Enduro Tour Fundraiser

The Enduro -Tour is a new fundraiser for Kidneeds
that is being done by Steve McGuire, with your help.

Who is Steve McGuire? Steve Thunder McGuire is a Professor of Art at the University of Iowa and the head of the Studio Art and Art Education Programs. He is also a man of many talents who is willing to share his abundant talents with others. Among many trips, Steve has biked the circumference of Iceland, completed the 210 mile Alaskan Iditasport race in the winter on a recumbant trike and biked from Fairbanks, Alaska to Iowa City twice. He is also involved in helping the UI engineering students with construction of their solar bike. While Steve is well known for his biking exploits outside of Iowa, in Iowa City, he is best known for his river rescue exploits, having saved 3 people from drowning in the Iowa River. Steve's title for this 2711 mile journey is "Completing Stories." He will share the stories generated by his Enduro-Tour journey in Iowa City and at campuses around the country later. He is also hoping to help Kidneeds complete its story, by providing the research money for a treatment.

The Tour Divide - www.tourdivide.org/
Steve will be racing the intimidating 2711 Tour Divide off road trail from Banff, Canada to the border of Mexico, beginning June 13th. His goal is to average 120 miles per day. (Off road miles, equal about 3x road miles). This is the longest off road biking ride in North America. In the course of the ride he will cross the Continental Divide 27 times and bike up vertical rises equal to going up Mt. Everest,from sea to summit, about 7 times. He will ride over snow, through grizzly and mountain lion country, get rained on, scorched in the desert and probably lose some weight, some people report a 20-30% loss of their body weight. It's not a weekend spinning class.

To prepare for the ride Steve is currently biking about 360 miles a week and will jump to over 500/week next week. He will also probably begin to increase his daily intake of chocolate chip muffins and cookies. (I'm guessing, here). Check Steve's Waypoint for more information on the equipment and his preparations. We also are trying to break down information on the ride into sections you can easily access.

Jenna- my role with this fundraiser is to keep you updated, so Steve can concentrate on his ride preparations, the ride and then the story telling afterwards. Thank you for looking at our blog. You can help by sponsoring a mile or more and passing this blogspot on to others.

Please help us get every one of Steve's miles sponsored!
Thanks! Jenna

PS- Here's a good website to tell you something about what Steve can expect.
http://greatdividerace.com/_wsn/page2.html