Last fall my dear friend, Karen Ramstead asked me if I wanted to be on her 'team' for a bike ride she was doing in Iowa this summer. Of course I said 'yes' I would do it before I even knew any of the details of it. It was months away and I figured I could think about it later, much later. Then in March we had to register to be in this race and Karen was after me to do that. Yikes, it was starting to feel a little more real - OK, OK I filled out the registration form! It was still quite a ways away and besides not everyone would get in to the ride - seems it is very popular and lots of people want to do it. I won't worry about it until I know for sure I am in. Then the dreaded email came in that said we were in the ride with our ride numbers and lots of details. OK now I am beginning to get nervous, I haven't even gotten my bike out and I am not in very good shape.....
Fast forward a month and I have been riding 3 to 4 times a week, 20 to 30 miles each ride. Now I am excited and looking forward to the ride. I have also changed my thoughts from dread and 'what did I get myself into" to 'this is so cool, I am excited and loving getting ready for the ride'.
What is this ride you ask? It is called RAGBRAI (Registers Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) and is an opportunity to ride all 406 miles across Iowa from Council Bluffs to Fort Madison, or the Missouri River to the Mississippi River. Following the RAGBRAI trail across Iowa we will ride between 49 and 83 miles a day from July 21 to Juy 27. Read more about RAGBRAI at www.ragbrai.com.
Fast forward a month and I have been riding 3 to 4 times a week, 20 to 30 miles each ride. Now I am excited and looking forward to the ride. I have also changed my thoughts from dread and 'what did I get myself into" to 'this is so cool, I am excited and loving getting ready for the ride'.
What is this ride you ask? It is called RAGBRAI (Registers Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) and is an opportunity to ride all 406 miles across Iowa from Council Bluffs to Fort Madison, or the Missouri River to the Mississippi River. Following the RAGBRAI trail across Iowa we will ride between 49 and 83 miles a day from July 21 to Juy 27. Read more about RAGBRAI at www.ragbrai.com.
Now my friend Karen is an internationally known dog musher from Alberta,Canada and she is raising money for her 2014 trip to the Iditarod Sled Dog Race with her dog team of gorgeous Siberian Huskys, www.northwapiti.com. She has an awesome blog with loads of great stories about her dogs and life as a musher! She is truly an inspiration of someone who grabs a dream and follows it.
Well our team (of 2) is called "Winter Chicks" and so I decided I also wanted to raise money for a cause near and dear to my heart, the H.B. Provisions Fuel Fund (for more on my connection to H.B. Provisions http://www.hbprovisions.com/aboutus.htm). The Fuel Fund is an opportunity to help folks in the local area of Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel, that need assistance with fuel to keep warm in the winter. I am a lover of winter and I can only imagine if I struggled each day to buy fuel to stay warm that I would learn to dread winter, so the Fuel Fund is a way to make sure folks stay warm. The money is given to local fuel companies that decide who are good candidates for the assistance, it may be for someone that might come in with $50 at a time for fuel or others that they know keep their heat at 55F. Since the inception of the Fuel Fund almost $10,000 has been raised and distributed locally, this is money that is collected in a jar at the cash register, it is the spare change or extra money that customers donate by dropping it in the jar. There have been people dropping anything from $100 dollar bills to pennies and it all adds up.
I would like to raise raise awareness for the H.B. Provisions Fuel Fund and use RAGBRAI as an opportunity to raise more funds to help keep people warm in this area. Won't you please support me in this endeavor as I attempt to raise $10,000 to help our community of folks that need that little extra boost to keep warm in the winter. Please make your donations here, anything large or small will make a difference and it all adds up. www.hbprovisions.com
If you see me out riding the roads as I am preparing for this adventure across iowa give a gentle honk or a wave which of course will warm my heart and keep those pedals moving!!
Well our team (of 2) is called "Winter Chicks" and so I decided I also wanted to raise money for a cause near and dear to my heart, the H.B. Provisions Fuel Fund (for more on my connection to H.B. Provisions http://www.hbprovisions.com/aboutus.htm). The Fuel Fund is an opportunity to help folks in the local area of Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel, that need assistance with fuel to keep warm in the winter. I am a lover of winter and I can only imagine if I struggled each day to buy fuel to stay warm that I would learn to dread winter, so the Fuel Fund is a way to make sure folks stay warm. The money is given to local fuel companies that decide who are good candidates for the assistance, it may be for someone that might come in with $50 at a time for fuel or others that they know keep their heat at 55F. Since the inception of the Fuel Fund almost $10,000 has been raised and distributed locally, this is money that is collected in a jar at the cash register, it is the spare change or extra money that customers donate by dropping it in the jar. There have been people dropping anything from $100 dollar bills to pennies and it all adds up.
I would like to raise raise awareness for the H.B. Provisions Fuel Fund and use RAGBRAI as an opportunity to raise more funds to help keep people warm in this area. Won't you please support me in this endeavor as I attempt to raise $10,000 to help our community of folks that need that little extra boost to keep warm in the winter. Please make your donations here, anything large or small will make a difference and it all adds up. www.hbprovisions.com
If you see me out riding the roads as I am preparing for this adventure across iowa give a gentle honk or a wave which of course will warm my heart and keep those pedals moving!!
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