Behind Every Great Woman..

Steve Magnus, Jodee and Ed Novak

...there stands a man.  In this case, several men.  First, there is Ed.  Ed is a big guy with a heart and spirit to match.  Back in May  I posted about the qualifying race in the Berkshires, jokingly asking, "Anyone want to sponsor me?"    Ed read that and decided to find out.  I got a call the next morning at the gym as I was getting out of the pool.  "Kate, I think we can make this happen."  He had called Steve Magnus, owner of Iron Bridge Construction, Tarmac's lead sponsor, and Steve had pledged to buy my plane ticket.  Oh man, I wonder if I can really do this, I wondered. The idea of going to South Africa by myself was daunting.  But, after sleeping on it I made a decision.  This kind of opportunity does not come along very often. I had to take it.

Meg had also qualified and a couple of weeks later we found out Jodee qualified.  Ed convinced Jodee to go and started raising funds from our Tarmac team members.  Meanwhile, Bob Herman lead an effort to raise funds for Meg from Westchester Cycle Club. That convinced Meg to sign up.  Our friends Christine and Bari worked with Ed to put on a wonderful fund raising event at Jodee and Ed's place- a multi level ride and wine lotto- that raised even more money.  Suddenly we were all going to South Africa.

Today is the day.  Ed has been having such great fun coaching, cheer leading and planning activities for or trip- so we decided to take him with us! He rented a big van to take us around, and brought his bike to ride with us when he can. My man Victor and Meg's man John drove us to the airport and got us on our way. We also have Ann Marie Miller, rock star national champion bike racer, traveling with us. It's a lot for Ed to handle, but he's a big man, with a heart and spirit to match.