2008 Summary:
I finished up 2008 as a so so year for my bike riding. My quick summary involved teaching 12 students in the LAB Road 1 class in The Woodlands. I finished my 4th Hotter'n Hell 100. I intended to do some mountain bike races. Needless to say Hurricane Ike had different plans. After Ike, registration for the 2009 MS150 opened up. So Vanessa and I are preparing for our 5th ride from Houston, TX to Austin, TX. Vanessa became certified to teach the LAB bike safety classes also. We rounded out 2008 by teaching Group Riding Skills classes, and occasionally getting in a weekend ride or two.
2009 So far:
For the MS150 we are once again riding with FMC Cyclers. The team is a little over 170 riders this year, which is a large increase from the 109 riders we had last year. I was asked to be the Safety Coordinator for our team. Since our team requires every rider to take a bike safety class every two years, it is my job to track who needs a class, and organize classes to get the team educated. Turns out that is like hurding cats. ;-) We decided to get the jump on the safety classes. We started teaching classes in October within two weeks of registration. In 2008 we taught 5 classes, 1 in Oct, 2 in Nov, and 2 in Dec. We kicked off January in full swing and held a class every weekend from Jan 10th to Jan 31st. We had such great demand, that we even added two classes in Feb. To date, our group of 6 instructors have taught group riding skills to over 300 of the 13000 riders in the 2009 BP MS150.
2009 Goals:
- For starters I hope to update my Blog more frequently.
- Ride to work more (Average 2 days per week)
- Complete my 5th MS150
- Average 100 miles per week (I started this off in the hole)
- Compete in 5 mountain bike races
- Complete my 5th HH100 with a 20mph average speed
- Finish the Bike Around the Bay again
- Continue educating cyclist how to interact with traffic
Lastly my plug for the 2009 BP MS150:
As stated above, This is Vanessa and my 5th MS150. We participate in this ride for two reasons, it is a great physical challenge to cover the ride from Houston to Austin each year. I notice I get stronger each year. The second reason, is because I do get stronger each year, I raise money for those who can not. Because of my efforts to fund raise, every day we get closer to understanding the debilitating disease, and finding a cure. Please support our efforts by considering a $25 donation. You can donate via my personal fundraising link.
http://main.nationalmssociety.
Thanks for your support.
