WHITEFISH REPORT

In case you all were wondering what's been up out here in Big Sky Country.............

Aaron & I flew out here on Wed morning, arriving @ the Grouse Mountain Lodge about 3 pm. The rest of the crew and riders rolled in by dinner on Thursady. As you probably have heard - this was the smallest Ride to Cure ever, w/ only 20 riders and the challenge for the crew was to make sure that they got every bit of the "goose bump thing" that they deserved. Tim and I concentrated on meeting everyone, doing as much hangin' w/ them as possible and making sure that they felt like they were at a JDRF ride. We had 7 new riders and 13 vets - w/ 6 from Mid Jersey, 4 from Indiana, 2 from Wisconsin and the rest single riders from all over.

Today (Ride Day) dawned clear and cold - about 45. The group rolled out and enjoyed the beautiful ride up to Star Meadow, the ride up along Whitefish Lake and the trip out to North Fork. 18 of the riders completed the full 101 miles, w/ the other 2 attaining their goal of 72. The scene @ the finish line was great as everyone hung around to see if Amarilis from Indy could manage her first ever century. (Some of the riders waited 3 hours or more!) She did - escorted by my good friend Tim St.Clair and the celebration commenced!

It's been a great weekend even if I've missed you guys a ton. The spirit of the Ride was in full display despite the small numbers (or because of it, who knows?) and I can't wait for Death Valley!

Tomorrow I'm gonna f-i-n-a-l-l-y get my butt up to Glacier - it's only my 5th time out here! We fly home Monday and I'm looking forward to riding w/ y'all on Sunday!

Yours, MC