Anne's Great Bicycle Adventure for Cancer

Just thought you might like to hear about my big ride. I just joined the forums recently because I did not know they were out here!! It has been such a help to read all the hints. Even though I have ridden for two years, I have learned so much.

I learned about WomanTours from a lady on a cycling trip to Italy last spring. They have one cross country ride each year, the Southern Tier, and she had done it at the age of 72. So, at 57, I thought I would sign up! I have been training whenever possible outside (cold and sleety right now!!) but mostly spinning. I am doing this ride for the benefit of the Wellmont Hospice House in Bristol, TN and for the Tri-Cities Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. (the Komen Foundation just celebrated their 25th anniversary with a name and logo change!) The ride begins in 5 short weeks in San Diego and is 58 days long, with 8 rest days and 4 centuries during the 2 months. I am feeling really good, and really excited about my fundraising efforts. I have raised over $2000 already. I am now talking to lots of groups, putting up posters and trying to make sure that lots of people know about my website where I have a blog and a place to donate. If anyone is inclined to see why I am doing this, then see

http://www.grahamcam.com/annesbicyclejournal

I hope you might be able to give me a few other ideas for fundraising. Thank you.

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Originally Posted by AnnieBikes

I hope you might be able to give me a few other ideas for fundraising. Thank you.

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If only I had that kinda time off :o I only get a little over a month, 5 weeks when you add up holidays but not enough to do that ride.

Lots of tips here, good luck!

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...ht=fundraising

You might also give your local Team Survivor a call and ask if they have any fundraising tips specific to your area. (events to hang out at, places to put up fundraising posters, potential sponsors)

www.teamsurvivor.org

Team Survivor has to do a good deal of fundraising to keep itself going, so they might have some ideas.

Thank you for the suggestions. I found many on the site and I am MOST appreciative. :) Please consider passing my website to anyone you know who might like to see what I am doing! It was almost funny coming back and reading the post this morning and realizing that it really is ME doing this adventure!!!

Well, I am off on Wednesday to begin my cross country ride! I have raised over $10000 so far and I have not even started riding. I am excited, scared, and ready!! Wish me luck!!! Thanks!:)

Well, I am on the road in Texas now and have been riding since March 9th. We are having beautiful weather. Please check out my ride blog.

www.grahamcam.com/annesbicyclejournal

wow, an epic adventure happening in real time!

How did I miss this post earlier? A friend of mine is on that trip, and a friend of hers is sending out periodic updates on their progress. I just read the whole blog and have a new appreciation for climbing, winds, and long rides.

Gee I thought I had a hard ride today - 31 miles in 20-25mph winds (mostly headwinds of course) but this pales in comparison to what these women are doing. Amazing!

I am on the Southern Tier Trip with 28 other women over the age of 50 and we have two 70 year olds on the trip with us. Check out my blog. We are having a wonderful trip. There have been some very difficult days on this trip but we are doing well. See the post for April 7th. It was freezing. And in Arizona a few weeks earlier it was 110 degrees. We have seen it all and will have an experience that will last a lifetime. Start saving now for this incredible trip. I will never regret the two months I am taking from my life for this trip.

Yes, there are hard days, but the people we have met, the random people who have donated to my cause, and the scenery are unbelievable. It is just a great time.

Check out my website for pictures and blog entries for the entire route. Go to Archives and click on each day to get the different days of the ride.

http://www.grahamcam.com/annesbicyclejournal

Thank you for following my trip.

I've been following your blog, Anne, and am living vicariously through you. I'm so impressed with what you and the other women are doing. I'd love to do a ride like this--I'd probably do the northern route, since I'm not a huge fan of the desert--but am afraid I must wait until I retire, which isn't for several years.

I hope the wind is at your back for the rest of the trip.

Wow!! That's amazing! I'd love to do something like that some day! Good for you!!

Well, here I am in High Springs, FL, two days away from St. Augustine and I am amazed at what I have done in the past 56 days. We are all ready to be home with loved ones but savor each day. Today we had a wonderful picnic and swim in the springs at Ichetucknee Springs State Park near High Springs, FL. What a joy that was in the heat today!

On Thursday, we will have a police escort the last five miles of the ride and our two seventy year old riders will lead the group over the Bridge of Lions and to Anastasia State Park where we will dip our front wheels in the Atlantic Ocean. I can't wait. I am sure that it will be a very emotional moment for each and every one of us. It has been such a wonderful experience. I highly recommend doing this trip with a group of women since they are all in it like you are, are all very supportive, and are going through all the same things that you are!

Thanks for all the kind words. I have really loved this trip and don't know when I will ever have this experience again.

Wow. That's wonderful, Annie.

Hi all,

My Southern Tier fund-raising ride last March-April-May was so successful ($51,236.58) that I am going to do another one. This year I am going to ride the Underground Railroad Route from Mobile, AL to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, about 2000 miles starting in May. My website is the same

http://www.grahamcam.com/annesbicyclejournal

It is not quite completely updated yet. My son is working on the banner pictures and the name of the ride! It all takes time with a new baby in the house for him.

Anyway, I am spinning now since it has been really cold. I got in alot of outdoor rides right after Christmas but now it is cold, windy and either rainy, sleety, or otherwise unrideable. I guess that is the case in lots of parts of the country.

I appreciate all the great suggestions I got from various people last year and all the wonderful support for my causes. I will again be riding for the Wellmont Hospice House in Bristol, TN. They are fantastic.

Ride, Annie, Ride!!

Well, three weeks from today I will be leaving for Mobile, AL and starting my Underground RR Ride. I have had several articles written in the various publications so that was exciting.

http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tr...4-15-0024.html

Now the group I am riding for...Wellmont Hospice House is trying to get me on TV! I did that last year and it was fun.

Check out my updated website. http://www.grahamcam.com/annesbicyclejournal

Anne, I'm looking forward to following you on your next adventure. I checked your blog every day last year, and you've inspired me to do the Womantours XC trip when I retire. (I did my century last year with Bobbie--I hope I remember her name correctly--who did the Southern Tier with you.)

Have a fun, safe trip!

and on a related note I was supposed to be riding with Bobbie tomorrow at the Ocean to Bay ride. Only problem is that she made it back from Bike Florida, but her bike was delayed and she's bikeless right now. I offered her one of mine, but they are all way too big for her.

Bobbi was so much fun to ride with last year. She went to Florida to ride with one of our other ST ladies. They had alot of fun, I hear. Sure is a pain to have to ship a bicycle, especially when it does not arrive home when you NEED it!

Thank you for following my blog, diving biker, and glad to hear you are going to ride the ST after you retire. It is a fantastic challenge and one that several women did as they celebrated their retirement. There are also several who are going to do the Underground Railroad who have recently retired. To be on the road and to ride every day, see the country, and savor the history is my idea of the perfect trip, except that I miss my hubby very much. When HE retires, we are going to do some self supported touring. He is envious of all the fun I have been having.

Go Anne, go. keep us posted. I'd love to do that entire route and be able to.

Trek 420, you CAN do it. It is NOT about the bike...it is about believing that you can make it and you will. I truly believe that you can do anything that you set out to do if you have a positive attitude. After I got home from my cross country ride, I was so surprised to get quite a few calls to speak to different groups. Me? Public speaking? I actually ended up speaking 12 times to various size groups, from 15 to 400!! I never thought I could do that! I ended nearly every one of my talks with these points:

1. My journey started at my house, with a bike ride for eight miles. I was not sure I would get back home!

2. Remember the power of a POSITIVE attitude. A negative attitude gets you NO WHERE.

3. No REGRETS--don't ever pass up the opportunity to do something you want to do, because you might never get another chance (make it happen to ride across the country)

4. Take a chance--dream fulfillment starts with a decision and you have to make the dream happen.

5. Thank your supporters.

Well, I leave tomorrow for Mobile, AL for my 2000 mile ride on the Underground Railroad Route. I am excited, a bit nervous, ready, and want to RIDE!!!

Keep my safety in your prayers (and all 30 of the women going on this trip).

Thank you.

www.grahamcam.com/annesbicyclejournal

Have a great trip, Anne, and be safe. I'll be reading your blog and wishing I were with you on the trip!

Anne, I've been reading your journal from last year's cross country ride. You're so inspiring. I hope you have a wonderful trip! Happy tailwinds, and no flats to you!

Thanks for your note, red. Yesterday was the hardest ride I have ever had. i felt that I had very adequate water, food, fruit, etc and did not bonk but had really bad cramping of my legs at mile 70-90. But, I am riding for hospice and I thought about what those families are going through, and I rode on. I definitely wanted to quit!!! Alot of people sagged in and I was not the last one to ride in so I guess I should not whine!!!

Our ending point is in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, in six days!! It has been a wonderful, difficult, fun, exciting, trip! See my journal at

:)

Hi all, My son, who was hosting my website is moving and his server will be down for a bit. So, to access my journal for the Underground Railroad Ride that I did this spring click here.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/2...groundRailroad

Thank you for all your comments and support during my ride.