Traveling Thoughts

Over the last week and a half people have been asking me where my entry for the Blog Battle Royale Charity Edition was and why it didn’t get posted, did they miss it, was it posted on another blog.

The week before it was due I was preparing for my trip to Orlando FL to ride in the Tour de Cure out there. It’s my participation in the Tour de Cure that drives my charity blog Ride To Remedy. Instead of writing about my blog and the cause it supports I was out there participating in it (among other things) and that is why my post didn’t get posted.

When I got back I felt that the point was moot to put up the post and so I didn’t. However, because of the recent questioning here is my post:

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Imagine that one thing you just have to do, be it traveling somewhere, meeting some superstar (actor/actress, musician, athlete artist, writer, etc), participating in some competition where you win (like a sporting event, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, etc), go ahead and pick that one thing, that one thing that you really only feel that you have to do it once, once will be enough, once will take care of your craving to do that one thing, once is all it’s going to take for you to be content, doing it just once will give you the power to say, I did it and I don’t need to do it again…do you have that one thing in your mind? If not get it there, because we’re moving fast…do you have it now? Okay, good! Let’s Go!

Now imagine that you get to do that one thing. You’ve traveled back in time and met John Lennon. You’ve jumped from a helicopter and skied down the mountain of your choice. You’ve been to the deepest trench in the ocean and seen creatures that we can only dream about. You’ve made one revolution around the earth in a space shuttle (that you built in your back yard). You’ve traveled to some far away country that’s only a spec on our maps and met George of the Jungle. Whew, that was exciting! Are you back yet? Come on, pull yourself together, you can reminisce and blog about your journey later, I’m not done with you yet.

So you’ve just gotten back from that one thing that you just had to do once. But, now that you’ve done it, you can’t wait to do it again can you? It was so exhilarating, exciting, mind blowing, inspiring, thrilling and breathtaking (do I need to continue?) that you can’t wait until your next opportunity to do it again. Now imagine that that one thing that you had to do just once and now can’t wait to do it again, was a charity event. That is where my story really begins.

It’s not the background information that really matters, it’s what happened after that “one thing”.

My one thing was to ride 35 miles in a Tour de Cure for diabetes. When I set out to ride in this “one” ride, I really had no intentions of riding in any other rides. But all it took was once. One ride and I was hooked. When I got done with my first ride in Long Beach, CA, I was exhausted and really couldn’t thing of much more than a nice cool shower. After my gear was put away and I was all cleaned up, I started thinking about what I had just done.

I had driven 12 hours to ride my bike 35 miles in a state I didn’t even live in. I raised $1110 for diabetes, a disease that I have had for over 15 years but also a disease that effects over 20.8 million people in the US. It was the first thing I have ever done since getting diabetes to help the cause instead of just complain about it. It made me happy. It was at that moment that I decided that once was not enough, I wanted to ride in a Tour de Cure in every state.

When I got home I was quick to register for my next ride. I also decided that I needed a blog dedicated to my cause. RideToRemedy.com was born. Having Ride to Remedy gave me a place to track my training progress, track how I was doing in meeting my goal of riding in all 50 states, give my thoughts on the rides I had ridden in, talk about the new gear that I was getting, and to talk about my diabetes, it became an outlet for me a a place where people (friends, family, sponsors) could see what I was doing, see my progress in meeting my goals (the overall goal and the individual ride goals), learn about my life with diabetes and help support me.

Last year I rode in 3 rides. It started in Long Beach, CA.

I had the best ride I have ever done in Longmont, CO.

And I ended my season with a ride in Ft. Worth, TX.

As I say each time I write a page for whichever ride I’m preparing for:

I ride for myself, for my family members with diabetes, for all my friends with diabetes, for those with diabetes that I don’t know, and for those that will be saved from the torment of diabetes when a cure is found. And I will continue to ride until that cure is found, whether it be before I’ve ridden in all 50 states or long afterwards.

Ride To Remedy powers my rides because it gives me a place to point the sponsors to. It gives them a place to read about the cause they’re funding. It gives them a reason to sponsor me ride after ride.

Ride To Remedy gives me a way to network with other diabetics that are doing the same thing and it helps me to meet new people as I travel from state to state to participate in these rides.

Ride To Remedy holds me accountable for what I’ve set out to do. If days go by with without me posting people begin to send emails questioning where I’ve gone, what’s happening, am I still riding, is everything okay with my diabetes.

Ride To Remedy gives me a reason to ride. The more diabetics that read it and the more diabetics that respond to it, gives me a more personal reason to ride. When I rode in Ft. Worth, TX I tried to have a name for every mile I was riding and that’s really the only reason I made it through that ride. Even though I know that I ride for over 20 million people, to have names and faces gives me a more personal reason to ride.

So, if you decide to keep up with all that’s going on at Ride To Remedy, if you notice that I’m riding in a city near you, won’t you ride with with me? (Chances are you know someone with diabetes or pre-diabetes, your ride, would be well worth it.)