Thank you Carl!

In February I began a journey on which I had no idea what to expect. I set out to honor the memory of a good friend and gained so much personally from it that I almost feel guilty.

I spent almost no time on a bike since I was a kid other than in college going to class or a bar (in no particular order) so when I decided to ride in America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride I thought there was a pretty good chance I had lost my mind – and when I agreed to raise $4200 for Team In Training when I had never done any type of fundraising, my suspicions were confirmed.

After about 4 months of training and over 1000 miles on my bike and several fundraising events I have gained new friends and gotten re-acquainted with old ones, expended blood, sweat and tears and found out a lot more about myself and what I can accomplish. The generosity of our friends and family is unbelievable. I am overwhelmed by the encouragement and financial support I received from everyone. Between Grant, CJ and myself we raised nearly $10,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society so that more families won’t have to endure what the Bang family did last year.

Thanks Momma-girl for putting up with me through all of my training and watching the kids by yourself nearly every weekend so I could ride my bike all over the state. And thanks to sp & b for not driving your mom completely crazy. And, thank you all for coming to Tahoe for the ‘big ride’ although I’m pretty sure it won’t be tough to talk you all into going back there.

Thank you to Carl Bang and the whole Bang family for being my inspiration for doing this ride. I know that Carl would be very proud of what we were able to accomplish, especially the fact that we were able to dance well into the night after riding 100 miles and he would have been especially happy that it was his favorite song “Celebrate” that got the party started.

Now, who’s ready for a triathlon?