Full Boat and Inspiration

Sunday, Aug 23 - Elimination for the XX1090 radio contest was put off until this week when 2 people will be dropped from the contest. We'll have details soon as to when the announcement will be.

All the radio contestants were present and accounted for this week. That's a first. As we rolled out each group, 1-4, had a few of the radio people in them. They are also reaching out to help with flats and mechanical issues even to others not with QMDC. A lady was stuck with her car on the side of the road with a flat tire and several stopped to assist. She wanted to give them some money for their assistance but instead she was given a card and asked to make a donation to via the CAF site.

Pat Thomas, our Immunity Winner from last week, did a great job of adding some new details to our Immunity Pump. Kind of hard to see but he put his name plate on the front, a lizard on the bottom, rear view mirror and horn on the handlebars, reflector on the back and picture of the remaining 10 contestants in the contest on the handle bars. I'm surprised but this thing still pushes air.

To the left in this picture is David Lee. He completed this weeks ride of 77 miles and over 5000 feet of climbing using just his arms and no drafting in a group. He spent most of the route on his own. Try that week after week.

CAF sends us an email prior to each ride with the routes, some updates and maybe a note about a challenged athlete. This week there was a message from Rachel Cowan. Rachel is training for our event in the very flat state of Florida. With the hills we will encounter on route from San Fran to San Diego, she is being creative in your training regiment. But that's not the story.

Rachel is a quadriplegic. 13 years ago she was in a car accident. But again, that's not the story. Rachel has set herself a goal to raise $62,000 for the QMDC ($100 X 620 miles). I think that is the real story.

Most of her training is on a stationary resistance or rollers at this point. She just started using a hand cycle. You can catch more about Rachel on her blog @ http://mdcquad.blogspot.com/.

I'm looking forward to meeting her in San Francisco. That's the inspiration we all need.