Red Ribbon Ride Victory Party

Happy Hooters Team

These were a couple of girls from the Happy Hooters Team on the Breast Cancer Ride. They were a lot of fun, not to mention they all road single file!! The Owl (hoot) was their team mascot and they brought it everywhere!

Victory Medal

Here is the victory medal that I got for finishing my first Breast Cancer Ride. It is a key chain as well! It was nice to get something different than a t-shirt since these rides usually give you t-shirts and after a while you end up with a million of them. Time to go rest!!!

Bowling on the Breast Cancer Ride

Minnesota Breast Cancer Ride This Weekend (Updated)

This weekend I will be participating in my first Minnesota Breast Cancer Ride. This is a two day bike ride. I will be riding 140 miles over the weekend. I am very excited to do a new ride as well as having a nice comfortable hotel room and not a tent. I am not use to that on these rides.  I am participating on the Safety Monitoring Cycling Team to help keep the ride safe as well.

This ride supports Open Arms of Minnesota and also Susan G. Komen for a Cure. I would like to raise as much money as possible for these two beneficiaries within the next two days. Please make a donation if possible. No donation is too small, and no donation is to large!  Please also share this on your Facebook wall if you don’t mind. Thanks in advance for all of your support!!

To make a donation please click here or paste the following link into your browser.

http://www.breastcancerride.org/site/TR/Events/General?px=1093925&pg=personal&fr_id=1090

Red Ribbon Ride 2011 Recap

It has been two weeks already since I completed my seventh Red Ribbon Ride! Work has been keeping me very busy, but I still wanted to provide my generous donors with a recap of the ride. It is because of you that I can continue to do this ride year after year. With your help, this year I raised $2,300 for the eight beneficiaries of the Red Ribbon Ride. This year the ride has raised nearly $375,000 with money still coming in. this year I started fundraising early and it paid off. I met the minimum on March 1st and then raised additional money to support the beneficiaries. While fundraising can be challenging, every year I am uplifted by the generosity of people. Many people saw a Facebook post and clicked on the link and donated even though they didn’t have to. I want to give  thanks to my family and friends that continue to donate and a special thanks to my past and current colleagues. I am overwhelmed by the continued support from the fine people at W3i and the new support from the people at DRC and Rust Consulting. I have been so very lucky to work with such great people. Please know that your dollars are going to good use and helping people who are living with HIV/AIDS.

I found this year to be one of the most enjoyable years of the Red Ribbon Ride. I think this is due to some new people joining this year. I really enjoyed getting to know David, Wendi, and Diane better. They joined Wes and Eric on Pit Five which was a lot of fun. I loved their trailer trash themed pit on Day Three. I also appreciated some minor route changes this year. It is nice having some small changes so it doesn’t feel like groundhogs day year after year.

Thursday, Day One

Day One started very early in the morning as it does every year. Jenny and her daughter, Mariah, picked us up around 5:30 AM (Thanks for the ride Jenny!) . I knew it was going to be an interesting day when it was raining when they picked us up. Luckily, the rain subsided on our way to the mall. Jenny and Mariah stayed for opening ceremonies and sent us on our way. We experienced a lot of wind and rain on Day One. When we got to Pit One, the riders for Team Cupcake took a photo. I rode most of day one with my team members. We rode to Lake City where we spent the night at a park on Lake Pepin. Once we got to camp the sky cleared up, of course, and I set up my tent for the night.

Friday, Day Two

Day Two started off with an early breakfast before packing up and heading out on the bike. I rode most of Day Two with my friend Joe. This was Joe’s 40th AIDS ride! Day Two had a lot of route changes in the first part of the day which was awesome. My biggest gripe with the Red Ribbon Ride is that the route never changes. It was amazing how some small route changes improved the ride a ton for me. We left Lake City on a road on that overlooked the lake which was beautiful. The route changes still included some monstrous hills which was cool. I don’t mind them that much any more. The route between Pit One and Pit Two was also new. It was very curvy and in a river valley as shown in the picture. This was probably my favorite stretch of the ride. I hope they keep it in the ride for next year. Once Joe and I got to Pit Two we started to hear thunder. We also heard that the ride director was on the phone so I made Joe and I get on our bikes and take off quick for Pit Three because I knew they would start pulling people off the route. Joe and I made it to Pit #3 right before it started raining. At that time they were holding people at the pit stops because of a large storm. This is where Day Two would end for us. Unfortunately, this was the first time in seven years where I was not able to ride every mile due to the ride being canceled for that day. I wish it wouldn’t have had to happen, but it was really the only choice that could be made for the safety of the riders and the crew. Once we got transported to Rochester we noticed that KARE 11 was there shooting this clip.

Saturday, Day Three

On Day Three we rode from Rochester to Northfield. This was my favorite day of the ride this year. I chose to ride by myself this day. I love riding with friends, but I also occasionally love riding my myself. When riding in a group you have to call out every obstacle on the rode, every car, every thing that could be a danger. This can get very tiring after a while and sometimes it is nice to ride by yourself where you don’t have to do this. It also gives me time to reflect on why I do this ride and why I am going to keep doing it. It is very peaceful out on a country road with no other riders and no cars. I also knew that it was going to get warm towards the end of the day so I really pushed myself physically as well so I could get into camp before the sun came from behind the clouds. I think it was the fastest day I have ever had on any Red Ribbon Ride. I got into camp a little after noon which was a record for me. Day Three of the Red Ribbon Ride has always been friends and family night. There has always been a presentation of some sort for the Red Ribbon Ride participants, friends, and family. This summer is the 30th anniversary since HIV/AIDS was discovered. The presentation took us through the past 30 years of HIV/AIDS. It began with this video.

After the video there were various speakers that told the group about their experiences in the past. A nurse told us what it was like being a nurse in California when HIV/AIDS was just discovered and described how the patients were treated. She explained how medical personal wore hazmat suits and how patients asked her if they could hold her hand without the suit so they could touch someone before they died. It was very sad to hear about her experiences and the experiences of the people that she treated. After the presentation I was having a conversation with someone who is currently a health care professional in northern Minnesota. I mentioned how I felt we had have come so far in how we treat people living with HIV/AIDS. She informed me that she often sees some of this past behavior with medical professionals and HIV/AIDS patients where she lives. After this conversation I realized that we haven’t come quite as far as I thought we had and that there is a lot of work left to do.

Sunday, Day Four

Day #4 was the last day of the ride and it was a very warm day as well. I rode with my fellow Team Cupcake riders on this day as well. We went slower on Day #4 because there is no purpose in going fast because everyone has to wait at a park for closing ceremonies. By the time we got to the park in St. Paul the heat index was already over 100. We sat there for over two hours trying to stay cool with ice and wet towels before closing ceremonies started. Closing ceremonies was dedicated this year to David Hanson. David was involved in the Red Ribbon Ride for many years and was an active member with the Rural AIDS Action Network (RAAN) before losing his battle to AIDS this past year. We remembered David during closing ceremonies and heard a very touching speech from his sister.

Next Year

Unfortunately, this disease will likely still be here next July and this is why I have already signed up to take part in 2012. I will continue to do this ride every year until there isn’t the need for it. I feel very fortunate that I can use cycling, something I love, to help others in Minnesota that  need it. I am also very fortunate to have so many generous people in my life that continually donate to the Red Ribbon Ride every year.

I would love to share the great experience of the Red Ribbon Ride with you. If you would like to know more about how you can get involved, please let me know. I am more than willing to answer any questions and provide any information. Next year is the 10th year of the Red Ribbon Ride and I would love to see more riders and crew. There are a ton of crew options available if cycling isn’t your thing. Please contact me if you would like more information!

Thanks again to everyone that donated and participated in the 2011 Red Ribbon Ride!

Michael

Breast Cancer Jerseys

Here are my two new jerseys for the Breast Cancer Ride. I never thought I would have a pink jersey! The other one I bought from Open Arms which is a fantastic non-profit and one of the beneficiaries of the BCR. They prepare and deliver meals to those suffering with Breast Cancer, HIV/AIDS, MS, and other serious diseases.