Rally Across America

Until Next Year...

2009-08-07T10:58:00.024-05:00

This illustration was designed by Michael, one of the cyclist, and it clearly depicts the 2009 RAA Team beautifully! Below are quotes from each RAA team member wrapping up our experience and putting our final thoughts down until next year! Speaking from the entire team, we are all looking forward to this journey next year!

"I knew what my expectations were in regards to planning and coordinating this 10-day, 1,000 mile bike tour, but I did not expect to develop a passion for the Rally Foundation," said RAA Team Leader Magan. "This experience has taught me that there is so much I can do in this world to help people who are in need! I cannot wait for RAA 2010, so we can gain more awareness and raise even more money for childhood cancer research!"

"Rally Across America gives you the opportunity to raise money for childhood cancer research, meet the kids and families affected by childhood cancer, and meet the doctors and researchers responsible for their treatment and future," said Claire Rally Kid Coordinator and support car driver. "It's more than a fundraiser or a cycling trip - it becomes a way of life, making you want to do everything you can to find a cure for childhood cancer."

"It was truly an honor...or the least I could do for such a great cause," said RAA cyclist Michael. " My favorite part of the entire experience was seeing the faces of the kids light up. I truly look up to the Rally Foundation for the great things they do, and the smiles they put on the faces of our future. I'm so grateful for being able to get involved with this amazing foundation!"

"This biking trip was a life changing experience, I was able to touch lives and meet beautiful people," said RAA cyclist Jai. "I thank God and pray that I will always be able to give myself to such worthy causes and assist where my help is needed. The support of the Rally Foundation, our team leaders and the families & friends we met was an essential component of this journey.I'm very thankful to have been a part of this worthy cause."

Rally On!

Magan, Claire, Michael & Jai

Outtakes for RAA 2009 Tour

2009-08-07T08:00:00.029-05:00

Below are numerous images that are both random and somewhat amusing! The Team hopes you enjoy!

(We LOVE Chick-fil-A!)

(Good Luck was displayed to us in all shapes and forms.)

(Don't mess with us!)

(Wow, how many "Do Not Enter" signs does one intersection possibly need?)

(The infamous goody bag assembly line!)

(Our NY stop would not have been complete without this picture!)

(Old School GPS at its FINEST!)

(Helloooo Girls!)

(Wow!!)

(Priceless...)

(The closest we will get to seeing Michael and Jai in a dress!)

(Sounds like FUN, we are sad that we are going to miss it!)

(We were determined to bike 1,000 miles for childhood cancer research!)

Videos

2009-08-02T14:46:00.008-05:00

Here are a few videos from our trip to check out!

Edra was excited about the RAA team coming to visit her!

Off the Road Again

2009-08-01T19:54:00.004-05:00

In its first 3 years, the Rally Foundation has awarded $1 million in 39 research grants for childhood cancer research at 22 institutions across the country! We have partnered with several other childhood cancer non-profits in order to co-fund promising research, and one of these partners is the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. Rally and Alex's recently awarded a research grant to Dr. Miles at Children's National Medical Center in Washington DC, and the Rally Across America team had the opportunity to participate in a check presentation on Friday morning.

Here is the Rally Across America team presenting the check to Dr. Miles with Jay Scott, Alex's dad, from the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. Luckily, Jay brought the check with him because as you can see, we did not have any room in our car! (This was taken after we had gotten rid of a few things!)

We had a wonderful time talking to Dr. Miles and her colleagues, Dr. Newman and Dr. Sandler, over breakfast and were excited to learn more about their exciting research! Dr. Newman, a fellow cyclist, loaned us his DC area cycling route guide (circa 1980s), and he promised that he and Dr. Sandler would cycle with the RAA team next year! Dr. Sandler is not yet a cyclist, but that has never stopped anyone from joining Rally Across America!

We left goody bags for the kids being treated for cancer at DC Children's, and then we went to Georgetown University Hospital for our last hospital visit. The kids there loved the goody bags just as much as the kids at the other 5 hospitals that the team visited this year, and we look forward to visiting kids again next year!

Friday afternoon we loaded everyone and everything back into the car to drive to the last destination of our trip. The 5 hour drive from DC to Greensboro, NC actually took 7 1/2 hours due to rain and traffic, but the important thing is that we finally made it!

This morning we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast thanks to Claire's aunt and uncle, and then got back into the car one last time. We arrived back in Atlanta this afternoon very thankful for how well the trip went, how many new friends we made, and how much money we raised for childhood cancer research! Amazingly, we had no flat tires, no car trouble, no injuries, and we made it to all of our hospital visits and events on time! Actually, Jai had car trouble when we got back to Atlanta and found out his car battery was dead, but it was an easy fix and we weren't supposed to be back in Atlanta until tomorrow anyway.

Thank you for all of your support this year! Don't forget to check back for the "out takes" blog post...coming soon...and don't forget to order t-shirts from Claire@rallyfoundation.org!

Rally On!
Claire, Magan, Michael, and Jai

All Good Things Have to Come to an End

2009-07-31T22:04:00.002-05:00

A change in plans found us finished with our DC events a day early, so we packed up the car and headed out of DC this afternoon. After driving in the rainy Friday afternoon DC traffic, we made it to Claire's aunt's house in Greensboro, NC to spend the night. We're looking forward to starting tomorrow morning with a hearty breakfast before drivng the rest of the way back to Atlanta.

We'll do a longer update tomorrow with pictures from today, and we also have an "out takes" blog planned with lots of pictures you haven't seen yet. So stay tuned for more final posts from the 2009 Rally Across America team, and be sure to email Claire@rallyfoundation.org to order some t-shirts!

Rally On!
Claire, Magan, Jai, and Michael

Simply DC: Our Brains are Fried

2009-07-30T22:06:00.007-05:00

Today seemed like a blur… not sure if it was the 135 miles on the heated, rolling hills towards Washington, DC or the unpacking and unloading of the car for the fourth time this week or getting locked outside of our host home? We feel like we are literally moving into a new place on a daily basis, but just can’t seem to make up our minds of where to permanently reside.

Needless to say, today was filled with oceanic scenery, sail boats and yachts of all sizes, some generous strangers in the suburbs carrying a goldfish in one hand and four cherry Popsicles in the other, a pit stop to Taco Bell, a tour of the historic monuments of DC, and cuisine Thai food provided by our tour guide, Mary Beth. This is our day in a nutshell, if anything does not make sense, which I'm sure half of it will not, feel free to ask questions, we will be glad to clear any confusion.

We are off to sleep to rest up for our remaining 150 miles, hospital visits and check presentation with Alex's Lemonade Stand tomorrow!

Rally On,

Magan, Claire, Michael & Jai

T-shirts!

2009-07-30T11:30:00.002-05:00

We have a limited number of 2009 Rally Across America t-shirts left to sell this year. This year's shirts were designed by Michael, one of the cyclists. Please help us sell all of our t-shirts and get closer to our goal of raising $75,000! T-shirts are only $15 (including shipping) - think of it as a great way to make a donation and have something to remember Rally Across America 2009!Front of t-shirt

Back of T-shirt

If you would like to order a t-shirt (or several!), please email Claire@rallyfoundation.org with the size (youth and adult sizes available), quantity, your name, and address.

Rally On!
T-shirt Team

Meet the 2009 Team!

2009-07-30T07:30:00.000-05:00

Here is a post that we posted a few days ago, but for some reason it showed up as a much earlier post and I don't think anyone saw it!
___________________

We never really introduced our blog readers to the 2009 Rally Across America team...so here we are!

This year we have three new riders, and by new, we mean new to Rally and new to cycling!

(Magan's new motto: Bike, Train, Live)

Magan is a recent graduate of Kennesaw State University and is this year's Rally Across America Team Leader. In addition to interning in the Rally Foundation office this summer, she has been training for the ride! She has been training the longest of the RAA team members - she started cycling in May : )

Michael is a graphic designer and is originally from South Africa. He became excited about the cause and decided to join the team as well, and he and his iphone are a great addition to the team!

Jai is also a graphic designer and is originally from Ghana. Magan and Michael told him so much about the Rally Kids and Rally Across America, that he had to join the team too!

Claire is the Rally Kid Coordinator and has been involved with Rally Across America since the beginning. She drives the support car and her expertise includes figuring out how to cram everything into the back of the support car.

Rain, Rain Go Away...

2009-07-29T21:50:00.008-05:00

After roughly 5 hours of sleep, we started our morning off with a pleasant alarm clock at 6:08a.m. (strange time, but Michael insisted). As we dragged out of the hotel room towards the lobby at a very slow pace, we managed to fuel up on cereal, waffles and juice, just enough to hold us over until after our hospital visit to CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia). Today's hospital visit was and will always be memorable, from the warm greeting of Ed Flood, who was with the hospital foundation, to the shy smiles of the kids in the hospital, we will continue to keep this day forever close to our hearts! We were welcomed by all the families and children in the hospital and reminded why we are biking 1,000 miles for childhood cancer research.

After our visit to the hospital, the excitement continued as we tracked down a Bank of America to make our deposit of nearly $7,000 for the Rally Foundation. We left the bank invigorated and on a mission to raise more over the remainder of our journey! After circling the city nearly four times, we finally found our way to the proper highway to travel towards the beginning of our biking route, which was located in Newark, DE. Once we arrived at the location, we unloaded our gear and began cycling! It was filled with flat roads, a convenient bike lane, and flowing traffic until we crossed the state line into Maryland, that was pretty amazing I might add!

It was not too much longer after proudly crossing the state line when the mean, dark clouds began to roll in, the thunder started to roar and sprinkles of water began to come down, that we had to pack-up and get in the car with Claire. Luckily we had the opportunity to visit the waterfront and gain some warm welcomes from the historic community!

As Claire carefully navigated through the rain-filled streets of Maryland, we began to brainstorm about which city to head towards as we trekked to Washington, DC. That is when we looked at the atlas and decided on Annapolis, where Michael's dad Keith donated us a room at the "fancy-schmancy" Hilton. The van Tonder generosity did not end after the accommodations, it continued through dinner to a local favorite called "The Boatyard," where the bill was paid by Michael.

We are now off to bed and will catch up with you later tomorrow after we arrive in Arlington, VA!

Rally On,

Magan, Claire, Michael & Jai

Eatin' in Easton

2009-07-28T23:40:00.005-05:00

After we enjoyed our last authentic NYC bagels, we loaded everything up to head to Easton, PA for our next event. You would probably think that with printed MapQuest directions, a Garmin GPS, and an iPhone, we wouldn't have any problems navigating, but you would be wrong. Sometimes, roads look like they would be good for biking until you get to them. Anyway, we eventually made it to Easton in time to meet the Easton Rally Kid Nicholas and his mom Michelle, event organizer extraordinaire!

We took some pictures outside with the bikes before heading into the room that was donated for us at the brand new TownePlace Suites by Marriott. We are the first people to stay in our room - maybe even the first hotel guests period - and we are being treated like royalty!

After showers and organizing, it was time o head to the Easton Applebees for the Rally Across America fundraiser. The restaurant staff came outside for their staff meeting just as the Rally Across America team rode into the parking lot. The timing was perfect, just like the rest of the event.

The event included food, drinks, live music, and several Rally families. A huge thanks to the Applebees staff for donating their tips and throwing all of their energy into encouraging patrons to donate. Both winners of the 50-50 raffle donated their winnings back to RAA. It was amazing to see the community come together in support of the Rally Foundation and childhood cancer research!

The first RAA team rode in honor of Luke in Philadelphia in 2006, and Luke's mom and aunt came to the event to support this year's RAA team. The 2006 RAA team met Parker and his family in his Philadelphia hospital room soon after he was diagnosed, and Parker's parents and sister Abby came out to the event to rally in his memory. This year, the RAA team rode in Easton in honor of Rally Kid Nicholas, who came to the restaurant to introduce people to his new girlfriend Magan.

The event was a HUGE success - raising over $1400!!!! - and we can't wait to do it again next year. Thank you to the Applebees district manager, restaurant managers, and staff; the Konish, Lutz, and Ronco families; and the Easton community for all of their support!!

Rally On!

Claire, Magan, Michael, and Jai

Meet Easton Rally Kid Nicholas!

2009-07-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

Nicholas was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on Valentine's Day 2008 at the age of three. His diagnosis was devastating to his family, but he has amazed everyone with how well he has done in his treatment so far. He loves Thomas the Train, Sponge Bob, and trucks. His new love is boxing!

Nicholas lives in Pennsylvania with his Mommy, Daddy, and dog Chase. His Mom shares, "He will finish treatment in April 2011, and we pray that the rest of his treatment goes as well as it has so far. He is the strongest and most courageous boy we know."

Whirlwind of a Day

2009-07-27T22:34:00.011-05:00

Our itinerary today had 5 stops!

First Stop: Vineyard Vines. This morning we visited the headquarters of one of our wonderful sponsors, Vineyard Vines, in Stamford, CT. We were excited to tell them about our ride over breakfast, and we had a whale-y good time! We are so thankful for all of their support and look forward to doing a ride with them on Martha's Vineyard next summer. Then it was back to New York City - by car, since the team biked from NYC to Stamford the day before - for 2 hospital visits and a tour of a lab.

Second Stop: Visit the kids at Columbia University Medical Center. After successfully navigating the streets of NYC, we made it to Columbia to visit the kids at the oncology clinic. We were able to give out 55 goody bags to the kids there. They were all excited to hear about the Rally Foundation and see all the fun things from our sponsors, like Vineyard Vines hats and Aflac ducks. Third Stop: Irving Cancer Research Center at Columbia University. I'm pretty sure that no one has ever taken a bicycle into the childhood cancer research lab at Columbia, and it's probably against some OSHA guideline, but we definitely did it any way. We met with Dr. Adolfo Ferrando, a Rally Research Grant recipient, who is researching leukemia. He gave us a great tour of the lab and explained all about his research.

Fourth Stop: Visit the kids at NYU Medical Center. By the time we made it to the pediatric oncology clinic at NYU, it was getting pretty late in the day and there weren't too many people there, but we were able to hand out some goody bags, and I'm sure that the kids tomorrow will be very excited to get the goody bags too! Then it was time to load the bike back up and get everyone back in the car (for the 4th time today!) and drive to Staten Island. We left at the start of rush hour, just as it was starting to rain,but that just meant that we got to enjoy some more people watching before we left NYC!

Fifth Stop: Maddon family in Staten Island. The 2006 RAA team stayed with Rally Kid Zachary's family 3 years ago soon after he was diagnosed with leukemia. Now, Zachary has finished chemo and is doing great! We have had a great evening of eating and playing with the Maddon family and will be sad to leave them in the morning!

Now we are off to sleep because we have a full day ahead of us tomorrow. A few hours of riding followed by an 8 hour fundraiser!

Rally On!

Claire, Magan, Michael, and Jai

Meet NYC Rally Kid Zachary!

2009-07-27T08:00:00.001-05:00

Zachary is a sweet and loving boy who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) on November 15, 2005. He has been in remission since early December 2005 and has taken chemotherapy daily for the past 3.5 years, in addition to enduring numerous bone marrow aspirations, lumbar punctures and blood transfusions. He never complains and is brave and wise beyond his years.

In July of 2006, his family had the distinct honor of hosting the Rally Across America team during their ride through NYC. Zachary started school in September 2006 and although he is frequently absent, he very much enjoys his time there when he is able to attend, Some of Zachary's favorite things are riding his ATV, Pokemon, Digimon, Dinosaurs and spending time with his brother Jonathan and sister Lauren.

Zachary and his family are confident that once Zachary's cancer is cured his leukemia journey will be just another snapshot in a miraculous life. The cure rate of Zachary's cancer jumped from 40% to75% in two decades due to the generosity of our predecessors who supported pediatric cancer research, but a 75% cure rate is not good enough. Please consider making a donation to help find a 100% cure!

Greenwich Expedition

2009-07-26T23:30:00.001-05:00

Ahhhhh Yes! Sunday Morning and its time to leave Manhattan, New York and head toward Greenwich, Connecticut. Here we come! But first we made a stop at one of the zillion deli's in New York, conveniently located across the street of our host's home. A few bagels, some juice, & muffins made our breakfast complete. So its on the road again!

As we escaped the Sunday morning traffic...wait?! Sunday Morning Traffic? We hear the famous JLo was shooting a movie scene in Manhattan, probably the cause for the gridlock. After finding a suitable place to begin our cycle into Connecticut like three conquistadors on a mission, Find La Quinta! *Cue Spanish Guitar*

Traveling through historic sections and the rolling hills of this new area, it was very apparent we weren't in Kansas anymore..or um NY. We've landed in Greenwich. The small boutiques, shops, timeless homes and small lakes with boat docks provided beautiful scenery as we trekked towards our destination. Such gorgeous weather and scenery definitely had us in high spirits.
We cleared the long distance enthusiastically.

We Made It.

Time to unload, unwind, and celebrate with...Yes, exactly what you think we'd celebrate with...Gourmet PB&J! After a small collaboration, still teaming with excitement, another ride was in order. Thus, Michael found a 25-mile back country route that was an absolute shocker once we departed.

The second trail we chose to take on today, unknowingly, began with almost 11 miles of steep hills. Actually hills is an understatement. These were "mini-mountains". Almost every road was named "Something-Hill", one was even called "Burying Hill"! After climbing a few, we understood and scanned the area for bike remains but only found faded tombstones. But as we persevered thru the tough beginning, it paid off because the scenery was excellent. Beautiful lush fields, voluminous cedar trees, rolling pastures, luxurious...and i mean grand estates were at every turn and curve. Indeed it was quite a paradox of a ride. The most beautiful views and the most difficult ride yet!!
But we did it!!

Wheeewww... right in time to miss a short storm. A little celebration dance we loaded up the car quick and headed back to the base. FOOOOOODDDD. A quick shower, burgers at the diner a stone throw away, and a few preparations for tomorrow concluded our evening.

Rally On!
Michael, Jai, Magan, and Claire

A Taste of New York

2009-07-25T23:52:00.001-05:00

Well, I'm delighted to inform everyone that today the Rally Team was working off of 8+ beautiful sleeping hours...more than the first 2 nights combined! I don't know if it was the additional sleep or the fast-paced streets of NYC, but the Team seemed to be in a trance today, but we were still extremely productive.

(Rally Across America team with Helen, Volunteer Manager at the Ronald McDonald House)

Our day was filled with delicious NY bagels, a traditional NY deli experience, the beginning of a beautiful relationship with the Ronald McDonald House, 30 miles in the bustling Central Park, an authentic Thai meal which was quite tasty and might I add that the Team was excited to make a transition from Chick-fil-A...to top everything off we joined one of Claire's high school friends for some delicious dessert at the esteemed Magnolia Bakery...it was Magan's favorite meal of the day.

We are now off to sleep with an attempt to gain another great night's sleep, hopefully we will be bragging tomorrow about 8+ hours. We will be in route to Greenwich, CT tomorrow morning, so we will touch base with all of you later tomorrow. Happy reading and thanks for all of your support as we rally for childhood cancer research!

Rally On,
Magan, Michael, Jai, and Claire

New York Time

2009-07-24T23:05:00.001-05:00

We started off with an early morning radio interview on Raleigh's WQDR 94.7, which was broadcasting live from Chick-fil-A. After some delicious Chick-fil-A biscuits, we told their Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area listeners about Rally Across America, and then we were off to the hospital.

The kids at NC Children's Hospital were curious about the bicycle and spandex-clad cyclists, but they were all excited about the goody bags filled with fun stuff from our sponsors - vineyard vines and Aflac. We gave out 35 goody bags to the kids there fighting childhood cancer, and then we were off to lunch!

Bob, founder of PAC2, and Jane from St. Baldrick's took us to a great lunch at a local Chapel Hill favorite. Sweet potato french fries...sweet! Then it was time to hit the road for New York City!

Our 9 hour drive turned into a much longer one since we hit the south side of DC at 4:55pm on a Friday afternoon.....that explains this late night post..... NYC is a challenging place to drive, but it's even more challenging when you have 3 bikes on the back of your SUV and you can't see out the rear-view mirror due to all of the stuff in the car! Living in Atlanta has given us a good training for driving in traffic with crazy drivers, but Michael did an exceptional job of navigating the Friday night crowd in NYC. We all swear that Michael was a taxi cab driver in a former life.

After a late-night bite of New York pizza, we returned to our host home to blog and are hoping to get to sleep soon! Rally Across America has a great way of bringing people back together - it is amazing who you will call to ask for donations or to ask if they can host you. Tonight we are staying with family friends of Magan's whom she hasn't seen in 15 years!

Tomorrow we have a more relaxed day planned, and we're looking forward to visiting the NYC Ronald McDonald House.

Rally On!
Magan, Michael, Jai, and Claire

Meet Raleigh Rally Kid Brittany!

2009-07-23T21:00:00.002-05:00

Vibrant, energetic, beautiful, athletic, courageous…that was Brittany from day one. At 19, she was the picture of health and on her way to the future of her dreams. Brittany was a college sophomore, a gymnast and a coach. Until September 2006. At first, the nagging cough and lethargy was more a nuisance than a concern, but after 2 months of various doctors, diagnoses, and medications, an open lung biopsy was finally done. Three days later Brittany was diagnosed with a lung cancer so rare in her age bracket that a leading cancer center had only four cases total in their records.

A double lung transplant looked to be her only option, but the cancer was very aggressive and she began declining very quickly. Soon, due to her decline and the unusual nature of this cancer, the transplant was no longer an option and she was to be treated with a new targeted chemotherapy drug that had shown some quick results in clinical trials. However, the cancer didn’t respond as quickly as we had hoped, and she just didn’t have the amount of time needed for the treatment to take effect. Three weeks after being diagnosed, Brittany lost her battle with lung cancer.

Brittany’s mom writes, “This beautiful young lady, not quite 20, was a fighter right up until the end. A role model of grace and dignity, she’s left a wonderful legacy for her siblings and friends to follow. Our prayers now are that her legacy lives on through us. Brittany’s Battle is far from over…we are fighting on until the day NO ONE has to fight anymore.”

Magan, Michael, and Jai riding through Raleigh with Joel in memory of Brittany

On the Road Again!

2009-07-23T18:09:00.006-05:00

The 2009 Rally Across America team saw the sunrise from the interstates of Atlanta this morning. INTERSTATES?!?! No, we weren't riding our bicycles on the interstate - we are driving up to New York City to begin the Rally Across America tour there.

Our first stop was Joe Gibbs Racing outside of Charlotte, NC. After touring the impressive facility, we met with JD Gibbs, whose son Taylor has leukemia.

Joe Gibbs was having a book signing of his newly released Game Plan for Life, so of course we stopped by to meet him and he thanked us for what we are doing for kids like his grandson.

After squeezing back into the car - which was even tighter now with four new books - we started the PB&J assembly line. After Michael and Jai carefully crafted six delicious PB&J sandwiches, we quickly devoured them and got on the road to Raleigh, NC. Soon we will be joining a local cycling club for an evening ride before heading to our Raleigh host family. Tonight the team will be riding in memory of Rally Kid Brittany.

Be sure to go to http://twitter.com/rallyfoundation and follow the Rally Across America team on Twitter!

Rally On!
Claire, Magan, Michael, and Jai

The Aftermath of Tour de Harrison

2009-06-24T14:52:00.004-05:00

(Myself with the brilliant scientist Dr. Adolfo Ferrando)

Well, our trip to Richmond, Va. was well worth the 20 hours in the car over the course of 3 days! The weekend was filled with amazing family ties, an educational scientist, delicious food and a 10-mile family bike ride through the quaint streets of Richmond.

The successful event included more than 200 patrons, 150 bike riders and100 burritos. We even raised more than $16,983 in donations...what more could you ask for?

This event was an eye-opening experience; the 3-day trip truly transformed my world. I came back to Woodstock, Ga. with a better understanding of life and how much it has to offer!

I'm looking forward to visiting the Strickler family again next Father's Day. If you did not have a chance to attend the annual event this year, go ahead and mark your calendar for June 20, 2010!

Rally On!

Venture to Tour de Harrison

2009-06-18T08:14:00.013-05:00

Today I am packing up my car for the second annual Tour de Harrison ride in Richmond, Va. The event is taking place on Sunday, which is Father's Day, and will consist of a 10 mile bike ride to raise money for pediatric cancer research. All of the proceeds that are raised on Sunday will go straight to the Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research.

The money is being granted to Dr. Adolfo Ferrando from Columbia University, whose research is on NOTCH1 genes and their effect on T-cell leukemia. Dr. Ferrando is flying to Richmond from New York to join and support the Strickler family on this exciting day!

I will update you on the turn-out of this event when I return to Atlanta next week!

To make a general donation to the Tour de Harrison fund please visit http://www.tourdeharrison.com/.

Rally On!

Hailey The Rockstar

2009-06-12T12:09:00.007-05:00

Today, I had the opportunity to visit Hailey Ann Trainer who is one of our amazing Rally kids over at Scotish Rite Hospital. Hailey is fighting AT/RT, a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer. She has endured 7 rounds of chemo and is now preparing for radiation therapy in Florida.

Hailey was a little sleepy, but still managed to crack a smile every once in a while. Hailey has the most piercing blue eyes, the minute she looks at you, she wheels you in and you are hooked for life.

Hailey is a true Rockstar and is an inspiration to me to keep pedaling those miles and to strive to reach my goal of raising money and awareness for childhood cancer research!

Please support Hailey and her family by visiting their CaringBridge page at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/haileyanntrainer/mystory!

Rally On!

The Unseasoned Rider

2009-05-29T09:15:00.027-05:00

Hi Rally Community!

My name is Magan, I am this year's Rally Across America Team Leader. I am a recent college graduate on a new journey as a novice cyclist and event planner for the Rally Foundation.

I need everyone's support as I push myself to the max by biking across the nation to raise money for childhood cancer research. Starting in Washington, D.C. and ending in Martha's Vineyard, MA, my team and I hope to reach our goal of biking 1,000 miles and raising $75,000 in donations for childhood cancer research.

I am going on this expedition to show my family and friends the importance of coming together as one to help other people.

Depart on this journey with the Rally Across America Team by following us on our blog and seeing how you can support the team!

Rally On!

Making the News

2008-07-01T23:45:00.004-05:00

Last Saturday, we got to do a ride with Jacque Berger. Her brother is a childhood cancer survivor, and she went to school with us at Vanderbilt. This summer she has been working with an online college network called Palestra.net - they do videos about issues that relate to college students, and she put together this piece for us ...

To see the video on their website, click here.

Captain Rally's Helmet Cam

2008-06-29T01:47:00.000-05:00

Rally in Music City, Rally for Chicken, Rally Forever

2008-06-27T20:36:00.019-05:00

Staying last night in one of the finest apartments in the Music City, A, C and P were up early this morning, making the final push for the final events of Rally 2008. Vanderbilt Children's Hospital welcomed us and all of our goodie bags at about 9:15am this morning. We went up to the oncology floor and started meeting the kids.
We had a pleasant surprise when several members of the media showed up, including Nashville's local NBC station. NBC decided to extend their stay based on their interest in our story and we had some good coverage in the news tonight on Nashville's local NBC TV station on the 6:00 news. We saw several new faces as well as some familiar ones from years past, and we were once again amazed at the hospital's facilities and operations (some of us vividly remember the big hole in the ground that existed before the hospital was built). A couple of us even got to see Colin, one of our Rally kids for this year, who is still on the heels of his recent stem cell transplant, which has been apparently pretty successful so far. All in all it was a great final hospital visit for RAA 2008.

We left the hospital just in time to get to McDougal's (one of Nashville's finest restaurants to get all things chicken) and to get set up for the guests for our fundraiser there.
Colin's family was there in his honor, as was Joseph and his family, our other Rally kid for 2008. Matthew, our Rally kid from last year's Nashville fundraiser, was also there with his 3 brothers and his parents. We had several guests show up to help out and donate their time and money to the successful event - thanks to all of you.

By 2:00 almost all of our guests had gone and we realized that RAA 2008 had come to an end. We packed up and went back to Austin and Paul's apartment (which is newly furnished) to collect ourselves and relax a little bit. We ended the day at Nashville's finest mexican restaurant, La Hacienda, for some wonderful food and some reflective stories from the event.

Thanks to all who helped make this trip possible again this year - there are, happily, too many people involved in the success of RAA to thank individually here in this blog. We would, however, like to thank all of our hosts this year for allowing us to keep our costs down, which helps to ensure that your donation goes to fund as much research as possible. Another special thanks to Dean, Nicole and Lindley at the Rally Foundation for starting and maintaining what has turned out to be such a great force in so many peoples' lives - the families and individuals that we have seen during this trip affirm, over and over, that this is true.

And one more thanks to my teammates, Austin and Claire; thanks to Austin for using his creativity and perseverance to start and implement Rally Across America, and thanks to Claire for doing all sorts of groundwork for the trip this year and in years past. There is no telling how many hours these two have devoted to this cause (in addition to their full-time jobs) on a completely volunteer basis. Both have been nominated for and won Presidential Volunteer Service Awards for their work with Rally, and both have helped inspire people all over the nation with their hard work and their passion for accomplishing something great specifically to help others in need - just think what things would be like if EVERY recent college graduate did things like this. They are true role models and it was an honor for me to get to participate in such a great event with these friends of mine.

"Thanks, y'all!"

~Paul

Close to Home

2008-06-27T00:37:00.005-05:00

The day started with the addition of 2 team members who have been personally touched by childhood cancer. Terry rode in memory of his son Coulter, and Jacquie rode in honor of her brother Christopher.

After a scenic ride with Terry and Jacquie, we parted ways and continued heading towards Nashville. In anticipation of getting close to Nashville, Austin created the first ever Rally Across America helmet camera to record the ride down the steep descent of Mont Eagle. A strong thunderstorm with hail held us up for a while, but soon the sun was back out and we were back on the road to Nashville.

Once in Nashville, we met up with some local cyclists to ride the last leg of Rally Across America 2008. After unloading the Rally car at Austin and Paul's apartment, they were excited to take me to one of their favorite local restaurants. We later discovered that the gas prices in Nashville are not unlike the gas prices in the rest of the country that we have visited during our trip. One Nashville gas station advertised the price of gas like this:

Tomorrow morning we have our final hospital visit to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, followed by our final fundraiser event at McDougal's Chicken. We are looking forward to meeting our Nashville Rally Kids, Joseph and Colin, as well as seeing some of our Nashville Rally Kids from 2006 and 2007.

Rally On!
Claire

Fighting as a Team

2008-06-26T06:25:00.005-05:00

After last night's ride, we talked to the Frazier Cycling team about ways they could raise money in honor of their teammate, Russell. This week they are collecting change individually, and next week they are going to decide on a team fundraising goal ... check it out:

ATL: the "City of Rally"

2008-06-25T22:38:00.005-05:00

After a load of excitement yesterday, we caught a few extra winks of sleep this morning at Claire's parents' house. We went to lunch with Dean, Lindley, and Claire's mom (Nancy) at Slope's Barbecue in Sandy Springs (thank you, Dean). After some discussion about the upcoming evening's events Dean revealed to the group that Austin had won a United States Volunteer Service Award for all his work with Rally (Dean had nominated him). This was probably the highlight of our luncheon, though the peach and blackberry cobblers were some of the best on record...

We drove back to Claire's (people in Atlanta drive a lot), changed in to our cycling uniforms, packed the car and headed to Duluth, where the Frazier Cycling Club was meeting us at Cycleworks. Austin and Paul warmed up, met some new friends and got ready to ride. Claire acted as the team photographer and did what she does best - everything else. There were probably over 100 people there for the event and about 80 bicyclists took off on a 17 or so mile route around town. The members of the Frazier Cycling Team are not just casual cyclists - many of these fine young athletes compete regularly at a high level and all of them know what they are doing when it comes to bicycling. It was fun to be able to ride with so many people (instead of just Paul and Austin by themselves) and it was great to have so many of Russell's teammates, friends, family and supporters riding in his honor.

After the ride Austin, Paul, Dean, and Claire spoke to the cycling team about fundraising opportunities with Rally in honor of Russell while the kids ate pizza. The RAA team talked to the Frazier Cyclists about the importance of using their athletic abilities to get involved with others and how they could work toward fundraising goals in addition to athletic ones. Russell's dad said a few words as well and expressed his gratitude and excitement for having such an event in Russell's honor.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had a great article covering the event:

http://www.ajc.com/gwinnett/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/06/25/rally_against_cancer.html

After all the excitement and many gracious peoples' kind words and cordial conversations A, P and C grabbed a quick bite to eat with Dean and her husband Reid. The RAA team headed back to Claire's to clean up and finish up as usual. Tomorrow we leave Atlanta. It will be a very full day of bicycling and we'll be meeting up with some old friends along the way...

~A, P and C

Rally with Tyler

2008-06-24T23:26:00.007-05:00

We rode from Augusta to Lexington this morning. Once we hit Lexington, we loaded up the car so that we could get to Atlanta in time for Tyler's event. Many of you are familiar with Tyler's story. For those of you who haven't heard about him, he is one unique guy.

Tyler was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma when he was 12 years old. Now 19, he has been going through treatments for 7 years. He relapsed this spring, and is using oxygen to keep his energy up. Tyler's candidness and fearless battle with cancer has led him amazing places.

John McCain and George Bush both follow Tyler. Each men has taken the time to phone him. Tyler isn't even a swing voter - wow.

The event turned out at least 150 people for Tyler, and we got to hang out with the man of honor at his house afterwards. When we left, Tyler entrusted us with his own bicycle helmet and a pair of bike shorts. Gifts we will use for many rides to come. It was a great night.

~ Austin

Hospital Friends

2008-06-23T22:46:00.018-05:00

We visited the children's hospital in Augusta today. The Augusta Chronicle and one of the local TV stations came to document the visit. Paul did an interview with the camera man, and then we visited some kids.

Dr. Bell and a patient

We also got to meet Dr. Bell, one of the oncologists. She has been doing work at Medical College of Georgia for the past 7 years, and one of her current projects involves genetics of survivors. She is working to understand why some kids have higher success rates than others during and after treatment.

Rally was able to give her a grant last year, and it was exciting to hear about what she has been able to do with her research. She told us about the importance of funding and was very thankful for our fundraising efforts. Meeting Dr. Bell was encouraging to our whole team. She reinforced what we have known all along - every dollar donated to research truly helps make a difference.

Tomorrow we'll ride to Atlanta and hold an event with Tyler Copley. Tyler is 19 and has been fighting cancer for 7 years.

~ Austin

Parker Power

2008-06-23T09:30:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I wore a pretty exciting shirt. It was made in memory Parker, one of my biggest heroes. I met Parker in 2006 when we bicycled through Philadelphia. He was starting treatments for neuroblastoma. Parker lost his battle last fall after two brave years of treatment.

It's been fun to keep in touch with Parker's family. He loved riding bicycles, and it's exciting to be able to do this for kids like him. I never would have imagined that riding my bicycle could make a difference in someone else's life.

I have a bracelet that Parker's family gave me - never ride without it. If we keep riding, maybe we can help some kids like Parker.

Here's a video from yesterday:

~ Austin

Augusta or Busta

2008-06-22T16:11:00.008-05:00

We left the capital of South Carolina this morning and headed southwest for the border of SC and Georgia. Austin attempted to blind unsuspecting motorists with his shirt...

...perhaps it was a security measure, perhaps it was because we weren't able to thoroughly wash the jerseys last night - the world may never know. Either way, there were plenty of miles to be ridden and sights to see...

This was also the first day that our riding was significantly impeded by rain, so we arrived in Augusta (after SEVERAL miles of bicycling) without having been struck by lightning a single time.

We arrived at the House of Claire ahead of schedule and cleaned up for dinner. Claire and her wonderful nurse-roommates treated us to a Mexican fiesta-dinner and talked about many things that Austin and Paul couldn't understand (and many things that they could understand). An unusually relaxing evening followed as we prepared for the hospital visit tomorrow in Augusta and the super-fundraisers that will be drawing all the best and brightest in Alanta in 2 days. Nonetheless, we were still tired at the end of the day...

~ Austin, Paul and Claire

Bicycle ER

2008-06-20T23:00:00.005-05:00

This is a video from our hospital visit today. Read "something special" below :).

~ Austin

Something Special

2008-06-20T21:47:00.004-05:00

The morning started with a tour of the brand new Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte, which just opened in December. This impressive facility seemed to get better and better with each floor we visited, but we finally reached our destination: the kids fighting cancer on the 11th floor! Adam was really excited about our visit, especially since his brother and Austin share the same name. After checking out the bike and singing the whale song, he gave our visit a thumb's up.

Once we made our way back downstairs, Tony D met us in the hospital parking lot to lead Austin and Paul on a ride through downtown Charlotte. Tony D was sure to be a big hit with his nephews later today after we outfitted him with Rally tattoos!

A downpour this afternoon hampered our plans to ride from our host in Charlotte to our host in Rock Hill, which is just south of Charlotte in South Carolina. So we took advantage of this new found time to finish off last night's feast prepared by our Charlotte hosts, the Shropshires. When we arrived in Rock Hill, we were excited to discover that gas in SC is much cheaper than NC, VA, and DC!

We then made our way to our next host family, the Shaws. Ethan, who is 6 years old, will finish his 40 month chemotherapy treatment for ALL on February 20th. His family has planned something special on the 20th of each month for his last 12 months of treatment, so we were excited when we realized that we would be in their town on the 20th of June and could be their "something special"!

Tomorrow morning we'll check the newspaper for something special about our visit to Rock Hill before riding to our next destination: Columbia, SC.

Rally On!
Claire, Austin, and Paul

to the Queen City - South

2008-06-19T23:38:00.018-05:00

We left the Samuelson's today with a few extra food items for the trip. We logged a solid 60 miles for the day. The morning ride was especially pleasant, with relatively cool weather, the wind to our backs and few hills negotiate. The afternoon was a little more hilly and warm as we passed through places like Pittsboro, Siler City and Asheboro (all in North Carolina still). We took the time to stop for a few adventures including a playground obstacle course competition between Paul and Austin (undocumented) and some shopping at a hard-to-classify "store" that was right on the highway. Ricky, one of the proprietors, showed us around, and let us take pictures with him the knight, which was a main attraction for us.

We got in to Charlotte around 6pm and found the Shropshires' home just 20 minutes south of downtown Charlotte, the "Queen City - South" (informed readers will know that Cincinnati, Ohio is also referred to as the Queen City). A fantastic meal was had thanks to this wonderful family, which included some of best tasting Chocolate cake ever created; chocolate cake that is also believed to increase performance in road bicyclists. Afterward, we drove in to downtown Charlotte and hung out with Tony D and his wife Jamie (old friends and Rally supporters), who treated us to some performance enhancing beverages at a nice local spot.

Back to the homestay, tying up loose ends and firming up plans...

~P, C and A

in the Research Triangle...

2008-06-18T22:29:00.006-05:00

After a quick and lovely breakfast provided by the Samuelsons, we were on our way to UNC-Chapel Hill to visit the North Carolina Children's Hospital. It is too bad that they didn't win the NCAA national championship in men's basketball this year. The children were a little bit scattered around the clinic; some receiving treatments, some just finishing, some waiting to do so. A group of kids were painting with watercolors, guided by a generous volunteer (who will play another generous role in today's story), one was painting a basketball, one a fish and one created a very impressionistic and somewhat experimental-looking "colorscape." The whale hats were particularly well-received, and we had a surprising request to replace a defective Aflac duck (it wasn't screaming "Aflac" anymore) for one of our gift-bag recipients.

The Outback Steakhouse fundraiser luncheon drew in a particularly generous donation from the children's art instructor volunteer whom we met at the hospital. A good time was had by all and the staff and food were, once again, great. Angela, a friend from the Blair School (P and A's alma mater) stopped by to buy some Rally t-shirts and to chat. She is an actual researcher from the Research Triangle (Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh)...

With the help of our hosts we decided to give our "Sag Wagon" (this is what Austin's car turns in to when Claire drives it very slowly, full of support items, behind bicyclists) an oil change. Our miscellaneous afternoon activities included catching up on sleep, getting organized and thinking about important things. Dinner from the Samuelsons was wonderful (again) and we visited with some of their extended family over wonderful, home-made chess pie (2 flavors - we all ate both again).

Tomorrow we will ride again. We are ready...

~Paul, Austin, Claire

Crossing the border

2008-06-17T23:37:00.011-05:00

Last night we stayed at a place called "Motel Food". It was very nice. Comfortable beds. We had three types of omlets and some light and fluffy biscuits for breakfast, and then we slid on our bikes and wheeled down the road ...

(Claire and Paul at "Motel Food")

We had to stop and make a few phone calls at lunch time. I had some important business deals to take care of while on the road, and Paul had to catch up on the latest gossip with his girlfriends ...

(gossip) (business)

We finished clocking about 100 miles and then settled in with the Samuelson family just south of Chapel Hill. They are related to Alexa Rohrbach, one of our heroes of years past. Alexa is fighting neuroblastoma in Atlanta. Ken and Mickey fed us a great southern cooked meal, and then Mickey introduced us to homemade chess pie. One was chocolate, the other was ... vinegar. Both were outstanding. We took the opportunity to pose for a picture with the chef:

We'll be at North Carolina Children's Hospital tomorrow, and then we'll have an Outback fundraiser at lunch. more later. bedtime now.

~ Austin

RichMonday

2008-06-16T22:02:00.012-05:00

The day began when Claire awoke the boys (Austin and Paul), reminding them of their impending engagements for the day. Packing, breakfast eating and planning ensued until the team left for the hospital at the Medical College of Virginia (at Virginia Commonwealth University), joined by Al Strickler. We hauled all the goody bags out of the car, parked, and went in to see the kids. They were a particularly lively group today, based on some of our past visits at other hospitals, and many of them didn't seem to show any visible signs of illness, despite the battles their bodies may have been fighting within. Most of them seemed to enjoy the company, the gift bags or the combination of the two. Al knew the facility well and ran in to a lot of familiar faces since Harrison had received his treatments at this same hospital. Raising money for something great is exciting, but often not very personal. Hospital visits like today's help remind us why it's great and make the whole effort a little more personal.

After the hospital visit we went back to the Strickler's where we feasted, finished packing and finalized our highly malleable travel plans. Austin demonstrated some unique preparatory stretches while getting ready for the day's ride, which resulted in a small accident involving a "kitchen vessel" that could not be revived, but perhaps the stretches were necessary. Last night's late night was likely the cause of at least one short, unplanned nap... (see picture)

(yes, he is asleep...)

...but Paul and Austin made it through the heat and logged over 30 miles each for the team. Since none of our last-minute efforts to find a host for tonight came through we did a bit of motel shopping around south central Virginia and came across Sheldon's Motel and Restaurant (in Keysville, near Farmville) where we had a wonderful home cookin' kind of meal and found a room for the night with wireless internet access (this was the real selling point). Showers, administrative Rally activities and sleep... stay tuned...

~ A, P and C

Tour de Harrison!

2008-06-15T22:59:00.007-05:00

Wow ... I can't put this into words. Over $15,000 raised by Harrison and the Strickler Team in Richmond. We got on a few of the TV stations and we are going to hit the news stands tomorrow ... click on the slide show: Richmond Times Dispatch

Harrison and his dad, Big Al are real father's day superstars. Here is a less professional version of what happened ...

Tomorrow big Al is going with us to the hospital to see some more kids.

~ Austin

Cinnamon Rolls, Beans for breakfast

2008-06-14T23:09:00.003-05:00

Woke up to the smell of cinnamon rolls. Thought I had died and gone to heaven. mmm. Karin went all out and gave us a hearty breatfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and beans. She grew up in Holland, and from what I can gather, they serve beans in the place of grits (I grew up in Georgia). I've never had beans before a long ride ... but I figured there was a first time for everything.

Randy and his neighbor Carsten biked with me to the edge of their subdivision. Owen tagged along in a buggy ...

Owen took the role very seriously ...
After leaving the Lea's, I got on Route 1 and headed through historic Fredericksburg toward Richmond. The mileage wasn't as bad as the heat. And the heat wasn't as bad as the drivers. An old lady in a Lincoln came close to my handlebars (I don't think she could see very well).
Most of the others weren't as bad ... the beans ended up being good - I had more energy today than yesterday - must have been the beans.

Saw three deer. Two were bounding, and the other (sadly) had been involved in a traffic accident.

We finished up about 64 miles at 5:40. We pulled up to our host family (the Strickler's), and they had put up a huge welcome sign ...

Olivia (3rd to the right) did the painting. Harrison (yellow jersey) is our Richmond hero. We are doing a ride with him tomorrow called the "Tour de Harrison Victory Lap" to celebrate his victory over leukemia. Harrison and his family wanted to do a special ride to raise money and help other kids facing the same challenges that Harrison faced with his cancer.

They have already raised over $13,000 for research.

~ Austin

Day 1, Route 1

2008-06-13T23:21:00.009-05:00

We visited the kids at Children's National today. We met a family who knew the Lea's in Fredericksburg (our host family tonight). Their kids had been treated together at Sloan Kettering in New York for neuroblastoma.

After the hospital visit, we had lunch with Tricia Benson who works with Curesearch. Part of Tricia's job is to lobby congress for better legislation to fund childhood cancer research. Currently, she is working on the "Conquer Childhood Cancer Act," a bill that could fund up to $30 million dollars of research in a five year period. The bill passed the house unanimously yesterday, but the Senate has to approve it before it will be taken to the President for signature. The bill will still be an uphill battle, so if you happen to run into your Senator, tell them to support the kids.

Had a Philly Cheese Steak at Colonel Brook's Tavern for lunch, and then got on the bike to ride to Fredericksberg. I ended up heading north initially for several miles until I ended up back in the District during rush hour. Evidently the lanes switch direction to account for peak traffic. I ended up going the wrong way down a one way street. What a surprise. Avoiding the other one way streets cost me about 10 miles ... ended up doing 64 down to get to Fredericksberg.

We are now staying with Randy and Karin Lea. Their son Owen is our hero here, and we're excited to spend time with him and his sister in the morning. The neighborhood kids are planning to escort us out as we leave. Everyone is meeting outside at 11:00 with bicycles ... I'm hoping for a big turn out.

~ Austin

Kung Fu Carsten: Cancer Kicking in DC

2008-06-13T07:19:00.005-05:00

Made it to DC yesterday. We visited Georgetown Children's hospital and gave out around 20 goody bags to kids of all ages. It occurred to us that some of our goodies were better suited for children under 12, but that didn't stop us from giving race cars, temporary tattoos, and pink hats to 18 year olds.

We spent the night with the Connolly family. Carsten (10) is a leukemia fighter (as well as an aspiring black belt). He showed us some of his attacks. Its humbling to be taken to the ground by a 10 year old. Adrienne and Jim prepared a great spread of fine foods and wine last night.

Austin, Carsten, Claire, and Tom

Tom drove down from Philadelphia to help us with our DC events. He has been busy working since our first ride in 2006. We hadn't been together since the big ride, and we had a fun reunion recapping all of our misadventures and comparing scars. Tom has a great one on his left elbow from the first big fall - a badge of courage.

Today with Tom's help we'll visit Children's National and then hit the road for Fredericksberg - 53 miles according to the maps. Tom will head back to Philly, and I'll have to ride solo. Paul is jumping on in Richmond, and Claire will be driving the support car.

~ Austin

Weeman

2008-06-11T12:52:00.006-05:00

Today we announce that we are participating in the adventures of "weeman." He is one of our Nashville heroes, and we will be seeing him at the finish line.

Weeman (more commonly known as Colin) will be at the finish line on June 27. Here is a bio that his parents sent us:

Colin was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he hitched a ride around most of Europe with Mom and Dad before his first birthday. After returning to Chattanooga, TN, a workup for failure to thrive revealed severe gastroesophageal reflux which was treated with some success medically. However, during one of the upper GI scope procedures, an abdominal mass was noted incidentally which was eventually diagnosed as stage 2a Neuroblastoma, N-myc amplified. This is an aggressive tumor which is usually stage 4 at diagnosis. Now, after major abdominal surgery, over 7 smaller surgeries, 6 rounds of chemotherapy, and innumerable admissions and scans, Colin is poised to brave the rigors of a stem cell transplant, 12 radiation treatments, and 6 months of Accutane.

Since his diagnosis, Colin touched hundreds of lives around the world through his courage and resilience. Colin enjoys showing off original dance moves for his nurses and parents, throwing balls, watching Thomas the Train (A.K.A. Car-Car), and attacking daddy’s chin. He is also learning to share with his new 3 week old little brother, Ryan. With no current evidence of disease, Colin is ready to rally as a warrior against cancer. Rally on, Weeman!

~ Austin

Letter Party

2008-06-11T09:34:00.005-05:00

Had some friends help stuff envelopes over the weekend. We mailed over 265 people who have donated to Rally Across America in the last two years ...

This picture of eager volunteers flaunting sponsorship letters was taken on Sunday. What a good looking crew! oo la la.

Today Claire and I are picking up the support car in Atlanta, and then taking care of some last minute details before hitting the road for DC.

~ Austin

$15,000 Spaghetti

2008-06-06T06:02:00.006-05:00

This time next week, we'll be in Washington riding. We've been putting together letters to mail to people that have donated in the past, and we're finalizing all of our fundraisers and hospital visits this week.

The new jersey's came in last week, and we'll have a new batch of T-shirts soon.

Our fundraising online just hit $15,000! The Strickler's are pulling in huge support for the Tour de Harrison Victory Lap in Richmond on the 15th.

Paul and I have eaten spaghetti two nights in a row. I need to check in with Al and Harrison Strickler and make sure their diet has been similar.

~ Austin

Help us meet our $50,000 Goal!!

2007-09-19T09:12:00.000-05:00

(Superman asks for your support)

We're still raising money through the end of September in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month to help kids like Andrew ... Rally with us by clicking: DONATE NOW!

We're only a few dollars away!!

~ Austin, Paul, Kelly, and Claire

'07 Wrap Up

2007-09-18T07:30:00.000-05:00

After a hearty breakfast at one of Nashville's finest restaurants, the Pancake Pantry, Austin, Claire, and Paul made their way over to the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for the final event of Rally Across America 2007. There were more kids, including one of last year's Rally kids (Anthony), more goody bags, more whale hats, more songs and more families in for treatments. Ashley, the child life specialist, graciously showed us around as we made our visits. We all checked in at Austin's house after the event and cleaned up the car, organized the remaining Rally materials, and tied up any other loose ends we could find. Austin, Claire and Austin's mother drove to Chattanooga, where Austin's mother's car was parked. They even had all the loose change that was donated to Rally counted at First Tennessee Bank in Chattanooga, and then Claire and Austin made their way back to Nashville.

Rally Across America 2007 has been an amazing experience. At this moment in time we have raised almost $37,000 (we are STILL accepting donations for RAA 2007 through the end of this month), biked over 1,500 miles as a team, gave out over 200 goody bags, and rode in honor of 6 very special Rally Kids. Unfortunately this blog can only communicate a fraction of the experiences we have all had as a team. The amount of planning, riding and "rallying" has been overwhelming, but every minute has been worth it. The "success" of the trip will be measured with each incremental success that comes from newer and better treatments for pediatric cancer victims - successes that would not have otherwise been possible without the financial push from the Rally Foundation. We are all so proud and honored to have been at the forefront of such a wonderful and collective effort, and we thank everyone who has been and continues to be involved in the fight against pediatric cancer.

~ Rally Across America 2007 team members

(peace)

We finished riding!

2007-09-16T22:37:00.000-05:00

We finished! Today we rode 59 miles from Shelbyville to Nasvhille. The ride was good although we were cold at the start. You see, ... last night I took the liberty of hand washing our jerseys in the sink of the inn where we were staying, but apparently I didn't do a very good job of drying them ... they were soaking wet this morning. Wet jersey's make for a chilly ride (it was 58 and windy). Oops. Sorry Kelly and Paul.

We got some pretty good donations on the road today. My mom (who has been driving the chase car) got a surprise when she went into a gas station to buy a bottle of water. She gave the attendant 98 cents, and the lady gave her $20 in return. She told mom, "Put that towards the cause!" And then Kelly's mom Cheryl got another $18 from an employee at a Hampton Inn. Can you believe that? Pretty good results for the last day biking.

We made good time going into Nashville, and then we geared up for the fundraiser. We met Matthew and his family. A great crew (4 boys) ...
Matthew's family and friends turned out in force (like Star Wars). We had a big group of kids ...... and many of our own Nashville friends stop to support little Matthew. Cheryl organized a great meal for everyone who came, and we ended up raising over $2,700. This doesn't even count other Nashville donations that have yet to be tallied ... Way to go Matthew!!

Tomorrow we're going to Vanderbilt Children's at 10:00 am. Our last event ...

~ Austin

Riding for Matthew

2007-09-15T23:23:00.001-05:00

Today our ride is for Matthew. He is in Nashville and was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma (a solid tumor in his bladder) in January. I found out about Matthew several months ago when I was out training for this year's ride. I was wearing my Rally Across America jersey and had stopped at a gas station for a break.

A guy who has stopped in for gas looked at my Jersey and asked, "Did you ride across the country?" I told him about our charity ride, and we started talking about childhood cancer research. He told me that one of his coworkers sons had been fighting cancer. I gave him my email address and that's how we connected with Matthew and his family.

So after thinking about Matthew for so long, we're excited to finally meet him and his family. They will be at the fundraiser tomorrow. We have heard it from a reliable source that Matthew is a Star Wars aficionado ... so Paul, Kelly, and I have been honing our Jedi powers.

If you are in Nashville, we'll see you there:

5:00 - 7:00 pm
Gilda's Club
1707 Division St
Nasvhille, TN

~ Austin

Up The Mountain

2007-09-15T21:07:00.000-05:00

Today, rejoined by Kelly, we rode over 80 miles from Chattanooga to Tullahoma. Mrs. Bauman and Mrs. Hibbard were our two support drivers, because two is always better than one. On our way out of Chattanooga we encountered the Trail of Tears Remembrance Motorcycle Ride, which happened to be traveling on our route out of Chattanooga. Since cars are not motorcycles (though this is also true of bicycles), the law enforcement people were not going to allow our support cars to follow us if we rode with the motorcycles. This was a big problem and was going to require some major rerouting ...

(consulting with the guys at the local service station)

Luckily, the longest line of motorcycles that I have ever seen came to an end sooner than we thought and we were back on our way.

We three bikers rode several miles and took a quick breather at "Dixie Freeze," our unofficial base camp in South Pittsburgh, Tennessee, right before we began our ascent up the huge mountain that was to be our next leg of the trip. Amazingly, everyone made it to the top, one way or another, and no one got altitude sickness even though it felt as though we had just increased our altitude by about 8 billion feet.

Our stops along the way included the historic University of the South, also known as Sewanee (from which siblings of both Austin and Paul graduated), and the Polly Crockett Festival, a small-town arts festival that was taking place today in Cowan, Tennessee. We eventually ended our ride for the day in Tullahoma, which will be our starting point tomorrow. We then hopped in the cars and made our way back to the beautiful Adams Edgeworth Inn at the Assembly in Monteagle where the owner generously offered to house the Rally team. We then got a few more supplies in preparation of the final leg of the trip tomorrow, went out for some pizza and pasta at a new pizza joint in Sewanee called "Crust" (joined by Austin's brother's inlaws) and mentally prepared for the final day of biking.

~ Paul

Kids Love F(un)draisers

2007-09-14T21:34:00.000-05:00

Tinley Hampton, whose dad Terry rode with us yesterday into Chattanooga, is an aspiring banker. He was in charge of all of the money that his mother's third grade class collected for research. At the Outback fundraiser today, Tinley proudly presented us with the bounty and demonstrated how only a man of great strength could handle such coinage ...
We recognized two heros at our event: Sarah and Ashton. Ashton has been cancer free since last December, and Sarah is going through treatments for neuroblastoma. They are both eight years old, and they both thought that we were crazy for riding our bicycles so far ...

Ashton was pleased that we had picked a school day to come though (he talked his mom into letting him take the day off), and Sarah was pleased with the athletic ability of the Aflac duck that we gave her. The duck rode took several laps around the restaurant sitting atop my bicycle while Sarah coached us through the sharp turns.

A few other cancer families were there, and their stories meant a lot to our team. We have so many little heroes to ride for.

After the event, we stopped by TC Thompson to deliver some pink whale hats, tattoos, and ducks to the kids in Chattanooga. Then we headed back to our host home to gear up for tomorrow ... we're climbing Monteagle and heading towards the finish line.

~ Austin

The Key(s) to Chattanooga

2007-09-13T21:16:00.000-05:00

Today was a special day for the Rally team. After breakfast at Dean's house (the founder of the Rally Foundation) we went to Roswell Bicycles to begin our trip for the day. Terry Hampton and Marjorie Perry met us at the shop to ride with us. Terry was riding with us in memory of his son Coulter, who passed away in 2005, and Marjorie was riding for our Atlanta hero, Sean Dever. Frank with Roswell Bicycles was also there to help us all get started ...

(7:15 departure from Roswell)

In preparation for departure, Paul used the keys to the chase car to unlock the bikes from the bike rack and then he put them safely in the back pocket of his jersey. Then we happily mounted the bikes and headed out. Nicole (our chase car driver) stayed and visited with Frank for a few minutes while we pedaled deeper into the suburban wilderness of north Atlanta. A few minutes later, Frank was chasing us down to retrieve the keys from a particular biker's back pocket (special thanks, Paul) ...

We stopped in Fairmont to visit Terry's home and family, and to drop off Marjorie, who had the better sense not to continue to follow three crazy men who felt compelled to ride their bikes to a faraway land in another state ...

(having lunch with Terry's family)

Our total for today was 114 miles. The most important lesson we learned today was that bloodthirsty, man-eating dogs are scared of at least one thing: orange Gatorade. It stops them in their tracks and keeps them from eating innocent biker-fundraisers. (just squirt it in their eyes)

We arrived in Chattanooga before dark (a victory in and of itself) and feasted with Terry and his family at Chik-Fil-A. We feasted again at our Chattanooga host's home. We are about to feast one more time upon a plate of chocolate chip cookies that are among the best ever made The cookies were made by our Chattanooga host whose name is Georgia, which is also the name of the state we started our ride in today. Coincidence? Probably.

~ Austin and Paul

Atlanta Success!!!

2007-09-12T21:24:00.000-05:00

We held an Outback fundraiser today in honor of Sean Dever, our Atlanta hero. It was a school day for Sean and his friends, but the principal and the teachers of his school (Queen of Angels) let them out of school to come to our fundraiser in his honor. The Roswell Outback, once again, was an excellent host and they helped things run smoothly the whole time. Over 175 people turned out for Sean, making it our best attended event of this year's trip. We also celebrated Sean's 12th birthday, which is tomorrow, complete with cake and candles. The team decided to donate all of the money that we raised in Sean's honor to fund a research trial for his type of cancer, osteosarcoma (bone cancer).

After the fundraiser we went to visit Children's Health Care of Atlanta at Scottish Rite, joined by Dean, the founder of the Rally Foundation, Donna, our meticulous accountant, and Becky (Austin's aunt). We met several more kids, handed out several more whale hats and took several more pictures of our new friends and this impressive facility.

After we left the hospital, Austin and Paul went to go pick up their bikes from Roswell Bicycles, after having given them to Frank (our contact from Roswell Bicycles), who took them from us at Outback to perform some much needed repairs. Roswell Bicycles tuned up our bikes, provided us with some more necessary biking equipment and outfitted our support car with a Roswell Bicycles graphic. Austin and Paul then met up with everyone else at Claire's house for another top-quality dinner and began to worry about all the scary stories they had heard earlier that day about how many mountains (not hills) they would have to ride up during each remaining leg of the trip. Nightmares of never-ending hills are likely to follow tonight.

No one said it would be easy.

~ Paul and Austin

Detour to Georgia

2007-09-11T22:47:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we got charged up yesterday on Honey Grahms and Cookie Crisp, hopped on the bikes, and left at dawn. The girls (Nicole and Claire) followed behind in the chase car. We stayed together for a few miles and then they took a quick pit stop. Claire told us that they "would just catch up to us later." So Paul and Austin kept riding.

Three hours later, Austin and Paul were still riding solo waiting for the girls to "catch up." Once we realized our phones and wallets were in the car with Claire and Nicole, we thought we might be riding all the way to Carrollton to ourselves. After stops a "bike-unfriendly" gas station and a volunteer fire departement in Wolf Creek (somewhere in Alabama), we met Christy, who helped reunite us with the use of her phone. As it turns out, Claire and Nicole had underestimated the speed at which Austin and Paul were advancing toward the next destination ...

(fire department rescue)

The rest of the day involved lots of pedaling (about 120 miles), a few stops and a few bridges that were out. We arrived in Carrollton around 6:30, just in time for our Carrollton fundraiser at the University of Western Georgia, where we met Caroline's father, Mr. Johnson, and the entire Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity who hosted our event. They donated a sizeable check to Rally ...

(APO Service Fraternity fundraiser)

We arrived at our host family's (the Williamsons') house late in the evening after a long day. Bed was soon to follow.

~ Paul and Austin

Woo hooo Birmingham

2007-09-10T23:42:00.000-05:00

Here are some pics from today. Our Outback fundraiser in honor of Andrew helped put us over $18,000 raised so far. Huge success ...

Then we visited Children's hospital in Birmingham and gave out three wagons full of goodies to kids going through treatment ...

Finally we visited Andrew Long and his family. We got to see his Starwars Leggos and played invisible forcefield with his sister Sarah (she won). Then we compared bicycles and had to head out. The visit meant a lot to all of us. You're our hero, and we're going to keep riding for you ...

(Andrew's sister Sarah)

Tomorrow we have 120 miles to ride to Carrollton, GA where we will have another fundraiser in honor of Caroline ... we'll have to leave at dawn to make it in time for the event at 6:00 pm ... ride ride ride ...

~ Austin

Day 4

2007-09-10T23:18:00.000-05:00

Everyone was up early, getting ready for the first official Outback Steakhouse fundraiser. Due to strategic planning and amazing foresight we had the car almost completely packed before we left for Outback at around 10:00am. Last night we also decorated the Rally Car with two more giant side panel graphics that had fallen off on the first day, 10 minutes after they were installed. We anticipate a flood of donations, the likes of which have never been imagined, due

to this "increase in advertising."

Our fundraiser was very well attended and it turned out to be a great success. It was a great feeling to get all these people together for the simple purpose of eating good food and donating to Rally. We met and surpassed our fundraising goals for the event and the Outback staff was nothing but helpful. The biggest emergency of the day was needing to have several balloons inflated without any device with which to inflate them. This problem was solved by a certain brave, spandex-bearing Rally team member's marching over to the restaurant next door to ask to use their balloon inflator. The neighboring restaurant's help will not be forgotten...

(yet another sacrifice for the team)

The end of the fundraiser marked the end of Kelly's first stint with us as a cyclist. She and her parents drove back to Nashville so that she could continue bettering herself by furthering her education. She will be missed, but she will be back on Friday.

After the fundraiser, we visited the UAB Children's Hospital. We met a bunch of new kids and their families, and had a great time. Everyone there was very pleasant and very helpful - a special thanks to Emily, for making us feel welcome and appreciated. After the hospital visit we drove directly to visit our Birmingham Rally Kid, Andrew. We spent some great time with him and his family. It was a great visit after having ridden so many miles on Andrew's family's behalf and I think it will suffice to say that none of us will forget that time we spent with them.

Having slept very little the last few days, we arrived back at the Traylor's (our host family) and had another great meal with them and their friends (except for one of us who caught up with an old friend). After dinner we took care of the donations from the day's work and
tied up a few more loose ends for the trip. Hopefully we will be rested enough to ride the longest day yet, which is starting early tomorrow morning.

Omission from a previous blog:
-Austin pushed off my bike a couple of days ago while pretending to give me a hug. Those of you who were watching the scene unfold while you were waiting in your cars at the same stoplight will know what I'm talking about - there were at least 20 of you.

~ Paul

Riding for Andrew

2007-09-10T07:52:00.000-05:00

(Andrew is our hero in Birmingham. He is also Superman)

We dedicate every leg of our ride to a local kid fighting cancer. The ride to Birmingham is for Andrew. He has been fighting medulloblastoma (a brain tumor) for over 3 years. He's a hero to all of us. We are hoping to see him today and tell him about our ride for research.

We'll probably show his family some of our pictures, bruises, and gear and tell them all about our ride for Andrew. For the rest of you, here is a quick picture diary of events from yesterday ...

(we pumped up a tire until it exploded see previous post)

(rode through torrential rain)

(fought off ferocious wild dogs)
(climbed several mountain ranges)

(raced semi-trucks on a state highway)

(found two girls to take over chase car duty. Rally on Nicole and Claire!)

Phew ... that was an exhausting ride. Wish us luck today as we visit with Andrew and the other kids at Children's in Birmingham! Stay tuned ...

~ Austin

Day 3: Birmingham

2007-09-09T22:38:00.000-05:00

Today began early with an 7:30 am departure from Florence, Alabama. Unfortunately, we did not cover much distance before my tire went flat :( And then ... in an attempt to fix the tire, we caused the new tire to explode! This sent rubber shrapnel flying and left our ear drums ringing. Wow!

Once we were on the road again, it seemed as though we just could not get off. We traveled over the Tennessee River for the third time and continued on through Alabama. Our mid-day hunger was appeased by tacos from the Mexican restaurant located adjacent to the gas station at which we had stopped. Despite the concern about where the remnants of those tacos might end up/ come out... we (mostly Paul and Austin) ate heartily.

Continuing on the road and up the exhausting hills, our wonderful and ingenious chase-car driver (Kelly's mom Cheryl) saved the day. As our legs grew weary, she refused to let our spirits damper- driving behind us, blaring tunes from "The Temptations" and other mo-town jams.

(thumbs up)

We finished off the day reaching Birmingham with a total of 101 miles under our belts, more than Paul or I had ever ridden!

~ Kelly

Rain, good for flowers, bad for biking

2007-09-08T22:26:00.000-05:00

Notables from today:

Late start due to broken bike. (if you are familiar with the Oregon trail video game, then you would understand us when we say that this was an instance in which the music played ... "waa waa")
Heavy rain. Riding in the rain is a challenge - especially in bicycle shorts. As you can imagine, the seat becomes water logged. It was like riding in a diaper. ugg ...
Many animal sightings (alive and deceased). note: the deceased appeared to have been lost to tragic accidents involving motor vehicles.
Rope swing / fire ant adventure in middle of nowhere. Don't ask ... the bullet point is more exciting than the story (although Austin getting stung by fire ants through his shorts was notable)
Flat tire.
62 mile total ride.
Safe arrival at the Johnson's home in Florence Alabama
Dinner
Paul shaving his leg(s).

Tomorrow we're on our way to Birmingham (over 100 miles). We'll meet up with our host family and meet up with Nicole and Claire, the rest of our crew.

~ Paul, Kelly, and Austin

St. Judes and a Mississippi Strawberry

2007-09-08T00:14:00.001-05:00

After picking Kelly up from the Rowletts along with a car full of "goody bags" for the kids, the Rally Team reconvened at breakfast at the Sillses ...

(us with Tyler Sells before his mom took him to school)

We got lost on the way to the hospital due to confusing instructions and a confused navigator (Austin), but we still got to the hospital on time to conduct our first event for some of the patients at St. Jude's. A few kids showed up and we met with them and their families, sang songs (kind of), wore whale hats ...

... and handed out goody bags. It was an amazing experience for us, after months of planning and fundraising, getting to finally interact with the people whom we are ultimately intending to help with this whole concept.

We were given a special tour of St. Jude's Children's Hospital, joined by Kelly's parents who drove all the way from Minnesota, and were amazed at the whole operation. We learned a great deal about the history of the hospital and how they do the amazing things that they do for their patients and their families each day.

We made it back to the Sills' home, packed up the car (with a lot of help), and at 2:15pm central time, we began our bike trip: Austin, Kelly and Paul on bikes, and the Hibbard parents in support cars. 66 miles later, after a minor accident and a few strategic stops on the way ....

(our first state line, Austin is checking to make sure it is the right one)

We arrived at the outskirts of Corinth, Mississippi a little after 8:00pm. We carted in the rest of the way, checked in to our hotel and went out for a post-ride meal.

I'm tired, my legs are sore, and my knee kind of hurts, but I'm more ready than I've ever been in my life to go to Florence, Alabama.

~ Paul

______________________________________________________

Today I fell off my bike...

(a not so sweet stawberry)

However, on the sunny-side, I did not break any bones or endure any serious injuries! Additionally, now I have the battle wounds worthy of a "serious rider." After a short car trip, while the boys continued biking, I hopped back on the bike and completed the ride into Corinth. The best part (probably the only good part) of my injuries was the complementary, sympathy dessert from our waitress at dinner! All in all it was wonderful day, with an amazing visit with the children at St. Jude's.

~ Kelly

______________________________________________________

We secured our first "on the road" donation today at a Mapco. The guy was sitting in his truck while fueling up, and he asked us how far we were riding. We told him about the ride, and he told us we were crazy. But then he pulled out five dollars and thanked us.

.. and then my rear derailer cable busted at 63 miles. This is currently preventing me from changing gears. ... we'll troubleshoot with our tools in the morning before we head towards Alabama.

~ Austin

Day 1: Memphis

2007-09-06T22:50:00.000-05:00

We (Kelly, Austin and Paul) got everything packed up and left Nashville today at around 3:00pm. We arrived in Memphis ...

(we had to ask this guy for directions)

... about 3 and a half hours later (by car, not by bike) at the home of the Sills, where we also met with the Rowletts. These wonderful people fed us and provided anything else we needed. They helped us get the goody bags ready for the kids at the hospital tomorrow and we (Austin and Paul) installed speed/mileage computers on Kelly's and my bikes and tied up some other loose ends.

(Paul, Austin, and Kelly)

Clare is feeling a little under the weather and will now be meeting up with us Sunday night in Birmingham instead of tonight in Memphis. As she gathers her strength, the three of us will be tag-teaming it to a currently undisclosed location that will hopefully be about halfway between Memphis and Florence, Alabama - feel free to call us RIGHT AWAY if you have lodging available...

Despite a few minor mishaps, including an accidentally severed bike computer cord (which was skillfully fixed by Austin) and my bike's death-defying leap from the top of Austin's car to the ground right beside the car on a short trip between driveways (either I did not secure it properly or it was trying to start the ride early), we've had no major setbacks at this time.

(Paul getting last minute safety tips from his Mom)

Lewis and Clark would have taken bikes if their route had been paved.

Stay tuned ...

~ Paul and the Rally team

September Comeback!

2007-09-05T23:45:00.001-05:00

As many of you already know, September is childhood cancer awareness month ...

... the perfect time to leave a job, or skip a bunch of classes, or cancel every other possible commitment to get on a bicycle and tell people about something that is really really important!!

We're only doing a short ride ... a meager 1,000 miles combined riding in 10 days, but we've already raised over $12,000 ... and we have a this idea that people will be excited to hear about three crazy cyclists deciding to ride for the kids ...

The three of us that are riding consist of me (Austin from last year), Paul (a pro-trumpet player turned substitute teacher), and Kelly (a sophomore Vanderbilt student who is also a real life hero and cancer survivor!)

The core support team is Claire Olson and Nicole Shopshire, and we're also expecting key back up support from Kelly's mom and dad and my mom. They are going to follow along with the team for a few days and help us spread the word!

So stay tuned .. pictures to come. We'll be reporting from Memphis tomorrow night where we will start the tour with a trip to one of the greatest research hospitals in the world.

~ Austin

Radio Appearance

2006-09-19T15:31:00.000-05:00

Tom and I are going to be on an Atlanta radio station tonight. The show is called "Following Passions," and it is hosted by Bernard Kearse at 8:00 pm EST. Here is the link if you want to listen online:

Following Your Passions

We did an interview with Bernard while we were in Massachusetts in July, and he invited us back for a follow-up. If you happen to be in Atlanta, you can tune into AM 1620.

~ Austin

Team update

2006-09-15T08:26:00.000-05:00

We are finally home after three months. Tom and I are spending this week with my parents resting, sleeping late, etc. Nick and Chelsea are in Atlanta finishing up work for the documentary. Matt is in school in Iowa, Claire returned to nursing school, and Mary Beth (who did all of our PR) is working in Nashville. Alas ... the team is busy doing other things.

Tom and I spoke at my church's youth group on Wednesday, and we went to the Rotary club yesterday. Next week we have a few speaking events also ... so we're going to keep Rallying On for the time being. In the meantime, job hunting has commenced - I caught Tom emailing his resume out yesterday. As for me ... I'm going to keep draggin my feet.

Here are our Vanderbilt articles:

Recent grads bike cross-country for cancer research
How I spent my summer vactaion

~ Austin

Finale(s)

2006-09-11T18:19:00.000-05:00

So in the past two days, we've had two finales. Our first one was in Nashville, where we had a bunch of people show up at Outback to show their support for our cause. We raised a little more money, and we got to see Anthony, Gabe, and Amelia! They were a lot of fun - Anthony spent most of the time trying to creep up and scare me, Gabe ran around and showed off his somersaults, only stopping to hug everyone he met, and Amelia had fun when Austin picked her up to help her fly. It was a great event.

Then we headed to Atlanta. The Olsons threw us a big wrap-up party, inviting their neighbors and a bunch of other cancer families to welcome us. We ate a ton of food - there was barbecue, a huge cake, and a large assortment of other goodies. It was a lot of fun, but Austin and I looked at each other and realized we're still eating like we were when we were riding. Time to get back on the bikes!

~ Tom

Top 10

2006-09-07T01:53:00.000-05:00

Austin and Tom's top 10 reasons for biking across America:

10. Great tan lines
9. Riding in lightening storms
8. Drinking water out of mildewed camel packs
7. Seeing new places
6. Yelling at cows
5. Sleeping on couches
4. Meeting chicks (actually we didn't do this very often :(
3. Learning how to read a map
2. Changing flat tires
1. Avoid getting jobs.

So ... that is the list for today. It is subject to change depending on our mood, but No. 1 will always remain the same :) Tonight we had dinner with some college friends, and we are all sleeping on couches and blow-up beds - enjoying being in one place. Tomorrow we will again dawn our uniforms for a visit to Vanderbilt Children's. Our final hospital hooray.

We are finished riding for the time being, but we are going to hop back on the bikes on Saturday for one last ceremonial ride through Nashville. So for those of you that followed our blog like over-zealous NASCAR fans waiting for the next wreck, don't stop reading now ... more adventure to come. Who knows ... perhaps we will meet Bruise Lee?

~ Austin

Nashville!

2006-09-05T23:58:00.000-05:00

We've made it to our final city: Nashville, TN. We left Columbia fairly early to make it to campus in time to coincide with a Vineyard Vines trunk show. We arrived at about noon and got a great reception. We hung out for a little while and handed out invitations to our event on Saturday.

After that ended, we went to our hosts, the Leas (their son, Graham, was Austin's and my roommate) to change, and then we visited the places in Nashville we haven't seen since graduation. We introduced Chelsea and Nick to the bacon cheeseburger at Sportsman's, stopped by Bongo Java, and met up with some old friends at McDougal's. It was a fun day.

~ Tom

Finish line

2006-09-04T23:21:00.000-05:00

We've covered over 500 miles in four days. It's 11:30 now, and Tom and the crew are sound asleep. Tomorrow we are getting up at 5:00am so that we will have time to ride to the finish line at Vanderbilt by noon.

I can't believe that we are almost done. After three months, this has become quite a habit. It's going to be an odd thing for us - being finished. We have grown so used to all of this:

sleeping on couches, drinking warm gatorade, coping with saddle sore, fixing flat tires, eating stale granola, staying with people we don't know, getting bike grease on everything, getting lost, asking strangers for directions, having people honk at us, having people yell at us, traveling over 30 mph under the speed limit, traveling over the speed limit (once), riding on backroads, riding on the interstate (once), looking for silverware in people's houses, wearing the same clothes every day, forgeting various things at various homes in various states, begging guys at bicycle shops for discounts, asking people for donations, reading the label of a twinkie and deciding it is a good snack, explaining ourselves, etc.

Man, I'm gonna miss this job. So ... tomorrow is the big day. We're not sure what will happen on campus ... all we know is that we have to be there by 12:00 ...

~ Austin

place to crash

2006-09-04T00:28:00.000-05:00

updating by phone tonight - forgive the typos:

We are in Jackson, TN staying with Lewis, one of the managers at the local Outback. Because of the holiday weekend, we had not been able to find anyone that could host us, but the people at Outback came to our rescue. We told them all about our ride, and they found us a place to crash.

Saw a sign today that read, "Nashville 124." I told Tom, "Dude, we're getting close." He said, "I know." (it was a thilling moment despite our thrilling dialouge).

~ Austin

for Christi

2006-09-03T12:22:00.000-05:00

When we were with the Thomas family in Ohio, Christi put a whale tattoo on her forehead. At the time, I thought . . . "ha ha. Who would ever put one of those on their forehead?!"

Christi just went into hospital in Philadelphia, and she needs all of our prayers and support (visit Christi's journal). We are staying with the Horruck family in Memphis whose daughter Bella is also cancer warrior. Me and Bella wanted to do something for Christi, so we put on pink whales tattoos in her honor. I put mine on my forehead - we're riding for the Thomas Team today.

~ Austin

Put on my blue suede (biking) shoes

2006-09-03T01:10:00.000-05:00

Today we made it to Memphis. Well, Millington, actually, but it's pretty close. We left Cape Girardo at about 6:30 thinking that we had to go about 190 miles. As Austin's constant updates show, it turned out to be 199, so a couple miles short of our longest day. Nick said we should ride up and down the street until we hit two hundred, but since we've already got one official double century under our belts, we figured we could live with 199 miles.

And as Austin's pictures show, today was pretty eventful. We rode through four different states: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Kentucky was new, Tennessee we haven't ridden in since we were doing our training. But reaching Tennessee means the end is in sight, nineteen states and one district later. Today's journey is only one step from our final event in Nashville.

And today's journey was certainly eventful. I got three flat tires (one was only a slow leak, so I didn't need to change it), and Austin got one. While we were in St. Louis, Elizabeth, who works at St. Louis Children's, had showed us around her city. In the midst of sightseeing she braved a downpour and took us to a bike shop so we could get some new tubes. It's a good thing - we went through all of them.

Shortly after my third flat tire, at about mile 150, Austin and I picked up the pace a little. It was the first time I ever hit 37 mph on flat ground. I wish I could keep up speed like that, but since I can't, we didn't make it to Millington until after 10:00.

Our hosts were great. They stayed up and made us dinner when we arrived, introduced us to their new puppy, and let us play with their kids until bedtime. With all this good treatment, we should be ready for tomorrow's ride. That should only be about 100 miles, so hopefully we'll be rejuvenated and ready to go by morning.

~ Tom

Day in reverse

2006-09-03T00:29:00.000-05:00

The following four posts are from today on the road. We updated by phone every few hours. So you can scroll down and view our day . . .
in reverse:

10:30pm . . .

2006-09-03T00:26:00.000-05:00

Made it to Memphis, 199.07 miles ... had to stop for twinkies around mile 180 for extra energy . . .

9:23pm . . .

2006-09-02T22:29:00.000-05:00

Austin working on ... another flat tire (in the dark) ... mile 172 ...

5:18pm . . .

2006-09-02T17:24:00.000-05:00

another flat rear tire for Tom ... 135 miles ...

3:40pm . . .

2006-09-02T15:45:00.000-05:00

flat rear tire ... front tire flat also ... 115 miles ...

1:20pm . . .

2006-09-02T13:23:00.000-05:00

Tennessee!! ... 1:18 ... 83 miles ...

9:30am . . .

2006-09-02T09:36:00.000-05:00

KY ... Tom ... 9:15am ...

~Austin and Tom

Coolest Bathroom Ever

2006-09-01T22:18:00.000-05:00

Had to share this most awesome bathroom experience with all of you. We found this handsome unicyclist in the restroom of the Crystal City Cyclery today in Crystal City, MO. Very impressive.

In addition to the bathroom excitement, we were witness to a vast yard sale spanning 61 miles. The communities lining old route 61 had organized the event for today and tomorrow, and every person for 61 miles had set up shop for the weekend. What fabulous timing! We managed to ride the length of the entire sale without buying a single thing - www.61yardsale.com.

Tonight we got lost on the way into town (suprise!), and Mr Toole had to come and find us. We are staying with his family in Cape Girardeau tonight, and tomorrow we'll head to Memphis.

~ Austin

The Little Engine that Could

2006-08-30T10:12:00.000-05:00

Today we're visiting St. Louis Children's Hospital, and we're going to get Jacob to help us hand our goodie bags to the other kids. His parents sent us his story, and I wanted to share it with all of you:

When Jacob was 2 he was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor, Choroid Plexus Carcinoma. The tumor was 10cm in diameter; about the size of a grapefruit. Jacob underwent an intensive brain surgery only to remove 90% of the tumor. After several rounds of chemotherapy the tumor shrank enough for total resection in June 2005. Last fall Jacob had a bone marrow transplant and is currently tumor and cancer free!

Jacob's favorite line is "I think I can." We can't wait to meet him today - The Little Engine That Could!

~ Austin

Rest Day

2006-08-29T22:50:00.000-05:00

Today we got a bit of a break. Jan told us that we could sleep in, and when we finally did get up she made us a big breakfast: pancakes, bacon, and Krispy Kreme doughnuts (it reminded me of running to Krispy Kreme on reading days at Vandy). With breakfast out of the way, we took care of a few errands; sorted out some deposits, stopped by the post office, and made some calls to get ready for Nashville (along the way, Jan made sure we got some Ted Drewes custard). Afterwards, we headed off to our new hosts, the Muchas. They also made sure we could relax. This mini-vacation has gotten us ready for our visit to St. Louis Children's Hospital tomorrow and for the last few hundred miles into Nasvhille.

~ Tom

A Salute to Missouri Hosts!!

2006-08-28T22:57:00.000-05:00

We just rolled into St. Louis . . . our penultimate city! Today on the road we had 3 ham sandwiches, countless granola bars, 4 camel packs, some grapes, a banana, stale candy, and three flat tires. We rode about 115 miles, and we are staying with Janey the Firecracker :) She is the twin sister of a lady in Atlanta who knows Alexa and her family. Jan greeted us with hugs and lasagna - a great host . . . and with that I wanted to salute all of our Missouri hosts thus far!

We stayed with the Sauciers last night in Jefferson City. They have 6 grown children, so taking care of two worn out cyclists and their support crew was no problem for them. We had a Capital time:

In Columbia we stayed with my relatives,the Robinsons. Paul and Susan rode with us for the first 10 miles of our trek, and Paul's step-Dad, "Grumps" (not pictured) egged us all on from the house:

In Warrensburg we stayed with a friend of a friend, Rod. Unfortunately we forgot to take a picture with Rod, but we did become friends on facebook . . . so I grabbed this one off of the internet:

I think I'm going to introduce Rod to Claire of blogs past . . .

~ Austin

Bike killers

2006-08-26T22:44:00.000-05:00

About fifteen miles into the trail this morning, we ran into six cyclists from England. Apparently, they were biking from San Francisco to New York to raise awareness for HIV prevention (the website is www.universitychallenge.org.uk). They carried their own gear, had camped a few times, and had been traveling the past five weeks. Apparently, they hadn't really been bikers before this either, and they had one cool story about "killing" a bike by running it into a car. After trading a few stories, we rode on to Sadalia. It was a good start to the day.

Unfortunately, the trail slowed us down a little bit. Austin got a flat tire a few miles after meeting the other cyclists, and it was a lot harder to fix that with the little pumps we carry around on our bikes. And the sand kept our pace down to about 12 mph. Still, we managed to get to Sadalia about 5:30.

There, Austin got two more flat tires. We were only carrying two spare tubes, and Austin said he hadn't grabbed the rubber cement for the patch kit. I called the closest bike shop, and they told me they were closed for a race. When I explained what we were doing, though, the owner said he would hang around for the next 20 minutes if I thought I could get there. The bike shop was actually on the same road as the race, so I ended up going the wrong way against a bunch of bikers riding their practice lap. But I made it to the bike shop, got a new tube, and headed back to find Austin pumping up the tire. Apparently he had rubber cement and was able to patch the tire.

And he had some helpers. Two kids were asking him if we were in the race today, and then offered to take us over to race. So we followed the kids to the bike race and decided to try to enter. Unfortunately, they weren't taking "beginning" racers when we arrived. But we got some info from one of the teams there about a race in St. Louis on Tuesday, so we may get another chance.

At this point, it was almost 7:00, and night was falling. So Austin and I, inspired by the races, sprinted off to try to beat the setting sun. Unfortunately, we weren't that fast. So we turned on our lights and headed on. Eventually, it got too dark for cars to see us, so we had to call Nick to get him to follow us into Warrensburg (the hometown of my hero, James McAdams). A short time later, we made it to our hosts for tonight. We got to do a little catching up with Chelsea, who has rejoined us for the tour.

~ Tom

Columbia News

2006-08-25T23:11:00.000-05:00

We visited Children's Hospital at the Univeristy of Missouri today, and we had two TV stations chronicle our adventure! Here is a link to one:

NBC 8, Columbia: Cycling Against Cancer

The whale hats were a hit as usual, and we got to share some "stories from the road" with a few of the kids. Several of the staff took us on a tour of the hospital facitilies. In the past few years, they have expanded and kids now have more space for treatment and a new out door playground.

Tomorrow we will ride towards Kansas City to pick up Chelsea (film crew) from the Airport. I never thought I would pick someone up from the airport on my bicycle.

~ Austin

Monster time in Columbia

2006-08-25T00:21:00.000-05:00

We had a great time in Columbia tonight. My cousin Paul who is a pediatritian at the the University of Missouri organized a huge dinner for us at his church. We had over 50 people attend. We had three honorary heroes present and several doctors and researchers from the University of Missouri. The celebration was almost as big the monster burgers we downed after riding 200 miles the other day (see below).

mmmmm . . . i knew you would all enjoy that :)

~ Austin

Chicago Tribune

2006-08-25T00:17:00.000-05:00

We made the paper in Chicago:

Chicago Tribune: Big Ride for the Littlest Cancer Patients

Neat article about our visit to Hope :)

~ Austin

Post 200

2006-08-23T09:25:00.000-05:00

We are currently at a cheap hotel in Moberly, MO - where we crashed afer riding the big 200 yesterday. We washed our clothes in the sink last night, and we slept like rocks. whew.

They put an article in the Iowa City paper about us and Brandon:
Iowa City Press-Citizen: Pounding the Pedals

~ Austin

Double Century!

2006-08-22T23:36:00.000-05:00

Today Austin and I blew away our old record of 152 miles by riding 200. 201.31 to be precise.

We had been wanting to ride 200 miles for awhile now, so yesterday we decided to try it today. With that goal in mind, we left the Wicks household at 6 this morning, right before sunrise, and we kept on riding until 10:00 tonight, a little after sunset. Fortunately, we reached our mileage goal without too much night riding. Now we're pretty tired.

Tomorrow we should have an easy ride into Columbia. We look forward to it.

~ Tom

Brandon, also known as Spiderman

2006-08-21T20:48:00.000-05:00

We met Shannon at Iowa University Children's Hospital this morning. She took us around to meet all of the kids including Brandon (5), our honorary hero in Iowa. Brandon gave each of us a big high-five and then told us about how much he loved Spiderman. In fact, he even told us that he was spiderman!

We took spidey and his family to Outback Steakhouse for lunch, where we met up with lots of friends including Matt, who had been on the road with us in July helping Nick with the documentary (remember? the goofy guy that used to star in all of our tacky pictures :)? We also had some friends from the hospital join us.

We went to bed early tonight because tomorrow . . . we're going for a new record . . .

(for those of you commenting, it does not involve riding on the Interstate)

~ Austin

Iowa City

2006-08-20T21:18:00.000-05:00

Today we went to church with the Moline Rohrbachs, where we met a boy named Chance and his brother Gabe. Chance was diagnosed with AML, and his brother Gabe was his bone marrow donor. The pastor had us stand up at the beginning of the service, and we gave both of them t-shirts and made a quick announcement. We had a pretty good reception; the congregation applauded despite seeing us in bike shorts. Afterwards, we showed Chance and Gabe our bikes, made a quick stop at the John Deere visitor center with the Rohrbachs, and crossed the Mississippi into Iowa.

Unfortunately, there was no 'Welcome to Iowa' sign, so we had to stop at the world's largest truck stop, just off of I80, to get our picture with an Iowa sign in the background. The truck stop itself was pretty cool - we got to take a look at the showroom (those trucks are a major upgrade from our bikes) and have some lunch.

With lunch out of the way, we kept on heading west, expecting an easy day, only about 60 miles in flat Iowa. Unfortunately, it turns out Iowa's not so flat. The hills aren't that bad - they were nothing like what we had in New Hampshire and Vermont - but after Nick's stories about seeing clear across the state, we were a little disappointed.

Still, we made it to Iowa City in pretty good time. There we met the Wicks family, our hosts for the night. They made us some dinner, including some Iowa sweet corn. In this case, at least, Nick's stories did not disappoint. It was some good corn - Austin ate four ears. After a little ice cream, we sat back for the evening. (Man, life on the road is rough)

~ Tom

Iowa Friends!

2006-08-19T08:06:00.000-05:00

Our next stop is in Iowa City where we are going to have a fundraiser with a local hero, Brandon. Please pass the word on to all of your Iowa friends:

Monday, August 21
12:00-2:00
Outback Steakhouse
945 25th Avenue
Coralville, Iowa

Brandon has had an amazing journey with cancer. Here is the bio that his parents sent us:

Brandon had a virus in March 2005, which cased him to go into Acute Liver Failure. The doctors stated that Brandon would need a liver transplant. Brandon was then transported by air to Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois where he received a live donor liver transplant from his Uncle Mike from Texas, (his mother’s brother). After that was done and everything was going smoothly with his recovery, his platelet counts began to drop dangerously low in July, and in October Brandon was diagnosed with Severe Aplastic Anemia, and would soon be in need of a bone marrow transplant. In November, Brandon was hospitalized for a week while they tried to use an ATG (ATGAM) treatment, but it had no effect on the disease. The doctors believe the same, unknown virus that killed Brandon's liver also attacked his bone marrow. On February 9, 2006 Brandon was admitted to Iowa City Children's hospital where he began chemotherapy to rid his body of the old bone marrow and prep for the new. Brandon's brother Ryan (13) and his sister Kayla (9) both tested as perfect matches for Brandon, and it was decided that Ryan was the one. On February 14, 2006 (Valentines Day) Brandon received his new Bone Marrow from his big brother. Today Brandon’s counts are normal, and his DNA last came back at 97% Donor cells. Thank you to God and medical research for making this possible, and helping us keep our little boy :)

~ Austin and Tom

Hope

2006-08-17T19:32:00.000-05:00

We visited Hope Children's Hospital this morning and met some amazing kids and doctors who are fighting cancer together. In the past few days, the staff had been preparing the kids for our visit. Some of them made us drawings, and one kid even set aside a granola bar when he heard about us. He told the nurse that he wanted to save it for "the bikers" because we would need the energy :)

Ryan (10) was one of the kids we met. His mom told us about his journey with cancer, and Ryan asked us lots of questions about our bikes and told us about how much he loved baseball:

Next stop was the Kellogg Cancer Center for a luncheon with the staff and some special families who have been touched by neuroblastoma. The Chiou family lost their son Tyler to in 2005, and the Zavaleta family whose son Ryan is (5) and has been in remission for the past three years - way to go Ryan!!

The Zavaleta kids had been busy all week collecting coins from their neighbors, and they ended up collecting over $135 in change - mostly pennies!! We celebrated by dawning fresh hot pink whale tattoos with the whole gang:

~ Austin

Number One!

2006-08-16T21:40:00.000-05:00

Conner (3) is our Chicago kid. He really knows how to motivate a team of exhausted cyclists! He was diagnosed with a rare form of high risk leukemia last March, and he has been undergoing heavy doses of chemo, blood & platelet transfusions, lumbar punctures, and bone aspirations.

Conner's treatment is tough, but he is tougher. His mom, Angie, said that he has remained a playful kid through it all . . . apparently he chases his nurses with plastic animals & bugs. We're going to the hospital tomorrow to see Conner. I wonder if we'll be chased by plastic creatures?!

Rally on Conner - we'll see you in the morning!

~ Austin

Chicago!!

2006-08-16T00:20:00.000-05:00

We rode past 139 miles of corn and soy beans today. We're pretty zonked out. The ride was almonst 10 hours long, and I feel like I have a bicycle seat permanently attached to my rear end. whew . . .

In every direction we saw massive agricultural farms. In fact a sign declared our location as, "The Belt of the Corn Buckle."

We finished at the Schlitz family home in Chicago. Conner (3) is being treated for leukemia at Advocate Hope Children's Hospital, where we will visit Thursday morning. He was just admitted to the hospital this morning for a fever, so we are hoping that our visit will give him a little extra energy :)

~ Austin

It's a sign

2006-08-14T22:03:00.000-05:00

Our positioning is not necessarily indicative of our own attitudes, but we thought that it would give all of you something to ponder . . . which side would you stand under?

. . . actually, I take that back about not necessarily being indicative of our own attitudes. Tom was definately a big minus sign today.

. . . wait, wait, I take that back too. I think Tom was just really confused and thought it was opposite day thus making us both plus signs! How 'bout that? It's the only I can figure because we ain't no double negatives.

~ Austin

Indiana and the Giesels

2006-08-13T19:58:00.000-05:00

We crossed another state line, leaving Ohio and entering Indiana. With only a few missed turns, we made it to Carmel, right outside of Indianapolis, where they held the Race to Replace (Austin and I did not participate). Having arrived, we met the Giesels, who offered us a place to stay and a big dinner to refuel.

Today we ride in honor of Will Giesel, the son of our hosts. Will passed away in January of 1999 after fighting leukemia for two years. We never got to meet Will, but his mother has told us a little bit about him. He would have been 10 this year. His slogan was "Will Power Can Beat Leukemia." And though he was quieter than his younger brother, he made some powerful remarks. I wish I could have met him.

~ Tom

Saturday Morning News

2006-08-12T07:32:00.000-05:00

We made the paper this morning in Tiffin, OH: Advertiser-Tribune.

~ Austin and Tom

Christi

2006-08-11T23:14:00.000-05:00

We spent the night with the Thomas family in Tiffin, OH. Their daughter Christi (pictured) has neuroblastoma. They have a neat website that they update for families and friends: www.christithomas.com.

We had a great friday night visit with pizza and board games - the Rally Across America Team vs. the Thomas Team.

~ Austin

Coffee Break

2006-08-11T21:01:00.000-05:00

Today we started riding again, leaving the Cleveland area on our way to Chicago. At first, the roads weren't that great, but as we headed west they started getting better. Even better, we finally started hitting long stretches of flat ground. We were cruising along at the 20-25 mph range with almost no effort, making some great time. For a bicycle.

Midway through the trip, we took a break in Milan (Milan, OH, the birthplace of Thomas Edison, not the city in Italy). The gas station we stopped at was closed, so we headed to a coffee shop across the street. I met two ladies outside who wanted to know why I was wearing the strange outfit. I explained, and then, seeing that Austin was coming, excused myself and headed inside. There I met Stacey Reer, the proprietor of the Coffee Station, who offered to give us a sample of strawberry smoothies, and while we were talking, one of the women from outside offered to pay for whatever we wanted.

So we got some cookies. Stacey was great; she called two local papers who asked for our press releases, and she kept on trying to feed us. After a great stop, we got back on the road to Tiffin. We were biking along, our speed was good, and we hadn't gotten lost, so we were feeling pretty good. Of course, that's when we missed a turn, going six miles into town instead of to the home of our hosts the Thomas family, where a reporter was waiting to interview us. So we turned around and headed back. After our interview, we had some dinner, played some games, and changed our bike chains. Today we only biked 70 miles, but it should be a good warmup for tomorrow, about 115 miles (or a little over 120 after we inevitably get lost). Thankfully, it's supposed to be flat.

~ Tom

New Tattoos

2006-08-10T22:26:00.000-05:00

In celebration of our fundraising successes in Cleveland, we all decided to get tattoos:

Erica at Vineyard Vines covered the cost, and we set up a temporary tattoo parlor in our host family's kitchen. The tattoos even came with directions for application and removal . . . and a motorcycle:

Well . . . the tattoos didn't actually come with a motorcycle, but the Zwierecke family had one. We thought it would make a fitting tribute to our arm art. The coolest thing is that by flexing your arm you can make the whale swim . . . so beautiful.

Tomorrow we'll unleash our new whalepower on the road - we're headed to Tiffin, OH to stay with a little cancer warrior named Christi . . . I hope she likes tattoos.

~ Austin