It was an early start. We were all up at 6 am and left home by 6:30. Fortunately there was breakfast there, so the kids were happy.
Kit and Ella decorated our "in Honor of" flags. People who donated were able to make a donation in honor of someone they knew afflicted by cancer. The flags lined the finish line. It was very touching.
After some last minute preparations, they were ready to begin.
They had various different lengths of rides, with 100 being the longest. Lots of families did the 12 mile rides, there was also a 25, a 50, and a 75. Matt's number 310.
The cancer survivors riding released balloons.
And they were off.
After they left we had hours and hours and hours until they'd come in again. Since I didn't really know the area we kind of had to stay around for the whole race. I tried to put the half way rest stop into the GPS, but since I didn't know what town it was in, we couldn't find it. So we waited. Oscar signed himself up as a volunteer-got a spiffy yellow t-shirt, hat and free lunch. Here he is cheering on the little kid criterion and reminding the people finishing the 12 mile race to sign in.
A rare photo of the 4 of them.
Here he is on the walky talky, taking numbers so they could announce the riders as they finished.
Kit actually got so bored that sometime in the afternoon he went and signed himself up too. Came back very pleased with himself. His main job was to walk around giving out icecream and cookies, so he was happy (loves to sell things, even if they are free).
And then, after 8 or 9 hours on the road (we'd stopped counting by then), Matt came in. The kids had gone down the road to wait for him and ran up with him cheering.
100 miles. Impressive. Especially considering he was in hospital for a week and I didn't think he'd do the challenge at all. I'm so proud of him. Of course, all the kids want to do it next year too. We may be buying some bikes...
Today we are all very tired. And with Le Tour de France and the CT challenge over, life may even begin to return to normal.
How awesome Matt..well done.. and so you all should be proud Georgia that is a sterling effort considering his medical history just recently.... Great ride for a good cause..so many lives are touched each day by that disease never to be the same again.... worthy very worth so i hope they raised a lot of money for the never ending reseach needed to find a cure.
ReplyDeleteway to go Matt. How are you feeling today? I cant imagine being on a bike for 8 or 9 hours. Wow!
ReplyDeleteFatastic effort Matt! And good one for the kids too, who really threw themselves into it. Tour de France next year????
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