Sunday night thoughts

No weekly mileage update this Sunday. We just got our bikes back on Thursday and since it was such a nice day I did go out for a quick 10 mile ride. It is interesting that a year ago 10 miles would have been a serious excursion and now it's just a warm up. I have three picture links I want to share so you can see more photos of Death Valley.

The first is from Bright Room Photography http://www.brightroom.com/go.asp?7288814
Follow the link and you'll see pictures of Tom. These are for sale, however as far as I know none of the proceeds go to JDRF. If you click on the "event home" link on the top of the page you can then enter a bib number or a person's last name. For example, enter Bib # 536 to see photos of Mary.

Second is The Adventure Corp web site http://www.adventurecorps.com/jdrf/2005dv/index.html
Lots of great photos catergorized by which part of the ride we were on. There are shots of the West Michigan ride team scattered through out.

Finally is The Heeren Brothers web site http://www.heerenbros.com/pages/8/index.htm
Fellow riders Mark and Terri put up a bunch of photos that they took.

We also have had over 700 hits on this web site. Next week we should also have the final totals of how much money we raised for the cure.

New photos available

I added a link to Flickr which has more photos of our ride. Look for the badge on the left side of the page, click on one of the tiny photos and it will take you to the Flickr web site where you can see our other Death Valley photos.

More Ride Photos

Mary is looking fine in her JDRF Ride for a Cure jersey.

Somewhere in the middle of Death Valley.

Getting started at 7:30 a.m. PDT.

We are back

What an incredible experience! We rode 105 miles in Death Valley on Saturday. And then today spent the whole day traveling home. We'll have more later, but for now here's a photo of the West Michigan team on the top of Jubilee Pass. This is the halfway point, 52.5 miles and right after a 1,500 foot climb over 6 miles.


This week's mileage totals:
10/21 - 10 miles; up to Zabriske Point and back
10/22 - 105 miles; THE Death Valley Ride

Leavin'... on a jet plane

Tomorrow morning we leave Gerald Ford Airport in Grand Rapids for Las Vegas and then a bus trip to Death Valley. By this time Thursday we'll be deep in the desert getting ready for the ride. We pick up our bikes off the truck on Friday, have a little fun at the Furnace Creek Ranch, then at sunrise on Saturday we start the ride. Eight hours (or so) later, we'll be done. So this will be the last entry until we get back. Then we'll have lots of stories and photos.
Bye for now.

Generous Donors

Another list of some of the wonderful people who have helped make this ride a reality with their donations. If you have not given yet there is still time. We can accept donations for two weeks after we return from Death Valley.
Thanks to everyone who contributed!

Dave & Rebecca Behrens
Tim & Robin Crossman
Conrad & Carol Klima
Eccentric Entertainment (Ken Knapp)
Peak Performance
Paul & Brenda Schab
Patrick Scheidel
Larry & Dorothy Scheidel
Jacque Schantz
Jazmin Torres
Mark & Linda Trier
Michael & Nancy Walenta
Judy Welch
Rockford Freshman Center bracelet sales

Countdown begins...

We have been training and fundraising since April and now the ride is less than a week away. We fly out on Thursday, get reunited with our road bikes on Friday and at sunrise on Saturday we start our 105 mile Death Valley ride. Rode the mountain bike today. Did a little dirt and a little White Pine Trail just to keep the saddle fitness up. We are really looking forward to heading out to the desert and riding. We are ready, ready, ready.

This week's totals:
10/12: 10 miles, White Pine Trail north
10/16: 19 miles, Rouge River Trail and WPT

The bikes left early

Our bikes are on their way to Death Valley. They were supposed to be packed on a truck Friday morning, but we got an urgent call from the JDRF office yesterday saying that the truck was on it's way and they needed our bikes that afternoon. Luckily, I had just returned from having the 30 day tune-up done on my new Cannondale. So I did a quick (30 minutes) 10 mile ride to test everything out and then packed up the bikes and took them to the office. We fly out a week from today and rejoin our bikes next Friday. In the meantime we'll keep training using the mountain bikes. Oooh... dirt trails!
In other news, we have surpassed the $6,000 mark in donations. Thanks to all!

Getting close now

Just two weeks away from riding in Death Valley. We're trying to keep the "saddle fitness" and stay loose and ready without doing big miles. Rode 38 miles today in a northern loop that took me all the way around Cedar Springs, but not actually into the Red Flannel City. On Thursday our bikes get packed up and sent on a truck out to the desert. So the last week of training will be on the mountain bike. That actually sounds like fun!

This week's totals:
10/3 - 10 miles: White Pine trail north
10/4 - 17 miles: WPT south through Riverside Park
10/9 - 38 miles: The Cedar Springs loop

Recent Training photo

Ain't we cute?

Tapering off time

According to Coach Mike we are now in the tapering off section of our training. We were supposed to do 75% of our total mileage 3 weeks before the event. We accomplished that last Friday, one day ahead of schedule. This week we are doing maintenance rides, with one 40+ ride this weekend. Then a week from this Friday the bikes go on a truck for their trip to Death Valley.
Rode a 10 mile out and back north on the White Pine Trail on Monday and a 17 mile out and back south on the WPT today.

Three weeks to go

We are getting ever closer to the ride. Just three weeks from this past Saturday we will be peddling out rear ends across Death Valley, California.. We had a good week of both training and fund-raising. This web site also received it's 500th hit. So thanks to everyone who has looked in on us and happy riding.

This week's totals:
9/27 - 21 miles: home to JDRF office and back
9/30 - 73 miles: home to Muskatawa Trail thru Ravenna and back

Another new personal best

73 miles! In 6 hours! At that pace the Death Valley ride will take us just about 8 hours.
Mary had the day off work today, so after the kids left for school we put on our cold weather gear (48 degrees this morning) and started riding. We rode out to the Muskatawa Trail which runs from Marne to Muskegon. It's 15 miles just to get there. We didn't make it all the way to Muskegon, but did get about 8 miles past Ravenna before we turned around and headed home.
We also received some more donation checks today. That puts us over $5,000 raised to help find a cure for Juvenile Diabetes. Thanks again to all those who have contributed so far.

Ride to the office day

I had to drop off some DONATION checks to the JDRF office today. I also needed to get a ride in. Soooo... I did both. I rode from our house in Rockford to the JDRF offices on Cascade Road. A round trip on 21.6 miles. Saw Derek Dykstra there. He was dropping off his bike as it needs to be shipped to Asheville, North Carolina tomorrow. Derek is one of our team riders who will not be in Death Valley. He and 12 others will be peddling in beautiful North Carolina next weekend.

Keep those cards, letters, emails and contributions coming. With your help we will find a cure for diabetes!

The Metric Century

Today we rode in the Apple Cider Century in Three Oaks, Michigan. We completed the Metric Century which is 62 miles. That's a new personal best. The ride was great, over 4000 riders through some pretty farmland in south western Michigan. Part of the ride skirted the coast of Lake Michigan and went by some gorgeous lake homes. Places worth several million dollars each. The kind of places you need Lance Armstrong money to buy. It started raining about halfway through the ride and made the last half kind of wet. Even with the rain it was a great ride and we are looking forward to the Big One in Death Valley. We also saw fellow Death Valley rider Joe Schmeider as we were finishing up. A great day at ACC 2005.

This weeks totals:
9/20 - 19 miles, White Pine Trail south
9/21- 14 miles, WPT north
9/23 - 12 miles, Belmont to 10 Mile to WPT
9/25 - 62 miles, the Apple Cider (Metric) Century

Mary riding in the Apple Cider Century















Tom and Mary after the ACC2005

One month to go

In one month from today we will be riding 105 miles across Death Valley. It's hard to believe we've been training for this all summer and now we are just a few weeks away. Right now it's all about getting in the miles so that we are ready on October 22nd. We did a quick 14 mile out and back on the White Pine Trail yesterday. We are both feeling strong. We are really looking forward to this ride and the good work it will allow JDRF to do.

Lunchtime ride

A quick 19 mile jaunt at lunch today. Went south on the White Pine Trail to it's end by Fifth Third Ball Park, then over to Riverside Park and took that trail to it's end at Ann Street in Grand Rapids. Then turned around a came home. I'd like to get in at least two more rides before Sunday when we do the Apple Cider Century (actually a half century for us).