Here we go!
Coming to you live from the AIR. I’m guessing somewhere past Michigan, en route to New York from Minnesota.
We just flew over one of the Great Lakes which took me a second to realize after the initial thought process of, “…an ocean? How are we above an ocean on a flight from MN to NY?” It’s cool, I figured it out. [insert eye-roll emoji]. But you guys, those lakes… CRAZY. They LOOK like an OCEAN. Also, not really “live” per say, but I mean… I’m writing this “live” right now… yeah? Good? Cool.
Anyway…. HI, IM BACK! My life has been pretty blog-free for the last month. I honestly don’t know where the months of April and May have gone. It’s been all fundraising and planning and work and prep and riding bikes. AND NOW? I’m legit on a flight to New York to START this adventure! Bah! I can’t believe it is here. It feels like yesterday I was seeing the first post about Bike Beyond and thinking, “umm…cool! I want to do that.”
So for this post, I’m going to give you a little highlight reel of April and May and then goals for this blog moving forward and the start of Bike Beyond!
Before I dive into my life for the past month and a half, I have to give a big THANK YOU shout out to everyone in my life. I know thats a big shout out. But for real, I am SO impressed, overwhelmed, thankful, and amazed by the extremely supportive and generous people in my life. From a financial standpoint, I have long passed my original goal to raise $4500 for Beyond Type one and the donations continue to come in — as of right now I’ve raised just over $7500! Wow! You all did that! To know so many people are willing to support at significant levels of donations is incredible. YOU are making a difference in the lives of SO MANY families and individuals (including me!) living with Type 1 or caring for someone with Type 1 — THANK YOU!
From a support standpoint, the notes of encouragement, texts messages, emails, Facebook messages, cards and Facebook shout-outs means SO MUCH. The physical support — Balance Cycling (Thursday night ladies rides!) and Lifetime St. Louis Park Cycling Group rides on Saturday (and winter indoor spin!) — you guys are ALL AMAZING! You have pushed me, taught me and been patient with me (and pulled me more than should be allowed!) — THANK YOU! I owe you guys and will take on the pull when I get back. To my work fam at Periscope — literally, you guys are THE BEST. I really couldn’t have done this without you being SO SUPPORTIVE and encouraging. How lucky to be able to work at a company that values personal goals as well as professional goals!? THANK YOU!
#dothingspeoplelove. From family and friends I have known forever to new friends I’ve made in the last couple months, you have all been more than generous with your time,
Okay, emotional-youre-all-the-best speech aside… here is what I’ve done the last couple months:
Yoga for Beyond Type 1:
We did yoga! And raised money! Good for the soul and the body. Shout out to The Shed Fitness Studio in MPLS for hooking us up with the space and my yogi-sister-extraodinaire for donating her time and teaching an amazing class.
Fulton Brewery Fundraiser:
The Fulton Taproom let us invade their space to host a kick-ass party fundraiser at the end of April. And, we KILLED IT. You all raised over $1500 for Beyond Type 1 and put me past my goal at 
the time. AMAZING! I’m also impressed that we drank about a grand worth of beer 😉 We gave away some awesome prizes in the raffle and I want to holler at the local business that donated — please check them out if you have a moment! Sota Clothing, Fulton Brewing, Saint Dinette, Bubbly Paws, Lowry Hill Meats, Lions Tap, MN Vikings, LulaRoe: Jessy Simonson, The Guthrie, and the Science Museum of Minnesota.
The Fulton Gran Fondo:
I rode 100 miles! I haven’t done a Century for about 3 years so this 
was definitely a challenge. BUT I rode with some awesome people and we had a great time. It was a gorgeous MN day and the route takes you through the city, farms and lakes. All the best of my fave state 😉
$100K Milestone!
Last week Team Bike Beyond PASSED THE $100K MILESTONE. And the numbers continue to climb! I am so impressed with this team and the people showing support. Amazing!
We hit a major milestone, but the further we go, the bigger difference we can make — if you would like to contribute to the ride, my personal fundraising page can be found here: https://donate.beyondtype1.org/fundraiser/872546
Now, MOVING FORWARD…
I don’t really know what my blogging cadence will be…daily? Weekly? 2x per week. Hard to say for me since this is all new and it might depend on the mileage. In any case, my goal with posts will be to keep you all informed on where we are, where we’re staying, notes from the ride and mileage covered. Just keep you in the know. Expect shorter, more frequent posts than you’ve seen so far. And pictures! Hopefully. I mean thats really what you want, right?? 🙂
The team has been slowly assembling in New York this week and I’m so excited to see some of them this afternoon!
By tomorrow(Friday) at noon, we’ll all be together and running through team orientation. Saturday we’ll be packing vans before heading to a big Kick-off Fundraiser Event in Manhattan!
Sunday — ITS GO TIME! For those in NY — come by Pier 4 Beach in Brooklyn — we have a free public team sendoff event happening. We’ll be dipping our back tires in the ocean — coast-to-coast ride, ya know?
Reminder — Of all the socials,I’m mostly on Instagram, if you want to follow along for more immediate updates. I even dabble in Instagram Stories a bit… crazy, I know. Follow me: @ambrau
Thats all for now! See you on the road!
-a
A.M.BRAU 