Trade Show TalesBlog

Posts Tagged ‘Gran Fondo’

No Mountain is Too High . . . Well Maybe One: Word on the Street — September 30th thru October 4th

October 6th, 2013 Mel White COMMENTS

Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

Welcome to the month of October. Yep, that’s right. Three quarters have come and gone in 2013. It’s truly hard to believe. But we certainly ended with a bang. And I hope the same is true for you.

Classic Exhibits had its largest September EVER! So THANK YOU for your continued confidence and loyalty. We certainly appreciate it!

September came to a close with two events: Shared Knowledge University (Fall 2013 session) and The Club 815 Gran Fondo Fundraising Bike Ride.

Shared Knowledge University — Go Fighting Hybrids!

First, SKU was another screaming success. While the group was a bit smaller than some past classes, this semester’s graduating class was engaged, participatory, and of course just plain good people.

McMenamins Detention Room

On behalf of Mel, Jim, me, and the entire family here at Classic Exhibits Inc., thanks to the new graduates for giving your time and attention. We hope you left with a better understanding of the breadth of the product line, the usefulness of the tools we offer such as EDS, and of course we hope you have an even better sense for who we are as a company.

Finally, every class is distinct, and every class leaves its mark on the school and you. The Class of September 2013 was no different. You have left us with memories of KNOBS and just how critical they are to our day-to-day work and personal lives. Now graduates . . . . celebrate your degree with a muffin or two. Please let Jen LaBruzza or Reid Sherwood know if you would like to participate in the May 2014 class. Space is limited and typically fills fast for the Spring session.

Grand Fondo Hood River Bike Ride

Second, The Club Rode once again.

On Saturday September 28, 2013, the setting was once again picturesque Hood River, Oregon in the Columbia River Gorge.

The Team: Joel Roy, Cathy Roy, Grant Murrell, Greg Garrett, Mel White, Dave Brown and Kevin Carty. The Cause: to raise funds for our colleague and friend Mike Swartout, Design Director of Classic Exhibits.

If this sounds familiar, it should. This is the second year we have ridden this same ride for this same great friend. But believe me when I say this year was much, much different in both good and bad ways.

The good part was that this year the wind was manageable, Only about 20 MPH at its worst. But the Bad part was it rained cats and dogs for the first 51 miles of the 80 mile ride. I mean it poured!

To my teammates — Thank You! You are all inspiring individuals in your own right and I appreciate you taking the time once again to go on the ride with me. I know you will agree with me when I say, the rain really was no big deal and did not bother us at all. We were motivated by the presence of Mike and Janet Swartout all along the route. Having you both there was so great and soooo appreciated! Especially at the King of the Mountain climb.

And thanks to all who donated to our ride. We truly appreciate all your support! And its not to late to send in last minute donations. Please follow this link:

https://mycharityofchoice.com/campaign/profile/336.

Back to business. I hope your fall is shaping up as well as ours. And thanks again for such a great kickoff to the fall.

Be well.

Kevin
http://twitter.com/kevin_carty
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kevin-carty/3/800/32a

[subscribe2]

Tags: Classic Exhibits, Gran Fondo, Mike Swartout, Shared Knowledge University, SKU
Posted in Kevin Carty, Word on the Street | No Comments »

Things Legends are Made From: Word on the Street — Sept. 24th thru Sept. 28th

September 29th, 2012 Mel White 3 COMMENTS

Word on the Street by Kevin Carty

OK, well maybe that is a bit overstated 🙂 … or maybe not.

Last Saturday September 23, Club 815 Powered by the EDPA Foundation saddled up to ride and to raise money for Mike and Janet Swartout. The event was the Eschelon Gran Fondo of Hood River.

To say that this event and everything leading up to it took on a life of its own would not be descriptive enough. This event became one of the most personally inspiring events of my life. And it was not just about the “day” of the ride.

From the outset, each team member took this ride very seriously. Serious in their training, serious in the way they raised funds, and serious in their understanding of why we were riding. We were riding for one of our own — much more than just a co-worker, associate, or friend. Everyone approached this ride like it was for a family member. And it was.

To Donate:

https://ssl.charityweb.net/echelongranfondo/hood_river/club815poweredbytheedpafoundation.htm

I wanted to acknowledge this TEAM of exceptional people:

Tony “Layers” Ricci
Betsy “Veggies” Ricci
Greg “Marathon Man” Garrett
Mel “Crash” White
Dave “Weird Science” Brown
Charlie “Super G” Shivel
Joel “Grumps” Roy
Grant “King Of The Mountain” Murrell
And…myself Kevin “White Cheeks” Carty…don’t ask…cause I won’t tell

To my fellow riders — Proud, Honored, Inspired and Blessed are the words that come to mind when I try to describe how I feel about your participation, training, and dedication to the ride. You all are exceptional individuals that I am fortunate to count as friends in life.

Some particular comments….

Mel White…I am particularly proud of you my friend. You trained like no other. And it was not just that you were training for the ride. You really put your heart and soul into the “cause”– the real reason we all were there. Thank you!

For those of you who don’t know. Mel fell hard on one of the downhills and separated his shoulder. And kept riding!!

Dave Brown…Since I first mentioned this event, you were all in. During his training, Dave would send me his training ride stats. How far, how fast he rode, and how he felt during the training ride. One thing was always consistent. He would say “whenever it got hard I just kept telling myself this is nothing compared to what Mike is going through.”

Grant Murrell…my stepfather. Grant and my mother have been two of my biggest supporters, certainly in life, but especially when it comes to all things cancer related. When I told them about Mike, they both just said, “What can we do?” Thanks for always being so supportive. All my friends from the ride appreciated getting to know you both. Thanks Mom for being a “Mom” to us all on the day of the ride

Charlie Shivel…Dude, all I can say is that your source for inspiration on this ride “inspired” me. Referring to your fundraising letter in particular, it bled character! Thanks again for hanging with the slow rider for awhile at the beginning. It was fun riding together for 40 miles or so.

Joel Roy…I am been trying to get Joel to do one of my crazy events for years. Once he heard about this one and why we were doing it he committed immediately. Hopefully now that you have done one of these, you think I am a little less crazy than before.

Greg Garrett…Greg is an iron man. He came off riding across the entire State of Iowa for Rag Brai to do this event. And thankfully Greg shares a similar riding style as me. We essentially rode the entire 80 miles together. Good fun and great opportunity to get to know you even better my friend.

Tony and Betsy Ricci… Our resident couple on the ride. They flew all the way from Florida for the event. Granted they have recently adopted Oregon as their second home for vacations, but they both trained very hard on the flat lands of Florida for this mountain-filled ride. And they did amazing. Thanks for showing us how great it can be sharing events like this with the ones closest to you. Very cool!

Lastly from the entire team — Mike and Janet, you were our fuel. Seeing you at the start line in the morning gave us inspiration and motivation to attack the nearly 7000 feet of climbs. Then to actually see you out there on the course rooting us along as we topped the big climbs was awesome! Could not have asked for better cheerleaders.

In closing, one post ride comment: “We may have bit off more than we could chew.” Let me explain in case the other riders do not want to brag. This ride was so HARD. So hard that the organizers actually backed off from 100 miles to 80 in the final week or so. Along with there being 7000 feet in climbs, we were all greeted at the 50 mile marker by 45 mph winds. Not gusts! Steady wind. What does that look like? Here is the best way I can describe what that does to a rider.

As I came off the biggest climb (1400 ft and 6%-9% grade), we had a downhill that was nearly 6 miles long. Normally coasting time baby. But not when that wind shifted into a headwind. I literally had to peddle downhill for 6 long miles. As if the climb was not hard enough!

Mike and Janet Swartout

Anyway, I want to thank you all again for supporting our team. Without your generosity in donations, we would not have been talking about this today. You truly helped to make a difference not only for Mike and Janet, but also in the hearts and minds of all nine of us that rode. Thanks so much

To Jeff Provost, Dave Walens, and the entire team from the EDPA Foundation, thanks for your generous support in being the vehicle for our fundraising efforts

To the team, see you next year. We are already planning our next adventure.

Make sure you take a look at the slideshow here. You can see some of the beauty of our great state and the riders that took on the challenge.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevincartys/sets/72157631644595802/show/

Be well and have a wonderful weekend.

Kevin Carty
http://twitter.com/kevin_carty
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kevin-carty/3/800/32a