Cycling Series: Join A Charity Ride This Summer
Cycling With A Champion On A Charity Ride: Priceless.
SeniorsSkiing.com correspondent Pat McCloskey with cycling great Greg LeMond.
Credit: Pat McCloskey
One of the more enjoyable events in cycling are those which support a charitable cause. Throughout the country there are road rides where participants receive donations per mile or flat donations to support different organizations. These are usually marked with support from the local motorcycle club escorts, food vendors and volunteers at the rest stops, and colleges or other venues that provide camping or room facilities with showers and dining hall options. Sometimes these are one-day rides of 25- to 50-miles. Others are multi-day events culminating with a large sponsored finish line party. The events are well organized and many of the event organizers are well known non-profits like the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation , the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society , and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society . All of these organizations have local and national events. America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride around Lake Tahoe is a MS sponsored event and I had the privilege of riding in that one a few years back, and it definitely deserves the moniker. Gorgeous views of the lake and the surrounding mountains.
One of the more interesting rides that I have participated in recently was an event put on by an organization called 1in6. This organization provides support to men who were abused as children. The honorary chair person for the ride was none other than our three-time Tour De France Champion Greg LeMond. The event is called the Catoctin Challenge held annually in Maryland. The compelling thing about riding with a Tour de France Champion like LeMond is how affable and easily approachable he is. Surrounded by people all the time, LeMond tirelessly signed autographs late into the evening and was willing to answer any question that anybody had at the event. With his wife Kathy at his side, he is surely the poster child of any charitable bicycle ride and I was fortunate enough to be with him for two years running.
The amazing thing to me was the fact that most people on the ride preferred to ride by themselves or ride with their friends. There were only 6 of us who rode both days of the weekend with LeMond including our host Scott Weiner of MHW Corporation. Being a former road racer, I was kind of in awe about this opportunity because I have been a big fan of LeMond for decades. He is a little slower now, thankfully, which allowed me to ask him many questions. What was Sean Kelly like? How did you get on with Fignon? How about the psychological battles with Hinault? I peppered the guy and he was gracious in all of his responses including some of the issues with the recently defrocked seven time TDF Champion. In all, it was a true pleasure to ride with him in two events in recent years and I can’t say enough about the guy with his entrepreneurial spirit ( He developed the aero bar, Giro Helmets, and many other cycling accessories along with his own bicycle brand.) Truly a gracious champion and all around good guy. Great sense of humor, too, in that one guy in our group kept trying to hammer him, and LeMond got ahead of us and hid in the bushes until the guy rode by. We all laughed at our buddy trying to kill himself looking for LeMond in the distance.
If you ever get the chance to participate in a charity bicycle event, do it. As the saying goes ”a great cause and riding the miles for smiles.”
Tour de France winner Greg LeMond snapping pics on charity ride with Pat McCloskey.
Boarders Are Not Bad, Just Different
Senior Boarder Dave Hayes Returns With Exhortation: Try It!
Senior Boarders ride can ride with grandchildren! Cool, Dude.
Credit: Dave Hayes
Readers of this interesting, professional and most discriminating of online magazines may have recently seen an article written in support of older snowboarders (boarders) by a person who is alleged to be named David Hayes. (See “Confessions Of A Senior Snowboarder.”)
That article was universally panned and elements of ski culture have made horrific threats of various natures against the author, the editors, the author’s children, the entire world of snowboarders and have in fact extended their distain all the way to the maker of the paper it was printed on. In point of fact, the person or persons that made allegations about the parentage of the makers of Hammermill paper should be reminded that this is an ELECTRONIC form, not cellulous paper.
Back to the article, be assured that the sanctity of ski culture is not at risk, there is room for both cultures on the mountains, except for Deer Valley and Alta evidently. The Boarders of 10 to 15 years ago have grown up (mostly) and there is a return of civility to the slopes as the maturing of boarders has provided a platform of simple manners, tossing aside the past attitudes expressed in rebellious teens now older and in some cases with children of their own.
Boarders do often seem to wear the image of rebel and adopt the swagger that only the young can carry off. But, truth be known, the more mature Boarders also carry that “devil-may-care”’ attitude with them but it is not from disdain but it is taken from the very fact that boarding is harder and takes a little more of an effort to do well. Notwithstanding the park work and a double McTwist (see Shaun White video) most of us boarders spend most of our boarding on slopes and then sneaking off in the trees and such for deep powder. This kind of thing (check video) is definitely not for us guys.
You will find those adventurous younger types in the snow parks showing how quickly they can either ruin their boards or end up in the emergency room, often both at one time. Those boarders are the ones we all worry about meeting up in the lift or the slope, these are the ones that our mothers warned us about!
The rest of us look for powder and adventure on slopes and in areas off the slopes as to board in deep powder is like looking under the Christmas tree on Christmas.
Boarders are not bad people, just different! Elegance and grace often found in the skiing community is not where the Boarders interest is found, we boarders (use word Dudes here) swoop and carve and generally look to enjoy the sensations that can only be found on a board. I invite you to try it!
“I tried it one time and it was too hard’ is often heard. “I only get a few days of vacation and I don’t have the time to learn to board” is another. But, is it not true that what is maybe different and maybe a bit harder to learn is also a greater reward when you get it? That first connected heel and toe turn. The joy of being able to actually stop without looking like you have to go to the bathroom, right now! (pizza pie stop). The freedom to swagger to the slope without carrying two boards, two poles!
I say find a good instructor, find out if you are a front faller or a back faller (see authors previous article no doubt consigned to the electronic trash can equivalent.) But try it, try to get in the groove of boarding, there are rewards to be found beyond using Dude in a sentence.
Now the season is over and I still find myself stretching my quads and calves in a crouch, waiting for the day, the perfect snow day that is out there just a few months away. Get ready mountains!
About The Author:
David Hayes is an engineer turned contractor living in central Florida but in his mind is in Ogden Valley’s SnowBasin and Powder Mountain, UT.
RIP Muhammad Ali
Never Stop Trying.
The Champ gets up at Mt Snow, Vermont
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