I'll have more thoughts on the Killington ride before we leave.

1000 ! ! !

One of my goals for this ride season was to put in 1000 miles before we left for Killington. Yesterday I did a little 16 mile route that included a fair number of rolling hills and a pretty stiff westerly wind. At the halfway point of the ride I rolled over 1000 miles for the year. We board the bus for Vermont a week from tonight so I'm not sure how many more miles I'll get in, but it's nice to know I hit one goal. The next goal is to raise at least $3000 for diabetes research and I'm only about $500 short of that. Goal number three is to complete the entire route in Killington. I'm sure the miles I've already put in, especially the ones on the hills, will help toward this last goal.

Tune in Friday morning

This Friday I will be on the WGVU-FM Morning Show with Shelly Irwin talking about the Ride to Cure Diabetes. This live interview will start right after the 9:00 a.m. news, so about 9:05. Interviews usually take about 15-20 minutes. So tune in to 88.5 FM on Friday morning for many stories about this great event.

It's not the heat, it's the... okay it is the heat

Wow, it was a scorcher today. So what did we do? Rode bikes of course. Scott and Linda Poeder from our ride team met us at our house this morning and we took off south on the White Pine Trail heading to Grand Rapids. Once we got downtown we made our way across the West Side to John Ball Park and started on the newly repaved Kent Trails. We took that all the way to Byron Center where we stopped for a lovely Subway lunch. It was sunny and hot, 85 to 90 degrees, the whole way there. However when we started heading back north we found lots of puddles in the road, especially where Kent Trails runs along the Grand River. Apparently there was a pretty substantial rain storm near us. We never got wet, unless you count the puddle spray off the trail.
When we arrived back home in Rockford we had put 54 miles under our wheels. Or a bit better than half the distance we'll be riding in 13 days. It's amazing how quick this is coming up on us.

If you haven't donated yet there is still time. Click on the "Donate to Tom" or "Donate to Mary" links on the left and follow the simple directions. Thanks for your support.

Weekend photos

Tom and Elvin at the start of the 6 x 46. The day started cool and rainy and ended up warm and sunny.

From Team Ride 080909

The West Michigan Ride Team on Sunday, somewhere west of Sparta. For me the weekend added up to 96 miles of riding in two days.

What a Weekend!

Saturday started out rainy. Okay, that's a bit of an understatement. The weather radar showed heavy (the orange and red kind) rain showers and thunderstorms from Michigan stretching west to the middle of Iowa. My first thought was that we were going to have to cancel the 6 x 46. But when I spoke with co-coordinator Elvin Hayes he said that the Chicago and Detroit folks were already on the way. So we decided to meet at Vitalie's as planned but then wait inside the bar to see if the storm would pass. Upon arriving and seeing everyone huddled under umbrellas and minivan lift gates, Elvin dubbed the ride the 2 x 0, two bars, no miles. So 17 of us, clad in spandex, entered Vitalie's when they opened at 11:00 a.m. and proceeded to start drinking beer. We got them to put the Weather Channel up on one of the big sports screens. We watched the storm for about two hours and then figured we had a small window of opportunity to ride. We saddled up and hoped to get to Rockford before the rain dumped on us again. To our surprise it didn't rain another drop all day. The 6 x 46 was a rousing success. Six bars (7 if we count the two hours in Vitalie's before the start) and 46 miles along the White Pine Trail. It turned into a beautiful day to ride and we picked up friends along the way who were doing the more traditional motor vehicle style pub crawl. Derek even made some new friends at The Corner Bar in Rockford, but that's a story for another time.

Today we had a team ride from Cindy Ally's house in Cedar Springs. Part of the route was on the same White Pine Trail we had ridden the day before, but for some reason it looked very different. It was very hot, very humid and we had sustained westerly winds of about 20 mph. I completed 50 miles in about 4 1/2 hours, including rest stops. That would be a nine hour century ride if I can maintain the pace, which would be my best time ever. Three weeks until Killington and I almost feel ready.

Now on IMDB

Great news. The documentary is now listed on the Internet Movie DataBase (IMDB). You can click on this link to see our listing. IMDB is a very extensive web site that lists movies and TV shows from all over the world. These are usually the big budget, well promoted type of films. So it's great when the little guy gets noticed. I've spent so much time working on this film over the past year that it's kind of hard to believe that in just three weeks I'll be doing another JDRF ride in Killington. It seems like we just got back from Death Valley. Of course watching and editing hours of footage over the last several months may have something to do with that.

Another Weekend Ride

I'm a little late getting this posted, but Mary and I had an interesting ride on Sunday. We rode to Spring Lake for my nephew's birthday party. It's 31 miles and relatively flat once we get away from the river valleys. So I'm thinking an easy two hours. The problem was the route is straight west. On Sunday the wind was from the west at about 20 mph. So our easy two hour ride became a strenuous 2 1/2 hour ride. But what's a little wind to a couple of Death Valley veterans?

This weekend is chock full of riding opportunities. Saturday is our 6 x 46 Ride. 6 bars in 46 miles along the White Pine Trail. Last year we did the 5 x 55 Ride along the Musketawa Trail. Join us for a very silly, totally fun riding experience. Roll out is 11:00 a.m. from behind Vitalies in Comstock park. On Sunday we have a team ride in Cedar Springs. That's going to be a bit more serious and in the 60 to 70 mile range. It will also probably take less time than the Saturday ride. These are good long miles, because Killington is three weeks from this Saturday. Yowza!

Ride photos

From Team Ride 072509

Mary and her future daughter-in-law at the pool party after last Saturday's team ride. Anna has a bit of a crush on our son Ian. Hey, in 30 years the seven year age difference won't seem like a big deal. More ride photos are available by clicking this link.

Two nights, two rides

I had a great ride yesterday. I started after dinner, going west on Post Drive and hooking up with 9 Mile Road. 9 Mile was great, in a little over 6 miles I saw exactly one car and two bicycles. I then turned north on Fruit Ridge. My plan was to take it to 12 Mile Road, turn east and then head home via the White Pine Trail. I forgot that 12 Mile doesn't go through so I had to turn north at Alpine and come across on 13 Mile, where I picked up the WPT. When I finished the loop I had put 34 miles under my tires. I rode past lots of farm fields and apple orchards. A great way to spend an evening.

Tonight Mary took a short ride with team mate Linda Poeder through the Ada area. They rode along Grand River Avenue to Roselle Park and took the trails through there. They then rode into Ada and back to their starting point, Mary's office. I'd give more details, but I wasn't invited to go on this one. :(