Pics from Day 2 (and a few from Day 1)

Two of the teams riding today

Group photo from the start of the ride



SAG (vehicle support) drivers, navigators,
water-bottle fillers, sandwich makers, and
wonderful spirits



Another group shot from yesterday

A Good Signal is Hard to Come By!

While we've got a good signal on this stretch of the Natchez Trace, I thought I'd let you know how wonderfully the day is going. Viva Catie is rocking and rolling!!!

Several teams are on the road right now and are pushing past their mile posts.

For a slight wind, beautiful morning, and healthy riders, we are all very thankful.

Today is the 10th Annual Day of Prayer for Cancer. As Danny Magrans reminded us when we set off, we are all effected by this disease. As you think of us today, stop a moment and think of those you know, and those you won't ever meet, who carry this cross.

Day 1 Pictures

These guys rode 100 miles yesterday!



End of Day 1 on the way to dinner.




The men with the plan.

More pics to come. We're getting ready to head out for the day.

Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kosciusko

I've perhaps pronounced his name several hundred ways since entering into the Mississippi city that is one of his many namesakes. A great travesty it would be if while visiting with us tonight, you didn't learn a little about the man with the title- Supreme Commander of the National Armed Force of Poland. But I fear mutiny, so the history lesson will have to wait.


230 miles.


The Viva Catie team biked 230 miles today. That's five trips to Nashville. On a bike.

Group A (pictured left) biked 100 miles today. Through rain, heat, police officers, and a two-lane road, these four riders truly set the pace for the day. The other three groups were challenged to ride 40, 90, and 20 miles. Several groups ignored the posted mileage for their leg and rode on.

There are certain times in one's life where words don't quite cut it. Today, watching 17 men and women pedal down the Natchez Trace Parkway toward a cause greater than self, I found myself unable to place definition to what I witnessed. I wanted to tell them how incredibly proud I am, to tell them how much faith I have in the future because of them, to tell them how each mile they bike they are truly changing the world. But all I could do was face them with tears in my eyes, clapping as they finished each leg, and offer them my prayers of gratitude and safety.

On the last leg of today's journey we encountered the type of hard summer rain that makes you want to sell your possessions, buy a tin-roofed house in the country, and take up hobbies of old. SAG support had to force the riders off the road and into the cars. The bikers would not relinquish their task without a fight. They know too well the battle fought against this horrible disease called cancer, and they know the toll on it takes on the living. Overcoming each obstacle, climbing each hill, they in some small way offer their energy to those who face much larger mountains.

We've had a successful Day 1. Day 2 begins the last of the easy days. We're gearing the riders up for the extreme heat that is to come in the bowels of Louisiana and Texas. Thank goodness it's a dry heat.

No?

More pictures are to come tomorrow morning. We're 1/6th of the way to Austin. Thank you for your support along the way. Please know it means a great deal to all of us.

Good night from Kosciusko, Mississippi. I've got to think the Commander would be proud of the mighty thing passing through his city tonight.

And We're Off!!!!

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ashley Elizabeth Graham (931) 801-5554
vivacatieii@gmail.com

VIVA CATIE II BIKE RIDE BEGINS:
Group To Bike 1200 Miles in Honor of Fallen Classmate



COLUMBIA, Tennessee, June 4, 2009 -- Embarking on a six-day journey to Austin, Texas, 17 students, teachers, classmates, and friends of Catie Summers logged the first mile of the Viva Catie II Bike Ride.

"To accomplish something this momentous, to set out on a journey with a goal this big, this will change you, change your life" spoke group leader Danny Magrans as the team began on the Natchez Trace. Raising money for the Catie Summers Memorial Scholarship Fund and the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the bikers will ride through Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Magrans challenged group participants, "I pray you remember the cause of and the purpose of why we have all come together."

Part of the HOPE Club of Clarksville High School, Viva Catie II team members are riding in memory of their classmate, Catie Summers, a 16 year old beloved student and friend who lost her battle with Osteosarcoma, a rare form of childhood bone cancer, in December 2007. Viva Catie rides to honor Catie's poignant fight by accomplishing this great physical journey in her memory

Day one began with rain showers that changed the ride plan, but would not alter the resilient spirit of Viva Catie II. Magrans encouraged the riders to make memories and focus on the goal ahead: Austin, Texas and a cure for cancer.

While We Wait

The rain in coming down in bits and spurts, and the team is waiting on the roads to dry more before putting pedals to the road. While we wait, I thought a bit of housekeeping would be in order. Since you and I are going to be spending the next few days together, and because I'm southern and it's just proper, I thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Ashley Elizabeth Graham (yes a double first name, and yes of those Clarksville Grahams) and I'll be your cruise director. Feel free to leave your comments, questions, or your blessings.

Onto why you are here- updates on Viva Catie II. While you can follow us here, feel free to follow us on twitter (@vivacatie).

Spirits are up, energy is high, and Viva Catie is ready to ride!

The Countdown Begins

Suitcases are being packed.

Water bottles filled.

Cars gassed up.

Bicycle racks loaded.

Indeed, Viva Catie is about to begin. This afternoon, the Viva Catie team will depart from Clarksville and head to Columbia to gear down for the night. Tomorrow morning, 0600, the clock will begin. Six days later, as my grandmother would say "Lord-willing and if the creek don't rise", the team will ride into Austin, Texas.

I've asked many of the riders to tell me why they ride and I will be sharing those with you along the way, but I am struck by how many of them tell me they ride to overcome the impossible, to shatter both personal and perceived expectations, to leave their mark on this world just like the one Catie left.

Logistics are being handled in great detail, and the impossible is being planned. I would venture to guess, however, that not many of us are prepared for the way this ride will change us. Watching, living life this loudly, participating in the overcoming of the impossible must leave its mark.

Thank you for coming along with us.

Thank you for cheering Viva Catie II onto the impossible.