BRAWC Finished!

For those not from Tennessee, Wilson County is the county directly adjacent to Nashville in Middle Tennessee. The Bike Ride Across Wilson County is an event with a couple of hundred riders as part of the annual Wilson County Fair. Big time! A friend of ours who now lives in Nashville, Brian, and I did the ride together. He is also the one who came up to Knoxville for the ADA Tour de Cure back in June. We had a good ride and did all 50 miles in just under 3.5 hours. I think I was probably holding Brian back from his full potential but that is a pretty fast pace for me. The hills were classified as "rolling" but the only rolling that I wanted to do on a few of the "rolling hills" was quit pedaling and roll backwards! However, we did finish!

At the finish, we had an awesome cheering section with Jessica, my Mom, Dad, and two sisters, as well as Jessica's Mom and Dad. It was great to have them all there for us as we entered back into the Wilson County Fairgrounds with temperatures pushing 97. The ice cold towels at the finish line sure hit the spot. A few photos are below from the day's event. Thanks to our family who came out to support us and to Brian for doing another ride with me. I am entering the two month mark before the big kahuna in Death Valley on October 16th.

...still collecting ride donations. Give today, HERE! Thank you for your support!

The First Ride

Welcome to the 2010 edition of the The Shafer Ten Year Team blog!

Last year was the first time that we participated in JDRF's Ride to Cure Diabetes event. It was a great experience and with your support, we raised almost $9,000 for diabetes research to help find a cure for the devastating disease as well as its complications. When we set out to train and fundraise for the 2009 event, we did not know how great the experience would truly be. Throughout the training we learned about the physical demands caused by cycling. Throughout the fundraising we learned about the generosity of our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and the community. Finally, throughout the "Ride Weekend" in Sonoma, we were reminded that we are not alone in our fight for a cure. The whole experience was certainly life changing in several ways and now we are poised to do it all over again in 2010.

I will be riding in Death Valley, CA on October 16th in what is JDRF's most popular ride destination. Death Valley was also the first location to ever host a Ride to Cure Diabetes event over a decade ago. Jessica and I will be training and fundraising together and this year's goal is $3,000. At the event this year, Jessica will be volunteering and I will be shooting to finish the 105 mile route in the hot California desert!

Please, join us again on the journey as we continue to fight for a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research. If you are not familiar with our ride experience from 2009, you can visit last year's blog at http://10yearcure.blogspot.com/. Of course, you will be able to find out the latest with our progress for this year by visiting this site often and by following us on twitter at http://twitter.com/aashafer.

Stay tuned for more information and thank you in advance for your support!

- Andrew