If only it was as EASY as riding 1000 miles...

First post is here.

We have the Team Will website updated with this year's riders and open for donations... don't be shy. Please choose "Shift 2/Team Intel" and either select my name, or the "Entire Shift" option.

If you have trouble with the link or drop-downs, use this link instead: here.

I almost always wear TWO blue Team Will wristbands... Why? So I can give one to YOU. If you see me, stop me and I will give you one. You can help us get the word out.

Up until now, we have been focused on corporate fund raising, as we have been looking to secure top-level corporate sponsors interested in putting their logo on our cross-country ride jersey. This is time consuming and a little frustrating as the hit-rate is low... but we are doing OK and will have a jersey sponsor. Now we are shifting our corporate focus to medium sized companies in the cities we are visiting. It would be great if we connect with a few companies to either sponsor local events, give their employees a way to donate, match donations, etc.

The major cities are: San Francisco, Sacramento, Reno, Salt Lake City, Denver, Topeka, Kansas City, Saint Louis, Springfield (IL), Indianapolis, Lexington, Knoxville, Raleigh.

Any other creative fund raising ideas are welcome...

Initial design and prototyping of the technology solutions that will allow for live GPS tracking of the team (pretty cool stuff) and internet connectivity while on the road (blogging, etc) is also underway. More information in a future post.

Training is rolling along, but I definitely need to kick it up a little. Planning to do my first century of the season on Sunday: 100 miler near Chico, CA with some pretty good climbs near the end. It is called the "Tour of the Unknown Valley". Big thanks to Lynda for watching the little ones all day, again.

Then - on to a 180 miler on March 20th and a 200 miler on March 27th (Solvang Double Century). There are still open spots if you want to ride...

Finally, we had our glamour photos taken... Given the aesthetically challenging subject, they turned out pretty well.

Left to right: Randy, Marcus, Louis, John, Kenny

Marcus
magrinds at gmail dot com