The First Big Tester!

Hey everyone as I'm sure that you all know, at least if you have been following our blog, that Kelly and I were planning to ride from St. Cloud to St. Paul for Easter. Well we did it. It was a success, but let me tell you 87miles and 11hours in the saddle riding against a head wind the whole way can really take a toll on your body but we decided that it takes the biggest toll on your mind. It takes a strong will to continue riding when your quads are burning and you look down at the GPS and it says you are only going 10.4 mph when you're use to ride closer to 15mph, but we just kept trucking on remembering why we are doing this. It's for all the people with cancer, the people we have lost and the people that believe in us, but when we arrived at Kelly's parents doorstep we were completely wiped out. There was one point close to the end, probably only 3miles or so before the end that we had to stop and evaluate the options. We could either do two shorter steeper hills or one long and gradual one. We ended up taking the long and gradual one and it turned out alright. Kelly didn't last long after the ride. We arrived at 6.30pm and ate and Kelly was out about 9, but my second wind hit and there was some of Kelly's parents' friends over and they wanted to hear all about the ride so I stayed up and spoke with them. Easter was good, legs were a little sore but there was lots of great food and more people that wanted to talk about our ride. That night Kelly's legs were a little more sore, so we decided that it would probably be better if we got a ride part of the way since we both had to work all day the next day and didn't know if we would be able to walk. So we got a ride from her mom to Maple Grove and road our bikes from there. The ride on Monday went a lot better we had the wind at our back and we knocked out that 5o miles in about three and a half hours.
Over all this week has been a very successful training week for us. We made our first ride completely loaded to Clearwater and back that was about 25miles and then we road to the Twin Cities and back successfully. Proving to our self that we can ride that far and can be in the saddle for a complete day if we need to. We ended the week totaling 190 miles of riding. Prior to this week we have only ridden a total of 155miles since we got our new bikes. So we are really psyched about our accomplishments and are planning a few more shorter over night rides for the next few weeks to come. Thanks for all your continued support!!

Kelly Won

Hey everyone, well we have been riding everyday this week trying to get ready for tomorrow. The weather is looking like it will be great for riding. They are saying that we could get into the 60s! We couldn’t ask for anything more. The rides are going great, we are definitely getting better shape. Neither one of us is sore after our rides, but we will see how our butts will feel after 85miles in the saddle. I am going to go with a bit sore, haha. Well on our last ride Kelly won, she became the first victim to get a flat so I had to give her a crash course on the side of the road on how to change a tire. So we will have to see next time if she learned anything. Thanks again for your support and stay tuned as we will keep you updated on how our first real tester goes.

It's Been Awhile!

Well we thought as the weather improved we would get out and begin to build our legs and stamina. On Sunday March 29th we went on a 35mile ride from St. Cloud to Avon MN. The ride went well, we paced at about 12miles an hour which is what our goal for the trip is. The rest of the week was a bit crappy and we were unable to do too many long rides. Now as the weather has began to warm we have gone a few longer rides. So far we have not topped the 40mile mark but we have been riding more often and consistently. We slowly build our strength up. Our first big test will be this weekend. We are planning on riding to Kelly's parents house in Woodbury MN for Easter. We will be riding down HWY75 on Saturday and riding back to St. Cloud on Monday. We are estimating the ride will take about 8hrs one way. We are both very excited to get out and test our legs on a long distance ride fully loaded. We would both like to thank everyone who donated items for our silent auction and benefit that was held on Monday, also thanks so much for those that came out and supported us and our cause the benefit was an absolute success!! Now that the funding aspect is more or less out of the way, we can concentrate completely on our riding! Also for everyone that missed the event we still have t-shirts for sale, only $15 all proceeds will go to the ACS! Thanks again for all your support!

Still working hard and Shamrock Benefit

Hey everyone, well sorry for the lack of blogs. Kelly and I have been very busy with everything. Still working out the minor details of our route and making all the travel plans. One of the most important thing we have been working on is putting together a Benefit and Silent Auction. The event will be held at Shamrocks Irish Nook in St. Paul MN on April 6th, 2009. Everyone is invited to come down and have a great time eat, drink and speak with Kelly and I. There will be two kegs that people can buy a cup and drink till they are gone. All proceeds from those will benefit us and the American Cancer Society. The silent auction begins at 5.30 and ends at 8. There are also some other cool things in the works, we will keep you posted. Kelly and I hope to see everyone there, come out and support a great cause and if you don't know us yet come get to know us!! Other then that we have been training hard the weather had been great and we had basically ridden everyday. Unfortunately the weather hasn't been cooperating this last week. On the bright side we finally have our racks and panniers and are planning on doing some longer two day rides in the near future! Thanks again for you support!

Spring Break

Hey everyone here's what Kelly and I have been up to over our spring break. We spent the beginning of the week speaking with more potential sponsors. The people of Aberdeen were very receptive and supporting of our cause. We received a lot of great advice about our trip and were pointed to more potential sponsors and people that may be able to help us in other aspects of our journey. The second half our break we made the journey from Aberdeen to St. Paul to spend some time with Kelly's family and speak with a Shamrocks Irish Pub about a possible benefit dinner and silent auction. This will hopefully be taking place the end of March or the first week of April. We'll let you know more when we get things finalized. Thanks again for all your support!

The Bikes Have Arrived!

Yesterday was the big day! The bikes finally arrived and were put together in a flash! With the bikes in our possession we have become even more excited then we were before! It was exciting to see them being built and even more exciting once we finalized our measurements and actually got to get on the bikes! It was a bit chilly but that was not going to keep us from riding the new bikes home! It felt amazing for me (Kelly) to have a bike that was not way too big for me, and for Chance to have a bike that was not too small for him, both of us now have the perfect fit! Thanks to the guys at Revolution Cycle and Ski for the great job of putting the bikes together and to Mike for the fine tuning to make us feel as comfortable as possible in the saddle for our cross country trek! The sun is finally starting to peek through the clouds for days at a time and the weather is starting to warm. We look forward to warmer days so we can continue with our outdoor training! Keep your eye out for future events to help support Cycling 4 a Cure in the near future! Thanks for your continued support!

Got Fitted!

Hey everyone! Well the anticipations grows! On Friday Kelly and I got our money from our Space Aliens benefit, then went and got custom fitted for our new bikes. We decided to go with the Surly Long Haul Trucker for sure and thanks to Mike at Revolution Cycle and Ski our bikes will be a perfect fit after just a couple minor adjustments when we get them later this week. Neither one of can wait to get our hands on our new rides or get out and hit the road!