Join Our Training Rides!

We've held Team Red training rides all the way through winter, and now that the weather's nicer we're getting more folks out on our rides.  The Tour de Cure is in less than 2 months and it's time to start building up miles.

Team Red Art Museum Ride, 4/1/2012

Our staple ride is along the Schuylkill River Trail where there are no cars, but at times we take spurs off of the SRT and hit some roads for hills.  We normally ride between 20 and 30 miles, but we're beginning to ramp up our mileage and work those hills into the routine.  As we get more riders, we'll break into groups where some will train for the 63 mile route and others will train for the 35 or 12 mile routes.

Everyone is welcome to our rides and we do our best to accommodate all skill levels.

Last week we rode out to the Philadelphia Art Museum and next week we'll do some hills out at Valley Forge Park.  And coming up in May, we'll be doing portions of the Tour de Cure route - a "Mock" Tour de Cure, so you can get familiar with the route.

If you have any questions about our rides, contact me - kevinhorio@yahoo.com.

Join our Team Red meetup site for all ride details and to get email updates on ride: http://Meetup.TeamRedPhilly.org



More Ride Options
 
We've also joined forces with several bike clubs in the area and they are welcoming Team Red members to their rides.  The clubs have many more ride options, so if their ride locations and schedules work better for you, please join their rides.  And let me know if you decide to join their rides because we may have other Team Redders that may want to join you.  Please respect the clubs' riding rules and ask about their skill levels so you join an appropriate group for the best experience and results.  Here's a list of clubs we are working with:

• Suburban Cyclists Unlimited (SCU)
  Montgomery and Bucks County Areas
  
  SCU's Meetup Site - for all ride options
  
  SCU's Main Website
  
  
  
• White Clay Bike Club (WCBC)
  Northern Delaware Area, and up into PA
  
  WCBC's Ride Calendar (they are not on meetup.com yet)
  
  WCBC's Man Website
  
  WCBC's Ride Rules

We'll also be reaching out to Bike Club of Philadelphia, Lancaster Bike Club, and others.

There are tons of ride options - join friends, train together, have fun.  Good luck on your training!

Cheers,
k

April Featured Ride, and a Dash...

You may have missed a soggy Icicle Metric, and although I'm sure you're kicking yourself because you weren't there - you have another chance in April!  In fact there are two featured Team Red events in April.

Dash 4 Diabetes
 
For a change of pace (literally!), how about a run?  Join Bob Carter and Kevin Horio in West Chester at the Chester County Hospital Dash 4 Diabetes 5k run or 2.5 mile walk/run on Saturday, April 14th.  Go to our meetup posting for all the details:

   http://www.meetup.com/TeamRedPhilly/events/54334672/





Horsham Rotary Memorial River Ride

And for our April Featured Bike Ride on Sunday, April 29th, join us in Horsham for a bike ride with routes of 5, 20, 35, or 63 mile routes.  Proceeds benefit the Horsham Rotary Club, for full details see our meetup posting for the event:

   http://www.meetup.com/TeamRedPhilly/events/54340952/

For those who have already ordered Team Red kits, you should have them by then.  If you haven't ordered your kit, order here now and you'll have them for the Horsham Rotary Ride - we'll all wear our Team Red jerseys and show some force!  See you there.  ; )

Top 10 Team Red Fundraisers!

Give a hand to our Top 10 fundraisers so far (with a big 5-way tie for 10th place)...

Mark Cavendish shows his excitement for Team Red!

  1  Larry Lukin        $3,421.00
  2  Andrew Lyman         $790.00
  3  Matt Axel            $670.00
  4  Joel Brazy           $520.00
  5  Charles Johnston     $500.00
  6  Kevin Horio          $475.00
  7  Vineeth Varghese     $250.00
  8  Leticia Arrington    $245.00
  9  Joseph Niszczak      $225.00
 10  Laura Axel           $200.00
 10  Michelene Corcoran   $200.00
 10  Bill Edwards         $200.00
 10  Ed Kosmowski         $200.00
 10  Anthony Tamburello   $200.00

What a great job you all are doing!  Thank you for the extraordinary effort!

And thanks go out to everyone doing their part to reach our Team Red goals.  Team Red is currently 11th in recruiting and fundraising in the 80 Tour de Cure events across the nation!

But we still have work to do.


Our Goals
 
We're at $9,100, almost halfway to our overall fundraising goal of $20,000.

And we have 57 Team Red members, shooting for 100! 

So what can you do to help? 


Recruit One Teammate in April!

There are 57 Team Red members right now. If we can each recruit one more rider in the month of April, we'll be well over our goal of 100 riders.

And remember, recruiting a new rider is just as good as getting $200 in donations because they'll be raising their minimum fundraising amount.  But it's even better, because it helps spread the word to more people, which means more riders!


Raise at least $100 in April!

We all need to raise $200 by June 2nd.  So we can get at least half way there in April by raising $100.  Then we have May to get the other half, and we're done!

If we get 100 Team Red members and we all raise our minimum $200, then we will easily reach our goal of raising $20,000!  Every bit counts.  Heroic efforts are great!  But all of our every-day individual efforts add up to a big deal!  Little steps - keep at it.

For tips on fundraising, see our latest article on our Riding, Recruiting, Fundraising tab:

   http://teamredphilly.blogspot.com/p/riding-tips.html

Team Red Wins the Tour de Cure March Madness!

Great job everyone!  Congratulate yourselves! Your hard work over the past couple of weeks have won the March Madness contest for Team Red!

We've won special bib numbers to be recognized on the day of the Tour de Cure and we'll also have a special "Spotlight" in next year's Tour de Cure!

Here's a recap of March Madness.  We had to cover the minimum requirements each week to continue to qualify, but at the end of the 4 weeks all teams would be compared to see which team went "above and beyond" the call - that would determine the winner!

• Week 1 - Setup Your Team Page
  We had this beat!  We've had our team page up for months, plus we have our own website and a meetup site!
  
  
• Week 2 - Send 25 Emails through the Tour de Cure SiteI emailed through the Tour de Cure site this week and sent over 90 emails!  Actually, I just sent 2, but they went to each of our 47 team members that week - so it was easy.  ; )
  
  
• Week 3 - Recruit 5 Team MembersThis is where I really needed your help.  We recruited 7 Team Red members that week!  Special thanks to Lisa Caramandi - awesome job!
  
  
• Week 4 - Raise $500We all kicked it into gear for Week 4 - we raised $1,175 last week!  Great job on the fundraising, everyone!  

We just broke though $9,000!  But Orlando is right on our tail, trailing us by only $100!  Gotta keep moving!

Let's keep up the fundraising because we are currently #11 in the nation versus Team Reds in other cities.  Just a bit more push and we'll get back into the top 10!   We're only $120 behind Team Red Tampa/Sarasota. 

You can help us do it! 

Review of The Icicle Metric - Team Red's Feature Ride for March

Balmy weather leading up to this year's Icicle Metric in Newark, DE brought high hopes for White Clay Bike Club's legendary season opening ride for the Delaware Valley, but it looks like Punxsutawney Phil's curse of two more weeks of winter was holding up - as best as possible in light of global warming, anyway.  ; )

None of these were around
at this year's Icicle Metric!

There were no icicles at the Icicle Metric, but it was cold and wet.  A wet ride is OK in August, and a cold ride can be bearable, but wet and cold leaves much to be desired.  But in the sporting tradition of cycling where Paris-Roubaix riders endure the butt-bruising cobbles, and Giro d'Italia cyclists press on with stomach flu that would drop mere mortals to their knees, so too did the intrepid Team Red forge onward! 

Led by the 2012 Newark Tour de Cure's chairperson, and esteemed Team Red member Charlie Johnston, Team Red stormed the University of Delaware's stomping grounds and steam rolled the hills of northeastern Maryland!

Well... considering it was our first hilly ride, I guess perhaps we just "survived" the hills of northeastern Maryland.  And I suppose what propelled us to the finish was the overwhelming desire to get back home, get dry, and get warm. 

Since this was Team Red's first Featured Ride of 2012, we all donned our Red Rider jerseys - in lieu of  our Team Red jerseys which will arrive in a couple of weeks.  We thought we might ride 50km after we'd gauged how we felt at the 35km turnaround point, but since it started raining a few hours before the weather report had indicated, we all quickly knew that 35km was going to do it for us.

I'm not kidding, it was really raining - Larry Lukin, you made the right choice!  It was the kind of rain that stings like pellets and streams like a waterfall off your helmet.  That and Bob Carter's rooster tail in my face for most of the day and I felt like I had finished the swim leg of a triathlon!

Oh, and you know those chalk route markers on the road?  They wash away in the rain.  Zoinks!  We stopped to wring out our cue sheets more than a few times, and we still missed the turn to the 15 mile rest stop.  But that was OK, it saved us a couple more miles in the rain.

I wore my winter cycling shoes, which you'd think would be a good thing - but you know they're great for cold, but for wet... not so much.  They prevent water from entering the shoe from the bottom - but that also means water can't drain after it has run down your legs and into your shoes from the top!  That being said, it really helps your pedaling style to have feedback from the sloshing going on in your shoes - if it's not sloshing, you're not pedaling in circles - you're just pushing on the down strokes!  I had to laugh when I took them off, I dumped the water out of them like they were buckets. 

But enough belly-aching already!  We actually had a great time, and my bike got the wash it so badly needed.  All in all, it was a solid training ride - 1,100 feet of climbing and a great way to prep for the Tour de Cure.

Come out and join us for our April Featured Ride - The Horsham Rotary Ride on April 29th.  We'll see you there!

Cheers,
k

Red Rider ALERT! Jersey Orders Friday! Register by THURSDAY!

All Red Riders - I just found out the ADA will be ordering all Red Rider jerseys this Friday. 

To get a free Red Rider jersey, you have to register for the Tour de Cure by THURSDAY! 

So anyone who has diabetes, please remember to register for the Tour de Cure and indicate that you have diabetes - you'll see something to this effect during the registration process.  You'll also have to raise the minimum fundraising amount to receive the Red Rider jersey on the day of the Tour.

Go here to register, and don't forget to pick Team Red off the National Teams list to be part of Team Red:

https://donations.diabetes.org/site/TRR/TourdeCure/SoutheasternPennsylvaniaArea/70754941?pg=ptype&fr_id=8069


Please note - these are not TEAM RED jerseys, they are Red Rider jerseys.  Red Riders are those who ride the Tour de Cure and have diabetes.  There are many Team Red members who are also Red Riders, but you don't have to have diabetes to be on Team Red.

Let me know if you have questions - email me at kevinhorio@yahoo.com.

TEAM RED Century Club

So I was emailing with Joe Niszczak, one of our Team Red members, and he had a wonderful idea!  Let's create a Team Red Century Club! 

We'll pick a ride later in the year where we'd do the 100 mile ride as Team Red.  Everyone that makes it will be in the 2012 Century Club!  What will you get?  Bragging rights!  A good feeling inside!  Enshrinement for all posterity on our Team Red website!  Who knows, maybe we'll have enough budget for t-shirts - but that might be a long shot.  ; )

So we need to pick a ride.  I know fundraisers are special rides that each of us pick for our own reasons, so we'll limit the options to registration-fee-only rides. 

Go to our Team Red meetup to vote on our poll, ranking each ride from 1-10 (10 is best) based on the desirability of the ride to you:

   Go Here to Vote: http://www.meetup.com/TeamRedPhilly/polls/493922/

Your vote *really* does make a difference here. 

Cheers,
k

MARCH FEATURED RIDE - Icicle Metric!

Get ready and join us for our first Team Red Featured Ride for 2012 - the Icicle Metric in Newark, DE hosted by the White Clay Bike Club!

This is a great ride to break the ice on the new season!

   Go Here for Full Details


Only $20 to register and no fundraising required.

22, 31, or 62 mile routes

Be sure to RSVP on our meetup site so we know to look for you at the ride.



 

2012 Team Red Ride Calendar is Out!

If you haven't joined our Meetup site yet, there's a lot going on there.  That's where we schedule all of our Team Red rides and events.  It's easy to use, and our calendar will be at your fingertips.  Just go to:

   http://meetup.com/TeamRedPhilly

... and Join!

Here's a summary of our 2012 Ride Calendar, but be sure to use the Meetup site for full details and updates.

If you RSVP to rides on the meetup site, you'll get email notifications if anything changes - like if the ride's been postponed or canceled.

Here's the types of rides and events we have coming up this year, a real mix:

• Featured Rides
  These are rides organized by clubs and other organizations with $20-35 registration fees, but no fundraising.  There are 1 or 2 options per month.  Lets show up in large numbers with our Team Red kits on, it gets Team Red and the Tour de Cure noticed.
  
  
• Featured Runs
  A change of pace - we have a couple fun runs scheduled this year.  Other Team Redders are involved in these.  One even has a pool party as part of it!  Come out, have some fun.
  
  
• Tour de Cure Prep Rides
  Aside from recurring training rides, we'll have a couple of Mock Tours to get familiar with the routes this year.
  
  
• Fun Rides
  These are similar to the Featured Rides, there may be a few Team Redders doing these rides.  They're good options if you want to get a few more organized rides into your year.
  
  
• Other Fundraising Rides
  Some Team Redders are doing other fundraising rides like the MS Ride, Livestrong, the ACS ride, and the like.  It's tough to fundraise for a lot of rides each year, which is why we have featured rides that don't require fundraising, and the registration fees are relatively low.  But, some of us have passion for a number of causes, so join your teammates in these other rides.  Some folks decide to pay the minimum fundraising on their own.  It's up to you - just more options.  Also consider wearing your Team Red kits to these rides to raise awareness about the Tour de Cure, Team Red, and the fight against diabetes.
  
  
• Fun Events
  We also list our Team Red events, like the Pre-Tour Barbecue, Team Red Kick-Off Party, Bowling Nights, etc.  Some of these help us to raise money for Team Red as well.  Some of this stuff costs money, ya know.  ; )
  
  
• Training Rides
  We also use our meetup site to organize our training rides.  We've managed to keep at least one ride consistent throughout the winter, but we hope to expand our ride options as spring comes.  A number of Team Redders will be hosting training rides, and we'll be partnering with bike clubs in the area to piggy-back on their rides as well.  We're striving to make rides available for everyone based on your riding level, location, and day/rime preferences.

So join the meetup site today - it really makes it easier to join in on Team Red activities!

Cheers,
k

Top Team, Top Tour - For Now At Least...

Team Red Philly is currently the top team in the country!  That's right, the entire country!  We're at the top of the charts for Tour de Cure teams and fighting a battle with Atlanta to stay on top.


Check out the charts at the bottom of this link:  http://tour.diabetes.org/site/TR?company_id=12670&pg=national_company


Thanks to top fundraisers like Larry Lukin and Andrew Lyman, who are both currently on the National Top 10 Fundraisers List, we've got a great start at this year's Tour de Cure.  And all of our work has placed Philly at the top of the charts as well!


Great going everyone! 


Start your fundraising early this year and help propel Team Red to the top of the national charts this year!  And multiply your efforts by inviting your friends to join Team Red - the more riders we have, the more we can do to fight diabetes!


And come out to one of our training rides before the Tour - we'll be arranging several mock Tour de Cure rides over portions of the 2012 course.  See you there!


Cheers,
k