The Ride of a Lifetime
My monthly column is a bit of refuge that enables me to say my peace and occasionally grumble about issues that affect our region. This month’s column is a bit different. I’d like to share an experience that has made an impact on my life and the lives of others.
I grew up a hard-working and active kid playing plenty of sports through high school and college, as well as a variety of recreational sports through my late 30s. At 40, my metabolism changed. I started putting on weight. Between the long work hours and bad eating habits—coupled with a decrease in physical activities—I found myself increasingly overweight and out of shape. Last spring, I turned 50 and like others, I encountered a mid-life crisis or two. One involved weighing in exactly one-half of a pound shy of a weight I swore I would never reach. It was at that moment I decided to lose the weight and get into shape.
The Fittest Execs and Fittest Companies Challenge that Ingram’s launched last year was one of several initiatives that helped me focus attention on getting fit, eating better and improving my health (see pages 28–31). I was doing pretty well in last year’s competition until New Year’s weekend with friends in Springfield. The blizzard rolled in, great food and treats were everywhere and the libations flowed, and, voila, I gained 11 pounds. In one weekend. The real disappointment was I had worked very hard for more than three months and did pretty well—until then. I only lost 13 pounds last fall, but more important, I committed to getting back in shape and am trending the right way.
The Virtues and Backlash of Goals
I’m a list guy. I write things down and categorize my goals. Occasionally, I’ll mention goals to family, friends and colleagues but when I put goals in writing, especially in print, that’s it. I’ve got to do it. That’s exactly what happened when I went on record in the February Ingram’s to say I would ride my bike 550 miles in nine days. From Atchison, Kan., to KC, then to St. Louis, and the final leg of the Cycling for Change ride from Miami to Key West. I’m proud and somewhat surprised to report that in late July, I completed the ride across Missouri and the first 400 miles of my goal. I hope to finish the last leg of the Cycling for Change in Florida on Labor Day weekend. I’ve expanded my goal to ride 1,000 miles between mid-July and mid-October, as the fitness regimen of choice for this year’s Fittest Execs Challenge. Several of my colleagues at Ingram’s and I are planning to ride in this year’s MS150 to Sedalia and back on Sept. 25 and 26. I should confess that as of this writing, I’ve not been back on my bike. The caboose was seriously impaired after the 400-mile bike week, but I’ll surely be back in the saddle soon.
I was so impressed with the outcome of the teams from Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue in last year’s Fittest Execs and Fittest Companies Challenge that I hired the same personal trainers that helped one of those groups win the title of most improved team. I’d be lying if I told you my trainers, Rob Kingsbury and Susan Padgett of Results, were not concerned that a guy 40 or more pounds too heavy was planning to ride a bike hundreds of miles during the hottest week in years. We had a good laugh about it when I returned to the gym the following week.
Congratulations to the Cycling for Change National & Segment Riders
Fr. Matt Ruhl and the Cycling for Change riders left Atchison on Saturday, July 17. Along with the national riders, 15 of us rode 60 miles to KC, and another group met us in Leavenworth for a 74-mile ride. Even more bikers met us in Parkville and, Downtown, at the Cathedral—in all, more than 150 folks then rode to Rockhurst University. They were met by hundreds of cheering supporters helping celebrate the halfway mark of Father Matt’s 5,000-mile cross-country ride.
The following Tuesday, 20 riders joined the national team to begin the ride across Missouri. I was convinced that if I could make it past the first couple of days, that I could make it across the state. The KC-to-Clinton ride, 75 miles, was rough. We encountered many hills and a prevailing headwind of more than 20 mph. The 73-mile second day from the start of the Katy Trail in Clinton to Sedalia and on to Boonville was also tough. The tradeoff for riding a more flat and occasionally shady trail is that one peddles the entire route. A major storm had just moved through, leaving the trail bed soft and littered with branches and trees.
The following day from Boonville to Jeff City was my favorite on the Katy Trail. Headwinds made it tough, but the view from along the river and at the foot of the bluffs was beautiful. I made a detour when I arrived in Jeff City to return to Kansas City for dinner with Michelle on her birthday and was back on the trail from Jeff City—65 miles to Marthasville—the following morning. On Saturday the 24th, we rode from the town of Peers, Mo., 50 miles to the end of the Katy Trail line in St. Charles. The following day was a relatively short but very difficult, hilly ride from St. Charles to St. Louis University in downtown St. Louis, where we were met by hundreds of cheering fans. I mentioned to Father Matt upon his arrival—this is when the bands started playing—that it was pretty tough to compete with a headliner.
My ride from Atchison, especially along the Amelia Earhart Memorial Highway to Leavenworth, then on to KC, and the ride across Missouri was an incredible experience. I would probably do it again, so long as it wasn’t in July or August and I had the best bike seat money could buy. I know that I’ll ride segments of the Katy Trail again and I look forward to exploring other trails and bike routes. What really made this ride across the state, however, were the extraordinary people, the cause to fight poverty and the week-long retreat I enjoyed along the journey. We began each day with breakfast and a prayer at a Catholic parish and each evening our group of 30 riders and the good folks from Catholic Charities of Kansas City–St. Joseph and the volunteers would celebrate Mass and a pot-luck dinner with parish members.
I want to publicly applaud and personally thank Fr. Matt Ruhl and each of the national riders who have ridden from Port Flattery, Wash., as of this writing, about 4,000 miles to the Gulf of Mexico in Biloxi, Miss. I hope to resume the ride with the team on Sept. 2 in Miami to Key West for the Labor Day weekend finale. At that point, the Cycling for Change team will have ridden 5,000 miles in a mission to reduce poverty in America by half by the year 2020. Donations for Cycling for Change can still be made online at www.CyclingforChange.org or by calling Catholic Charities at 816.756.1858.
Ride on Missouri. Ride on Kansas.
We encourage biking enthusiasts and participants from this year’s Fittest Execs and Fittest Companies Challenge to join us for Ingram’s September Bike Tour. Riding along for the first three weekends with Ingram’s is free, but there is a registration fee to ride to ride in the Bike MS: Mid-America ride, a fund-raiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. We’ll provide plenty of water, Gatorade and snacks, as well as the support/sag vehicle(s) to assist. To reserve your position, please email me at JSweeney@IngramsOnLine.com and copy FittestExecs@IngramsOnLine.com or call Haley Hastings at 816.842.9994 or 816.268.6421.
Ingram’s September Bike Tour: (shower/changing facilities in Manhattan, Lawrence & Columbia are available)
Lawrence or Topeka to Manhattan, Sept. 4: 85/56 miles. K-State plays UCLA at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are still available. Rides and bike transport to Lawrence or Topeka and from Manhattan back to Kansas City are available. Transportation space is limited.
Kansas City to Lawrence, Sept. 11: 40 miles. KU plays Georgia Tech at 11 am. Tickets are still available. Rides and bike transport back from Lawrence are available.
Sedalia or Boonville to Columbia on the Katy Trail, Sept. 18: 74/35 miles. Missouri plays San Diego State at 6:10 p.m. Tickets are available. Rides and bike transport to Sedalia or Boonville and back from Columbia to Sedalia or Boonville to KC available.
Bike MS: Mid-America ride, Sept. 25–26. Kansas City to Sedalia (overnight in Sedalia), 80.6 miles on Sept. 25; the return trip from Sedalia to Kansas City is Sept. 26.
For info, or to reserve your position on Ingram’s September Bike Tour or to register for the Bike MS ride, contact Haley Hastings at 816.268.6421 or 816.842.9994, email FittestExecs@IngramsOnLine. 
Joe Sweeney
Editor-In-Chief & Publisher
JSweeney@IngramsOnLine.com