I looked at the date of the last blog post – December, 2013 – almost exactly one year ago.  An entire year has passed by without a post.  What does that mean?  Have I stopped thinking?  Stopped doing?  Stopped writing?  Some yeses, and some no’s but no maybe’s.  Let’s talk about what has been going on with LS&G over the last year which pretty much parallels what has been going on with me at the same time.

Let’s see.  I got new glasses.  They have progressive lenses which is a nice way of saying they are bifocals only there isn’t an obvious line in the lens.  That took some getting used to.  Blurred vision, missing stairs, feeling wobbly, similar to how we all felt in June of 2014 without RAAM.  LS&G was officially approved as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in May of 2013.  That was a culmination of hours and hours of work and pages and pages of paperwork.  YAY!  Done!  Now, where do we go from here?  The invisible line can truly only be seen from behind the glasses and not from in front.  The first thing we did was a bike distribution with Bikes for Kids.  With our fundraising efforts in 2013, we distributed bicycles to the entire third grade in a local school. Since I was wearing my new glasses, I could see the looks on the faces of all the kids who were receiving their very first, new bikes.  The excitement and the thrill were palpable.  But I am getting ahead.  There was a set-up.  Tim Kooser, the brains behind the bikes, had all the kids write an essay entitled “How I Would Change the World to Make It a Better Place”.  The kids were told that the winner of the contest, which was judged by their teachers, would win a bike.  One winner, one bike.  The essays were as genuine and as truthful as only kids can be at 9 years of age.  After the first winner, Tim asked if maybe there should be a second. To the chanting of “one more bike!” another essay was read and another bike and helmet was awarded.  And on and on until each essay was read, each child selected their bike and helmet.  Even without my glasses I could see the fruits of our fundraising and the joy and freedom and, perhaps, a small healthy lifestyle change brought to so many.

Part of our mission as a non-profit is (simply put) to get as many people on their bikes as possible. So, in August of 2014, LS&G led a bike tour for women only.  Calling it a Mother/Daughter tour in Summit County and facilitated by the great people of HeartCycle Colorado (www.heartcycle.org), it was really a tour for all women of any age and any ability.  We had 30 women ranging in age from 17-76 years of age, many of whom had never done an extended bike ride much less a bike tour. Another line conquered and talk about fun!  So many stories to be told and photos to be shared – topic for another post.

The next line to be crossed was the assembling of our goals for 2015.  We managed to get a bunch of kids on bikes as well as a bunch of women on bikes in 2014 – where is the next line?  The second part of our mission is to facilitate and mentor people interested in endurance cycling as a healthy lifestyle.  We are proud to introduce our team of tandems who will be racing RAAM 2015 in addition to our team of women.  This group of four tandem pairs is as diverse as they can be in experience, age, and profession but all have one common interest – to race RAAM to the best of their ability and do some good along the way.  Read all about each member of the team by visiting their bios.  This enthusiastic and talented bunch of cyclists will be fundraising on behalf of The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  And the women?  Yet another team with new racers mixed with experience who are ready to embrace the challenge.  Read all about the women by visiting their bios as well.  The women will be racing again for Bikes for Kids with the intent of including more than one school with their efforts.

This is an overview, obviously.  Stay tuned for more posts (hopefully in less than a year) highlighting our teams and our efforts.  Kind of like my glasses, everything is progressive.  RAAMing, biking, team building, eyesight – all progressive.

And so we roll.