Rob Raesemann's Cycle for Push Blog

Gear Up Florida 2009

Rob Raesemann — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:28:05 +0000

I have been accepted to the Gear Up Florida 2009 Team. In May of 2009 I will be cycling from Miami to Tallahassee to raise money and awareness for people with disabilities. If you would like to make a donation, please follow the link to my online profile at PushAmerica.org

Visiting the Gear Up Florida 2006 Team in Lakland

Rob Raesemann — Sat, 20 May 2006 20:21:27 +0000

I at the Sunrise Community Center in Lakeland with the Gear Up Florida Team.

We ate lunch at Webster Memorial Baptist Church. They are pretty legendary for their hospitality to the team. Pat Foster and other members of the congregation really pull out the stops and make an awesome feast of down home cooking.

This was my fourth year visiting the church. I first met everyone while I was on the 2003 GUF team. I spent some time talking to Chad Foster, who I met 4 years ago now. He seems to be doing well and says that he is headed to camp next week near Brandon, Florida.

We have a little downtime at the Community Center and then we will be heading out to another friendship visit. I have an old friend named Tracey that I met 4 years ago. We have kept in touch via email and I just heard from her last week that she will be at the visit so I am looking forward to seeing her. I’ll post some pictures later.

Catching up on some pictures

Rob Raesemann — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 17:38:03 +0000

It has been a little rough getting back home and I have promised to get up some new pictures. Here they are in one big bunch. I’ll go back and catch up on journal entries later, hopefully this weekend.

Day34-ColoradoSprings
Day35-Pueblo
Day36-LaJunta
Day37-Lamar
Day38-GardenCity
Day39-DodgeCity
Day40-Pratt
Day41-Wichita
Day42-Wichita
Day43-Emporia
Day44-Topeka
Day45-KansasCity
Day46-KansasCity
Day47-Sedalia
Day48-JeffersonCity
Day50-StLouis
Day51-StLouis
Day52-Effingham
Day53-TerreHaute
Day54-Bloomington
Day55-Indianapolis
Day56-Indianapolis
Day57-Cincinanati
Day58-Lexington
Day59-Lexington
Day60-Morehead
Day61-Huntington
Day62-Charleston
Day63-Beckley
Day64-Blacksburg
Day65-Roanoke
Day66-Roanoke
Day67-Lexington
Day68-Charlottesville
Day69-Fredericksburg
Day70-Manassas
Day71-WashingtonDC

Rob Raesemann — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 12:02:49 +0000

It is actually cool enough this morning that a few of us are wearing jackets again. We will be on the road soon.

Rob Raesemann
[Posted from Treo 600]

A bonanza for the JOH junkie

Rob Raesemann — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 12:03:12 +0000

We finally caught up with all of our journal entries for the Push America web site. I chugged a soda so I had enough energy to post all of them to this site tonight so there is quite a bit to digest. I’ll try to get some more pictures up over the next couple of days.

It cooled down last night. We had a group of thunderstorms move through with the cold front and it was about 35 degrees cooler as a result which was VERY nice. It has pretty much been near 100 everyday and we have been doing 75–101 miles. Everyone has been doing fine with the heat. We have not had anyone get sick but it does make the rides seem very long. The wind in your face feels like it is coming out of a hair dryer and you feel like you might burst into flames at any moment. Is there any such thing as Spontaneous Cyclist Combustion?

I am finally getting pretty beat up. I crashed a few days ago in Missouri. The roads there are terrible and my front wheel was caught in a rut and threw me off the bike. I’ve got some nice road rash on my left arm and left leg along with a huge bruise. I hit my head pretty hard on the road which was protected by my helmet. It still hurt and left a mark but I would have had some pretty bad skid marks without it. My neck also hurts because it was stretched out when my head hit the ground landing on my left side.

To add to that, I crewed today so that David Shanklin, our crew chief, could do a ride along. Shank is a very athletic guy who road JOH 2 years ago. It has been driving him nuts watching everyone else cycle while he sits by the side of the road. He does lunges, push ups, and sit ups at the crew stops and often runs in the evening. It was good to see him on the bike today. I was doing ice and filling the coolers with water for the day last night. I forgot that the bike rack was on the back hatch of the van so when I pushed it shut, the bike rack came down and hit me in the face leaving a nice long gash in my forehead, a cut under my eye, and some big lumps from the impact. I almost knocked myself out. Combine that with the heat rash and I don’t look real pretty but some of the guys say that I am starting to look mean with the bald head and cuts.

Anyway, I’ll suck it up tomorrow and get back on the bike. The crew thing was fun but I’m not all that good at it. I had the headlights on because we got a little rain. I forgot to turn them off at my crew stop so after all of the cyclists passed me and I went to leave the car wouldn’t start. Joey had to come back to jump the van, meanwhile all of the guys were waiting red flagged at Mattliff’s van for 45 minutes. We were running behind schedule for our arrival and so we had to scramble to change stage up and all of the guys had to cycle pretty hard to make it. We made the arrival on time. I was really impressed that the cyclists just hunkered down and rode fast, the crew guys just rolled with it and scrambled to change our plans, and everything worked out. You can’t ask for more from a team.

Crewing is a very different experience from the cycling. I’ve always said “God bless ‘em cause I don’t ever want to do it”. My experience today reinforces that. The cyclists get all of the attention at the events and the crew is pretty much just the help. I don’t think that anyone means anything by it but that is just how it is. Crewing is pretty lonely because you are in the van by yourself driving, you stop and set everything up by yourself, and then you only get to spend a few minutes with the cyclists. As a cyclists you often get a little time off to relax. The crew always needs to drive someone to Walmart or the bike shop or they have to go scout. I really appreciate the guys who do the work in service of their brothers. It is a pretty selfless act. I will of course start giving them grief first thing in the morning. My favorite saying is “The crew is getting pretty slack, they need to tighten up.” I hope they know that is how I tell them that I love them.

Team Journal Entry - Day 53 - Terre Haute, IN

Rob Raesemann — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 06:33:41 +0000

Today was a pretty special day. It was extremely hot and we rode about 77 miles. We passed a few thermometers at banks that all read over 100 degrees. We staged up at a little convenience store called Casey’s Grocery on the outskirts of town. One of the ladies working there asked what we were doing and when we told her she told us to come in and grab some Gatorade and snacks on the house. We all grabbed a couple of things and sat out on the shady side of the building and enjoyed it.

When we went to leave we took a team picture outside. I went inside to ask the ladies for their email address so that I could email the picture to them. One of the ladies gave me a small photograph of her granddaughter Karley who has down syndrome and said “Let this be your inspiration. I appreciate what you are doing.”

We had dinner with an organization called the Happiness Bag in the evening. They have all sorts of programs for children and adults with disabilities. The thing that makes them different from other places that I have visited is that they open the programs to siblings and families of their clients. This means that if a brother and sister, one with a disability and one without, need after school programs, they are able to go to the same place and do it together. I have not encountered this at any of the other organizations that I have visited and I think that they are really on to something. One of the problems that they have is that many of the organizations who will fund programs for the disabled do not want to fund the programs for the siblings and families.

At dinner I spoke with one of the volunteers and her husband. When I asked her how she became involved she told me that her daughter who had CP used to go there. She lost her daughter in ‘91 but Happiness Bag meant so much to her and her daughter that she continues to work there. Her younger daughter completed a degree in Special Education and now works there as well. I think that says a lot about what kind of a place this is.

After dinner we went out to play some softball. I sat and spoke with one of the care givers named Jackie. She told me that she worked there part time and was disabled herself. She is bipolar and has had a lot of trouble over the years which resulted in the breakup of her marriage and the loss of custody of her children. She is doing well now with the newer medications that are available but she says that the experiences and hardships that she experienced help her to relate to and empathize with others with disabilities. She said that some of her friends give her a hard time about not having a life because even when she is not on the clock she still helps and hangs out with the people that she cares for taking them shopping, to the movies, out to dinner, or anything that they need. She is just one example of the incredible people that we meet on the trip. I always feel bad when people make a big deal about what we are doing because I always think of people like this who devote so much of themselves and their time to people with disabilities and in comparison what we are doing doesn’t seem like all that much.

Rob Raesemann

Team Journal Entry - Day 52 - Effingham, IL

Rob Raesemann — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 23:05:23 +0000

Today was a looong day. We woke up at 4:45 to be out of the Athletic Center by 5:30. We travelled down the road to the Channel 5 building 2 miles away. Channel 5 is one of the largest and most watched channels in St. Louis and has an area outside where the reporters come outside to talk to the fans or whoever is up and out at 6am. (It’s kinda like the big fenced off area outside of Good Morning America or The Today Show.) There were two other groups that wanted air-time and some random fans as well this morning. We got in line and waited along the fence until it was time for the camera to come to us. When the cameras got to us at about 7am, we were able to get a solid 5 minutes airtime about who we were and what we were doing. After that, we rode another mile or so through the city of St. Louis to the City Grocer. The City Grocer is a contemporary grocery store that has a small restaurant and coffee shop inside it. There, we had a sponsored breakfast consisting of bacon, eggs, sausage, and potatoes. It was excellent. After breakfast it was nearing 9am and the temperature was nearing the low 90’s. This wasn’t that bad except for the fact that we were still in St. Louis and we still had 100 miles to complete. We started to head down the road until we were stopped at mile 10 by some reporters from Channel 5. They were so intrigued by our trip that they wanted to get some interviews from us and some “ride-along shots.” For another 5 miles or so, they rode in front, behind, and beside us and filmed us riding.
We entered into the state of Illinois and the first town we arrived in was the town of Collinsville. Although it was obviously not my home town, it looked similar and it was cool to ride through a town with “Collinsville” everywhere. For a brief second, I felt as if I was getting real close to home although “home” was still 800 miles away.
The roads today were real rough and halfway through the day I hit a patch of rough asphalt in the shoulder and blew my tire out. It was my front tire that blew and it was actually quite the violent flat tire as I had to brake very quickly to prevent from losing control. I went to patch my tube and noticed 4 sizeable holes had resulted from the blow out so instead, I replaced the entire tube.
Our lodging tonight is in the auditorium of the Effingham High School. The air-conditioning is not very strong so it seems like it will be another night with no need for the sleeping bag and only shorts while sleeping. Although we don’t have a friendship visit planned for this evening, we have some programming with the Rotary Club.
For dinner tonight, the Effingham Rotary Club came out to our High School and brought along a professional cater with them. We had an amazing grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and Italian pasta meal. The Rotary Club was very accommodating to our hunger needs and provided us with some great company for the evening.

Dan Heaton

Team Journal Entry - Day 51 - St. Louis, MO

Rob Raesemann — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 06:03:38 +0000

Today was another scorcher but fortunately we didn’t have to ride. We slept in until 8:30 and then we had a breakfast provided by the St. Louis Bread Company, a sponsor setup by Chuck Howard.

After breakfast we had a little free time. A few of us went down to the arch to see if we could ride to the top. We hoped that the extreme heat would keep everyone else at home but there was still a crowd and we were pretty sure that we couldn’t get up and back in time so we just walked back to the hotel. We were pretty much soaked in sweat when we got back.

Kevin O’Grady from the 2003 Trans Am team sponsored lunch for us. He is a great guy who rode with us yesterday. It was good to get to meet him and hear stories about the last team.

We had a friendship visit at the St. Louis zoo with some folks from the local ARC. It was pretty hot so the penguin house was our favorite attraction. They don’t smell good but it was about 50 degrees inside which felt really good after being in the heat. Unfortunately the effect wears of almost instantly when you leave. We also tried the primate house but the lower primates are smart enough to stay inside when it is so hot.

Jay Stuckel, a local Pi Kapp, hosted us for dinner. He had his family were excellent hosts and provided for our every need. We felt like part of the family. They also hosted the Build America Team. It was good to see those guys. We met them about 3 weeks ago in Ft. Collins right after their orientation. They are about half way through their trip now and had a lot of stories about all of the cool stuff that they have built. It was a lot of fun catching up with them.

Rob Raesemann

Team Journal Entry - Day 50 - St. Louis, MO

Rob Raesemann — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 23:02:30 +0000

Talk about another scorcher today. It was already humid out when we woke up this morning and it only got worse as the day went along. The day started out with a breakfast provided by Mike Zolezzi, an alumni of Delta Delta. We had six ride-a-longs today as well; five guys from Truman State and one from the University of Memphis. The ride was relatively short today (50 miles) but with the heat as bad as it is, the day seemed to drag on for a while. Along the way, Chuck Howard took a wrong turn and got lost for a little while, but he was able to get back on track very quickly and make it to the first stage up. We staged up at a BP gas station right outside of Wildwood and had a police escort to take us to Saturn of West County. The cyclists arrived to Saturn at about 10:30 am to cheers from family and friends, and the people from Saturn. The general manager provided a quick lunch for us before we headed on our way to the second stage up. At the second stage up, we had a second escort to get the guys to the Riverfront. Nick and myself arrived early to make sure everything was ready for the guys. Even more family and friends showed up for this arrival. As soon as we arrived, the mayor of St. Louis read us the proclamation, declaring it “Push America Day” in the city. After some pictures and a brief visit with family and friends, we were off to the Missouri Athletic Club, our lodging for the next two nights. We ran into some minor problems at the hotel. They accidentally booked us in rooms that were already occupied by guests. After this all got straightened out, we found out that most all of us had a room to ourselves in the hotel. A quick shower and a change of clothes later and we were off to dinner at Nick Cloud’s house. You could tell Nick was excited to see family and friends that he hasn’t seen since he left for Charlotte to work on the route. Seth gave an advocacy presentation to the people at Nick’s house, and then it was time for dinner. The Cloud’s provided a steak dinner for all of us and it filled us all up for the night. After leaving Nick’s house, we went back to lodging where we changed and went our ways for the night. Most people, including myself, had family in for the weekend and visited with them. Everyone else stayed in to catch up on sleep or walked around the riverfront. Well, that’s all I have for now. It’s getting late, and we have a busy day tomorrow. Goodnight.

Matt Ratliff (Truman State University)

Team Journal Entry - Day 49 - Union, MO

Rob Raesemann — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 06:01:35 +0000

From Jeff City, the first 20 miles on the road were pretty intense with traffic. Also, I am not loving the Missouri roads. Please, petition your state politicians for better roads if you live here in Missouri. There are too many bumps here! It was a pretty hilly ride today and it was hot, hot, hot! I focused on just getting the ride done as quickly as possible. I also focused on physics a lot today. I always tried to get as much momentum built up on the down grades to carry me up the next hill. We talked yesterday about the strategy and physics of attacking rolling hills, and I think a lot of guys felt like they improved their riding on hills today.

We were done at about 80 miles. The first group got in right before noon and the last group at 1:30pm. I fell asleep in front of one of the fans as soon as I got in. It was definitely triple digit heat index and maybe even heat by the end of the ride. That heat will wear you out!

We had two Pi Alpha ride alongs today - Kevin O’Grady and Jeff Pearlman (aka Pearl Jam), and they gave it a valiant effort. I was thoroughly impressed with their riding on one of our toughest days. Pearl Jam did look a bit too crusty with salty sweat, but he made it fine.

Chuck Howard, who rode along the last couple days, crewed along today in our new van, the Ford Windstar. He is such a servant and example for our team this week he is spending with us.

We had a really relaxed rest of the day in Union. We had a wonderful dinner with the Rotary Club, and then we went to wash our vans for our big arrivals into St. Louis tomorrow. We have a big day tomorrow in St. Louis!!

David Holland