Notes From The Road

September 21, 2007: Relationships are hugely important!

The desire for closure drives a great deal of human activity. Isn't there something satisfying about perfect endings-whether in a novel, a movie, a journey, or even in a Health Awareness Tour ride?

We started our ride just outside of Tinley Park. Perfect ride conditions today-slightly cool temperature, not much wind, blue sky and relatively flat land. We've come together nicely as a riding team, and our formation reflected this well. We were joined by Laura, who took a well-deserved break from the role of support crew to relax with us riders as we cruised into her hometown, Bourbonnais (IL).

What a great welcome at Bourbonnais. Let me tell you, a police escort is really cool. I would love this sort of thing all the time when riding on city streets. Drivers seem to respect bikers more when the police chief is hanging in the riding formation with his cruiser lights "a-flashin'." The Bourbonnais CIGNA staff prepared a truly wonderful reception for us, and several folks even rode along with us for the last few miles. Balloons, music, a finish line, even someone to help us with a cool-down stretch awaited at us. We had plenty of time to give the health and wellness message en masse and "analogue" style one-on-one. We also judged posters about health awareness, decorated bikes and even decorated hats.

The ride was finished, and it was time for us to disperse. Bikes were put away for shipping, riders and support crew left with friends and family, or for the airport to go home to be with the same.

Before writing each of these daily "Notes from the Road" entries, the team spent time together to reflect on our most favorite moments of the day, and I tried to capture these in my writings these past four days. It's pretty easy to dismiss our importance to others. We all can get caught up in the maelstrom of life's chaos or conversely, the day-to-day mundane to the point we no longer believe in our own power. But we're a social species, and relationships are hugely important. Yes, wellness is about taking responsibility for one's own health and behavior. But being healthy and well is also about connecting with others we love and care about to ensure they are able to do what they can to live life better. Seemingly very small things such as improving our own behavior or giving a few words of encouragement to our friends and family can have huge payoffs. If we remain open to being surprised at our ability to influence those we care about, we can make the world a better place, one pedal stroke at a time.

September 20, 2007: Short ride, long day, making a difference in the Windy City

It's relatively common knowledge in the military that people need a minimum of 4 hours continuous, uninterrupted sleep to function at full fighting capacity. Over a long period, less snoozing time than this can lead to degradation in function, hallucinations and disorganized and bizarre behavior.

It feels like today's ride began yesterday even though yesterday's ride ended in Sioux Falls, SD, and today's first event was in Chicago, IL. None of us was up to riding the more than 570 miles overnight so we got in the SAG van a good part of the way, stopping for the night in La Crosse, WI. We were in our rooms before midnight (more-or-less), giving us plenty of time to clean up, organize our stuff for today, and be out on the road again driving towards Illinois at 4 am.

We got back on our bikes at a town north of Chicago. We had quite a bit of street riding to do before getting to the bike trail along Lake Michigan, and that was tough. No bike lanes, and drivers were really not used to dealing with cyclists. At least the weather was perfect, temperature in the high 60s, low humidity and, yes, a tailwind. The trail was a wonderful ride: beach, sailboats on the lake, and a fantastic skyline. Life's great.

The reception put on by our Chicago CIGNA site was truly over the top. But what else is to be expected from this high energy, really cool city? A large crowd of our coworkers, along with interested people just passing by, gathered around the balloon clusters and outside stage to hear each of us. Also, the Commissioner of Human Services for the State of Illinois presented us with the Governor's signed proclamation announcing today as Health Awareness Day in Illinois. With the Health Awareness Day declared in Connecticut on September 17, two states have declared Health Awareness Day this year as a result of our tour alone. Very energizing for all of us!

We had some time in today's schedule to walk about Millennium Park prior to getting back on our bikes-time to do some one-on-one reaching out to others, "analogue style" activity. All sorts of people make their way to the park. We saw a Thai beauty pageant queen, artists, and some people wandering around for a smoke and a bite to eat. John had at least a dozen kids sprinting across the fountain pool, over and over, with the winner getting a Health Awareness Tour "Shifting Gears to Better Health" wristband. We also had a chance to connect with some really nice folks.

After watching people walking around eating ice cream cones, I think there's something fundamentally wrong about eating an ice cream cone when the ice cream serving is larger than one's head. Well, nothing like a good opportunity to spread the wellness word! Back on our bikes and down through South Chicago. Throughout our ride in the Chicago area, only this southern section had marked bike lanes on the road. And porches. Throughout most of the US, we've lost the art and culture of porch sitting. Not in South Chicago. Porch after porch held families mingling with friends, kids playing, and teenagers doing teenage stuff. And we were celebrities there. People were waving, pumping fists in that cool sports fan way, and encouraging us on. It was great!

Tomorrow we have more television appearances and the end of the ride. Bourbonnais, watch out-I don't think we're getting much sleep tonight!

September 19, 2007: Riding a tailwind into Sioux Falls

Most cultures have some sort of ceremony to mark the transition between childhood and adulthood, and many of these initiation ceremonies share certain archetypal features. There's often a journey, some degree of hardship and then a resolution with celebration. During the periods of stress and trial, the soon-to-be initiated might reasonably ask themselves, "Why on earth am I doing this? What's the point?" Successfully answering these questions gives a foundation for the wisdom needed for one's transition forward in life. Today was such a day of transition for this Heath Awareness Tour team.

As if in sync with everything else, the weather made a wonderful transition. The morning was cool, and the wind shifted from west-east to east-west. Well, what do you know-finally a tailwind for the ride! One of the lovely and perhaps under-appreciated things about a tailwind is that the ambient noise level goes way down as there is not a 30-50 mph wind blowing smack into your face. With less background noise, you can reasonably have conversations with others, and there is a better chance you can hear your own thoughts. Today's weather package also included a cessation of liquid precipitation, better known as rain, and our sky was as blue as the heavens should be. For us, the morning was near perfect-never mind the hills. Well, maybe mind them a bit. The downhill runs were great. Many of us set speed records. But the going up part was humbling. I have a hard time telling the difference between six and eight percent grades of incline, particularly if the upward run is more than a mile or so. The burning in the legs and the labored breathing are about the same, and that's all that really counts in those situations.

Our riding formations were great, and we had plenty of opportunity to spread the wellness message to folks on our way to Sioux Falls. We stopped in a truly lovely town called Hills, a name I'd secretly hoped was named in irony. But alas, the moniker was a correct description of local geography. At the general store, the cashier was really happy to see us and said, "This is one of the most exciting things to happen here." Wow. And we just thought we were taking a snack break.

We also had a lot of opportunity to ask for directions. Something about going relatively slowly on roads made for cars going 50 mph, in strikingly beautiful countryside, with surprisingly great weather must make it easy to overlook important road signs and landmarks! And while the locals were enthusiastic, and certainly receptive to hearing about wellness and health, they seemed to have different notions about how to get from here to there. We rode hither, thither and yon until finally we realized the support crew actually was correct about directions all along.

As we rode along we felt better and better about the decrease in traffic. That is we felt better until we saw the yellow diamond sign reading "Pavement ends." So we dirt biked it for a few miles, including up a very loosely dirt-packed hill. In case you're wondering, it's terribly easy to fall down in loose dirt, and going uphill does nothing positive for remaining in the vertical. It was a rather horizontal activity altogether. Most of us walked our bikes up that one!

All in all, this was the sort of stuff that leads to asking yourself, "Why am I doing this?" Some of the reasons from the team were more theoretical, for example, to encourage people to be healthy. But, most were very personal. We found that we are most strongly motivated by service to specific people we love. We're participating in the Heath Awareness Tour in honor of parents. We're doing this for our children. Making the world a better place is one thing. Making it better for loved ones hits home. I want my kids to grow up in a world that considers health more than simply the absence of disease. If I can move people's thinking even a little, then I can be proud that what I have done her is a success.

We finally made the trip to CIGNA Tel-Drug in Sioux Falls and what a warm welcome we received. We spoke as a group and one-on-one with staff there, and I'm convinced we touched at least one life. That one success, by itself, is worth all the hassle and headache of getting lost in hills.

Tomorrow is Chicago, and we're all totally geared up for that.

September 18, 2007: Being Analog

In the cool of a pre-dawn Minnesota, our team gathered with the Eden Prairie local planning team yesterday to tell our story on local TV news station, KARE 11. It was a great start to our day as we then set off on a 13-mile jaunt to Eden Prairie where we enjoyed a welcome from CIGNA employees more fit for celebrities. There were balloons, smashing banners, and more TV news interviews and filming, this time with FOX News 9. Eden Prairie put together a health fair with wellness teams, a nutritionist, a chiropractor and various other wellness and motivation-related activities.

We had a wonderful time speaking with employees in Eden Prairie before departing on our trip. During the day, John, our Team Captain, pointed out that connecting one-on-one with people about the mission of the Health Awareness Tour is really an "analog" as opposed to "digital" activity. It's more personal. It certainly seems more real. We did a lot of analog work today. For example, each time we got lost (yes, such things do happen), we took the opportunity to talk with the first person we could. Everyone was curious as to why grown men and women were riding bicycles on a workday, dressed in very tight-and-bright clothing. We had some explaining to do, as we spread the word about health, wellness, and the chance for everyone to commit to even small changes to improve their health.

The ride was gorgeous withabsolutely beautiful farmland, cows, horses, Shetland ponies, and even the wild dog (pit bull or boxer mix) giving some of us a vigorous chase. Our closest dog encounter though was at St. Joseph's Sportsmans' Park where we stopped for a break. A yellow lab "attacked" the Support & Gear (SAG) crew, with kisses.

Probably the most difficult part of the ride thus far has been the wind. We've had 20-25 mile per hour headwinds almost the entire way which has really pulled us together as a team.. No whining, just winning. We've figured out how to successfully line up behind one another to avoid the headwind for everyone except the first in line, who switches off periodically with others on the team. The strongest riders have taken turns pulling the pack and drifting back to the "caboose" to motivate those who've felt a bit tired. We're looking out for each other and having fun. But all this work has required enormous support from the SAG crew. From bike tools to water - whatever we've needed has been there. I think as a rider, I have the easy job!

September 17, 2007: Media stars are born as the team departs Eden Prairie (MN) offices

Before CIGNA Behavioral Health employees in the Eden Prairie (MN) office sent us and our support volunteers off in style Monday morning, we were interviewed by several television and radio stations. We mingled with the crowds while everyone enjoyed a healthy snack before we rode off to applause and cheers as we began our trek across Minnesota, South Dakota, Idaho and Illinois. Our first stop on the tour was Health Partners, where the Health Partners employees welcomed us enthusiastically and we all shared our messages of health and fitness.