Good morning and Happy May Day (and Thursday). I leave for California today at noon, so you're getting a special treat - the Friday blog one day early! I'm soooo looking forward to the Napa Tour de Cure and riding with Dan and the good folks from the Valero Benicia Refinery, along with the 14 folks from San Antonio that are traveling to do the event and enjoy the wonders of the NoCal wine country. I'll have plenty of stories and photos when I get back for you, but for now we have some bidness to attend to...
Weekend Rides
There are number of ride options available this weekend. The San Antonio TDC is only 17 days away, so if you plan on doing any of the longer distances during the event, you need to be getting some miles in!
Andrea Shull will lead her family friendly ride from Bullis County Park at 06:15 pm on Thursday.
Carl Crawford will be joining many team members who will be doing the Castroville 100 on Saturday. (There's a rumor Team Vice President David Sloan will try and make the Castroville ride, now that his knee has healed. This is great news - see details below!)
Finally, San Antonio Team Captain John Tenison will be doing the official joint Tour de Cure training ride hosted by Matt and our good friends from Bicycle Heaven on Saturday. There are two routes (25 and 40 miles) with wheels up at 09:00 am. There will be an official packet pick-up from 07:30 to 09:30. The ride starts at the BH shop - click here for directions.
As always, check our complete Event Schedule for details.
Jerseys Are In
Woo-hoo! The jerseys from our spring order are in! Patricia is frantically sorting them as I type - we hope to get the jerseys for the out of towners in the mail today. For San Antonio area folks, you'll need to come to the packet pick-up at Valero HQ on Tuesday (see detail below). As I've said many times, we require all Velo Valero riders participating in events like the Tour de Cure and Bike to the Beach to wear our team jerseys on all days of the ride. It's the best looking jersey on the road, so why not???? I ordered a new sleeveless one to replace the one I lost last year, and I can't wait to get on the road with it and show off mah' guns... (Jus' kiddin'...)
Packet Pick-up
Mark your calendars for May 6th, from 04:30 to 07:30 pm, where Velo Valero will host a Tour de Cure packet pickup at Valero HQ. At the pick-up, you'll be able to pick-up your ride materials from ADA, drop off any fundraising monies you have raised, pick up a team jersey (if you ordered one this spring), obtain your team "goodie bag" (which is brimming with goodness this year), and meet your fellow Velo Valerians before the big ride. Hope to see you there!
Cruiser Bike Raffle
To help boost our team fundraising for the TDC, we are once again raffling off tickets for a chance to win a swank new cruiser bike to compliment that sleek road bike you have. This year we're doing it with a twist - we're actually auctioning off two bikes, one male and one female. You can purchase your raffle tickets conveniently on-line at our team store using a credit card or PayPal. Tickets are only $5 apiece - what are you waiting for? Click here to buy those tickets and get a chance to win that cruiser bike of your dreams. The winner will be announced May 17th at the Saturday night celebration during the San Antonio Tour de Cure - but you need not be present to win. Don't be bashful - send this link to friends and family - everyone is eligible to participate in the raffle, and all monies raised goes towards our goal of raising $100,000 as a National Team for the American Diabetes Association.
Status of Fundraising
...Speaking of fundraising, here's an update from fundraising Czar David Sloan -
It's getting down to the end. I have now finished sending e-mails from my own personal e-mail account at home to avoid those pesky spam filters - and that round of e-mails has brought in over $1,200 already. I do plan one last round of "urgent" e-mails about a week before the ride to move those who have been putting off giving. Keep up the enthusiasm and keep the training going!
Depending on what the Doc says tomorrow, I hope to be riding in Castroville this weekend to take advantage of the flats.
Have a great weekend!
- David
As a National Team, we are making great progress. As of this morning, we have raised $40,383 across our 8 teams, which is just over 40% of our goal of $100,000. I'm anticipating that the fundraising will pick up the pace as we approach the actual dates of our 6 events, and people submit the funds they have collected during event registration. If you haven't raised the minimum yet, what are you waiting for? If you've raised the minium, why stop there?? Click here for our latest numbers.
MS 150 Video
...Even though we're in the middle of our Tour de Cure Spring campaign, I need to remind you that the Bike to the Beach, our flagship ride, is only 156 days away on October 4-5. The Bike to the Beach was the first ride I ever did back in 2000, and got me hooked on cycling. I rode fully upright and un-aerodynamic on a heavy, steel frame hybrid bike, wore tennis shoes that gave me massive blisters, and experienced excruciating chafing that made it difficult to walk for days - but damn did I feel proud finishing that second day. The lesson I learned that year was you have to start somewhere in this sport. The first ride is going to be hard, but it only gets easier as you gain experience and improve your technique and fitness. At the time, I had no idea that nine years later I'd be doing 5 Tour de Cure events in 8 weeks and and leading the finest cycling team in the land on record setting fundraising campaigns for ADA and MS year after year. ...Last week between Fiesta events I put together a short 30 minute video that documents the history of Velo Valero's participation in the Bike to the Beach, beginning in 1988, and ending last year with an appearance by the King himself, Elvis Presley, at our team tent. To watch the video, click here. Enjoy!
To register with Team Velo Valero for the Bike MS: Valero Bike to the Beach, click here.
Dora in Paradise
Just got this photo from long time team member Dora Esparza. It is the latest entry into our Velo Valero Around the World Photo Gallery. This is from her recent trip to Paradise (aka, Hawaii) - now, doesn't she look like she's having a good time???
Just looking at this, I can feel the cool ocean breeze...
...See ya on the road!
- El "Pinot Noir" Hefe