Saying Goodbye for the Year

On behalf of our little team, Team Washington, thank you to family and friends for following our ride. We are deeply indebted to our sponsors; those who donated in-kind, cash, their time, or their thoughts for us as we rode.

We have forged new friendships, reconnected some old ones, honored the fallen, and raised awareness to the need for national recognition of EMS issues nationwide.

Please connect with Tamie's blog at http://teamtamie.blogspot.com to see a list of her sponsors and supporters and stay in touch with Gabe and Nick in the coming two weeks as we close out our fundraising and thank our still growing list of sponsors.

We hope the rode will connect us again!
Take care to all!

The memorial service

Gabe could not help but be moved to tears to meet the two young children of Chris. His wife was there and one of his little girls was holding a poster about her dad. Gabe hugged the whole family and spent a couple of hours with them. After the service, they visited and Gabe tearfully let her know that he would always have Chris and the experience of the ride with him.

Tamie had a similar experience with her family and said that for every mile she pounded on she knew that the loss of all EMS workers in the last year could not be in vain because of the awareness they have raised. The peace brought to his family and the families of fallen EMS workers in Washington would forever be with her as well. From meeting Jordan, the survivor of Trooper 2 to hearing dogtags jingle around her neck everyday, her journey would forever touch the lives for whom she has ridden.

Nick, whose emotions deep but quiet described the service and as moving. He met with James' family before the service and gave them his tags. He said they shared a great conversation and he knew how much it meant to her that he had taken the time to make the ride.

Friday - The Last Day

From Staunton into the Roanoke area was beautiful. Still hilly, but nice. Nick sat out the first leg due to illness but rode the last 75 miles. They were glad to see Roanoke. Nick has already met with the family of James W. Taylor and gave them his dogtag. We are hoping to hear from Tamie and Gabe today!

The Day After

Today was a nice ride still really hilly, especially after yesterday. The
weather was really hot and clear. It was more humid than we expected. There was cone section of today that many of us felt we could not ride or safety reasons,and the wind from the truckers was pushing us off the road, but eventually we finished. The best
part of today was a bunch of us jumping into the pool in the hotel in Staunton
after we arrived, biking clothes and all! We had good day of riding to recover from yesterday. We were
all a little less sore, but Tamie and Nick were both still a little under the
weather. Tamie bussed one short leg and continued right on from there. After showering and dinner Nick headed out to be hosted by a local fire and Gabe iced a knee.
department for the night.

Gabe checks in... Remembering Why I Ride

Gabe spent yesterday in the climb totally by himself. He said that as he was tired and wondering about going on and how he would muster. He pulled out the dogtags from his shirt and the bio for the man for whom he rides. He said that he stood on the side of the road in mountains and read his bio and it helped him to remember why he had to finish. He left the dogtags hanging out so they would jingle around his neck. Chris kept him company the rest of the way. Really, enough said.

Tamie Checked In - Still Standing...Barely

YAY for Tamie!! Tamie and two others were the last to roll in after riding from 11:30am to 8:30pm last night. As they arrived at the Skyline Resort Tamie and the two others were greeted by the rest of the muddy angels with cheers and applause. Tamie was moved to tears to see her muddy angels greet her and the other two with such support. Due to fatigue they literally had to be pulled off their bikes. Someone greeted them with beer in hand and even though Tamie hates beer, it went down, cold and appreciated! The rest of the angels took care of getting them dinner. Each muddy angel as they check in swears they are coming down with something, Tamie included. But most are intact and are showing the signs of a common sports ailment that seems like a cold, but it is really about physical fatigue running the immune system down. Tamie is bussing out part of this morning to recoup and will join the ride at lunch. She wants all her energy for the ride.

Man Vs. Nature

More will be posted tomorrow, but we ended the day all in one piece, everyone survived, and it is absolutely beautiful here. We are in the Shenandoah National Park. We rode up and up, and up. Nick likened today's ride to the foothills of Reno, only green. We will get some pics up tomorrow morning. Today was a day we all helped each other and celebrated the top of each hill. We are at a lodge in the middle of the national park tonight.

More pics and Washington DC Video Links

This was Monday at the memorial service.

This pic is as we headed into Sussex County

Click on the links below to get to the local coverage!

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/45444687.html

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/45444662.html

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/45444717.html

more photos from teammates and other links:

http://2009oklahomaemsmemorialbikeride.blogspot.com/http://www.sussexcountian.com/news/x1518886104/Photo-gallery-EMS-Memorial-Bike-Ride-ceremony-on-The-Circle?popular=true

http://www.gazette.net/stories/05192009/prinnew145809_32554.shtml

Washington DC and a Day We Will Always Remember

It was really pretty this morning but it was a really really early morning. We had a great escort into the largest memorial service in a beautiful park. We rode in in silence to a park near Washington DC where the State Troopers (many in number) escorted us to the memorial in honor of Trooper 2 September 28th of 2008. They had two critical patients and the weather forced them back and shortly before midnight they dropped out of the sky. At the site of this crash is where our memorial was today. The said it was the biggest service in Maryland. One of the helicopters came in and circled and made a special flight maneuver before flying away. The one survivor was there. She was found hours later and it truly was a miracle that she survived. It was quite an emotional day. The video links are included.

We then rode our bikes from the memorial to the exact spot of the crash and one by one walked our bikes by. Tamie stopped and personally spoke with the survivor, Jordan.

We then rode into Washington. We had a police escort that was really cool. Gabe, Tamie and Mallory changed into street clothes and toured the city for three hours. We saw the Smithosonian flight musem, the Capitol, bought souveniers and walked the mall. We left DC at 4:30 and bussed out of the city into the hotel. We had BBQ dinner with the local fire departmnet with aother service and another fly over by a chopper. One of the speeches today let us know that today was the largest turn out day for the EMS and Muddy Angels. We had many Muddy Angels visit with their legislators and this was the first time that EMS issues have made it to Capitol Hill. After dinner we hung out and organized. Tamie's bike is at less than par so we are hoping she can ride on the bike of someone not attempting "the hill" in the mountains tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a Skyline Drive in Shenandoah Park 17 - 20 mile incline of 4500 feet. There are many that will not make it, but we will all try. Can't wait to tell you about tomorrow. Hopefully Nick will rally. He is sick. Gabe and Tamie were both perky and ready for today. Tomorrow remains the monster challenge.

Good night!

Monday - Proof That Humans Can be Lobster Red...

Today we rode parade style which was great for Tamie's knee, Gabe's knee, but tough for Nick to fall back and stay in the pack. Because we were on so many freeways we had to ride parade style. We rode from Philly to Seafort, DE. It was a pretty ride. There were two memorial services today including one in Sussex county for a young lady killed in the line of duty this past year. Both services were touching. It reminds us of the depth of what we do...

Although Nick swears he put sunscreen on 4 times, he has a pretty gnarly sunburn on one side of the legs and right arm...the wounds continue to total up - yet we are having a ball and doing something we know is important to so many lives. Tamie was ready to rock and roll today and felt much better. She and Gabe both took a slow start and finished strong. Tomorrow we head into DC and I think the sun, fatigue and timezones are catching up to us all. Goodnight!

Day 2 - Two Good Knees are Always Handy!

This morning was wet, cold and very windy! Tamie rode by herself for the first leg trying to figure out bike issues that were causing knee issues. On one stop where she stopped to help someone else, they figured out how to adjust her bike so she could ride easily. YAY! The maps distributed this morning ended up taking everyone off course by about 10 miles and additionally the wingmen who are painting the arrows on the road for them, painted one corner with an arrow pointing to the left AND to the right. So, by the time they were good and lost, they had to cross a four lane freeway and carry bikes through gravel to get back on track. They were on the 202 freeway, not a small road! There were two memorial services today that were very touching. There were taps playing and ladder trucks with EMS and US flags. Gabe has had knee troubles on his left side and is a maybe for tomorrow morning. Gabe and a few others had near misses with tires touching, but no collisions today. Tamie got nauseated after a big lunch and bussed it for the last 20 miles. As we rode in this evening there were 30 EMS personnel that escorted us into town. It was touching. There was the most amazing pasta dinner waiting for us at the Collingdale Fire Department. Thanks so much to them! We all got checked in and after Gabe and Nick switched rooms twice we have settled in.

We forgot to mention, each of us got our dog tags yesterday with the name of the fallen for whom we ride. Gabe is riding for Christopher L. Hall, Tamie s riding for Seikou Turner, and Nick is riding for James W.Taylor Jr. At the Memorial on the last night we will give their tags to the family who will be at the memorial.

We are tired. Goodnight to all!

Day One, Blood, Sweat, But no Tears!

Wow! It was an amazing day. We did get a late start waiting for a police escort. We rode into Manhatten and headed to Times Square. On the edge of 42nd and Broadway Nick decided to give his regards to Broadway by leaving a blood smear! He avoided a pothole and hit the shiny paint stripe in the road swerved, disengaged his feet and tossed the bike in order not to get hit and not have his bike hit by a car. His left knee and elbow took a hard hit. We went on the ferry over to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We then crossed into New Jersey and rode into Somerset. Tamie had to get off her bike because her chain got stuck in her frame. They had her ride the bus for a bit and she grabbed someone else's bike and finished until Nick could fix her bike. Way to go Tamie! We rode parade style, two by two until we were out of the city and then we all just booked. A couple of others had broken bike and smaller injuries. We attended a memorial service and one stop and there was a fire house. At the end of the day in Somerset we showered up and had dinner with everyone at a local hospital. Tomorrow we head out for another 100 miler. Tomorrow we are hoping that the muddy angels will mark the roads better as Gabe and his rider and Nick and his rider both missed corners.

Off We Go!!!

We set out this morning around 7. Will check in tonight when we get off the road!

Day Two - Recovery and T minus 24

We all moved a little slowly this morning but seemed to bounce right back. After exploring Tarrytown a little, we assembled bikes, picked up Tammy's bike and began the process of assembly. We attended our orientation to get the rules of the road, routes, etc. Once we tweaked nuts and bolts and test drove all three bikes around the parking lot, we decided to hit the pool. From pool to pizza we powered down and stayed at the hotel. We ride out tomorrow morning at 7am. Looking forward to hitting the road.

The rest of the story

So last night after we last checked in, we thought the rest of the story should be told. Tamie had a gnarly 2 1/2 layover in Chicago due to bad weather around O'Hare. Finally rolling in two hours late, which bought Gabe and Nick time to figure their way out of the city, Will gathered us all and we headed to TJ O'Rourke's. While we all sampled the local spirits, Tamie kicked Gabe's ass in a game of darts which led to team Washington against team FDNY which did not end as pretty as Tamie's game against Gabe! They royally kicked our butts! By about 2am we wound down at our new digs in the Tarrytown Doubletree. Gabe promised a better showing in the darts games of the future, by only seeing one dart board at a time. LOL.

Barefoot and Kinda Lost

We got up this morning and headed into the city. We took the Long Island Railway into Penn Station. It was a long and interesting ride on multiple trains. We walked from Penn station around Times Square, over to the Hudson River, back into and around Central Park. We also walked all the way back down the Hudson River to Ground Zero, then, boarded a train and headed out to TJ O'Rourke's to meet all our new riding buddies. We walked right around 30 miles! Tamie arrived today and we are excited to finally meet!

Today was filled with laughs at being lost, wandering barefoot (man did the feet start aching!), learning how to use the trains, and after many NICE people giving directions, we finally found some traditional New York attitudes. We went to the second floor of a Burger King at Ground Zero and got some great pics. The Main level is covered in tarps and much more was to be seen from above.

I think the highlight of the day before TJ O'Rourke's was the softball game we joined in Central Park. We played with two teams of all broadway performers, production people and staff. They were really fun. Most amusing was the game getting "rained" out. We stood and laughed, it was mist. We offered that they needed to come to Seattle and see what rain really is!

And so it Begins!

Greetings from New York! We don't have any photos to share because the Atlanta airport (Nick's stop) and Cinncinnati (Gabe's stop) just weren't that exciting. For two guys that aren't that fond of flying the day turned out well. We met Will Merrins, an FDNY rider and he has been awesome. We found a little spot near the hotel and grubbed on a lobster. Awesome! We spent some time deciding just how gross our accommodations were for tonight (you can imagine where our minds would wonder...

We are headed into Mid-Town Manhatten tomorrow on the Long Island railroad. We are going to wander Times Sqaure and Fifth Ave. Tamie arrives tomorrow and we meet the FDNY team. Looking forward to an adventure.