Cycling for a cause

Since this blog is just getting underway I haven't had that many opportunities yet to mention my "cycling buddies". This is a group of people that are collectively the most caring, compassionate, and alive people I have ever met. We've shared lots of good karma for the past seven years while raising money and training other cyclists in support of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Recently some of the group had also participated in events to raise money in support of the Lance Armstrong Foundation through his LiveStrong Challenge program. We have been talking for the past couple of months trying to decide what our 2008 calendar of events is going to be.

Obviously my personal situation has me unable to commit to any kind of serious training just yet but Dan Nies, a mensch in his own rite, has started the ball rolling to bring together a group of people to train and to participate in a LiveStrong Challenge event. Below is the bulk of Dan's email from this morning. Hopefully I'll be able to get myself back on the road soon so that I can ride in Austin in October with the TEAM. Maybe you can join us as well? Even if you've never done any kind of serious (or semi-serious) cycling before we can help to train you! Dan and his fellow coaches have done some amazing things. It will be an experience that you'll never forget.

You can reach Dan via email at dnies3@comcast.net


Gang,

I took the liberty of getting the ball rolling. I have set up a team for the LiveStrong Challenge in Austin, TX October 25-26. I realize there is one in Philly in August. However, several of us weren’t available for that one, so we decided to go to Austin. If you can’t do Austin, I encourage you to sign up for Philly.

I set up a team with the name Mintz’s Mentschen. We can always change the name, but I needed one to set up a team when I registered. In Tahoe last year we gave Jack a special Southern NJ Tomato Head Award the “True Meaning of a Mensch Award” (Mensch in Yiddish means "a good person." A "mensch" is a particularly good person, like "a stand-up guy," a person with the qualities one would hope for in a dear friend or trusted colleague. Mentschen is the plural).

You can use the following link to sign up. When you do, please select the option to join a team and choose Mintz’s Mentschen.
http://austin08.livestrong.org/faf/home/waiver.asp?ievent=262612&lis=0&kntae262612=9EB3093EB819413C831997A4CD7778A6

I will also start looking at hotels and flights etc. this week. We can also start talking about training as a group – getting Jersey’s etc.

Pass this onto others. Let’s see if we can’t raise a ton of money!