Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Making a change

After four years of riding in Death Valley as part of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Ride for a Cure we've decided to make a change. Next year we will be participating in a new JDRF ride in Killington, Vermont. (What is it with these morbid place names?) Because of that, we can't really have our ride blog called "Death Valley Ride", so we started a new blog called "More Than 100 Miles..."

"More Than 100 Miles..." has multiple meanings. First, these events are much more than just 100 miles of bicycle riding. They are a major fund raiser for JDRF. Our West Michigan team raised over a quarter of a million bucks last year. Plus there is the emotional component of spending a whole year fundraising, training, and getting to know some very motivated people. Not to mention the kids and adults with diabetes who are constantly in our thoughts.

Also, it's the name of a documentary, "More than 100 Miles: Riding to Cure Diabetes" we are currently producing. Our plan is to release it early in 2009 and enter it in several film festivals.

If you followed this blog, you'll notice that the new one is a little different. Tom will be the main writer with Mary adding occasional, attributed commentary. We are going to drop the weekly mileage updates in favor of more thorough descriptions of the ride season activities. We'll also keep you up to date on the documentary of the same name. Thanks to everyone who followed us the last few years and we hope you'll join us on our new site.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Party time

The ride season comes to it's official close this Saturday night when we have our end of the year party at Rosewood Pointe in Holland. Actually it's the end of the 2008 year but the start of the 2009 season. As well as celebrating a very successful year we'll be discussing the plan for next season. We have even invited some new folks interested in riding with us in '09. Right now the guest list is over 100 people so it should be a great time. Watch this space because there is supposed to be an announcement at the party about how much money our ride team raised for diabetes research. That is exciting.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

This week's totals

So we had a few nice days this week, but lots of work, so Tom was only able to get out for a quick ride late Thursday afternoon. It was just a buzz up the White Pine Trail to Rockford and back, but it felt good to be on the bike again. It was the first ride since Death Valley. Today it is snowing. Some of our ride team members are riding today. We wish them well.

This week's ride totals:
11/6 - 12 miles; WPT north to Rockford
Total: 12 miles (Tom)

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Thanks to our donors

We have many people to thank for helping us out financially this year. From the sponsors of Jake's Music Festival to on-line donors to people who bought XS Energy Drinks. Thanks to all of you we raised over $8,200 to fund diabetes research.

Michelle Bassett
Chris Behrens
Dave & Rebecca Behrens
Jack Clark
Judy Clowney
Tim & Colleen Colleran
The Corner Bar
Jeff & Marcia DeBoer
Dawn Dempsey
Roy Dodman & Denise Marinacci
Derek Dykstra
Emily Fisher
The Garchow Family
Craig Geitzen
Reg & Ann Goetz
Julie Gross
Jim & Connie Hennip
June & Karen Hennip
Larry & Amy Hewitt/XL Chemical
Tim Holtkamp
Tim Jackson
Karen Kleinheksel
Mary Ellen Koziol
Marc & Jane Longstreet
Brian & Darolyn Mogg
Dennis & Kim Moline
The Morgan Family
My-Anne Muir
Mike & Jean Oele
Dave & Sharon Pasciak
Janice Pierson
Joe & Mary Powell
Elita Rice-Lenters
Don & Janet Rutgers
Steve & Karen Sayler
Tom & Florence Scheidel
The Schmutz Family
David & Jennifer Shane
Mike Silverstein
Henry & Mary Stoklas
Kim Summers
Tru-Vue
Michael & Nancy Walenta
West Side Beer Distributing
Hank & Mari Wieten
Scott & Melanie Williamson
Bill & Ginger Young