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
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
No comments:
Post a Comment