Welcome to the Enduro-Tour blogsite. We want to thank everyone who has written and expressed concern and offered their thoughts and prayers. Steve will not have internet service until Friday so I will continue to update you. On June 24th, instead of catching the plane to Banff, to join the Tour Divide, Steve began ripping out walls and floors from his home, now that waters in his neighborhood are receding. Work has begun to salvage items from the Uni of Iowa School of Art and Art History where Steve teaches, but it most likely will not be ready for Fall Semester in the current location. There is a great deal of work to be done to sort out a new normalcy of life. Last week Steve made the decision not to ride in the Tour Divide this year. Sometimes you are a hero for what you do, sometimes you are a hero for the things you choose not to do. The lessons are many from the flood. One of the most important is that in working together and for each other, the impossible becomes the possible. This has been our experience with Kidneeds and is true of how many in our community faced the flood and now the aftermath. The Enduro-Tour has raised close to $35,000 and donations are still coming in from people all over the world. 100% of that will go to find a treatment for people with DDD. Even though almost every donor knows only one person, if any, with DDD, you have reached out to help your friends and family. For those of us with children or someone we love with DDD, your help is a gift we can never adequately thank you for. Collectively we are going to find a treatment. Thank you to everyone who has become a part of this adventure.
Matthew Lee - an organizer of the Tour- has been very supportive of the situation here. Matthew had offered to ride as Steve's proxy until Steve could get on the Tour. Now that Steve cannot make the Tour, please click on the link so you can track Matthew. Click on the blue waypoints to find him. To find out your sponsored miles visit the Blog page entitled "Check your Miles". Below is an entry on the official Tour Race blog that Matthew Lee posted just before he began the Tour Divide. We will keep you updated on posts from Matthew on the side panel. Thanks for your understanding and support of this continually evolving Enduro-Tour. We never imagined that the Enduro-Tour might involve a different type of endurance!! Lynne
Click link above to track Matthew Lee.
Posted June 13th, 2008 by Tour Divide ---Everybody's here for the start but Steve McGuire. We hope he'll join our general classification a bit later on but for now he's busy in Iowa saving his home and his neighbor's homes from the high waters plaguing that region. It was a selfless decision to remain on the sandbagged homefront by a guy with a heart of gold. We wish his family the best in the coming weeks and months. We'll be thinking of him while we're out there on our challenge that almost seems to pale in comparison.
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Thanks! Jenna and everyone with DDD
(you can click on photos to enlarge)
