Monday, March 21, 2011

Win a gift card. And, oh yeah! Spring!

Hi guys! How was your first day of spring? Mine was fabulous. I bought myself a new pair of running shoes, and enjoyed a nice, warm spring day out on the bike. I plan on doing a nice, long ride tomorrow to celebrate!

I'm sure you all remember me whining about winter....about how cold, miserable annoying it was becoming.  In fact, I even signed up for some silly contest to prove that I was better than winter.

I was so tired of the shivering, the bundling, the multiple layers....just done with winter.

Yet, you all stuck with me. I rode everyday during this horrible season. And you all supported me.

Because of that support, I managed to snag a nifty gift card to Revolution Cycles. (A gift card that I could sorely use to purchase a new road bike, mind you...)

Yes, because of my Perfect Attendance during that contest, I won a prize. Because of you.

A prize that I want to pass on to you. Because quite honestly, I wouldn't have done it without you folks. I would have simply given up on the first "too cold, too snowy" day. You guys kept me accountable.

So....

If you would like to receive this gift card (for $50.00 worth of merchandise at Revolution Cycles), please respond to this post with your favorite cycling memory. Whether its from your childhood or last week, it doesn't matter...just post it.

Mine? My first bike was purple. I think I was about 8 years old. I did everything on it! Trick mounts/dismounts, jumping over ditches, riding down super-hills, I was definitely a dare-devil! I loved it. I didn't ride it to too many places, because there weren't many places to ride it to (there weren't many places to ride to where I grew up ;-)

So, leave me a comment. You have one week! On 3/28/11 I will use a random generator (to be fair) on this post to determine the winner. Please note: you can comment as much as you want, however, only one comment will be counted for the contest (to be fair).

Again, thank you so much for all of your support!



P.P.S: Stay tuned for some awesome Spring events!

6 comments:

  1. One of my favorite cycling memories is of my first time riding across my home state in the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI). Having grown up in Iowa, I was always somewhat aware of the ride, but could not figure out people's enthusiasm for it. Ride from the Missouri River to the Mississippi River through little Iowa towns over a week. What is exciting about that? Plus, it seems like a long way to ride.

    Then I moved to the East Coast, far away from my Midwest roots, and visits home were infrequent. Even though I had grown up riding a bike, I had never done much multi-day riding. After moving out east, I took up riding-- with a passion. I loved all the places I learned about through being on my bicycle, and I realized that I had never done that in my home state, a state that has the largest organized cross-state tour in the country. What was I thinking? I set my heart on riding across Iowa.

    To make the trip even better, my sister agreed to ride with me and my mom offered to carry our stuff from town to town. It was a perfect setup.

    Every day we rode, I thrilled in seeing the towns fill up with cyclists from all over the country. Amy and I savored eating maid-rites and kringla, foods I grew up with but rarely found on the East Coast.

    The best part of our week was a stop for ice cream in Popejoy, a town of fewer than 100 people. My sisters and I were paying our bill when we heard one of the volunteers say, “Hey, aren't you Cathy's kids?” Of course we were! That was the essence of RAGBRAI for me. I may have grown up and left Iowa, but it will always be my home.

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  3. (I tried to leave this last, but it gave an error, so I'll be sure copy/paste before submitting this time.)

    A friend and I decided to bike the C&O Canal, but we couldn't take any days off, so we decided to just do the 180 miles in 2 days on a weekend. A friend dropped us off in Cumberland on Friday night.

    Saturday morning, it poured, and we rode through the mud for 100 miles until we arrived at a Waffle House, consumed absurd amounts of food, then found a hotel and passed out in seconds.

    The next morning I woke up and my ankle hurt a bunch. My solution was to ride with my heel on the center of the pedal so I wouldn't have to bend it much. 80 gloriously muddy miles later, we arrived in Georgetown and kissed and posed with the mile 0 marker.

    I woke up with tendonitis. Maybe I should have stretched beforehand? Done a few lengthier practice rides? Totally worth it. Was only on crutches for a week or so anyway.

    (Congrats on your perfect attendance!)

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  4. Hi Kate! I saw your Guest Post on Tales From the Sharrows -- I was also going to blog about my commute this week but have been out with the flu instead. Your post was great, and I can relate to your story of the person in your office who inspired you to ride (that is a tale for another blog post)

    As far as my first cycling memory...hmmm...I have a fond memory of flying through the air on my first bicycle, and it has everything to do with the reason why to this very day I wear a moustache (the thing above my upper lip)...are you intrigued?

    I was about 5 years old, had just gotten my first Mongoose BMX bike and had dreams of winning trophies at the races on the dirt track at Moffet Field (this was in Silicon Valley). Though I never made it to the races (I think soccer and all the other sports stole my attention), I did gain the notoriety of being the only kid in the neighborhood to ever launch himself off of the neighbors' skate board ramp...on a bmx bike.

    Unfortunately, the landing was not so smooth and I bounced off the drivers side door of a parked brown Chevy before scraping the pavement with my face. My Mom took me to the emergency room to take care of the wounds under my nose, but I put up such a fight when the nurses tried to clean me up with their "painless" ointments that the wounds under my nose were never cleaned properly; there was dirt under the skin that simply stayed, and looked "greenish-bluish" as fresh skin grew over it. So as soon as I hit 14 and got a moustache, it has been a fixture on my face to hide the dirt, but not the memory -- the launch of the ramp was cool!! I was airborne for like 5 seconds!! Who knew 5-year olds could fly??

    So that's the tale of my first cycling memory...and my moustache! Random...but hope you enjoyed.

    seanbennett88 (remember me?)

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  5. My favorite cycling memory was while I was in college in Kalamazoo. I didn't live far from the Kal-Haven trail which was a rails-to-trails path that went from Kalamazoo to South Haven. I think it was 30-35mi one way. I set out one beautiful Saturday on my mtn bike to do a nice ride on the trail. Didn't have a plan in mind other than to just ride and have fun. I only packed 1 bottle and a fanny pack with some granola bars, crackers and fig newtons. There were some water fountains along the way so I could fill up my bottle but I nibbled on the food as I kept going and going and going. I figured 'well, I'm almost to South Haven anyway...I might as well just go all the way there, see where the trail ends and turn around and come home." I did just that not realizing the time and how long it took me to get to South Haven then calculating how long it would take to get me back. I didn't have any lights on my bike, so when it dawned on me that I might be finishing in the dark I started pedaling faster and only took breaks to fill up my bottle. It was creepy biking on that path in the dark and I jumped at every critter sound. I swear I heard deer and a raccoon and probably a bear, but I'm sure my imagination was running wild. It was pitch black out by the time I got to my car and I was so relieved. I had a short drive back to my apartment and when I got there I ate almost everything in site I was so hungry. It was a wonderful day and ever since then I've made sure to carry lights with me....just in case.

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