Been kicking around the idea of starting a blog since Jul 30th of this year. That’s the day I got an email asking if I would be a rider in the 8 person Georgia Chain Gang for RAAM 2012. Not to sound elitist, but the thought of sharing 1/8th of the load on a 3000 mile bike race across the US doesn’t really worry me much. Two 4 person squads working on 12 hour shifts, yields about 3 hours or so of riding every 24 hours. The 3 hours will be hard hours, but it should be manageable.
I consider myself a cyclist. I ride pretty much year round, follow a regular training schedule, and hold my own, most of the time. If I actually did any racing, I like to think I’d be able to not embarrass myself in Cat 5, maybe... Last year I crewed for the GA Chain Gang, so I feel like I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I’ve gotten myself into from an athletic point of view. I said it then and I still believe that it’s easier to ride on a team in RAAM than to crew.
So.. what worries me about this endeavour?
The GA Chain Gang completed RAAM as a 4 person team in both 2010 and 2011 and in the process raised almost $250,000 total for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This was how much they were actually able to turn over to LLS, after expenses. A pretty impressive number. The goal for 2012 is $250,000 more, just this event, not two years combined.
Which brings me to why I’m writing this. I’m not a very social person, even for a guy. Put me in a room full of people milling around and talking, and I’ll be the guy in the corner looking for the one other non-social person that I can talk to about bikes or cars or anything... But, in order to get out in the world and spread some word about my involvement with the GA Chain Gang, and to help crack this fund-raising nut, I figured I could talk to my keyboard instead of a room full of people.
I’ve followed a number of really good blogs over the years. Some written by people that I’ve met and would have had no idea that they could do such a good job of putting ‘ink to paper’. Some of those blogs are still around and I still read them. This one, we’ll see. Like a lot of things in life I’m starting something without really knowing what I’m doing. Stuff like all the widgets and hot links and wiz-bang things that make the user interface fun are likely going to be missing for a while. I’m going to have to rely on interesting content and clever delivery. I hope it doesn’t suck.
I consider myself a cyclist. I ride pretty much year round, follow a regular training schedule, and hold my own, most of the time. If I actually did any racing, I like to think I’d be able to not embarrass myself in Cat 5, maybe... Last year I crewed for the GA Chain Gang, so I feel like I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I’ve gotten myself into from an athletic point of view. I said it then and I still believe that it’s easier to ride on a team in RAAM than to crew.
So.. what worries me about this endeavour?
The GA Chain Gang completed RAAM as a 4 person team in both 2010 and 2011 and in the process raised almost $250,000 total for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This was how much they were actually able to turn over to LLS, after expenses. A pretty impressive number. The goal for 2012 is $250,000 more, just this event, not two years combined.
Which brings me to why I’m writing this. I’m not a very social person, even for a guy. Put me in a room full of people milling around and talking, and I’ll be the guy in the corner looking for the one other non-social person that I can talk to about bikes or cars or anything... But, in order to get out in the world and spread some word about my involvement with the GA Chain Gang, and to help crack this fund-raising nut, I figured I could talk to my keyboard instead of a room full of people.
I’ve followed a number of really good blogs over the years. Some written by people that I’ve met and would have had no idea that they could do such a good job of putting ‘ink to paper’. Some of those blogs are still around and I still read them. This one, we’ll see. Like a lot of things in life I’m starting something without really knowing what I’m doing. Stuff like all the widgets and hot links and wiz-bang things that make the user interface fun are likely going to be missing for a while. I’m going to have to rely on interesting content and clever delivery. I hope it doesn’t suck.
It's a great start Dave! I look forward to following your blog and maybe riding RAAM with you one day...Craig
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