About a month back Mike decided that he was going to participate in the inaugural Obliteride for the Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center. Many of our family and friends donated to this cause and his team raised a good chunk of money all that was left to do was the ride!
Friday night Mike and I had a date to go get the race packet. It was a party in itself at Gas Works Park with free dinner, drinks and a concert by Michael Franti and Spearhead. Mike has been listening to these guys for awhile and I have been too, just never knowing their name, so we were excited to check it out.
It was a really fun evening. The concert was great because it was such a small venue and the small crowd size enabled Michael and the band to come off the stage and be a foot away from everyone. That is probably a once in a lifetime thing. Moreso than the fun of the event the messages of hope and encouragement on the journey to find a cure to cancer was inspiring.
After a couple hours it was back home to the kiddos and time for Mike to get all his last minute preparations done. He was off early in the morning with a 7 am start time. The kids and I in the support “van” took off about 9:30. With this being the 1st time they had put on the race we had no clue what or where we were going. There were only turn by turn directions and the 40, 50, 80 ect mile marks were just written into the direction without a specific location. So that sent the kiddos and I on a wild chase trying to find Mike. We started off thinking that we would meet him at the 50 mile mark. Half way on our drive he sent us a message that said he was at the 30 mile mark. So I made a wrong decision to try to meet him at the 40 mile mark and that is where we got lost on the course. We ended up being first in front of him and then jumping behind him and he was going very fast. We passed many riders looking for him and after some technical help from my parents on the internet while I drove we figured that we would eventually catch him. Finally at the 65 mile mark we saw him, gave him a quick “High Five” and he continued on. We drove up the very large hill and waited at the 80 mile pit stop for him to come. After a snack and some encouragement he was off again and we went to the finish line to meet him.
100 miles done, raising money to cure cancer and in honor of his Nana Banana, Nana J, my mom, and in memory of my cousin Josie, he rode. There were 5,000 feet of elevation gain and the official course was 107 miles. 
