And now it's just a matter of waiting...

As some may know, I've been training for to do a 150 mile ride to raise money to help cure cancer. I have to ride 75 miles for each of two days coming up this weekend. I've been regularly riding a few times a week for 30 - 50 miles but yesterday was the first time I made it for the whole 75 miles...well 80 miles to be precise.  Generally the day after I do a long ride I'm completely wiped out.  I'm actually writing this post after getting back from my ride (and scheduling it to go out in the morning) so I have no idea what shape I'll be in.  But this much I do know...it was my last ride before Saturday.  I'll need at least that amount of time to recover.

Thanks to the generous support of others I've raised $2,549.  For those who would still like to contribute to this worthy cause...you have until Friday evening to do so. Just click on the handsome picture of me and my wife's bike (she has a racing bike I have a hybrid and riding the racing bike is the only way I'll be able to do this). Or you can click on this link here.

I wrote about why I'm riding and you can read about it in this post. But I'm riding in part for the great voices we lost to this dread disease such as Iain M. Banks, Jay Lake, and A.C. Crispin. I'm also riding on behalf of Sarah Chorn from Bookworm Blues (a great fantasy review site).  She fought back the beast once, but it has returned...let's hope she beats it back again. Also I'm riding so people like Shawn Speakman (my hero because he fought back twice and won), don't have to be crippled by medical expenses from putting up the good fight.  If you don't know, I and some other authors helped him raise money to pay off his medical debut through an anthology called Unfettered. He's debt free, but future proceeds are being used to help other authors in similar situations. Last but not least, I'm going to be riding in the names of many people who wrote to me about their own losses or fights against cancer. I'm inscribing them all on a card I'll be riding with me. Thanks for your inspiration.

I would like to send a special shout out to Anthony Ryan, author of the incredible Raven's Shadow series (which starts with Blood Song).  He did a giveaway for his books and added in a component for those who donated to my ride and that raised $1092 and I thank all his readers for their generous support.

In any case, most of my work is done...until the day of the race. Unfortunately, my wife didn't raise her required minimum so she won't be riding with me...but as always she will be there to lend support. She'll have access to my account and may be posting live updates Saturday and Sunday so keep your eyes open for that on Twitter and Facebook.

So, that's it for now.  I'm sure I'll be back to let you all know how it went. And, please, continue to donate by clicking here.