Plans continue to come together beautifully for the Hope for the Warriors Bike Tour on March 20th in Lewisville! The bike event, co-sponsored by the Northwest Chapter and Mock Orange Bikes, will feature three separate routes …
For complete ride details and registration information, please check out this earlier post.
Register.
Recruit.
Ride!
The heroes who have given so much for freedom are counting on you!
Sunday morning I woke to the sound of rain and the light thumping of African drums in my head. I dragged my butt out of bed and headed to Salem Lake to run 14 miles. During the drive to the lake I thought about how much fun I had Saturday night. Our company holiday party was Saturday night…I know its mid January. For years we have celebrated the holidays with our employees well after the holidays. People love a party in January. We also have a different theme each year, this year…African.
First, I must say that all the League and Corporate employees that worked on this event out did themselves. It was awesome! The decorations were great. The African dancers and musicians were very entertaining. The food was spectacular. All and all it was the best holiday party we have had in my 12 years of attending this function.
I jumped out of the car at Salem Lake, it is 38 degrees and a nice steady drizzle. Lovely! I start running and quickly drift back to the party. A few quick observations about the evening:
1. I need the recipe for the Kenyan beef stew…that stuff is an amazing pre-run meal.
2. Would Cous Cous make a good GU flavor?
3. Bud Light is great because of drinkability and improved danceablity!!
4. Who knew that John “BadRad” Radebaugh could beat David Brehmer in an African dance off?
I’ve completed one loop of the lake, 7 miles. It is raining harder. As I start my second loop I think of one of my many New Year’s resolutions. Team Little Guy has set a goal to raise $100,000 for “Hope for the Warriors” by June 20, 2010 and I made a resolution to do all that I can to help the team reach this goal.
So I’m planning to participate in a few events over the next few months to raise money and awareness for this great cause.
1. Winston-Salem Short Course Duathlon on February 6, 2010
http://www.fsseries.com/index.php?action=event&event_id=47
This is a great event that several members of Team Little Guy have competed in over the last 2 years. The duathlon is a 3 mile run, 14 mile bike race, 2 mile run. You can compete as an individual or you can have a team of a runner and biker. Come join Team Little Guy and race in my hometown of Lewisville.
2. 2010 Hope for the Warriors Bike Tour on March 20, 2010
http://www.active.com/cycling/lewisville-nc/hope-for-the-warriors-bike-tour-2010
The Northwest Chapter of Credit Unions is sponsoring this bike ride. There are 3 different distances that you can ride 15, 30 and 62 miles. Please consider jumping on your bike and riding with us. If you can’t ride please make a contribution to “Hope for the Warriors” at http://www.active.com/donate/HopefortheWarriors10/EGelly1
A cold driving rain does make me run faster even after 12 miles. I jump in the car, dry off and head home. One last thing comes to mind…Thomas Heyden. Thomas is a member of Team Little Guy who is currently deployed to Iraq. We finally have his address in Iraq. Please take time to send Tom and his troops a note or care package to let him know how much we appreciate the sacrifice he is making for our freedom.
LTC Thomas Heyden
MNSTC - 1 USF-I I-TAM Army
COB ADDER T-1
Tallil, Iraq
APO AE 09331
I hope to see many of you out on the roads supporting “Hope for the Warriors” and Team Little Guy in 2010!!!
Eman
Team Little Guy is pleased to announce that the Northwest Chapter of the North Carolina Credit Union League & Mock Orange Bikes are finalizing plans for the first annual Hope for the Warriors Bike Tour! Here are the basics …
Date: Saturday, March 20, 2010
Time: 8:30 am until 2:30 pm
Start/finish: The Pavilion at Lewisville Town Square
Registration fee: $50
To register online, please click here. (Note: online registration through Active.com includes an additional processing fee that is charged to you.) To avoid this fee, you may send your printed application along with a check made out to the Northwest Chapter to:
Misty Fisher
c/o Lion’s Share FCU
850 Harrison Road
Salisbury, NC 28147
The ride includes three route options – 24, 35 or 68 miles. The ride includes snacks and drinks along the way as well as a post-ride meal! There will also be door prizes and a lot of other goodies for you as well!
Right now, we need riders to support this very worthy cause, and some caring volunteers to make sure the riders are taken care of from start to finish. If you would like to volunteer or have any questions, please contact John Spivey at jspivey@allegacyfcu.org.
Also, please contact John if you or your credit union can assist with door prize donations or anything else from the above list of needs.
Team Little Guy will be providing more information as details emerge – in the meantime, we hope you’ll consider signing up (and recruiting friends) to rise in this very special inaugural event!
With the Tour to Tanglewood just wrapped up this past weekend, it’s time for Team Little Guy to turn its attention to the organization that we’ll be asking you to support over the next several months. Hope for the Warriors is a three-year-old organization that is working wonders in the lives of injured troops and their families.
As you might guess, the need for Hope for the Warriors springs from the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan & Iraq. As you know, many soldiers have suffered serious injuries in these war zones, including losing limbs and suffering traumatic brain injuries. These wounds are of course life-altering events that challenge soldiers and their families.
While the military provides excellent medical care and rehabilitation services, the support services tend to ebb once the rehab process ends and the soldiers are sent home. This is where Hope for the Warriors comes into play.
Hope for the Warriors was co-founded in 2006 by Robin Kelleher and Shannon Maxwell after Shannon’s husband, LTC Tim Maxwell ,was injured in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq and left with a traumatic brain injury. From these roots sprang a vibrant grassroots organization that is meeting the physical and emotional needs of soldiers and their families.
Perhaps most importantly, Hope for the Warriors is helping soldiers find renewed purpose.
As Marine FCU President/CEO Craig Chamberlin said to me recently, “These men are truly America’s heroes.” Marine has been involved with Hope for the Warriors from the very beginning, and is the very first sponsor of the Team Little Guy fundraising efforts we’re undertaking in the next several months.
The $100,000 Team Little Guy hopes to raise will help to furnish the Warriors Hope & Care Center, which is scheduled to open at Camp LeJeune in 2011. Included in this facility is a planned memorial statue, which credit union funds will also help construct.
The team recognizes that times are tough, but it is our hope that by working together cooperatively these next nine months, credit unions, as well as credit union staff & members across NC can work together to not only meet — but surpass — this ambitious fundraising goal.
More important than hitting a number, however, is the impact our combined contributions will have on these heroes and their families.
You’ll be finding out more information about how you & your credit union can support Hope for the Warriors and this effort very soon. In the meantime, we encourage you to watch the above video about Hope for the Warriors, download the sponsor form and consider making an individual or corporate donation.
Thanks to all the guys, for all your support in training and the ride, couldn’t have done it without you!
Wet, cold and anxious…is how Saturday started (see video 1). First TLG event and first bike event, thank god for Agnoli & Jeff!! Don’t think I settled in until we really got rolling down the road a bit. However, I found I still had an adjustment, training w/Eman & Badrad, I’ve gotten used to the hurry-up offense, not so much w/these guys…(see video 2) Hey, I realize they could’ve finished quicker w/o me, but stuck it out the entire way in the rain on Saturday…45 miles goes by a lot faster when your buddies are by your side!!
Rain…Rain…Rain…that would be ALL day Saturday…but these guys can make anything fun!! And since all we had to do was sit around at the park and listen to music, eat, drink and talk…wait, now I see why we had such a great time…the rain just kept us in one spot with the rest of the bikers…
Sunday, with better weather, the team left the park together, but “the four,” as they were later named on course split off for their journey. We kept what we thought was a nice steady pace, but they caught up with us at a rest-stop, due to course issues. :) But, I think it made it fun for all of us; we took off…then they came chasing. It showed their true abilities, because I think it took about 7 minutes to catch us (of course, we really don’t know how long they waited!!) Seriously, those guys came up like a freight train…I heard…chugga chugga choo choo, then Eman went flying passed! Agnoli couldn’t stand it and had to try and join then. But not Jeff, he stuck with me for the last 10 miles!!
The BEST part of the entire weekend for me was coming to the finish line at Volvo. It wasn’t because the Tour was over…It was because as I came around the corner, I could see John & Jr’s bright yellow jerseys and then saw the whole team there awaiting us. That was the best feeling!!! To approach the finish line and have ALL the guys there cheering ME on for once!! 
Somehow over the past few years, I’ve become the little sister of the team, supporting them with everything they do. I’ve had an extra set of big brothers, yet they somehow still treated me like one of the guys. It’s been awesome to have their support!! Well, no more sidelines for me guys!! I look forward to the next ride and continuing to support the efforts of TLG in Hope for the Warriors!
The rains came, but Team Little Guy prevailed! The Tour to Tanglewood is now in the books, and the riders all made a fine showing in this year’s event.
As promised, the rains came through most of the ride on day one. By evening, it was coming down in buckets. TLG stuck to their plan and nestled in for the night in our three tents in the camping area. Our tents did take on a bit of water, but overall we did just great overnight.
Mother Nature did give us an equalizer on Sunday, with just about perfect riding weather and a return to sun by mid-morning.
Major, major kudos go to the volunteers who made the ride as comfortable as possible over the weekend. In any given year, thousands of riders participate in this event. The Tour is a well-run event, and the volunteers are all wonderful, wonderful people. Thank you all so much for making our ride go smoothly.
Three short videos from day one of the ride are provided. For now we rest, relax and dry out.
The bags are packed, the trucks loaded and the supplements ready to go! The Tour to Tanglewood starts tomorrow morning on the west side of Greensboro, and will wind its way to western Forsyth County’s Tanglewood Park. Team Little Guy will be fielding eight riders: John Radebaugh, Eric Gelly, Bubba Gelly, Ed Agnoli, Joshua Chavez, John Radebaugh Jr., Jeff Hardin, and a newcomer to the TLG rider fold — Renee Mier.
Renee has been very helpful to the team the past couple of years. She’s the person who has pushed out updates on the blog when the team is running or biking up in the mountains. Now she’s taking a crack at riding in the tour, and will do 90 miles over the two days.
The weather for Renee’s kickoff ride is not looking good. There’s a 90% chance of rain and perhaps thundershowers tomorrow and tomorrow night, with temperatures only in the 60s tomorrow. But the team is tough and plans to ride both days.
With rain in the forecast and video cameras at the ready, comedic gold may very well ensue this weekend. The best way to keep updated on the team’s progress is to monitor the Team Little Guy Twitter account, as well as some of the team riders who are on Twitter (Twitter IDs are listed here.)
We might be miserable, but there’s no reason you can’t have a laugh or two at our expense anyway.
The team is happy to announce it has made a $2,500 contribution to the Central NC Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the sponsor agency of the Tour to Tanglewood. Good luck to the thousands of riders this weekend who are setting aside time and braving the rain to ride for such a wonderful cause.
After this weekend, the team will have more information about Hope for the Warriors and how you can support the wonderful work this organization is doing on behalf of injured troops and their families.
In the meantime, Ride Hard Team Little Guy!
On Wednesday I had a hard ride. It wasn’t a big mountain climb, crazy hard intervals, or even 100 miles in 95 degree heat.
It was a send off ride with Lt. Colonel Thomas Heyden. Five Team Little Guys met at noon and rode 20 miles with Tom. Like most of our rides we started easy, chatting and horsing around. At the first stoplight BadRad took a little tumble. Those darn clip-in pedals strike again. No blood, bike still works, away we go.
After our legs get warmed up guys start getting frisky, sprinting up hills, pushing the pace and talking smack…a normal ride. But, it wasn’t normal for me. I kept thinking about Thomas and how he will spend his next 400 days. He is being deployed to Iraq this Sunday.
During the next 400 days I will be with my family, working with credit unions and training with my friends…normal things.
The next 400 days will be much different for Thomas. He is sacrificing his normal life to serve his country…To protect our freedom.
I watched Tom on the road today. He was different in the saddle. He soaked it all in. As we headed into the last few miles of the ride we all knew the pace would quicken… One more hard effort…The sprint to the finish. I jumped to the front to set the pace. Heyden quickly flew passed us. Riding strong and proud. We all watched as Tom accelerated away from us. This was his ride to win and we all knew it.
Tom…Team Little Guy is proud of you! We will miss you and look forward to your safe return.
Over the next 10 months, the members of Team Little Guy will be on a biking, running and fundraising journey as we raise $100,000 for Hope for the Warriors. The kickoff ride comes this weekend, as the team participates in the MS Tour to Tanglewood.
While the team kicks off its journey, one of the original team members embarks upon a much longer trip – both in terms of distance traveled and time spent away from home. Tom Heyden, who in addition to working for CUNA Mutual Group serves in the US Army Reserve, deploys to Iraq this weekend for a 400-day rotation.
LTC Heyden will be working with the Iraqi Army through November 2010. It’s the second long deployment, and the first to the Middle East, since the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq broke out in the wake of 9/11.
The entire team wishes Heyden & the Heyden family the best in the next year. As a show of solidarity, Team Little Guy will be wearing blue bracelets with the words, “Lt. Col. Thomas Heyden – 400 Days,” inscribed until he returns home next year.
We’ll also be offering these bracelets for sale to those of you who would like to join us in showing support for Tom.
Even as Tom departs for the Middle East, we’ll be hearing from him from time-to-time. As he is able, he will record audio and video updates that will be posted here on the blog.
Tom took a moment this week to share his thoughts about what Team Little Guy will be raising funds for in the next months, and offers his thanks to all of you for your support of the team and of the US Military. He signed off by saying, “Godspeed.”
Likewise, Tom – Godspeed, stay safe and thank you so much for your sacrifices on behalf of freedom.
Team Little Guy is pleased to announce it is taking on a new fundraising effort! Over the past two years the team has endured 208 miles of running through the mountains of North Carolina to raise over $145,000 for the Carolinas Credit Union Foundation’s Micro Community Grant program. This year Team Little Guy is mounting their bikes to raise money for Hope for the Warriors, specifically the Warriors Hope and Care Center.
What is Hope for the Warriors? Their mission is a promise that the sacrifices of the wounded across military service branches and throughout the nation will not be forgotten, nor their needs unmet. They accomplish this mission through various programs, supported by donations, specifically designed to help wounded service members and their families cope with the struggles that most of us don’t face.
The Warriors Hope and Care Center vision is to provide a rehabilitative center with specialized services and family resources in a collocated, comforting venue. Coordinating with both the Marine Corps and the Navy, that vision led to the design of a robust rehabilitation facility that will now be built in eastern North Carolina with a level of care worthy of heroes. You can learn more about Hope for the Warriors at their website http://www.hopeforthewarriors.org/.
So what is Team Little Guy’s goal? We want to raise $100,000 by June 30, 2010 for the Warriors Hope and Care Center. To kick off our fund raising efforts we are riding our bikes 170 miles in The Tour to Tanglewood on September 26-27, 2009. Throughout the rest of this year and the first half of 2010 we will be participating in biking and running events to raise awareness of our fundraising efforts and also raising awareness of credit unions “People Helping People” philosophy.
Now, 170 miles might seem like a daunting task but it is no way as daunting as when a Wounded Warrior has to learn to walk all over again with prosthetic legs because he or she was wounded in a road side bomb attack in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The final event will be the “Ride for the Warriors.” On June 17, 2010, Team Little Guy will begin this event at Ft. Bragg. Over the next several days they will bike to all five major military installations in North Carolina and visit credit unions on the way. Our journey will end at Camp Lejeune where we will present the check to Hope for the Warriors.
We hope you will be a part of this fund raising event and there are many ways you can participate:
As we begin this exciting journey that starts later this month in the Piedmont of North Carolina and ends on the sandy beaches of the NC coast next summer, we have updated the look and feel of the Team Little Guy blog. The blog site features more information about the fundraising effort, and will be a source of news and information about the team’s progress toward the $100,000 goal.
We invite you to share your fundraising stories with us on the blog, and encourage the team as it trains and rides. The blog includes a Share/Save feature that will also allow you to automatically relay the latest team information from the blog onto your social networking sites (Facebook pages, Twitter, etc.). By all means, please share this journey with us by participating in the life of the TLG blog!
Team Little Guy is well aware that the economy is slow to recover and is a struggle for everyone, but please remember the cause that is being supported and know that every dollar makes a difference! The warriors who have given so much deserve our help and we sincerely hope you will find it in your heart to help raise these funds.
