This past weekend was the second of the monthly Home Poker Tournaments to raise money in support of my Livestrong Ride.  This month we had 13 players and raised $97.50 in the house rake from the tournament.  The “rake” is the house’s cut of the action.  Also, this time, I came in third place and donated my winnings to the LAF also.  After doing so the second place person donated his earnings, minus a beer run, to the LAF as well.  The money jar sat in the middle of the room the entire night and collected money from some spectators who showed and decided not to play.  Overall the tournament raised over $125 this weekend.

If you’re looking for an easy fun fundraiser, this is the one for you.  Everyone loves to play here and in two months the tournaments have raised almost $250.

On Saturday I finally climbed back onto the Raleigh for the first outdoor ride of the year.  Friday night was the monthly poker tournament, will write on that tomorrow, and my friend Ron came to play and invited me to ride in the morning.  I can say that i dont advise staying up until three drinking and playing poker and then getting up to ride at 9 the next morning.  Overall the ride didnt go as bad as it could’ve gone considering the previous nights activities.

It is still pretty cool here and I have purchased no winter riding clothing to this point.  My thoughts were that Spring is so close that i could just do base mile training on the indoor trainer until the weather warmed up.  So i ended up riding in a pretty motley kit, a kit for those that dont know is basically saying the clothing you wear.  I was in a longsleeve shirt i got at a bar giveaway underneath my Pearl Izumi jersey.  I had on my REI bib, bike shorts that have suspenders over the shoulders, but as soon as i arrived at Ron’s he told me I was going to be an ice cube by the end of the ride.  Luckily he had an extra set of long legged fleece bibs which he let me borrow.  If you’re going to do cold weather riding the right clothing is vital.  I wasnt cold walking around in my shorts but i know if Ron hadnt lent me his thermals i would have been absolutely miserable.
We got on the road about 10:30am and did a slow pace averaging 15 miles per hour over the course of the ride.  Another friend Dave rode with us as well, both Dave and I have not put in the mileage that Ron has so far this year.  Hence we decided to do a nice and easy training session.  In the end we rode 34 miles in slightly over two hours.  I must say that being outside again is completely different that being inside on a trainer or stationary bike.  So when training for your Livestrong Ride, make sure to do the bulk of your training outdoors though im sure most will do so anyway.

My rump hurts and my legs feel a bit worn out but I wouldnt trade it for anything.  My passion to get back outside on the bike has been reignited and i cant wait to hit the blacktop again.

So another race has been added to my regimen for this year, the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach.  This event is a 13.1 mile run with 14 band stages along the course, one per mile.  A friend of mine has decided to do this run with me also.  I’ve heard from several past participants that this is an extremely fun event and im looking forward to it.

This is another example of trying to keep my routine mixed up as far as my training regimen goes for my Livestrong Ride.  The only downside to this race is that it occurs the weekend before the Philadelphia Livestrong Ride which i am still wanting to participate in.  Im hoping that i can participate in the Tour of Hope, Philadelphia, and Austin over the course of this year.  Also the participation in a distance event such as this will help me towards my ultimate goal of an Ironman triathalon.
This does bring up a missing element of LAFRider, I’m going to go ahead and put up a schedule page to keep track of the races this year as well as the results.  Look for that section to come up soon.

The Portland leg of the Livestrong Ride Series has been moved from September 24th to July 30th.  This is a pretty big jump in timing so it should be factored into your training if this was the ride that you are participating in.  Thats almost two months difference in the timing.

Turns out that September 24th is during Rosh Hashanah, known as the Jewish new year.  No work is permitted during this period and it is a time of resolutions and reflection.   Initially the plan was for Portland to be on the anniversary of the first ride but i fully understand why it was moved.

This is a tip that i found while poking around the internet about fundraising.  Some corporations and companies will match charitable donations by their employees.  This is something that you should look into both for your own fundraising efforts for the Livsestrong Ride Series as well as to remind those that are donating to your efforts.  This is a simple way to help double the amount of funds that you raise by taking advantage of the goodwill of your employers and your supporters employers.