The weather was perfect (NO rain!) and we had a great time riding together for 25 miles. The kids never complained and had fun. Thanks to Jamel, Adrienne, Stephen, Tyler, Chuck and Emma for flying in from out-of-town to be part of the team. Thanks to Brian and Leah for transporting bikes. Thanks to cousin Tyler (working in Boston for the summer) for joining us (and being a big hit with the girls). Thanks to Rick for driving up from Brooklyn and for a delicious meal after the Ride. Thanks to Jenn for joining us and showing great endurance through 25 miles! Thanks to Zoe for joining our team for the first time. Thanks to Tadd for being the life of the party. Thanks to Brian for riding the 11th time as part of Patton's Army (he is the charter member). And thanks to everyone for their support!
At about mile 22 two volunteers were cheering us on and giving high-fives. I rode near one of them and gave a high-five and tears started rolling down my cheeks when I thought about the hundreds of people involved in the Ride today and that each person had a connection to brain tumors. To quote Emma "it's much harder to have a brain tumor so we shouldn't complain about riding twenty five miles."
It really was a great day.
[Thanks to Stephen Prince for the photos]
12 comments:
Whoa, what a great looking team of bikers!
Especially you ep, you're lookin' fly!
...and thanks to Ellen for being the Captain of Patton`s Army!
Congratulations to you all! Well done!
I'm so glad your ride went well! I was thinking of you. And to Emma...truer words were never spoken.
I'm so sad that I wasn't able to ride with you guys this year. Next year, I'll be there for sure! I'm looking forward to the girls take on things though!
love it, love it, love it. :) Congratulations!
That looks like it was too fun. But not easy. TWENTY FIVE MILES? OK, I did a 25 mile ride in the hills of Solvang (hubby and friends did the 50 mile course) once and I KNOW it's not a short ride. (Downhill is more fun than uphill) ... but it still looks like you guys had a great time.
Loved Emma's perspective on it.
Good job Captain!
Looking forward to the kids' reports.
Way to go! It's so great that the kids are involved in this bike for a cause close to home. Love the pyramid pic!
Way to go Team Patton!!!
I'm not certain, but those volunteers at mile 22 may very well have been me and my girlfriend Traci (we had the ridiculous Canadian flag chairs). I'm thrilled to hear that our encouragement made a difference - sometimes it's hard to tell! We found out about this event a little late, and so we didn't ride, but next year we should be up for a good 25 miles.
And as for Emma's thoughts, don't sell your own efforts short. I'm a survivor with a brain tumor (in fact, I was on chemo while volunteering yesterday) and I honestly haven't suffered that much. There's very little pain involved in having a tumor (at least for me) and my issues tend to be fairly black-and-white: it'll either kill me or it won't. In the meantime, life goes on. The stress on my friends and family is much greater than it is on me.
So, when it comes to making sacrifices, riding for 25 miles is probably more physically draining than what I'm going through. It's also incredibly touching. I know I'm going to beat this thing (or die trying!) but it's a wonderful feeling to see hundreds of people rooting for me, even if they don't know me at all. Thank you.
Mark
Good for you! Glad you had a great ride for a very worthy cause!
Those last few miles were killer! Thanks for your encouragement at the end....I think it was the only way I was going to finish!
What an awesome expericance. I am still impressed by everyone on Patton's Army.
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