Day 19, January 23, 2002
JEFF'S
UPDATE
Well what an awesome day! Yes we had miserable headwinds the whole day as we headed down from Northern Louisiana, through Mississippi, to the Alabama Gulf Coast to a quaint little place called Dauphin Island. BUT, the day was one of our best for a number of reasons.
Everything seemed to come together today because of the motivation of who we were riding for today, because of the motivation of getting to the Coast, and because of the value of seeing two of my dear friends from Toronto, Fredrik Carlberg and Jamie Layfield, who rode with Kevin and I in the afternoon.
Today I dedicated and rode for two very special people. Phil Sinardi and his wife Idella are close personal friends of my wife Diane and I. Phil has been battling cancer for the past year and has been a very active behind the scene contributor to our ride by raising over $7,000 in donations. Phil I thought about you many times today and each time smiled as I thought about how wonderful you and Idella have been to our family. For that I thank you and wish you a full recovery.
We also dedicated the ride to Virginia Musselman, submitted by Sally Reed who I met through the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Valerie is currently undergoing some radical treatments using stem cell rescue and is using all her strength to beat this terrible disease. Valerie, as we battled the headwinds I often thought of the physical and mental aspects of your treatment and thought how small what we are facing is in comparison. This gave me strength to ride hard the entire day.
Today's ending was a great finish as we finished the day right after sunset going over the causeway to Dauphin Island. A perfect fitting to a great day.
Tomorrow we are going to take a slightly different route and stay close to the coast finishing around Panama City for a ride of 125-135 miles. Tomorrow is a special day as we ride for two very special people; Kyra Vitko a 12 year old girl who is currently battling cancer and Mariam (Mary) Ranucci who passed away from cancer. I encourage you to read their stories to understand the importance of finding a cure.
My love to family and friends. Diane, Skylar, & Brooklyn I look forwarded to seeing you in Florida in two days time!!
Jeff
KEVIN'S UPDATE
Few words can say what happened today. We finally hit the Gulf Coast! The smell of the salt water filled my veins. I really enjoyed the day!!
These endurance challenges always force one to learn something about oneself. The lessen that really sunk in for me physically today was something my mom use to tell me:
When you're in a crisis situation, how you deal with it is something you have to live with your whole life.
Kevin Wallace
JAMIE'S UPDATE
I can't bend my legs, or feel my *%! but what an amazing day we had. The sun was shining, the weather was good and we saw lots of cats, and the spring peepers were singing up a storm. It is amazing to be part of the coasttocoastride the energy and focus is unbelievable among the team. Today's ride was phenomenal, when I wasn't thinking about sticking to Kevin or Jeff's rear wheel I was thinking about friends and family that have experienced cancer. Right now I can't imagine getting back on the bike tomorrow until I think about why we are riding and then I know it will be easy. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to ride my bike and only hope that my participation in this event will help others to experience the same joys.
I love you emily and hope Daisy, Ginger and the rest are well!
Jamie
FREDDY'S UPDATE
My legs are going to seize up if I write a long update, so I'll keep it short. Picture this... on the bike for 190 kms, we are riding into a strong headwind, Jamie is pulling at 35km/hr for about 4 min, then Kevin pulls at 38kms/hr for 5 min, Jeff pulls at 37km/hr for 4 minutes, now its my turn, and I'm thinking what am I doing here. Can I fake a mechanical or how can I do this? I do manage to reach deep down and manage a short pull that keeps the pace of the ride. (I don't want to get into details here, can you guess why?) These guys are awesome, unbelievable power and drive. They are on a mission and no one is about to get in their way.
Tomorrow is a new day and we hope the wind will be at our backs. I will be thinking of Kyra throughout tomorrows ride, and hope and pray that in some way this ride will impact her life and give her the strength to beat cancer.
A big hug to Natalie, Marissa and Stefan. Love you Lesley, see you very soon.