Thirteen years and counting.....join us as we share our journey toward a cure for type 1 diabetes!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

OMG Gary almost killed me

Last night Gary and I made our second joint assault on Observatory hill.

We had done it a couple of weeks ago, but I have to say that I felt a lot better that day :)

In fact Gary had asked me on the way out if I was sure that I wanted to do the hill this week and I told him, "Absolutely not, but I need to." (I am trying to become a stronger hill climber and.... loosing 15 pounds might be the real answer:))

Anyway we got to the bottom and started up. I felt like I was in trouble right away as I had to get out of the saddle before we even got to the bend.

I gasped out, "I don't think I can do this tonight." And Gary just about killed me with 4 little words. He said,"You can do it"

Then he stood up in the saddle and gave me"the look" and went on up the hill.

However, he was right, I did it. (notice the lack of an exclamation point)

Seriously thought, thanks Gary! I couldn't have done it without you!

Peace and CU at NEBO ridge on Thursday

Michael

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Coach's Weekly Update - July 28, 2009

A shout out to Dawn for a speedy recovery from her broken collar bone - we will miss you on our long rides.

A shout out to Joel for completing the Sonoma ride. He said it was challenging, but he finished and will be posting a summary & some photos shortly.

Killington & Whitefish riders, we are hitting the home stretch, it is important to continue with the long rides and get as much time in the saddle as possible in order to accomplish your goals for the ride, whatever they may be. Death Valley riders, if you haven't already you need to start ramping up over 50 miles and maybe turning the heat up at home since Indiana hasn't been able to produce very many warm days.

On Tuesday (today) we have our Southwestway Park ride, starting at 6pm. We will do about 25 miles, great hill workout!

On Thursday as usual is the Neboridge ride starting at 6pm. Next week will be our monthly effort to get as many JDRF riders as possible at that ride, so mark your calendar.

On Saturday there will be no organized ride, but I am going for attempt number 4 to get over 60 miles and will be doing 80-90 miles, let me know if you are interested in joining me and we can plan to meet up.

On Sunday is the CIBA ride that JDRF is organizing. PLEASE make every effort to attend and wear your JDRF jersey if you have one. It will start at 8am at Sunnyside Elementary School and there will be 25 & 50 mile routes. Feel free to invite friends, you do NOT need to be a CIBA member to ride. I want to thank Bob Karnak for all his efforts in organizing the route for our ride Sunday and Dan Baize for helping Bob & myself with various aspects of the ride.

Pedal on!

Alex

Friday, July 24, 2009

JDRF organized CIBA ride - August 2nd

Next Sunday, August 2nd, JDRF is organizing the CIBA ride. We hope this will help to increase awareness within the cycling community abou the Ride to Cure Diabetes. The ride will start at Sunnyside Elementary School on the northeast side at 8am. There will be 25 & 50 mile routes.



I hope to see all of you there and feel free to invite your friends. If you have a JDRF jersey be sure you wear it.



Coach Alex

Stung by Killer Bees

Just a note to let all of my fellow riders know that it was great to see you yesterday evening at NEBO Ridge (way to briefly)

I managed to hang on to the killer B group for a little over 15 miles last night before getting dropped..... maybe next time I'll hang on for all 30 miles. My average ended up being 19.1 in spite of doing most of the ride by my lonesum :)

Sorry I won't be seeing you guys again for the next 2 weekends, I am learning to swim this weekend and next weekend I am doing the Indiana Down Triathlon.

Hopefully we are doing the Southwestway Park ride on Tuesday??? I will be there regardless and plan to do the Observatory Hill turn arround again.

Peace, Love and Happiness

Michael

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Coach's weekly update - July 22, 2009

As I'm writing this it is raining outside and I'm wondering whether we will be able to get in our Wednesday night ride, maybe not. Hopefully the weather will clear up for Saturday so we can participate in the Muncie Great Greenway Tour. This is a great ride that I would encourage you all to join. You can ride as much or as little as you want. I'm planning to ride 90 miles, but you can ride part of the way with us and then turn back. We will be leaving on the bikes at 7:30am. Check out the website for location and registration information: http://www.greatgreenwaytour.org/

Congratulations to Gary Martindale who completed the Ride Across Indiana (RAIN) this past Saturday (that's 160 miles in one day). Dawn & I were able to ride about 30 miles with Gary & Dennis as they past through the southside of Indy. It was perfect weather for a long ride like that, nicer than some of the years previous.

A note about next weekend - Sunday (August 2nd) we will be sponsoring/organizing the CIBA ride and so I'd like as many of the riders there as possible (to ride). Make sure you wear your JDRF jersey.
That's all for now - pedal on!
Alex

Monday, July 20, 2009

Cardinal Greenway Century

All, I am registered to ride the Cardinal Greenway Century on Sat, 25 July 2009. I know that Coach Alex has a 90 miler scheduled and I don't want to discourage anyone from participating in a group ride but I've found the Greenway Century an ideal training tool. A supported century on the Greenway is the easiest century you will ever do.

Please let me know via email or phone if you are planning to go to Muncie for the ride on Sat.

For those participating in the group 90 mile ride, I hope that you have a great and safe ride.

Thanks

Bob Karnak
317-908-9452

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Coach's Weekly Update - July 16, 2009

I hope everyone is doing well and has been able to get out and enjoy the very nice riding weather we have been having - it was nice to see 80 degrees rather than 90 degrees. This weekend is supposed to be equally as nice.
We don't have a planned ride this weekend, but you should be aiming for about 80 miles. I know a few folks are heading up to Michigan for the Holland Hundred (with JDRF as major beneficiary)http://www.macatawacyclingclub.org/hollandhundred/. If you are interested in going let Dan Baize know.
For those of you who are in town and want to ride, Dawn, Kevin G & I are leaving from the Park Ave Church on 10th St. downtown at 8am. We are riding 80 miles, but you can turn back at any point to get the mileage you want. Just a warning, we will be riding on city streets for the most part and on US40.
Next weekend will be our 90 mile ride, most likely leaving from the Giest area at about 7:30am, so be prepared. We will also have a Wednesday night ride.

A brief note about fundraising... If you are going to Vermont or Montana you should be well on your way. If you are heading to Death Valley then it is probably time to get started. There are many different fund raising methods, the easiest and most effective as well as most popular is letter or email writing. When I started doing the JDRF rides 9 years ago I sent out letters with a self-addressed envelope because the donations were all done by check. When they started having on-line donations I switched to email and I have to say that there are folks that never donated before that do now because of the ease of just going to the link and clicking a few buttons. I do still send a few letters though to folks that I don't have email addresses for or who I know would prefer a letter. Here are a few other hints:
  • Think broadly about who to send letters or emails to. You will be surprised who will donate and who had a connection to diabetes. Your eye doctor, your college buddy, your work collegue, your neighbor, don't cross any off.
  • Make your letter personal, talk about your training and talk about your youth ambassador.
  • Send a follow up email thanking those who have donated and reminding those that haven't that they still can (I'm always surprised by the folks that think they have run out of time). Be sure to fill them in on your training (the commitment you are making).

If you are have any concerns about fundraising let Stacey know and she can put you in contact directly with some folks who have tried other fund raising ideas.

Good luck with fundraising and I'll see you out on the road!

Coach Alex

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Singing in the Rain

That's what we were doing on Saturday after the first 15 miles of our ride. We tried to be positive and believe that the rain would blow over and that took us down the road about 4 more miles, but it was not to be and so we turned back towards home, getting rained on even more and then sprayed on by the water on the road and then rained on some more. All in all not too bad, but disappointing that we couldn't ge the 75 miles in. Thanks to Bob, Dan, Dawn, Kevin S, Todd & Amy for showing up and being troopers in the rain.
Alex

Monday, July 6, 2009

Coach's Weekly Update - July 6, 2009

WOW! I can't believe it is already July. Less than 2 months until the Vermont ride and just over 2 months before Whitefish - you Death Valley riders have a bit more time. I hope folks were able to get out over the weekend and ride a bit, if so tell us about it by posting something on the blog.

Unfortunately I did not ride which will make this weekend's 75 mile ride that much more important. We will be leaving from downtown. The meeting place will be the parking lot of the Park Street Church which is on the north side of 10th St. between College Ave & East St./Central. We will be heading out at 8am, so please be there by 7:45am. Make sure you bring 2 full water bottles as well as snacks or money to buy snacks. This ride will take us about 5 - 6 hours. If anyone needs to do a shorter ride than that, let me know and I'll try to work something out. We will also have a training ride on Wednesday at 79th & Oaklandon road at 6pm.

You should have all received the Training Times from the National office, be sure to take a look at it, there is some good information about riding with a group. If you deleted your message you can find a copy at the Training Times link on the left side of our blog.

We are getting into the tough part of the training, where we will be doing some very long rides. These rides are very important if you want to complete the 100 miles (if your goal is less than 100 miles use the training mileage as a percent and take that percentage of your goal as the amount you should ride this weekend).

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Down the road!
Alex

Indiana Cure Chasers 2010

Indiana Cure Chasers 2010
Death Valley October 2010

For more information about JDRF Ride to Cure Diabetes...

Contact the Indianapolis office at 317-469-9604

Go to Indiana Cure Chasers website OR JDRF website.