Tour de Pat Planned for Washington Pass

Hi Everyone – Pat’s brother-in-law Tim Nord and I are planning our Tour de Pat for 9/4. We’re going to ride from Newhalem up Highway 20 to Rainy Pass and back. It’s around 40 miles to the top of the climb, so the round trip will be just under 80. Any of you “mountain goat” types who feel spry can tack on Washington Pass as well. It’s another 5 miles and an extra 1000 feet or so of total vertical. You should have plenty of time to get there and back to Rainy Pass before the non-climber types (cough, me, cough) get to the top of the climb up Rainy.

Pat and I did this ride together several times over the years, and it’s absolutely beautiful. Be sure to bring your camera. I’m looking forward to showing Pat the pictures and letting him know that we did the ride in his honor. I think he’ll really appreciate it, and hopefully it will help him tap into some memories of all the good times that he’s had on his bike. Maybe those memories will help speed his recovery a bit.

Now the details:

Meeting Place and Time: We’ll meet at the National Park Service North Cascades Visitor Center in Newhalem, at about milepost 120. It’s just across the river from Highway 20, and we can park at the visitors center there as long as we pop in and tell them what we’re doing. The goal would be to be riding by 9:15 or 9:30 the morning of 9/4, which means leaving Seattle by around 6:30 am. If anyone wants to caravan up with me, just shoot me an email and we can coordinate that. At this point I have a full car, but at least one other car will probably be leaving from Seattle.

A couple of important logistical notes: There are NO water or food stops on this ride, so unless someone volunteers to sag for us (unlikely, but see below!), you need to carry all the water and snacks that you’re going to need. I’m planning to use a camelback.

The weather on Highway 20 can be a little tough to predict. If it looks like it’s going to be really bad, I’ll send out an email cancelling (so make sure you give me your email address if you’re interested in riding). Hopefully we’ll have a beautiful day, and it could get pretty hot (80 or 90 is not unusual), so be prepared for that. You should also bring a jacket and stuff for the possibility of cool, misty weather.

Support? If anyone has an unbelievably kind and supportive friend or significant other who is willing to drive sag support for us, please let me know. We don’t have to have support, but it would be great to have someone carrying water and gear for any mechanical problems.

If you have any questions, or if you have any friends who are interested in joining us, please let me know. michael.rodden@comcast.net

Thanks!
Mike Rodden

Whidbey riders planning a Whidbey "Tour de Pat"

Many riders are planning on wearing their "Pedal for Pat" T-Shirts and ride in support of Pat on Saturday, September 26, 2009 during the annual Tour de Whidbey event. A link to the registration site is below for anyone interested in participating!

http://www.whidbeygen.org/whidbeygeneralhospitalfoundation/tourdewhidbey

Hi Annebet, I am wondering about getting the T-Shirt design and ordering info on this blog and also up on the Caringbridge website for Pat. Also want to firm up my order with you for our shirts.

Are you off doing your Oregon Coast Tour de Pat ride this week with Karen Lennon and Julie B.? Pat's brother, Mike, and our brotherinlaw, Tim, are riding the North Cascades Hwy for a Tour de Pat over Labor Day Weekend.

Can we have a Whidbey Tour de Pat on the Tour de Whidbey in September? It would be fun to have a post-ride potluck at someone's place too. Who could organize that?

Thansk! Kris

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kris Rodden

Date: July 16, 2009 11:03:02 AM PDT

To: "Annabet"

Subject: Re: Emailing: Tour de Pat Bog

Awesome, sounds perfect!  

Kris

On Jul 16, 2009, at 8:24 AM, Annabet wrote:

Good morning Kris,

 

A very quick reply to your e-mail before I dash off to work.  I hope to have the t-shirt design in the next day or two.  Things got slowed down due to designer's involvement in Choochokum.  I think it is going to be soooooo cool!  I also agree that the more people wearing them out and about the better and will inspire more "tour de Pats".  Also, hoping to make it affordable as well as stylish.  You will be one of he first to see it before it goes to print as I would like to have your seal of approval.

 

More later.......

Love,

Annabet

----- Original Message -----

From: Kris Rodden

To: Rodden Kris ; Berlin-Moeller

Cc: lennon@whidbey.com ; Neubauer Nancy ; Nancy Neubauer ; Neubauer Larry ; Lawrence Tom ; Lawrence Tom ; Korry Beall

Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2009 5:17 AM

Subject: Re: Emailing: Tour de Pat Bog

Karen  (and Annebet and copying the Neubauers and our old friends and bicycling buddies, Tom and Beall),

 

The girls and I would very much like to participate in a 1 day ride on Whidbey that you mentioned in your message below.  Do you know if someone is actually putting that together so we can spread the word, and also so that I can know when it is?  I would also like to post info on Pat's CB Journal about it too,  if/when there is a firm date.

The girls and I could use something like this to look forward to and it would get me pushed to find some time for us to ride our bikes together too beforehand.  And get me to get some help getting the tandem I ride adjusted for Sarah to ride with me. She and I would ride my tandem together in such a Tour de Pat day ride, and in general in the future for a while until Sarah is more capable on a single, and Jaime would ride her single.  Jaime might be able to ride up to 20 miles (depending on hills), or at least 10 on her singe.  She and Sarah did a very hilly ride with us once last summer that was at least 5 miles and it had tons of hills that were tough. The 3 of us have been talking about this.  Currently our tandems are set up with Pat captaining Sarah on his, and me captaining Jaime on mine.  That's how we had been riding usually as a family the past couple of years (though not as often as we would have liked). That doesn't work for us any more without Pat being able to captain his tandem and ride with us.

Annebet, is there a t-shirt design that we could link to on CB Journal yet?  Is that possible?  I still think that there may be many folks interested in buying one, especially if they can see what one looks like as a motivator online.  The endurance bike group that we have known for over 20 years will likely be interested for sure (that's a large group) as well as many others who never ride a bike (like my parents and sisters, to name a few).  I love the image of all those folks, cyclists and non-cyclists, wearing a shirt while riding, perhaps in endurance events, or just wearing a shirt in thinking about Pat or riding down the road for just a mile or two, and the power that may give to Pat energetically, and how that might help us get the miracle we desire for him.  The vision helps me right now!  

The t-shirt could be a great catalyst too, for that "biking" community in the Seattle area (some are on Whidbey Island, like Julie B.) to organize a ride, or rides,  and dedicate it/them to Pat and wear the shirt while riding them.  I think a lot of them would buy the t-shirt and jersey in support, at least.  Several of them were very generous with donations to our Donation Fund soon after Pat got hurt (the word travelled fast in that group)  I also have  a vision of Pat wearing a  jersey and t-shirt and getting on that rehab bike down the hall from his room.  That might be pretty powerful for him too and help bring on that desired miracle.  When 3 of his biking buddies from Seattle  visited recently after riding their bikes from Seattle to visit Pat (in steady rain), and we had Pat down the hall in the rehab area in his wheel chair,  they were each trying out the rehab bike while talking to Pat and I, and we talked about how it could be great for Pat to get on that rehab bike.  I know Nancy N has thought about this too, especially as she wore her bike gear too and visited him recently.

Thanks, and much gratitude,

Kris

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