As I sit at the counter of my kitchen, looking out the window at the thunderclouds roll in – it hits me…I’m genuinely upset that I can’t get on my bike today and ride. Seriously! Months ago when Mom and I agreed to the challenge of riding 100 miles around Lake Tahoe, we were driven by the mission of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the idea of helping others, but falling in love with riding hadn’t even crossed our minds.
This week Mom is on a cruise with Dad and instead of worrying about what to pack and planning the fun excursions they can take, she was upset about not riding for a week. I had to reassure her that there would be a stationary bike in the gym of the ship to get her packing. Crazy!
These past few weeks of training haven’t been easy either. Coach Bryan keeps upping the mileage and bridge climbs. This past weekend it was 60 miles battling a brutal crosswind (it almost knocked Mom over a few times) and some intense heat. However, with as hard as it was, Mom and I made it with smiles on our faces. Even before we were home, Mom was already talking about our next ride. Our muscles hadn’t even had a chance to cool-down yet!
With as hard as we’ve been training, we’ve been fundraising even harder. Currently, we have an online jewelry sale with Stella & Dot where 20% of sales for the month of April will be donated to LLS. The stuff is extremely cute! 2 weeks ago, my sister joined our training and charity ride to take photos of various riders. She’s offering a wonderful discount for Team in Training and donating ALL proceeds! This coming weekend, our dear friends in Tampa are going to participate in a community garage sale with a bunch of our stuff as inventory. Again, all proceeds will be donated.
The crème de la crème was this past Saturday! Jimmy Buffett was bringing his music back home with a tour stop at the South Florida Fairgrounds. There is a large population of Parrotheads (Buffett fans) in South Florida since Jimmy lives here and based a lot of his songs on our surroundings. Like in football, tailgating is tradition for attending a Jimmy Buffett concert. Knowing this, our teammates decided to fundraise by offering Jell-O Shots, Fun Rum Shots, leis and grass skirts in exchange for donations to LLS. It was an absolute blast!
We split up into 2 teams – Team Alcohol and Team Leis. My team was Team Alcohol (surprise, surprise) and we scoured the tailgate for revelers to partake in our Jell-O Shots and Fun Rum Shots. Easy enough with the Buffett crowd! The support was overwhelming for both Teams and we ended up raising over $1000 for the group.
Next up we have 65 miles with the TNT Team this Saturday and more fundraising. We are 50% there!
