WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |UPDATED: Woman biking to help CMN

UPDATED: Woman biking to help CMN

LA CROSSE, Wisconsin (WXOW) - A cycling trip to help children in need is underway for one La Crosse woman. 

Sara Taggart is one of two people cycling from Oak Brook, Illinois to Louisville, Kentucky in the Ace Hardware Tour de Kids, Miracles in Motion Charity Bicycle Ride to benefit the Children's Miracle Network.

Each person has to raise $5,000 in donations in order to participate.  The money raised goes to help Gundersen Lutheran's CMN program. 

Taggart is sending out an e-mail diary of her trip, along with some photos from the ride. 

They are attached to this story.  It will be updated as she continues her five day ride. 

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10/07/09

Hello to All,

The time has come, the training is done and the real test of

endurance is finally here. I will depart for Oak Brook, IL tomorrow

for Tour De Kids 2009. I have been told that this is the last one

the Ace will hold, so we are going to make it the best one yet.

After a pre tour meeting on Thursday night the big sendoff will be

around 9:00AM Friday from the corporate offices of Ace Hardware. Our

first destination is to a middle school about two miles away to pick

up get well cards that the students made for the hospital visits we

will do along the way. Besides seeing Corporate for the first time,

I will also get a tour of our Ace Paint plant in Matteson, IL, it

will be our lunch stop for the day.

I will try to get updates daily, it will all depend on the internet

usage at the hotel (our old laptop does not do wireless).

Take care and pray for good weather!

Sara Taggart

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Hello to All,

I am coming to you from Lafayette, IN. I have accomplished something

I didn't think I ever would...I rode 103 miles in one day!!! And I

did the ride with the 'marathon men'. Our group ran in the front of

the pack all day and ended up at the hotel @ 5:00 pm (Eastern Time

4:00 CT), about an hour ahead of the rest of the group. Hopefully I

will be able to keep up that pace the rest of the tour... here are a

couple photos for your viewing pleasure...The group shot in the hotel

is the first time 'Century' riders, and the second is at a water stop,

the only girl to run with the fast pack! (Mike Moit had a bit of a

problem with his shoe..) On to Indianapolis tomorrow...more updates

to follow...Take Care!! Sara T.

PS: Day one was nothing to write home about, I didn't even get many

pictures because it RAINED all day...64 miles of rain and more

rain...Our sendoff from Oak Brook was good and our lunch at the ACE

Paint Plant was fun, but the rain was the lowlite of the day, so happy

to see the end of that day. Today was sunny without a cloud in the

sky, just a mere 37 degrees when we left...life is good

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Hello to All,

Left Indy this morning in a big way...The whole group (16 riders)

departed the hotel to meet up with a police escort to the Riley's

Childrens's Hospital. What a treat! flashing lights and sirens going

just to ride us to the hospital...We did a check presentation for the

hostipal staff and got to meet 13 year old Amber who has benefited

from CMN during her hospital stay. We also gave her the banner and

get well cards that we picked up the first day from the kids at Butler

School. Indianapolis was a wonderful town, but I am happy to be off

the busy roads. We traveled about 87 miles today - should have only

been 78, but someone took a wrong turn and we had to double back

(oops!) - I guess it happens every tour!

As with everything, the tour will be ending for me after the ride into

Louisville tomorrow. We do have an Ace store to stop at and another

hospital visit. In case anyone is on Twitter, we do have someone

posting updates on the Ace Hardware Twitter page. I also have sent a

couple pics from today...take care and see ya soon...tell the snow to

go away!! L8R Sara T.