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Mike on a bike for Camp Twin Lakes
 Posted
10/15/2009 1:30:00 PM
As usual my big mouth has gotten me in a situation that will probably end badly. At our Camp Twin lakes radio-thon this summer I promised the folks I would ride in their Spin for Kids charity event, (spinforkids.org for more info). It's a big bike ride through the countryside around Camp Twin Lakes in Rutledge, Georgia. Needless to say I haven't ridden a bike since a visit to my Grandma's in Florida back in 91'. We were grilling in the backyard with some friends and she wouldn't let me take her Cadillac to get more brew. So I rode to the liquor store on her bike. One of those old lady tricycle things you only see in retirement communities. You know with the flowered basket and all. So aside from riding the stationary bike at the gym, (and I only do that when there's a hot chick next to me or the treadmills are all taken) I don't have a lot of seat time, let alone for a long distance. But I promised to ride the full distance of 100k. 100k, what is that like 10 miles? That's easy I can do that in my sleep. I used to ride to Jones Beach on my old Mongoose BMX bike and that was at least 10 miles. Then somebody pointed out that 100k is actually 67 miles. And then some lady from Camp Twin Lakes e-mailed me to tell me "it's actually a hundred miles you moron". I really need to start reading these memos they send me. Not sure if I'll make a hundred miles but they do have a 27 and 47 mile course which might be more my speed. That is if I can get up to speed. Apparently there's a lot of hills on the course. Hopefully they will have defibrillator stations every two hundred yards. For those of you who aren't familiar with Camp Twin Lakes it really is a special place. It offers kids battling all sorts of terrible illnesses from right here in Georgia a chance to enjoy a classic sleep over camp. For a week each year kids fighting cancer hang out with other kids in the same boat. Kids with brain injuries, liver and kidney transplants and any other bad thing you pray your children never have to deal with get to just be themselves. The facility has it's own infirmary for kids who need treatment on sight. Plus it has all the cool amenities you'd expect at a camp for "healthy" kids. Swimming, fishing, arts & crafts and tennis, softball, zip lines, climbing walls, archery, heck they even have their own radio station.
I don't get all mushy about much, but every time we're out at Camp Twin Lakes there's always one kid who just looks you in the eye or gives you a hug or a high five and it's like "I'm not gonna cry, not gonna cry"... if you've listened to the radio-thon we do every summer then you've heard some of the heart warming stories of kids who make it back to camp every year. Or the counselors who were once campers themselves who are living proof that these diseases can be beat. They come back to spend a week each year with kids battling the same illness. Or the heartbreaking stories from parents who's kids attended camp but succumbed to the cancer, or the heart problems.
As Chris Dimino says we don't ask you to pay a 790 The Zone bill each year, but if you can throw a few bucks our way for the camp you will be helping a great cause right in your own backyard.
Go to spinforkids.org and click on "sponsor a rider" on the left margin, then type in Mike Bell and donate to the 790 The Zone team. Or register to ride with me (even you guys who clog up traffic in Buckhead in those goofy outfits). Thanks so much.
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Mike Bell
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