4-18-09 – American Diabetes Association – Tour de Cure
Hello friends and family,
This is a posting about my first century, the American Diabetes Association’s “Tour de Cure” which was held on Saturday, April 18, 2009.
As a cyclist and mountain biker, I loved riding, but never thought I had the physical ability to complete an entire century (100 miles). It wasn’t until I started riding with my buddy Edson Bandoy that he encouraged me to join him and his buddies and be a member of TEAM FOLLOW that I decided I would take the challenge.
As a part of my entry into the Tour de Cure charity ride, I was to raise a minimum amount of $150 just to take part in the tour, but after my first day of fundraising, I was already at $150! After the wonderful donations from my family, friends and co-workers, I ended up raising over $500 and TEAM FOLLOW raised the third highest for the race, raising over $5,000 for the American Diabetes Association, which was phenomenal.
I rode for both my parents, three uncles and grandparents who suffer from diabetes. While empathetic towards them, I realized that I needed to change my life. In Jan, at 5′6″, I weighed 200 lbs and my cholesterol/blood pressure was skyrocketing. Since then, I changed my diet, trained hard, and completed all 105 miles at the Tour de Cure. In training for the Tour de Cure, I’ve lost 40 lbs and discovered that while doing something great for my family, I also did something great for myself.
Thanks to my wife, friends, family, co-workers and especially TEAM FOLLOW for taking me onto their team and giving me a sense of purpose with my cycling. I know that it was a decision that has changed my life!
Oh, and here’s a funny little youtube video that the photographer took of us:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DimO7wramYc&feature=player_embedded
-BB