It might look like a good idea, but it always pays to think it through;)

     Just because something looks like a good idea, it still pays to think it through...

     I've spent the last nine months training for the BTTB either on a stationary bike indoors or on the same west to east bike trail that is perfectly flat.

     I decided I needed to switch it up a bit and experience some open roads to get used to the conditions I might face when I actually do the 35 mile ride.

     The first thing I did was scope out some possible routes by car, making sure the traffic was mild and there were ample bike lanes.

     One road I found had very little traffic and the speed limit was 35 miles an hour, but most importantly, the bike lane seemed to be ideal.  I clocked the route out on my odometer and from the start to my final destination it would be 1.3 miles... piece of cake!!  I've gone much further than that a million times.

     So last Saturday the weather was perfect and I knew it was the day to take this route for a test ride.  It was very smooth sailing... that was until I saw the steep hill in the horizon.  It's funny how that hill seemed non existent when I was in my car.

     You know how I mentioned my strong leg always pushed the weak one??  Well, I soon discovered that only works on a flat surface.  I managed to make it half way up the steep hill, then I started to panic a bit when I realized my weak leg had no more power left to make the rotation.  I felt that rush you get when you're on a roller-coaster and as the cars are being pulled up by the cable you get the feeling that the cable could snap at any moment... Okay, maybe that's just me:)

     I knew the only thing I could do was get off the bike and drag it to the top, and keep in mind I wasn't wearing my turbo leg (the nerve stimulater that makes my toe go up ) so I also had to be careful not to trip on my toe.  How embarrassing would it be to admit I had gotten a bad case of "road rash" and I wasn't even riding...

     This was the other side and it may not look steep but trust me it was!!!

     Once I got to the top, the hill going down was a breeze, but as I made it to my final destination it hit me that the ride home would be exactly the same, only in reverse.  I needed to find an alternate route.

     I managed to find a way home that avoided that huge hill, but it ended up being 4 times as far, though I didn't care, at least it was flat.

     At the time I didn't think to take these pictures to show you what I was talking about, but when I got home I got in my car and went back to take a photo so I could put it in my blog.  I got out of my car and took the photo and then of course I had to go over the hill and take a photo of what it looked like coming back up.

     You can see the side street coming out.  I parked my car at the corner and got out and took a picture.  As I was getting back in my car a Sylvania police car pulled up and the police officer rolled down his window.  I thought maybe I was getting a ticket for parking my car illegally (of course you'd think he would at least get out to write it...).  He asked me if everything was okay; I smiled and said "Yes, I just wanted to take a picture for... Yes, everything is great:)", and the police officer smiled and drove away.

     Just think... If I had only gone on a told him the whole story I might be looking at a Sylvania Police officer on my team...!!  That, or I could have talked my way right into a traffic ticket;)  Sometimes you just have to know when to leave well enough alone:)

Have a great day!!

Christine:)

* 13 abc VIDEO :) 

This, you'll never believe!!

        So I'm pretty proud of myself for convincing Bob Evans Managers, my Orthotist, my boss, my brother who only rode a Harley, and even my Pharmacist into riding, but you will never believe who else I managed to wrangle... Look down... Yep!! the Sylvania fire department!! 

    Well maybe not the whole  department (at least not yet...) but Greg Wilcox and Brad Mauk, my new BFFs are seriously interested in riding!  

     How in the world did that happen you ask?!?!  Well they happened to be in DMC Tech Group, where I work, doing their routine fire inspection, and my news video, "taking MS Head on", that was on TV the night before just happened to be recorded on my phone, and I was pretty proud of it.  Of course after some idle chit chat I was showing Brad the video:)  Brad told me he almost rode in The Bike To The Bay a few years ago, and that was all I needed to hear;)

     Before long Greg joined in the conversation and mentioned his aunt has MS, and now you have to know he was in! Here's the picture, and as you know, they don't pose if they don't mean it.

     The good news is, if one of us happens to be riding so fast that we're burning rubber we have some fire fighters on our team!

Thanks guys:)

Have a great day!!

Christine:)

Thank you everyone that helped us with our second Bob Evans fundraiser!!

    Thank you so much for helping us with our second Bob Evans fundraiser!!  Of course I had to make my way over there for Breakfast, lunch and dinner once again.  I'm starting to think I may want to invest in Bob Evans stock:)

     Every little bit helps, so if you were able to make it over there Wednesday, know we really appreciate it.  And keep in mind we'll have another Bob Evans fundraiser on May 21st, so mark your calendars again and please help us out!!

     As I mentioned, my goal is to see my team raise 25,00.00 in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Bike To The Bay, and I know with all the caring people in this community we can do it!!

Thank you so much!!

Have a great day!!

Christine:)

*CHECK OUT THE NEWS VIDEO ON ABC NEWS:)

Don't forget the second Bob Evans fundraiser is today!!

     Come on, all of the Bob Evans Managers have been great in helping us raise money for our cause, including riding on our team as well, so we need to thank them by visiting their restaurants today and help us raise more money for Team Leapfrog and Team sitting Bull at the same time.

     Who Knows, by the third fundraiser we may have our cute pink Team leapfrog shirts in and you just may catch these guys wearing them:)

       Remember, breakfast lunch or dinner, all ten area Bob Evans will give 15% percent of sales to our two teams if you show them the flyer or mention Team Leapfrog or Team Sitting bull.  Please help us!!

Have a great day!!

Christine:)

*CHECK OUT 13 ABC NEWS AND SEE THE INTERVIEW ABOUT THE BTTB!!

Please watch ABC News tonight to see an interview about the Bike To The Bay and Bob Evans fund raiser:)

     Please humor me and watch the interview between Joe Nugent from 13 abc news and I tonight.  This is so exciting! I'm hoping it will bring  a lot of attention to the Bike to the bay and help our teams raise more money for MS.

    Joe, his camera man and I spent about an hour trying to get the footage that would make the most impact and believe it or not I wasn't lacking for words:) Then they attached a Go Pro camera to my bike and  had me ride back and forth on the bike trail, adjusting the camera and microphone from place to place. 


     

     I must have rode that same stretch around 300 times, (give or take...) And from what I understand, shooting from all different angles then piecing it together gives the appearance of a crew of ten camera men.  Who knew... After so many shots I sure hope they were able to come up with at least 30 seconds of interesting material!!

    If you aren't going to be around to watch it you could always set your DVR for the 6:00 and 11:00 news (6:20 ish and 11:20 ish to be exact), hopefully it will be informative and explain what the ride means to me as well as the other riders along with those with MS.

     The Joe will have the interview up on the ABC website and link it to The Leapfrog site, so there's no excuse not to catch it.  Who knows, I may end up finding my calling yet, and we'll all be saying remember way back when... Okay, there I go dreaming again, lol.

Have a great day!!

Christine:)

aa

Curiosity may kill the cat but it also gets me potential riders:)

     

     I told you I didn't get all of my team members by my looks; and yes, I do my share of going after my target.  But  in this case it may have been a "look" that drummed up the interest of my next potential rider.

     I was at Bob Evans Restaurant on Monroe Street Saturday morning with my mom and friends, as I do every week, and it was a busy Saturday; places to go and people to see... so as I was scrambling out the door (and remember my mind wants to move faster than my crazy leg) another one of the managers Jeff Montreuil, whom I hadn't yet had a chance to corner, asked me what I did (you know, the limp...).  In a hurried fashion I said "Nerve damage, MS:)" and was going to keep moving.  But then I backed up and said "Hey...! ya know the fundraiser you guys are doing for the Bike To The Bay??"  He said " yes".  I said "Well that's me!! Ya wanna ride??"  And he too said he was totally interested!  He mentioned asking others to ride as well! 

    How I missed this prospect for so long is beyond me, but he's in my web now!  I and if he joins my team and brings others on board too, this could be awesome!! Lets hope it works out for Jeff:)

Have a great day!!

Christine:)

     

IF you're thinking about it, please sign up soon:)

     Well this Friday Joe Nugent will be interviewing me about The Bike To The Bay and then airing it on ABC news next Monday, and I would love nothing more than to be able to say we made our goal of fifty riders on Team Leapfrog:)  Even if we come close to our number it might get others to register and help us out.  

     So if you're just waiting for the right time to sign up this would be a great one!  Please help make this team impressive so we can live up to the idea that we're going on a leap of faith that we can make a huge difference to beat this disease:)

Have a great day!!

Christine:)

Spring is inching it's way in!!

     What a difference there is from the first time I rode my bike out doors to the second.  Remember I showed you the snow that still lingered in the background?  Well look at it now!!  Not one flake of snow remains.  The sun was actually shining like it was mid July.  I was sure glad I had my sunglasses!  My ride was a lot more pleasant than the stationary bike indoors.  Even though I had to dodge a couple of squirrels and kids on scooters, it was a sign that spring is here:)

     Of course the grass and trees have to play some major catch up from the brutal winter; you can see the trees look like fire kindling at the moment, but I know it won't be long until we're experiencing the aroma of freshly cut grass and back yard barbecues.  Fingers crossed, the next time I ride outside I can loose the jacket as well;)

Have a great day!!

Christine:)

     

What about my pharmacist??

     By now you've probably realized there isn't anyone in my world I won't try to get on my team, but my pharmacist?!?!  Yep!!  It all started when I told my pharmacist, Jeff Naegele, from Rite Aid Pharmacy, to check out my blog and read my post about getting my flu shot.  This was where I got my shot and I thought he might get a kick out of reading it. 

     He said he's looking forward to checking it out.  Well the next time I was in I asked him if he saw the post and he admitted he hadn't gotten a chance.  Of course I gave him another one of my cards and told him he would really enjoy reading it.

     Low and behold, the next time I was in he said he finally went to my blog and checked it out.  He said he was glad I was persistent because he really liked it. Then he told me he has a friend with MS.  So we all know what happened next... Yep, I said "Hey!! Join my team!!"  And how do you turn down someone with such persistence?!?!  But some people say yes just to make me happy (or shut me up!),so I asked him to promise he would sign up and he promised he would that night.

     A couple days went by and I didn't see his name, so back in I went (remember, I don't give up on ANYTHING!)  He had a big smile and said "I know, I meant to but got busy; I promise I'll sign up tonight!".  I had to take a picture as proof and I told him to look for it on my blog, so there's no backing out.  He assured me he was serious, and he had a friend he planned on asking to join as well.

     He didn't let me down!  You can check out Team Leapfrog on the BTTB website and see his name on my team:)  Call it bullying if you want, but some people just need a friendly little nudge to take that leap of faith!! You don't think I got all these team members with my looks... ;)
Thanks Jeff!!

Have a great weekend!!

Christine:)

We're finally getting the media coverage

    

      I mentioned a while back that Joe Nugent, the sports caster for ABC news was going to do a story about my team, as well as the fundraisers with Bob Evans restaurants.  Well we finally nailed down a date.

     We'll tape it on Friday, April 18th and the piece will air on Monday April 21st, two days before the next fundraiser which is Wednesday, April 23rd.  My hope is to be able to tell him we're close to, or at our goal of 50 team members. How awesome would that be?!?!  The team is really growing but there are a lot of people still interested in joining our team that haven't signed up yet.  If anyone knows of someone who's interested, please ask them to sign up so we can have a big number by the time we shoot the story:)

Have a great day!!

Christine:)

This year's Black Kite fundraiser takes a twist.

     

     Last year before the Bike To The Bay I spoke at a fundraiser at the Black Kite Coffee Shop, and my reason for doing it was simply as a testimony from a person who has MS.  Robert Hannon, who also has MS was riding in the Bike To The Bay and I was trying to help him raise money for his team.

     This year the tables are turned.  Now I'm riding and Robert is doing this fundraiser to help me raise money for for my team!  

   So we had a meeting with Kristina from The Black Kite, which is located in the old west end, and we started planning out the details.  Last year I told my story about my life and journey with MS, and what it meant to have so many great people ride for me.

     This year my story will be different.  It will be about my life with MS and why I felt it was important to ride this year myself.

     As we got further along in our planning we discovered that not only does Kristina love to ride, but that she also knows Pat Sheehan, who is the owner of DMC Technology Group, where I work, who also happens to be on my team as well.

     What a small world!  Now Kristina wants to join our team, and she plans to give Pat a little friendly riding competition!

     Incidentally, the fundraiser at the Black Kite is scheduled for May 24th.  Look for more details to follow soon:)

Have a great day!!

Christine:)

We have a date for the next Bob Evans fundraiser

     Now that our first Bob Evans fundraiser was behind us it was time to get more serious and make the next one huge.  

     Jason, the General Manager from the Monroe Street Bob Evans and I got together to work out the details.  As you can see, Jason had his pink dress shirt on, and you might think it was just random but I'd like to think it was in honor of my obsession for the color pink!  Okay maybe that's a stretch...

        We decided it might be best to try to be consistent with the dates of the future fundraisers and the third Wednesday of the month seemed as good as any.  So the next day will be Wednesday, April 23rd; be sure to mark your calendars!  

     This time since we have some of the ground work done we can actually focus on publicizing the event better.  We've been talking with Joe Nugent from the local news and now we just have to coordinate a day and time for the Managers from Bob Evans and I to meet with him.  When we have a date we'll let you know:)

Have a great weekend!!

Christine:) 

     

I was bound and determined!!

          Working at the bike to the bay booth at the walk MS was surely an amazing experience, and all the hype about starting to train for the ride had me  anxious to get back on the bike trail again.

     On my way home the sun beating through the car windows was so warm and though the car thermometer said a mere 47 degrees, I just knew it had to be a mistake.

     When I got home the first thing I did was fill my bike tires.  I know I said I dusted the cob webs off, but nothing about air in the tires;)

     Before long I was on my way to the bike trail.  I had just purchased gloves that were supposed to keep my hands from going numb but finger-less gloves aren't much help when its windy and cold outside, which is what I discovered the bike trail to be.

     But I didn't care, I was bound and determined to ride out side and I wasn't backing down.  However by the time I got to about 4 miles my fingers started to feel like popsicles and the wind whipping against my ears made me feel as though at any moment they were going to turn to ice and crack right off.

     And on top of that, I noticed there were still a few small snow mounds so it must be a little chilly yet.

     This was when I started thinking up the excuses in my head, as I continued to ride, and If I could come up with a really good one then I could head back home and wait for a warmer day.

     But by the time I had convinced myself that I had a good reason to quit I was already 6 miles in; now it would be silly to quit.

     By the time I was finished I actually made it to 11.5 miles and there is nothing more rewarding then to finish something you set out to do.  Ironically, by the time I had completed my ride I was actually warm:)

     So It's official!  My outdoor riding has begun (subject to optimal weather conditions. lol) and "real Spring" can't get here soon enough!!

Have a great day!!

Christine