Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Getting a jump on things

Gussied up for the event.
This past Saturday evening was the Champions Dinner for the 2012 Tour de Cure. I was pretty inspired by all the great folks in attendance, especially the Red Riders (the participants who have diabetes) and the Youth Ambassadors. I'd been on the fence about riding next year but now I'm motivated to not only ride but also captain a team. I've put a call out to my bicycle-loving SCA friends to join the Hula Bears* and ride in memory of Tom B./Tirloch.

*We're Hula Bears because Tom was "the Bear" and loved Hawaiian shirts.

5 comments:

  1. Aww... how cool is that?!

    I have to say, by accident, I happened to be on the course with the Tour de Cure folks this past weekend (I was trying to get in a long ride before this weekend). They are the coolest bunch of people, and so supportive of each other while they're riding and passing each other! I was so impressed. Made me wish I'd done that ride instead of the one I'm about to do. It was so fun to hear people yelling out, "Go Red Rider!" as they'd pass a person in a red jersey. It made me happy to see so many different types of folks out, on so many different kinds of bikes. I wish I'd had the camera on me to document it because it was really a very cool thing to observe.

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    1. I'm happy to report that two friends have already joined the team and Tom's widow loves this idea and will join up as well if she isn't on work travel that week. She also said she'd get us jerseys. =)

      That's pretty sweet that you crossed paths with a TdC. The whole vibe of last year's ride was celebratory and friendly. Nobody was hollering at anybody (like some jerks did during Bike DC) and we all cheered each other on. I was also delighted to learn that the majority of the monies raised goes directly to the ADA and not back to the event, which is not the case for a lot of big ticket fundraising events. Local businesses donate much of the food and gear and services. That gives me warm fuzzies.

      Oh... tangentially speaking of these organized rides, have you seen the new Subaru commercials where the woman is riding in a big organized ride and the husband drives to different spots along the route to flash a cardboard support sign at her? It made me think of Sam cheering you on during one of your Venus rides. :) I told Scott I wanted him to do that for me if he didn't ride with me.

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    2. {side note: the five dollar word of the day - "tangentially" - love it!}

      I can totally see Sam out running around with signs, hopping to various spots, cheering for me. I'll have to hunt down the Subie commercial to check it out. Unfortunately, he likes to show up with a camera to snap photos... as long as I'm not in them, I'm totally fine with it. It's such a shame we live so far apart - I think we could have these men of ours just about crazy with our fun stuff. :O)

      Very exciting to hear that you'll get jersey's, and hopefully it will be a wonderful ride. I'm thinking that perhaps next year I'll sign up for that one... it just seemed like so much fun.

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    3. Here's the commercial in case you haven't located it yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHH1cAIuWxU

      It's so cute. :)

      And yes, I think we could get up to a fair amount of shenanigans were we local. Heh heh heh.

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    4. That is too freakin' adorable! Love it (and thanks for the link)!!

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