Sihing Lilienskold and Sifu Finnamore made history this weekend. While the whole world watched Lance Armstrong and Team RadioShack complete the Tour de France, capturing first place in the team classifaication, the duo from Silent River Kung Fu successfully completed their first ever bike event - the 100km Tour d'Alberta. Although it may seem strange to compare Team Radio Shack to the two novice bike riders half a world away, there is a link. We caught up with pair soon after the event, as they slurped on some delicious strawberry popsicles.
Q. 100km!!!- you gals certainly bit of a big one by choosing to go this distance for your first ever event. How did you prepare?
Sihing Lilienskold: We've been training since March. Claire and I joined spin classes in March. When the weather got good enough -I think that was sometime in July this year - we started riding outside - 35km, and 60km at a time. We rode together only one time during our training because our work and personal schedules seldom jive. I'm a real estate agent and so I have to get the rides in between clients. Claire has a job with a regular schedule, so she took to riding to and from work.
Q. What motivated you to start this kind of training?
Sifu Finnamore. Alot of things, really. First and foremost for me was a promise I made to myself through the UBBT7. I have always loved bike riding, but hadn't done much of it during the years I was raising my kids. I wanted to get back into it, but several years went by, and my bike riding activity remained rather spotty. Totally unsatisfactory. You know how it is - we often make promises to ourselves, (getting into shape, eliminating a bad habit, changing our lifestyle, pursuing a passion, taking control of our lives) and then spend a lifetime breaking them. I signed up for the UBBT7 so that I could do a better job of following through on my promises. So one of my personal requirements was to do a set minumum number of hours bike riding, and to actually take the first step towards entering the biking community and participating in an event such as a ride, or charity ride.
Q. So the Tour d'Alberta was your goal?
Sihing Lilienskold: Well, actually no. Our goal this year is the LiveStrong ride for Cancer, which is being held in Austin, Texas in October. We're doing the 45 mile ride, which is about 72km. It sounds easier than the 100km we just finished, but the elevations (climbs) are much bigger.
Q. Why Livestrong? Why Texas?
Sifu Finnamore: A bunch of reasons. First, LiveStrong is Lance Armstrong's foundation, and if you've read his book "It's Not About the Bike", you know he is a cancer survivor and an inspiration to millions of people struggling with cancer, or struggling to believe in accomplishing the impossible. His mother is an inspiration too - read her book "No Mountain High Enough". So when I came accross this LiveStrong event it made total sense to participate.
Sihing Lilienskold: And we've never been to Texas before - we both want to travel and we've both got a list of places to visit and things to do before we get too old. There were other Livestrong events, in Philadelphia, Seattle, San Jose, Jasper/Banff, etc, but the dates didn't work, or the destination wasn't on our lists. And I think Claire secretly hopes to bump into Lance on the Austin event, because that's his hometown.
Q. So you gals have to raise some money?
Sifu Finnamore: Yes. There's a minimum fundraising goal of $250US each. But we plan to raise more if possible.
Sihing Lilienskold: It's interesting when you think about it. Opportunities to do positive things get you thinking about how it relates to our own lives. My mother died of cancer when I was nineteen. Claire's had a brush with cancer, and her brother is a cancer survivor. We've both lost close freinds and family, business associates to the disease. There's a whole community of cancer patients and survivors all around us - we are really a part of it; the LiveStrong foundation provides funding to both the community, and the research. Cycling and adventure aside, supporting the LiveStrong campaign is a great way to spend your holiday time.
Q. So where do we go to donate?
Sihing Lilienskold:
Go to the Livestrong Webpage: www.LIVESTRONG.org
Click on "Donate".
Choose 'Support Event Participants'
Select an Event - "Livestrong Chalenge: Austin"
Enter one or both of our names: Claire Finnamore or Julie Lilienskold
Donate!
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1 comment:
You guys rock! and it was a cool post. You can count on me for a donation, I will leave some cash for you at the kwoon, tomorrow, so you can get it the next time that you are there.
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