"Historic" Route 66

Day 3:

The adventure continues…yesterday we battled broken bikes, mountain passes, and crashes. Today we rode through 112 degree heat on terrible roads (our bikes were taking a beating).

We woke up at 8 this morning and began our day. Megan and Josh Meissenburg (Tobin’s cousins) delivered breakfast burritos which lifted our spirits. We used Google Maps...again (worst application evah!) and got lost…again for the third straight day. We’ve quickly come to realize how that getting lost on a bike is not the same as getting lost in a car. You have to exert double the energy. At this rate we will have put in the mileage to travel from Santa Monica to New York…and back. Should’ve saved for a bike gps. Luckily we were helped by some locals who pointed us in the right direction and finally got us on our way towards Barstow, CA. God provided us with a much needed tailwind that helped us to average 19.1 mph for the remainder of the ride. We even got up to 30 mph for a couple miles without pedaling!!! The only problem is that it caused Rosie (Ryan) to get the “Speed Wobbles”, almost causing his first crash and the group’s second in 2 days.

Towards the latter half of our day, we were stopped because Route 66 became a Marine Base right near the outskirts of the city so we were forced to have to ride on the I40 freeway. Our FIRST freeway! It was great, Nate was able to protect us from zooming cars and we were still able to reconnect to Route 66…which is “Historic Route 66” for a reason. It looked as if no one had driven on it in years! Our bikes took some major wear and tear.

So we stopped just before the pass leading to Baker, hopped in the motor home, planned our new route on I15 for tomorrow and headed to Barstow to stay the night. We would like to thank Debbie at the Desert Springs RV Park for allowing us to set up camp for the night.

-Love, Team Connect 4 The CURE

Sweat, Tears.....and BLOOD.

Day 2: We started today bright and early 5:30 AM with Kaiser waking/shaking us up because we kept him up the night before. Have a feeling this might be a routine thing. Once we got suited up we headed over to “Team Mom” Kasaundra Domen and Kellie Muller’s apartment for one last delicious home cooked breakfast before we officially headed out of Azusa. Not only were the girls generous enough to prepare us breakfast but also helped organize the RV one last time. Not shortly after we started the day trouble struck in Rancho Cucamonga, when Ryan’s hub broke on his rear tire. We were blessed to have gotten stuck right near one of INCYCLE’s new locations, where they hooked us up with a brand new set of rims for a great price. We then hit the road again and ended up at the base of The Rim Of The World pass located near Lake Arrowhead and Crestline. Before we stared climbing we pondered life as a mountain and how a mountain is equally difficult yet rewarding and how you must take the good times with the bad. Gagne got a flat tire before we took off but the pit crew a.k.a the whole team was there to save the day. The climbing was extremely difficult but Nate was a boss (the man) providing us with the water and supplements every other stop we made while lifting weights. Once we got to the summit we saw recent chalk writings on the ground from the Tour of California cheering on Lance Armstrong that we stopped to take a photo of. That gave the team a boost to continue on before DISTRUCTION broke loose [see video on website]. After the end of Day 2 we’ve already experienced the sweat and tears ….and today we experienced the blood.

Also, please pray for Matt Kaiser’s family as they mourn the loss and celebrate the life of his grandma.

Special thanks to Victorville Cycles for fixing Matt's bike for free.

-Team Connect 4 The CURE

How far are you riding?...NEW YORK?

We finally embarked on our Cross-Country journey!!!

It's been quite a process going from our early photo shoots
to where we are now.
I didn't have a bike. I wore running shoes. Matt wore t-shirts. Matt had reflectors on his bike. Ryan wore a mountain bike helmet. We ALL had hairy legs.

But now we were a team! A legit team! We have Nate our driver, matching uniforms, & family/friends/sponsors wishing us all the best as we begin our adventure!

Our event on the pier was great. The ride began with us dipping our tires in the Pacific Ocean.
We were on our way back to the pier, turned around for one last goodbye and commenced!

On our way, we ran into a fellow biker on a Sunday cruise. We were at a stop light and to break the awkward silence he asked, "Where you guys ridin' to?" Matt nonchalantly, "New York." The guy was confused and perplexed. So he repeated himself. Matt's reply once again..."New York."

Google Maps recently came out with their bicycle routes so we decided to use them for our trip. We took 84 turns which was "ridiculously good looking" (Dr. Greg Kaiser), and by "good looking" we mean terrible. We got lost in South Central. It was frightening. Nate found some squirrels in the motor home. Also frightening.

We look forward to the next leg of this trip. Thank you all for supporting us and coming to wish us luck! We really appreciate it and couldn't have made this dream possible without you!

Pre-Trip Starting Weight:
Ryan - 205
Matt - 181.2
Christian - 171.4
Nate - 167.8

Kick Off!!!

Tomorrow is our Kick Off!! I'm so excited to get started on this trip!!
We've been planning Connect for the CURE since September, so we are
ready to begin our adventure.

If you live in the area, please come out to our send off at the Santa Monica Pier this Sunday starting at 10 am!!!

First 50 people to show up get a coupon for a FREE Chipotle Burrito so be there!!!!!

Team Connect for the CURE would just like to say thanks again to all of our supporters, our family, our friends, and our sponsors. None of this would be possible without you. None of it.

P.S. Check out this link to see the pics from the San Gabriel Tribune!
http://lang.sgvtribune.com/photos/photos.asp?a=1017666

Cheers!

Gagné

Update!!!!!!!!!! MATT just showed up to my apartment with silky smooth legs!!!!

Final practice ride

Yesterday was team connect for the CURE's last practice ride!

We thought we would give ourselves (and our buns) a rest before we hit the road this Sunday.
It was a beautiful day for cycling. Flying around the twists & turns of Glendora Mountain Road, climbing the switchbacks of Azusa Canyon, and trying to determine whether Nair-ing my legs really made me any faster.

It was a tough day for Matt and I. The heat and the speed really got to us as we were trying to keep up with Rosie (Ryan). He was trying out his new toy, a Camelbak tank-top, which made his bike a tad lighter and had us eating his dust.

It was a great practice nevertheless.

After riding, we got word from our publicist that we have an interview and photo shoot set up with the San Gabriel Tribune! We are extremely excited for this opportunity, so keep your eyes peeled for that! We will update the article and photo onto our blog for those of you who do not live in the San Gabriel Valley.

Don't forget to come out to our launch this Sunday, June 6th at 10am on the Santa Monica Pier!

Cheers!

- Gagné

Welcome to Connect for the CURE's first blog. Working hard or hardly working, We're working hard! Matt and I woke up at an hour we haven't seen in a while 5:30 am. Matt thought we left early enough, only to sit in LA traffic for 2 hours. Late for meeting.... while running to the pier Matt slammed his toe and broke it open on concrete cinder block. First injury of the trip, award goes to Matt. Made our way to the carousel building, which was creepy for anyone who's not a fan of clowns =Me. Met with Jim the pier historian and event planner, super nice guy. We were able to talk him down from $500 to $0, thanks to Christian's good looks. Avoiding the parking fee we left for home. 3 miles down the road we stopped because Matt's car was over-heating. Quick fix of the car and we were back on our way. We spent the rest of the day on Cougar walk (APU's social commonplace) making phone calls and sending emails for final preparations. Christian is currently nairing his legs and I plan the same tomorrow. Now the question is do you think Matt should nair his leg's (please leave comment)?