Good morning and happy Monday! I had the usual mid-June trifecta this weekend - Debbie's birthday, our anniversary, and Father's Day - all packed into 3 glorious days. But, alas, the party's over, and it's time to get back to work -
Harbor Bridge Dry Run
On Saturday morning, I traveled to Corpus Christi with Tony, Lisa, Cindy, etc., from MS to do a dry run of the modified finish line route they are contemplating for the Bike MS: Valero Bike to the Beach on October 4-5. A hand picked group of riders of all skill levels pedaled the short but dramatic distance between Portland High School on Wildcat Drive to Whataburger Field on the mainland. Along the way, we cruised the causeway and climbed the various bridges over the waterway, including the Harbor Bridge right at the end. And friends, I can't tell you how exhilarating it was! The finish of the Bike to the Beach - when you turn right onto the causeway and see the sparkling blue waters of Corpus Christi Bay for the first time, along with the skyline of the city and the steel arches of the Harbor Bridge in the distance - it's one of the most dramatic and heart-pounding moments during the year for our team. If you don't feel truly alive during that moment, then please go to a doctor and have your circulatory system checked, because something is definitely wrong with you... Well, we met afterwards for lunch to discuss the inclusion of the Harbor Bridge, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive - we just need to make sure everything possible is done to insure the safety of all the riders. The good news is that ending at Whataburger Field provides a better finish line experience for everyone - volunteers, friends, family, and riders - better parking, more space for tents, food booths, and so on. What's cool is from the top of the big bridge you can see the Stadium, and at that point you know it's over - all you have to do is roll to the finish line, accompanied by the cheers of the crowd lined up along the way. Friends, I can hardly wait!
To see the Action Cam video of the ride over the bridge, click here.
Group shot of the Velo Valero folks at the end of the ride. For more photos, click here.
Fundraising, Long Beach, Oklahoma City
Well, we continue to make progress in our ADA Team Fundraising. As of today, we are at almost $77,000 of our goal of $100,000. This is a tough year to fundraise because of state of the economy, and I'm so proud of what we've raised to date, and what we continue to raise. Every dollar is important as we try to find a cure for this disease that inflicts so many people in our communities. To see our current totals, click here.
Still waiting to her from Bob Roger and the rest of the Wilmington riders on how the Long Beach Tour went - will post an update as soon as I hear from them.
The next and final Tour de Cure event is the Oklahoma City ride coming up the weekend of June 28th. Team Veep David Sloan (david.sloan@valero.com) will be the San Antonio event captain for the ride, and he and the rest of the San Antonio folks will be joining Ardmore Team Captain Steve Evans (steve.evans@valero.com) for what promises to be another glorious day in the saddle raising money for ADA. More details to come soon! If you are interested in riding this event, contact David or Steve - they'd love to have you on board!
Weekend Rides
Talked to John "the Punisher" Tenison - he said we had 12 folks show up and do the ride on Saturday to New Berlin and Back. It was good to see Pat O'Brien back on the road with the team, and yes, after a couple of months, we finally got him the jersey he ordered this spring.
...This week there's a slight change to our ride schedule. Our HillFest will take place on Wednesday from Mays Elementary at 5:45 pm as usual, but Andrea is moving her Thursday Night Family Friendly Ride from Thursday to Wednesday. They will still start from Bullis Country Park, with wheels up at 6:30 pm. Finally, we will have another medium distance ride on Saturday morning leaving Bullis Country Park at 7:30 am with distances of 25 and 35 miles.
To see our complete event schedule, click here.
Great Set of Maps
Chris Marsh sent me a link to a web site he's maintaining that has an outstanding collection of cycling maps for routes all over the great state of Texas. He sent me this e-mail on Saturday -
I have updated my collection of cycling maps and posted them at http://www.BicycleMaps.org. Please feel free to share them with your club members. Also, I posted my large overview map of the Texas Hill Country. If you find them useful I encourage you to contact me about helping sponsor the web site.
Jeff Peterson From Memphis Sets the Track on Fire
Finally, I got an e-mail from Jeff Peterson from our Memphis Refinery on Sunday. He participated in the Arkansas State Time Trial Championships, and completed the 40K course with a 26.4 mph average, good enough to win the Cat 4 division and his 45 and over age category. This is the second year he's done the ride, and he actually shaved 20 seconds off of last year's time in this year's event. Way to go Jeff!
Jeff at the 2008 Baton Rouge Tour de Cure. Jeff is a nice guy, and a true Velo hammerhead.
El Hefe Reads a Book
Between all the festivities and rides this weekend, I managed to sit down and read a very good book - more of a tall tale, to be precise. To see the cover of this book, click here.
...see ya' on the road!
- Peter