Day 29: Cycling with Our Biggest Sponsors

Picture: Cameron gets interviewed after we gave his friend Eric a grant for a new wheelchair





Well today we were off to Colorado Springs, CO. The early hour of 5:30 felt like it came much faster than normal after sleeping in those comfortable hotel beds. I had the hardest time getting myself up and ready with such a great lodging setup. But today was a little unique because we had 6 guys, some Pi Alphas and some guys who work for KRG Capital, riding with us. It’s a unique opportunity to ride with the guys from KRG because they are our biggest sponsors, getting to put a face to a name is so cool. These guys donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to Push America each year. Among those riding was Bruce Rogers, original guy to complete and raise money for people with disabilities. This was huge for all of us, to be able to ride with Bruce and the sponsors. All of them were great guys who all love to ride bikes, a few of them actually race and have some real nice bikes. We had 70 miles to complete on this beautiful day and for the first part of the day it felt like our day was flying by. Once we hit mile 40 the head wind had picked up and was very strong. Soon we were only traveling 12 mph on flat ground and everyone was fatiguing pretty fast. Since we had a sponsored lunch at the US Olympic Training Center we were pressed for time. The day was getting longer and longer and soon we all had to rack, we were going to be late if we kept on cycling. Our final mileage for the day was 70, apparently the total mileage ended up being 90. So we racked the last 20 miles and headed to the Olympic Training Center where once again media, family, and friends were waiting.
Arriving at the training center was real neat. The facility is all gated and is basically a campus for Olympic athletes to train and prepare for their up and coming competitions. On campus is a cafeteria, housing for the atheletes, and a building for virtually every Olympic sport you can think of: Track and Field, Swimming, Gymnastics, Shooting, Volleyball, Weightlifting, Wrestling and more. Everything there was state of the art, I was hoping to see some athletes but most of them are already in Beijing. Upon our arrival we were met by Eric, a 36 year old, who has Cerebral Paulsey. He is a good friend of Cameron’s, one of the cyclists on our team. We were able to give Eric a $750 grant and take him around with us for the day. His brother’s company is going to match our grant and the money will go to get him a new wheelchair, the one he currently is in he has had since he was 12 years old. Getting to tour and eat at the Olympic Training Center was quite a treat, I know I wouldn’t mind spending a few weeks there to train for a sport before heading to the Olympics.
After spending about 2 hours at the facility we said our goodbyes and thank yous to the sponsors who rode with us and headed to lodging at the dorms at Colorado College, a small liberal arts school. The Dean of students hosted us for dinner along with a few other faculty members from the university. They catered a turkey burger and dog dinner with big soft brownies and sweet tea. Later I tuned my bike and tried to get to bed early, we had another 5:30 wake-up and I was already exhausted from the day. I am excited for tomorrow because my Grandparents will be in Pueblo,CO along with my Uncle Mike and Aunt Carol!