Team Joe’s members gathered early this morning at the MIS Speedway to
begin the the journey to Traverse City East Middle School that serves as
home base for the beginning of this year’s Wish-A-Mile (WAM) 3 day, 300
mile cycling tour. This year, we have 18 riders doing the 300 mile tour
and 2 doing the WAM 50 which takes place on Sunday. We have many new WAM riders this year and everyone is excited and nervous at the same time.
But, when we see why we are riding, for our wish kids, the emotions shift
to excitement and motivation.
We are riding to create wishes and Team Joe’s beat the goal of raising $50,000 that will support at least 6 wishes for Michigan kids in the coming year. Along with all the WAM riders, WAM will raise $2 million for wishes. This makes 300 miles seem like nothing.
After we arrived at the middle school, it was time to prepare the bikes
for the morning, get our bags and get organized. Some of our members
pitched tents at the middle school choosing to “rough it”. Some of us
reserved hotels and took a WAM shuttle to check in. Some of us stuck
around the school to participate in various orientation activities. I am
lucky that my daughter Julie is a WAM volunteer and I will see her
throughout the 3 days! Then, we all ate a high carb dinner and set off to
get some much needed rest.
We gather tomorrow morning for a 5:45am breakfast and a goal to hit the road by 6:30. Our first day is full of
hills and many think it is our hardest day of riding. Distance is 98.3 miles
the first day. Weather forecast looks excellent with the exception of a
strong crosswind that I hope becomes a tailwind on the second half of the
day.
Thanks to all who have supported Team Joe’s with donations to one of our riders or to the team. We will be carrying you in our thoughts along the
way.
Goodnight,
Rob
