Amsterdam Send Off

The folks in our European offices have done a lot for my ride. Rineke Reitsma our press officer in Amsterdam has setup a gong ceremony and an interview with the leading financial publication in The Netherlands (Financieele Dagblad). A human interest story and picture will be published on Saturday June 9. I will be meeting folks in Brussels and Paris to participate in similar ceremonies.I will publish some photos after the ceremonies in this blog.

I am very grateful to many NYSE Euronext employees who have put in a lot of time to coordinate events and get the word out on my ride. I never expected this kind of attention around it but i think as a company we can't help but do our jobs well. Thanks to everyone.

I arrive in Amsterdam on Weds June 6 and start my ride on Friday June 8 after the Gong Ceremony. Some Dutch colleagues will also ride with me out of the city. I asked them to take it easy on me as i will have 50 pounds of gear and 500 miles ahead of me.

Replace the pretty blonde woman with a bald guy with a bike and that will be me next Friday. 

Gear and Oldness

Today i am sending my bike and gear to Amsterdam for the ride. I even spoke to a fancy man at the hotel to insure they don't throw it when it arrives. So i guess this is truly the official confirmation that i am doing the ride. Am i too old ? are my legs still up to the task ? These are the questions i am asking myself. The answers are all YES. I'm doing this thing and i'm happy to say we have raised enough money for 4 wishes. Less than two weeks from now i'll be flying to Amsterdam.

I took the bike for a ride with all the gear i am bringing on the trip. the weight is akin to riding a 5 year old on your bike for several hundred miles. Maybe i shouldn't have packed a belgian waffle iron.

Really looking forward to the trip and most of all granting the wishes to the Make a Wish Kids

Old Guy Like Me

Fund Raising Update

We are now $118 from granting 4 wishes ! I am less than 3 weeks from starting the ride. Wow. What a reflection on all the generous people out there who want to help. Over 25,000 raised with the CEO of my company rounding up to the next wish.

Does golf constitute training for a 500 mile bike ride because that is what i am doing today. And a beautiful day for it. But i did take a ride last night. more like a time trial as i didn't have much daylight left. Luckily the hills near my house are steep and i got some good training in.

The bike gets packed today and sent out to Amsterdam this week. Fedex is allowing me to send stuff to amsterdam, paris, and back to the states. Very nice of them.

The main idea of this blog is to say thank you again. We have raised enough money to make 4 sick children very happy. And that doesn't suck at all.

New Fancy Ipad keyboard for Blogging on the Road

just want to confirm it works

Belgian Waffles !

Hi All, My Brother and his Wife had a brunch today for mothers day and i was hungry. I ate 2 Belgian waffles and 1 eggs benedict. A couple hours later i got on the bike for a ride. Based on my energy level i highly recommend waffles before a long ride. did about 40 miles and was keeping a pace i haven't kept in a while. I burned off the waffles and then some. Considering i am riding through Belgium i am hoping the waffles are actually Belgian and they serve them. If they do, i should have no problem finishing this ride in 7 days. Thanks Bro!

26 days until i begin my ride. Again, thanks to everyone who donated and sponsored me.

Now i am tired, i suppose it comes with age. Bedtime and then a productive day at work tomorrow.

I hope these don't make me look like this guy (note: i don't wear outfits like this when i ride. no place for this:-)

Wrestling Weight and Very Generous/Caring people

I feel like i'm back at my old Wrastling weight in high school which was 138. Definitely not ! it just feels that way. I haven't run any stairs and ridden a stationary bike in a snowmobile suit but just cutting the carbs and going for long rides outside has done the trick.

People are surprised when i tell them i am doing this ride alone but to me its part of the challenge. Without the challenge it wouldn't feel like i had done anything for the kids who go through so much everyday. We are creeping up on 4 wishes and i am so grateful to my family, friends, colleagues, strangers, sponsors, etc.. who have done so much for me to make this happen.

Thanks again to the CEO of my company for offering to round up to the next wish wherever we end up with fundraising.  Duncan is a very generous and caring person who is doing a ton of work for charity, especially for children with Autism. Currently he is working to raise money to build a new school for Children with Autism who need special services and attention. Guess i'm in sort of a sentimental mood, it happens.

Anyway, less than a month to go and i feel good (as good as an old man can feel).

Rain

All this rain makes me think of rain.

The worst riding in the rain story i have was when i did my ride from Bar Harbor Maine to Northwest Connecticut. The entire first day it was 50 and raining steadily. I rode about 40 miles then stopped for lunch. When i loosened my shoes i realized i couldn't feel my feet. And it didn't go away, i continued to not feel my feet, which kinda sucked. I looked at my feet and they were not the shade they should have been. Luckily people in Maine aren't overly concerned with hygiene so they allowed me to soak my feet in lukewarm water in their sink. 30 minutes later i was good to go, with some baggies on my feet that otherwise would have been used on leftover meatloaf. The baggies did the trick and kept my feet good for the remainder of the day. Fun stuff. Needless to say, i'll have something for my feet should i run into some heavy rain. I don't think folks in Europe would like a crazy americans feet in their sink for any length of time.

Meatloaf

More Bloggery and a Bivuoac

Good evening all, Not sure if its a good thing or a bad thing but my cough is gone which means i need to begin training again. Ugghh..

The route is planned, i'll go from Amsterdam to Brussels then straight south to Paris. Its mostly a straight line with some hills but not bad. From this straight route i'll deviate to a few different destinations, some may involve Trappist Ale destinations in Belgium. Others will be out to villages in France. Now that i sort of know where i'm going i feel a bit more comfortable. I've also decided to take a bivuoac and small sleeping bag in case i can't find room at the inn or the proprietors don't know that i am asking for a room.

Anyway, 1 month from today i will be on the road in The Netherlands, actually hopefully i'll be asleep as it will 2:30 am. 4 weeks to raise $1500.00 more in donations. I think we can do it ! This will be enough for 4 wishes. So many people have helped with donations, sponsorship, etc.. Thanks to everyone, this is special to me and i hope it is special to everyone involved. Its important to keep less fortunate people in mind and to help them.

Now i'm begging for donations

Cough and Make A Wish Folks

A bad cough has spoiled my training for this week but i think i'll be back at it tomorrow. I leave for Amsterdam a month from tomorrow and we are less than $2000 short of 4 wishes. I am confident we'll get there.

I was thinking today how lucky and happy i am to be able to do this for Make A Wish children. I also thought of all the people involved at Make A Wish who work hard every day to make these these special wishes happen. Kim Smith who has worked with me throughout the process works tirelessly for this cause. She is all over the place doing so many things to make these wishes happen. When i was in Chicago Susan Schultz did the same thing. They are the people we should all be so happy for. They are out there making a difference everyday. I am grateful for them.

By the way, does anyone know how to say "i'm completely lost" in French ?