Preparing to ride a Century

My father died suddenly a number of years ago. In November I was traveling on business in Seattle. I received news from home that my father was in the hospital because apparently he was losing vision in one of his eyes. We didn’t think much of it, but when I got home we found out he had a very small tumor in his brain. In January he died, it turned out that the tumor was a very aggressive malignant tumor. My father inspired me in many ways, and even though he died at the young age of 54, he lived a full life.

So on October 20th I’m heading off to Austin to attend the Ride for the Roses, a Lance Armstrong Foundation event. It’s essentially a ride for cancer research where riders from all over the world choose to ride courses from 20 miles all the way to 100 miles. They typically raise money amongst their friends and family, the higher the donation the better the prizes you get before the ride.

AMD plays no small role in this event. Not only do they sponsor it, but they also have a huge following of “AMDers” who participate. These guys, for the most part, are nuts and extremely competitive. For anyone who isn’t aware about the culture at AMD, it’s very laid back, but when it comes to competitions there’s no backing down. That being said, if I don’t choose the 100 mile ride (otherwise known as a century) then the friendly jabbing will start. If I end up in the ditch, like one “AMDer” I know ;-) then I’ll never live to forget it. I hope to come back with some fantastic stories.

So that being said, I’m in training to ride 100 miles. Tomorrow I will be riding from Calgary to Red Deer. If anyone else is going to be at the Ride for the Roses, drop me an email, I'd love to meet up if possible.