To my many UPS friends: I am no longer allowed to communicate via UPS email addresses.
If you care to receive 2009 Tour email updates, please leave your personal email address on my guest book (allows you to share your email address with me privately), or email me. Determined people working together can and do make a difference in this world.
No one enjoys being sick. Even talking about being sick is a downer!
We who are blessed NOT to wake up each day to face an intimidating illness like MS can take our good health for granted.
I am asking my family, friends, and fellow UPSers to pause a moment from our healthy happy lives to remember those who are not able to enjoy life as we do.
MS is but one of many illnesses we can and should do something about. Thirty years ago, MS attacked my wife and soulmate Lee Anne.
The Tour de Kentucky is my 2009 weapon of choice for fighting MS.
Become a "Virtual Cyclist" and Partner: Become part of a legacy. In this ride against MS, the only real finish line is the cure.
If enough of us unite in this fight, we will see the cure for MS in our lifetime, making a profound difference in the lives of millions for all generations to come!
A Christmas Tradition: Lee Anne and I have a personal way of remembering all of you who so generously give to the National MS Society.
Each year Lee Anne adds one or two new songs to her Homemade Christmas project, a CD collection of Christmas music that will hopefully make your holiday season more enjoyable.
Lee Anne has studied music since childhood.
In our first year of marriage, while practicing for a college recital Lee Anne experienced her first MS attack, which included numbness in her hands.
I will never forget the helpless feeling of being unable to do anything for Lee Anne as she struggled through pieces that were normally easy for her.
We are so thankful that Lee Anne eventually regained her sense of touch. Many who battle MS are not so lucky.
Drug therapies developed through medical research funded by the MS Society have helped Lee Anne to have a better life by slowing the progression of her MS.
As I see it, your donations have made it possible for Lee Anne to continue to do what she loves to do. A Homemade Christmas is our small way of thanking you for making a difference.
Please include your address when you donate so we don't miss anyone on our list!
If you cannot afford to donate to the MS Society this year, email us your name and address and we will send you a Homemade Christmas CD as well.
A $20,000 dream: In 2006, my Tour de Mexico (1437 miles from Mexico to Kentucky) ride
raised my personal best of $19,248. Since then, my new "dream" goal has been $20,000.
In 2007/08 I led many cyclists on the Tour de Kentucky and we raised over $140,000.
(I hope to lead more TdKs for my cyclist friends in the future, energy/finances permiting!)
But in 2009, I need to come back to the heart of the matter for me:
Wanting to make a big difference in the lives of those who struggle with MS.
To my many friends who are gifted in math, consider my math "problem" below:
Option 1: 1 X $20,000 = $20,000. (Easiest, but do I know anyone that rich?!?)
Option 2: 10 X $2,000 = $20,000. (An extreme donation to be sure!)
Option 3: 100 X $200 = $20,000. (A lot to ask of 100 friends, but possible.)
Option 4: 1000 X $20 = $20,000. (A problem, as I do not personally know 1000 people!)
I suppose there are really 20,000 options, rounding to the nearest dollar!
But my favorite "option", the one I experience each year, is where math and beauty meet:
Each person giving what is in their heart to give, as they are able to do so.
A Longer TdK for 2009:
Lee Anne is no longer able to handle the rigors of the large 8 day Tour de Kentucky.
For 2009 I was faced with either leaving Lee Anne behind or designing a "kinder, gentler" TdK.
I decided for 2009 to make the Tour de Kentucky a two week event in the cooler Fall weather, allowing Lee Anne to rest every other day.
In addition to reporting in to you on our ride progress via email and this website, I also want to introduce you to our beautiful Kentucky state resort parks, the start and end points for each ride day. The state resort park system here in Kentucky is thought by many to be the most beautiful network of parks in the country.
Although we spend only one day at each park, many would make for a great full week vacation! But alas, we must keep peddling West!
As I am 53 and face health issues of my own, this "kinder and gentler" TdK appeals to me as well. Distance cycling is a very driven sport! Through no fault their own, most distance cyclists go as fast as they can for as long as they can. I am slower than my healthier (often younger) cycling friends, and am looking forward to being able to "ride my own ride" in 2009. My own health problem (asthma) may prevent me from riding all 726 TdK miles, but I intend to wheeze up and breeze down as many Kentucky hills as I can each day, for the sake of those with MS who are not able to ride at all.
I am no athlete, nor am I the picture of health (especially this year). I am just an aging asthmatic guy on a bicycle, trying to help make this a world free of Multiple Sclerosis.
Through this website, please join me once again in 2009 as a "virtual cyclist".
Ride along with me in spirit across the beautiful state of Kentucky!
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