The Death Valley ride raised more than $1.2M to help turn Type 1 into Type None and allowed JDRF to provide support to those with Type 1 and to fund key research into better treatments and an eventual cure.
The Death Valley ride was an awesome experience, as always. Due to limited available flights into Las Vegas, we arrived in Death Valley on Wednesday, a day earlier than the typical schedule. This allowed Kevin and me the opportunity to ride our bikes to Dante's View - 25 miles from, and 5500 feet above, where we were staying. After a very challenging climb - made even tougher due to a strong headwind for the last 5 miles - we got to see some great views from the top.
Thanks to Anne for providing terrific SAG support for this ride. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Since we did a tough ride on Thursday, after the mandatory safety meeting on Friday we had the rest of the day free to see some of the fantastic sights in Death Valley National Park.
We visited: Badwater Basin
Natural Bridge
Devils Golf Course
Artists Drive and Artists Palette
and Golden Canyon.
Ride day Saturday started cool and crisp and turned out to be one of the best ride days ever.
The afternoon highs were only in the upper 80s. We had some wind on the course, but overall it was an outstanding ride and event.
I rode most of the day with a combined group from Columbus, OH and Denmark. They were a fantastic group to ride with, worked well together battling the wind, and finished strong. Thanks to Chris, Chris, Jesper, Mike, and Monica - you all were awesome!
The trip home was a bit eventful, with a surprise diversion and landing in Denver due to bad weather around Chicago and Detroit. We spent a few hours “sleeping” in the Denver airport before catching a 5 AM flight to Indy.
Thank you, as always, for sharing in my ride. This was my 9th ride in Death Valley and 13th overall JDRF ride and each is an emotional event. I truly appreciate your generous support of JDRF over all these years. With each research update, we can see clear progress toward a cure.
Please visit my ride site to see how I did on my fundraising and for links to the stories of my past rides:
Will I go back for a 10th ride in Death Valley? God willing and if I am able… I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
