Back to Death Valley

Last year we decided that after four JDRF rides in Death Valley it was time to try something new. So we headed out to the brand new Juvenile Diabetes ride in Killington, Vermont. And it was something new. It was cold and rainy, the very opposite of what we experience in Death Valley. So in October it's back to the Valley for the West Michigan team.

Tom and Mary in Death Valley in 2008. Inset is Ian, 14 years old.

This year we have a brand new rider, our 14 year old son Ian. Ian's brother Jake was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1997 when Ian was only 2 years old. Ian has never known a time when his big brother hasn't had diabetes. Ian not only wants to help Jake, he is also very motivated by the physical challenge of riding 105 miles in Death Valley.

Our family goal this year is $4,000 each, which is a total of $12,000. That money will go a long way to help find a cure for diabetes. If you'd like to contribute you can click on one of the "Donate to..." links on the left. Or to donate to Tom click here. To donate to Mary click here. Or to donate to Ian click here. Thank you very much for your support.

GR Bike Film Fest Update

The documentary will be shown this Saturday, February 13, at the Grand Rapids Bicycle Film Festival. The Wealthy Theatre will be using two different screening areas to show films. A 10 minute excerpt version of the documentary will show in the main theatre. The full documentary will be showing in the Koning Micro Cinema. The evening session starts at 6:30 and runs until 10:00.

West Michigan JDRF Coach Mike Clark says "Allow me to put in a plug for this event. It was a blast last year and there's no reason to expect otherwise this time 'round. A nice "gathering of the clan" if you will and some fun flicks. Lin and I will be in attendance and hope to see you there!"

For more info click here.

Jake's Music Festival 2010

If you read this blog then you are among the first to know. We have breaking news about Jake's Music Festival, our benefit concert that is a major fundraiser for our JDRF ride. Over the past five years the Festival has been held in the late summer/early fall. This year we are moving up to the spring. April 17th to be exact. Details and bands are still be worked out, but mark your calendar now for the music event of the year.

Jake's Music Festival
April 17, 2010
Wealthy Theatre, Grand Rapids, MI
Band line-up to be announced soon.

Grand Rapids Bicycle Film Festival

We just got word that the Grand Rapids Bicycle Film Festival will be held on February 13th and that "More Than 100 Miles" will be one of the featured films. The event takes place at Wealthy Theatre and is a fund raiser Western chapter of the MMBA. So if you haven't had a chance to see the film yet, or would like to see it again on the big screen join us on Saturday, February 13th. There will be other bicycle related films showing as well.

In with the New, Remembering the Old

As 2009 comes to a close many of us are prone to remember the year, or years, past. We are no different. 2009 marks five years that we have been participating in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Ride for a Cure. In that time Mary and I have collected over $35,000 in donations and the West Michigan team has accounted for almost $1,000,000 in research funds. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our effort.

Mary, age 4, on her first bike

While the long distance riding for a cause is a relatively new chapter in our lives, we've been riding bikes for a long time. Mary rode around Grandville on a daily basis when she was in high school. Her big trip was riding out to Holland with her friend Linda (Oegema) Milanowski. I grew up on a farm five miles north of Lowell. I would ride my 3 speed POS into town to play basketball for several hours and then ride home. (Which really was up hill all the way.)

When we got married we both had Schwinn 10 speeds. We'd pull the kids behind them in a Burley. Our biggest trip was probably the 8 mile ride around Mackinac Island. Colleen was on her own bike, I had a junior tandem with Jake, and Mary had Ian on the back in a kid carrier. Now we've moved up to fancy road bikes, mine is a black Cannondale SR500 and Mary rides a white Bianchi Brava. The 10 mile rides that used to knock us out for the rest of the weekend are now what we do for a warm-up. I've completed seven century rides plus a whole lot of 50 mile plus rides, including several metric centuries. The amazing thing to me is that I completed my first century ride on my 48th birthday. So much for slowing down as you get older.

Once again, thanks to everyone who has supported us either financially or with their thoughts and prayers. 2010 is going to be a great year!

Christmas greetings

By popular request this photo is back from last Christmas. It's our family rendered as Christmas Cookies.

From More Than 100 Miles...

Tom, looking like Mr. Bill. Mary, in a sparkly dress. Colleen, in her denim student-teacher jumper. Jake, dressed as Teddy Roosevelt. And Ian, in the Rockford orange and black.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

A tough year

Our JDRF West Michigan Ride community lost another member last week. Don Milanowski passed away on the morning of November 21st of a sudden heart attack. Don rode with our team in Whitefish in 2007 and Death Valley in 2008. But more than a fellow rider he was a good friend. Mary and Don's wife Linda have been friends since high school. We are greatly saddened by this loss. I posted a longer message on our team blog which you can read by clicking here.

Don was the third JDRF person to pass away this year. In April, Bill Andro passed away due to diabetes complications. Bill was a former JDRF West Michigan board member. He was also the father of Ride Team members Sarah and Rob Andro. Then in July another former board member and Ride Team member, Rod Stephens, passed away due to cancer. These men will all be greatly missed for the contributions they brought to our program as well as the joy they brought into our lives.

Ride in Peace Bill, Rod and Don.

Party and Ride

I can not get over what beautiful weather we have been having this November. Last night was our Ride Team End-of-the-Season Party at Rosewood Pointe in Holland. It was such a nice evening we sat around a campfire outside and even played horseshoes on the beach. Last year we were shoveling snow at the same party. The big announcement at the party was that the West Michigan Team raised over $200,000 this year for diabetes research. That gives us over one million dollars in our five years of riding.
Speaking of riding Mary and I took a little trip on the White Pine Trail this afternoon. Our JDRF teammate Linda Thompson-Poeder joined us. We rode 20 miles, taking the trail from our house up to Russell Road and back. We would have gone farther, but we ran out of daylight. That is the major difficulty in getting mileage in this time of year. Even if it's warm the sun sets by 5:30.

Best day in a month

What a fantastic day. Over 70 degrees and sunny. In November! So we had to ride. Mary and I got on our seldom used road bikes and ripped off 17 miles this afternoon. We rode the infamous Pettis/Egypt Valley/Cannonsburg loop. Lots of hills. It's a variety of rollers mixed with extended climbs. I'm not really sure why we wanted to punish ourselves, but it felt really good. I mean seriously, we should have done an easy ride on the White Pine Trail. Although I'm sure the WPT was over-run with walkers, strollers and roller bladers today. So it was great fun to be out on a beautiful day working our way through the hills. We did see a few other riders doing the same thing. Smiles all around.

Leaves be damned

It was such a nice day yesterday and we've spent so much time lately raking leaves that we said "to heck with it" and went for a bike ride instead. Mary, Ian and I got out our trail bikes for some Sunday afternoon fun. First we rode to the home of one of Ian's friends and dropped him off. That friend's neighborhood is on top of the Childsdale hill. Our neighborhood is at the bottom, so we started with a nice little climb. Then we took the express downhill and hopped over to Rouge River Park and did the nature trail loop. It was a little muddy with quite a bit of standing water, thanks to all the rain we've had recently. But it was great fun. The Rouge River was also running high and fast because of the rain. It would have been a fun day to be out kayaking as well.
11 1/2 months until Death Valley 2010!