Minions Ride at WAM!

Make a Wish Ride Report

Belo News
July 23-25, 2009
Traverse City/Big Rapids/Chelsea


It was an incredible weekend!

This is not only very fun and challenging event as a bike ride, it was an extremely emotional and rewarding experience for all those that took part, including many Minions.

The ride was truly outstanding and though I had to miss the first day due to work, taking part in the campground events on Friday night, waking up to thunder, lightning and a driving rain on Saturday morning, doing 114 miles at a 20.4 mph average, followed by the 90 miles on Sunday, the real experienced was the kids and what occurred in the last few miles of the ride. So I will begin with the end of the ride first.

Team Taylor all meet at the last rest stop so we could finish as a team. Eighty five riders, two abreast, rode together for the last 5 miles, lead by Team Taylor Captain, Rob Grainger, aka, Iceman.

We then experienced what is called the "Silent Mile."

Riding slowly in silence one mile from the finish, we passed the photo’s of the kids that have been lost over the years, along with a small star on the side of the road. It is difficult to explain the emotion that surges through your heart as you look at these Wish Kids. It was an experience that I will not soon forget.

We then approached Taylor's star and photo where all of Team Taylor stopped for special words and prayers. What I didn't know was that there were 3 other parents on the Team that had lost kids. Those parents all came forward and they all hugged and everyone was pretty emotional. I had been riding with one of them most of Saturday and didn't know he'd lost his son. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the crowd. We then rode into Chelsea slowly and as we approached the finish at the Chelsea Fair Grounds there were, what seemed like, a gazillion people all cheering for us. There were families and also Make A Wish kids who were yelling thanks and applauding for us as we came down the finish shoot, people lined on both sides. It felt like we were finishing the Tour de France!

Those Make A Wish kids that could, came out and hugged us and then took our bikes. They then escorted the team to one of the Fair Ground Buildings and marched us up on a big stage where there were even more people watching.

We had been given wrist bands with the name of our Make A Wish kid, Jacob M. on it. He was waiting for us to give us our medals. He looked about 6 or 7 years old and had a baseball cap to cover his close cropped head. He was incredibly engaging without ever saying a word. We all went up, 85 of us, one at a time and got down on one knee in front of Jacob so he could put the medal around our necks. He then looked in my eyes and said "thank you!"

Words will never describe how powerful that moment was for me, and I am sure, all of Team Taylor. Then we all posed with Jacob for a photo while the whole crowd took pictures and cheered "Team Taylor, Team Taylor!" It was simply incredible and I had a hard time talking about it for days without getting a little choked up!

I'm still find myself thinking about those kids.

However, as unprepared as I was for this experience, the other surprise was the generosity that so many of my friends and family had in helping me raise the funds for the ride. I was deeply moved by just how generous everyone was in helping me raise money for these kids. There was so much more. The awards on Saturday night and meeting a little girl named Amanda, who has liver cancer and got to meet Elmo from Sesame Street that day. They showed us the video of their meeting and it was hilarious. There was little Eric, who had his Make A Wish photo album from his visit to Disney World and his obsession with all the photo’s of Pluto, there were all these kids wanting our autographs in their little Make A Wish books, there was a guy named Kevin with, what seemed to be cerebral palsy, who rode on a tricycle using only one leg and one arm! I cannot begin to tell you how heart breaking AND heart warming the whole experience was.

All of this really makes you appreciate the many blessings that you have.

And it makes you want to do even more for these kids.

Team Captain, Rob Grainger reported the following stats:

- Team Taylor burned approximately 1,000 calories per hour while on the bike.
- Team Taylor consumed a huge amount of calories in food, beer, and performance concoctions.
- Team Taylor climbed approximately 2.0 miles of true vertical feet on Day 1.
- Team Taylor covered 25,500 miles with no broken bones or broken spirits,
- Team Taylor covered 25,500 miles with less than 10 flat tires and had no major mechanicals.
- Team Taylor recognized that your friend, Mr.. Gravity, can also be a brutal enemy.
- everyone recognized that drafting is about 30% easier than pulling.
- Team Taylor stopped and helped an old lady change a flat tire...in 3 minutes.
- Team Taylor drank 12 cases of beer and polished off 16 pizzas, and then went to dinner.
- Team Taylor had the best camaraderie on the tour
- Team Taylor had the coolest jerseys and swag
- Team Taylor had the coolest decals...many thanks to Dave Johnson for providing the decals to the team.
- Team Taylor thanked all volunteers at all rest stops and at the finish
- Team Taylor has the biggest fan base.
- Team Taylor....priceless.

Team Taylor raised $147,000!

I've attached a couple of photo's of me and the Shark Minions that rode, though I am not sure we got all of the Minions in the photo. However, many of the 85 Team Taylor riders were Minions.

This was an outstanding experience and I hope even more Minions can ride with Team Taylor next year. July 23-25, 2010! Be there!