ACT 6 AIDS Ride - wow, that was fast!

This was my first completed Birthday Donation Challenge. Scott Thornton donated $100 to the ACT 6 Aids Ride and I sent in my $40. I love this heart felt, witty thank you note so I asked for permission from Peter Jones to share it here:

I just returned home from the ride and this email brought even more
tears to my eyes; I thought I had cried them all out this afternoon when I
saw the sadness and hope we all shared at the closing ceremonies of the
ride.

I left the ceremony right away when it ended because I don't really like
that kind of stuff (and I had a tanning appointment - kidding - but I do
need to even out this farmer tan I got) and I just wanted to be alone to
think about the past 4 days.

As I rode my bike back to Olin Park (where my car had a nice $25 dollar
ticket waiting for me on it - "Thanks" Officer Cottrell!) from The Capital I
was crying thinking about how lucky I am to have been part of this and how I
made a difference. Riders along the bike path clapped and high-five'd me
and it was incredible; I am usually so guarded in real life (as Scott may
know but most would not based on my donation page) so it felt very
empowering to be recognized from my ACT 6 tee shirt I was wearing that I had
just done something H U G E !!!

Now, I have been called selfish before (heaven knows I would have skipped
ahead of you line if the cafeteria at school were running out of taco sauce
on Taco Tuesday!) but this past four days of:

a) being totally out of my element (uh . . .no hotels!)

b) allowing myself to become hot, sticky, and smelly (DO NOT bring Evian
Spritzer in your bike bag - it gets super warm and is NOT refreshing - plus
the bag could hold something more important like a bike tube or Butt Balm)

c) not having immediate access to my comfort foods (okay - so I did bring
some peanuts and licorice in my luggage but I got busted eating it at 2:30
one morning by a school guard so it technically doesn't count as "comfort" -
it is so embarrassing to have a flashlight pointed on you in the middle of a
dark gym floor of some school in Vancouver or Iceland or wherever we biked
to - surrounded by snoring cyclists - with licorice whips hanging from your
mouth and a handful of Dry Roasted Planter's poised for immediate
consumption. The guard was all "Ma'am . . . please binge eat outside of the
gymnasium." I replied in a very low pitched voice so as not to be
recognized the next day in case he was taking names "I'm carbo-loading for
tomorrow!" I think he bought it because he moved on but I did notice my
"sleeping" neighbor watching with one eye open and focused on my bag of
Twizzler Nibs. You better believe I hid those babies!)

. . . and finally d) actually BIKING 300 MILES makes me know that I can do
so much more.

SO much more.

And I will.

I am lucky. I DID this! I can make a difference and in the past four days
I did . . . and it felt so incredible!

So thank you, Karin and Scott. It means so much that you donated and
believed in me!

Thank you!