Len's Race Across America for Hopecam

Welcome to Susan Koehler our new Executive Director at Hopecam....

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:24:18 -0500

Welcome to Susan Koehler our new Executive Director at Hopecam. Susan relocated to the DC region from San Diego and has been leading the charge with new goals, resources and a big heart.

http://www.hopecam.org/staff-profiles/susan-koehler?utm_source=Copy+of+Hopecam+eNewsletter+Template&utm_campaign=Jan+Newsletter&utm_medium=email

Thanks to Michael Tuteur CEO of votenet.com who donated $1,000...

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 18:36:10 -0500

Thanks to Michael Tuteur CEO of votenet.com who donated $1,000 to Hopecam today and invited me to share the story of Race Across America with his leadership team this afternoon in Washington DC

Book Progress

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 20:57:00 -0500

In September I started preparing to tell the story about my race this summer and decided to write a...

hopecam: Welcome Jason, our newest Hopecam participant! It was...

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:28:12 -0500

hopecam:

Welcome Jason, our newest Hopecam participant!

It was very nice to meet Jason and his family last week The favorite part of my job is getting to see the smiles on these children’s faces when they receive their Hopecams. Jason instantly smiled when his mother and I told him he would get to see his classmates soon. It is truly a special feeling getting to work with these brave kidos.

Here is our newest HopeCam recipient

American University Article on Hopecam

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 21:30:00 -0400

American University Article on Hopecam: My alma mater American University featured Hopecam on the...

Big thank you to the meteorogists !!! Big thanks to the...

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 18:54:07 -0400

Big thank you to the meteorogists !!!

Big thanks to the meteorologists at the weatherbug whose parent company is called Earth Networks

They are located in Germantown Maryland and supported our team with live weather feeds every 12 hours during the race across America. These guys told me he went to sleep wen to rest and when to hide from the weather patterns across the route

Thank you to Pat Hynes, Vice Chair of the Fairfax County School...

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:50:52 -0400

Thank you to Pat Hynes, Vice Chair of the Fairfax County School Board, for her kind letter to Len in support of Len’s Race for Hope and Hopecam’s mission. Fairfax County Public Schools was the charity’s first school partner and has continued to be a very strong supporter of the program for over a decade.

Hopecam would like to thank the Virginia Wireless Association...

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 12:16:58 -0400

Hopecam would like to thank the Virginia Wireless Association for contributing $7,500 from the 4th Annual Golf benefit held in Glen Allen VA at the Hunting Hawk Golf Club. The Virginia Wireless Association has contributed over $17,500 in support for Hopecam’s mission, resulting in connecting dozens of children throughout Virginia. through Hopecam’s partnership with the Virginia Commonwealth University Hospital Center in Richmond. Many thanks for the support of the Board of Directors including Ed Donohue (pictured with Len) Ed Roach, Eileen Hastings, Ginger Beaudoin, Rich Biby, William Pirtle and Brian Robinson.

Race for Hope Celebration - Thursday July 20, 2012, Reston VA We...

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 12:03:00 -0400

Race for Hope Celebration - Thursday July 20, 2012, Reston VA

We wanted to celebrate and thank the many volunteers and staff members who contributed to our success last month. Pictured above in the top left are Hopecam Director Jenifer Bond, Robin Dvorak and Kaitee DeMonte. Robin Managed the blog and the communication effort with media. Kaitee was the crew massage therapist. top right are Len & Elizabeth. Elizabeth held down the Forkas Family fort while I was gone out on all day saturday rides and the many weekends away training on the race course. There was no way possible that I could have attempted to prepare for this race with the diligence that was needed without the support and sacrifice from my family, including Viena, my 14 year old daughter. I missed many family dinners, opportunities to help with homework and class assignments and generally just not being around home to help out.

Below are crew members Ken Gates, Bill Sickenberger, Greg Wood and Steve Gurney. My son Matt is pictured along side Linda Divalerio, who arranged many of the flights and compiled the expenses & paid the bills for the experience.

Alex Green was honored at our Race Finish celebration held on...

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 10:40:00 -0400

Alex Green was honored at our Race Finish celebration held on Thursday night in Reston VA for the “Ride for Hope”. I dedicated my first day ride to Alex when departing Oceanside CA for the long journey ahead. Alex can relate to the challenge that lay ahead of me. He is on a tremendously long journey himself. Alex has a rare form of cancer called Wills Tumor. Several years ago after being diagnosed, he underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy to eliminate the tumor. He was in remission for several months. When he relapsed, surgery was needed and due to the complexity and length of the operation, his spinal cord was damaged leaving him paralyzed below the waist. Alex is an incredibly positive and determined young man.

When I met him Thursday he presented me a card congratulating my race finish, and enclosed several pictures from this summers travels. Alex challenged me to a wheel chair race, but I know he will crush me in that competition. Alex is working hard every day to get his legs moving again and has made progress toward that goal, and I’ll be praying for his recovery. I bicycled 20 hours a day for 11 days to reach my goal, but it pales in comparison to what Alex is aiming for.

When Alex received his Hopecam computer while being treated at Inova hospital earlier in the year he was able to connect to his friends at school using skype. He held up the computer one session and panned the camera around his hospital room to show wall to wall - floor to ceiling… all the cards, posters and art work his classmates had sent him taped onto the walls of his room over his month long stay.

Thanks to the generous support of our volunteers and donors we hope to help more children like Alex. Our Hopecam staff will be keeping in touch with Alex and his family he travels down the long and challenging path toward his recovery and cure.

Fox 5 News interviews Len after the Race Across America, and...

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 15:25:00 -0400

Fox 5 News interviews Len after the Race Across America, and Hopcam’s fundraising success.

FOX 5 Morning show featured Hopecam today and our successful...

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 15:20:42 -0400

FOX 5 Morning show featured Hopecam today and our successful Race Across America event raising $320,000 for children with cancer seeking to connect with friends at school during treatment. Click the link below to watch

http://www.myfoxdc.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=7520559

HPC Racing’s Junior Team Pizza Dinner Last night I treated...

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 18:18:51 -0400

HPC Racing’s Junior Team Pizza Dinner

Last night I treated Susan Hefler’s (http://www.heflerperformancecoaching.com) U18 team of cyclists to a pizza dinner at my house after work. Susan has been coaching me and writing workouts for the past 7 years and donated her services for 2012 to www.hopecam.org to prepare me for the race. Susan also performed a number of heart rate and metabolic tests during the year to measure my fitness levels as the volume of work increased each week to make sure I was on track for the race.

Susan is a master at coaching high school age riders and has 15+ year experience in helping young cyclists reach their potential. Her team recently returned from the USA junior nationals competition in Georgia in late June.

I wanted to share some of the stories from my race with her team. Leadership, preparation, team work and flexibility in dealing with unexpected weather events along the course were a few of the topics we covered. Two of her athletes were preparing to leave the next morning for a three day race in Oregon. We laughed when they considered the view out the jets’ window imagining riding the distance between DC and Bend OR.

Get the $#*¥@ V8About five days into the race at around 11pm...

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:53:10 -0400

Get the $#*¥@ V8

About five days into the race at around 11pm somewhere in Kansas I “snapped”. It was a calculated decision on my part to make a point to my support crew who up to then had completely exceeded all my expectations.

In Congress AZ a few days earlier our crew stopped at the Time Station 6 which was manned 24/7 by volunteers from bike shops/clubs in the Phoenix AZ area. One volunteer offered me an ice cold eight ounce V8 drink. It tasted incredible. That’s what an 80% liquid diet of “infinit” nutrition powder does to your palate after 3 days. A can of V8 taste like a steak dinner at Morton’s.

The next day I asked my crew to pick up some V8 so I would have something different to drink at night. Since V8 is an all in one “liquid nutrition product” packed full of vitamins, sodium, and other useful ingredients it is one of the few items I can consume that won’t slow me down, tastes great and complements my liquid diet.

The next day I again asked for a V8 in the morning around 10am and again at 4:00pm. Each time my crew told me that they were on it, and the cooler would have plenty of V8’s soon.

Another day passed and I asked for a V8 once again. Greg Wood, who was on the nutrition shift that night informed me that Ken Gates, the other nutritionist was supposed to get the V8 soon. I rolled ahead, waited five minutes, then pulled up next to the van.

“Greg, I’m not trying to be difficult but you know that I am stuck with a liquid diet, that V8 is good for me and that I have very very few options to break up the boredom of an all liquid diet. I have been asking for three days for a V8. You keep promising me that it’s coming……GET… ME… A… $@}+#….. V8”. About 30 minutes later the V8 appeared.

I really had lost my appetite for the V8 and in fact it gave me acid reflux, so I could not even drink it, but I had to make the point that If I made a reasonable request, someone will take ownership of the problem, accept responsibility for getting to the solution, within a reasonable time line. The result was that I did not need to ask twice for anything after the V8 discussion. It’s important to support the efforts of your volunteers, but holding your team accountable for problem solving is also part of leadership, even if it means making a reasonable request an emphatic manner.

John Slidell’s surprise visit: Rouzerville PA, June 24th...

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:26:37 -0400

John Slidell’s surprise visit: Rouzerville PA, June 24th 11:00 AM

My good friend and past boss John Slidell surprised me by rolling up to Time Station 50 in Rouzerville PA. John is the current chairman of ULI Washington, a real estate organization filled with the movers and shakers of the developers in the region. I spoke to the leadership of ULI in June and many ULI members have contributed to our charity over the years.

John was my boss 25 years ago when I was in the apartment development business, and in fact the first person to fire me. Well, actually it was more like a layoff but since I enjoy reminding him what a terrible mistake he made long ago, its always a source of a good laugh for the both of us.

John made a very astute observation at the time station, since he arrived early and had the opportunity to chat with many of the crew members of other racers as they passed by. “They all seemed exhausted” John stated when describing the crews that were supporting the other solo racers. He said that our crew seemed unusually refreshed, talkative and were generally having a good time on the last day of the race.

What John observed was in fact very astute. We had made a decision early in the race to book 3 hotel rooms at every overnight stop to make sure our crew had a warm bed, a hot shower and been given the opportunity to recharge each day before pressing on with the 15 mph caravan. The theory is the more rested my crew members were, the better they would be capable of taking care of me. It worked, and John’s comment reminded us all that we indeed were one of the best functioning crews in the race. Of course I believed that my crew also was the most charismatic, highly educated, generous, best looking, knowledgable and skilled crew on the course, but that’s just my opinion.

Two summers ago, myself and 4 friends planned the longest most...

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 22:26:49 -0400

Two summers ago, myself and 4 friends planned the longest most grueling bicycle ride any of us had ever attempted: 500 miles from Reston VA to Rochester NY in 4 days in an effort to raise $10,000 for Hopecam. Bill Sickenberger came up with the idea and meticulously plotted the course from Reston - Cumberland MD - State College PA - Naples NY - Rochester NY between June 18-21, 2012. Bill’s sister lived in Rochester and he had made his ride several years earlier with another friend. The riders joining Bill in this years effort were Brian Daum, Joe Knill, Steve Gurney & myself. We had no follow support, meaning we had shipped our clothes in advance to the hotels where we had planned to spend the night well in advance. This is referred to as a “self supported” ride. Everyone had to finish each day’s mileage goal as a team.

The first day Friday June 18th, our group started the day at 5:30 am in Reston VA en route to Cumberland MD, a 140 mile journey filled with steep winding hills in Western MD. The mountains in western MD are between 3 and 12% grades. Significantly steeper than any hills in the Colorado rockies. About 110 miles into the ride our group had just finished a steep four mile climb as we crested a summit called “Town Hill” near Green Mountain. We stopped to admire the commanding view of the valley below in the mid afternoon summer sun. To commemorate the ride we were all sporting colorful orange and white bike jerseys printed with the Hopecam name and logo and the by line: “ride for hope: Reston VA to Rochester NY”.

We had the look of a legitimate bicycling team.

A few minutes upon our arrival a large RV pulled up in the gravel parking lot at the top of the hill near our lookout point. The 30+ ft long RV was very official looking with several expensive carbon fiber bikes on the rear rack and colorful sponsor logos-stickers and large white signs that had the number 316 and the name Gerhard Gulewicz clearly displayed. It was evident that the RV was supporting a professional bicycle rider in some sort of race. A demure brunette woman in her mid 30’s emerged from the RV and approached us. In a thick austrian accent and authoritative tone she said “so….who are you ?”

We explained our journey and the cause we were riding for, feeling proud to share our aggressive mileage goal with the woman. She quickly realized that we were recreational riders with no affiliation with bicycle racing. She went on to explain that she was Gerhard Gulewicz’ wife and Gerhard was 170 miles away from completing Race Across America holding on to second place. When she asked how far we were going, and how long we had planned to get there (500 miles in 4 days) she scoffed and said condescendingly “Gerhard could easily do that in two days!”

As the RV departed we realized that we had been labeled “girly men” in the eyes of Gerhards wife. For the rest of the trip, we longed to be as tough as the legendary Gerhard. Whenever we hit a steep hill, we simply compared our slow and plodding effort up …imagining what it would be like to be as strong and fast as Gerhard. For the rest of the trip whenever we encountered an obstacle we thought “what would Gerhard do?”

When we returned home after reaching our destination and fund raising goal we realized that we were actually riding on the Race Across America (RAAM) course that day as the leaders were coming through. Two years later I met Gerhard the day before the RAAM race in Oceanside CA and told him the story. Brian, Joe, Bill and Steve all helped me reach the same finish line Gerhard crossed as members of my crew.

How to delegate complete authority to a couple of guys half your...

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:08:45 -0400

How to delegate complete authority to a couple of guys half your age:

Flanking me in the photograph above are two Fairfax County VA firefighters who joined me as members of my support crew. To the left is Greg Wood, 31,whom I have known for ten years and is an expert trainer and has a masters degree in physiology. To my right is Ken Gates, 24, paramedic with 6 Years experience in nutrition, emergency medicine and (make no mistake) body building. I delegated the management of my nutrition for the entire race to these gentlemen. Nutrition is a deal maker or deal breaker on Race Across America (RAAM).

After 2,000 miles of training with my crew on the race course between March and June I learned that the optimal nutrition plan was to consume 350 calories per hour, 80% liquid using mostly a product called “infinit” with another mix called “Skratch” during the hottest parts of the day. Solid food has to be provided in portions less than 50 calories, with a max 80 calories of solid food per hour. The consequences of altering this strategy would be slower speed, mental fatigue and drowsiness.

The problem with this plan was it is incredibly boring! How many times do you take a trip to the fridge because you are bored and want something to wake you up or help take your mind off the problem at your desk? Imagine 20 hours a day doing the same thing (pedalling) and dying for some mental relief in the form of food.

Ken and Greg were in the back seat of the follow vehicle, a chrysler town and country mini van tricked out with chests of ice, two 5 gallon circular coolers with water spigots at the bottom filled with ice water and storage units holding nutrition, clothing and bike parts. Ken and Greg sat in the back seat mixing up cold drinks and handing them to me through the rolled down window or off to the side of the road when traffic was heavy and the van pulled over to let other cars pass by. Once an hour I could make a special 50 calorie request for something “solid” of my choice. Almonds, apple slices, grapes, energy bars etc Otherwise it was an ice cold 20 ounce bottle of infinit or skratch.!

So during one particularly boring flat stretch of Kansas landscape I asked Ken for a piece of hersheys chocolate. It was my second food request that hour but I had already biked 1,200 miles and felt like I deserved it. Ken said, “Len you’re gonna have to wait 30 minutes before I can give you that chocolate, and by the way you have to first finish that bottle of infinit”

After thoughtfully processing that comment, I told Ken something that he wasn’t quite expecting.

“Ken, let’s take a look at the facts of this situation. I’m 52, I own a couple of companies, have been married 28 years, I’ve raised 50 million in private equity, I operate the Hopecam charity, which I founded 10 years ago and I’m on the hook for $50,000 of the expenses for this trip if we don’t reach our funding goals. I hand picked this team, and asked you to handle my nutrition along with Greg. Ive known you for less than 6 months and you are the second youngest member of this 11 person crew.

I’m going to respect your request because
I put 100% of my trust in you to keep me on target.”

I wanted Ken, Greg and everyone on my team to know that I would never second guess them during this ride. Leadership sometime means you have to learn to suppress your power of authority, prolong your pain, or boredom in this case to remind your team that you respect and trust them so that they can continue to do their job with confidence.

Fellow board member for Hopecam, Steve Wiltse cannot on the...

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 13:06:54 -0400

Fellow board member for Hopecam, Steve Wiltse cannot on the course on Saturday in West Virginia to cheer me and my crew on as we headed toward Maryland. Steve sponsored the state of Missouri, his wife Mary’s birthplace. He is a founding partner of one of the largest accounting firms in Washington DC and an avid hockey player !

Steve has been a generous supporter of Hopecam since we began, and is our treasurer. He is a very happy treasurer since we doubled our fundraising goal for the race!

Thank you Steve for all your support and encouragement during our journey.

I finally had the opportunity to speak with Paul Millar today...

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 17:40:42 -0400

I finally had the opportunity to speak with Paul Millar today from his vacation spot in Breckenridge, Colorado. Paul and I were battling for first place in our age category during the race when he developed a very common condition called “shermers neck”. This condition causes the muscles in your neck to collapse which requires the rider to either stop racing or wear a neck collar similar to what people suffering from whiplash wear after the incident.

Paul ended up finishing the race within hours of the 12 day time cutoff and received his medal in Annapolis. I cant imagine how dangerous that must have been descending down steep hills with such limited mobility and visibility. Paul and I passed one another over a half dozen times but not once did we actually get to meet ! This is due to the fact that when we passed one another the other person was on a rest break. We actually stayed in the same notel in Maize KS, and I met his crew, but he had already went down for his rest break. Once I crossed the Mississippi River, the neck condition caused Paul to moderate his speed as I advanced to the finish line.

Paul raised about $100,000 for a children’s cancer “sick kids” in Toronto. Below is the website if you care to support his efforts: http://my.sickkidsdonations.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=1429111

Paul’s nephew is battling non hodgkins lymphoma and his goals were very similar to mine; raise awareness and resources for children with cancer. We compared notes on the race, commiserated about the winds in Kansas and were both thankful to have survived the elements and to have crossed the finish line in one piece. His neck is back to normal and he was much wiser than me…he took the month of July off to recover and spend time with his family.

Bill Vitek is the most “long standing” friend in my...

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 22:56:12 -0400

Bill Vitek is the most “long standing” friend in my life. We have known one another since we were teenagers having met our first year in college at Ball State University in 1977. We were best men in each others weddings and both grew up in Cleveland.

In fact we learned later that we played high school football against one another… Bill a defensive linebacker at Shaker Heights High and myself an offensive lineman for Lakewood high school. (Lakewood won) Bill was our second in command and supported our crew as the backup crew chief. He was tireless in driving the follow van especially at night making sure I was safe from errant drivers on the road.

Bill prepped my dinner many nights at 1:00am and he is an excellent and creative chef. Often Bill would figure out where our team would spend the night, drive ahead to get room reservations and unload all the gear needed to make sure our team had a place to rest. Because we both snore loud as bears, we often bunked together in the same room so others could get a good nights rest. Bill was tireless during the 11 days, sleeping a little more than me each night. We both studied architecture so we had both acclimated at an early age to sleep deprivation which served us well before and during the trip.

Two weeks away from his family… Especially over fathers day weekend, was an unselfish sacrifice and someday I’ll figure out a proper way to repay him. In the meantime I’ll be forever greatful for the leadership he displayed during the race to keep our crew on an even keel, making the entire support operation run so seamlessly and with such great results.