I made this video with a distinct message in mind. That we are all defiant as people.

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The TGF Crew in Texas! (Photo Taken: Oct 24, 2008)

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Hi Gang,

I rode for “Donnie Driscoll” who died Jan 12 2008 at the age of 49 . Please see this video that his loving sister Lynn put together….

I was very proud to ride in Donnie’s honor….

Let’s all remember why we did this ride, and let’s remember to keep on fighting !

I am very proud to be associated with each and every one of you !

Thank you !

- Peter McCormick

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I went to a funeral today. Her name was Francois, she was 60 years old, and she left four children. I didn’t know her but I was told that her family was requesting for donations in her honor to be made to the Tony Griffin Foundation. What makes this remarkable is that she died from diabetes.

At the funeral, I learned that she had twice shaved her head to raise money for our foundation. Last year she went door to door raising $5 at time until she surpassed $1000. She was a self-described introvert that would have never expected to knock on the doors of strangers. but she told her son she was inspired by those folks at the TGF and if they could bike to Texas, she could learn to knock on doors.

I also learned that she had lived a very difficult life, working two jobs most of her life to support 4 children as a single mom, yet her son told us in the eulogy, that he could never remember a time when she wasn’t volunteering or giving back to the community in some way.

I was touched and honored to learn that someone who had volunteered for dozens of causes and charities for over for over 50 years chose ours. Not only that, but she walked around bald the last 2 years for our cause. Simply amazing and I had to share.

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This video clip is a collage of all the clips from Breakfast Television which was taped on Friday Oct. 10th but played on Oct. 14th when we all left on the adventure.

Shaun

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The long and winding road. It’s a line from a song, The Beatles I think. It is also a good way to describe our journey from all the way up in Canada to here in the deep south of Texas.

The beginning. Approached by a Canadian businessman with the offer to organize a bike trip for the Tony Griffin Foundation in relay fashion over 4,300 kilometres. I accepted. On two conditions. One, that I could not commit to cycling the entire way and two that I would not be able to commit the necessary time to this adventure as I had to the highly successful 7,000 kilometre ride for the cure.

It had been a challenging year. Final exams took their toll, more than 15 flights for the TGF for numerous fundraising events and tidying up loose ends became a strain.

Then came the hurling season. The Waterford game went well then the season began to unravel. Angered by own performance on the field, I told myself to persevere. Then came the other face of the GAA. Receiving verbal abuse from Cork, Tipperary and Kilkenny supporters never bothered me. It’s par for the course. But to receive it from your own on the sidelines and pitch entrances of grounds around my own county was something new. To hear a grown man with a small boy at his side shouting “You should have stayed on your F***ing bike” after a club defeat would really make you wonder.

But stop right there. That’s all water under the bridge. It is not even fuel for a fire.
Just water under the bridge. I’m only interested in what’s up the road.

The so called “4,300 Kilometre Ride for Life” attracted an astonishing number of applicants. Over 60 people raised $5,000 each to come along. Split into nine teams we would cycle bikes through North America all the way down to Texas.

Ireland, as always, rallied behind the cause. We recruited six riders.

Amazing people in their own rights. Each of them, including myself, with their own fears and anxieties surrounding this venture. Can I raise the money? Will I be able for the cycle? What if I fail?

The same questions that face us all in life, whether we like to admit it or not. Breege Granville, formerly of Quilty in Clare, now of Ventry in Kerry. Breege Granville. Some woman. On a bike that was not suited to this grueling journey she pedaled every mile of the way. Breege Granville who brought something to the Irish team that you cannot purchase. Heart, determination and an experience of life that the rest of us lacked. She was a powerhouse.

Cathal Sexton, renamed The Bullock by the rest of us for his willingness to power off, eager to attack hills leaving the rest of us in his wake.

Keira-Eva Mooney from Kildare. Our team captain and leader in more ways than one. She kept us together as we grew sleep deprived and cranky the sorer we got.

Eddie Clarke. For a Tipp man he was alright and his D’Unbelieveables was a tonic on the longer days.
And finally, The Clare People’s and Kerry’s TJ Flynn. What can I say about TJ Flynn. Master navigator who saved us from getting lost many times. Strong cyclist, great storyteller and conversationalist and chief party organizer who would give Bob Dylan a run for his buck.

Unless you were here it would be hard to appreciate what these people did.  
Imagine this. You are thrust into an environment where you meet 50 new people. You have to sleep in close quarters with them, eat with them, cycle with them, navigate maps with them, communicate with them. And all when you’ve hat at most, five hours sleep, when you’re wet, have cycled for five hours and have a rash on your backside.

This was a team building experience on a whole other level. Did we all agree? Of course not. There were fallouts and shouting matches. But this is the thing. We needed one another to get to the finish line.
Beyond raising $300,00 we needed one another for support. United, we would achieve our goal, divided…..well, you know the rest.

In the midst of all this, there was a relegation battle to fly home for. I felt for Eire Og. There was a lot at stake. I felt for my close friend, Barry Nugent. But to see both men and women from Ballyea in tears with joy at the end, made 30 hours of flying in one weekend worth it.

When I rejoined the trip in Kentucky, having left in Bangor, Maine the team had been suffering. Wet conditions and a realization of what they were in had taken it’s toll. What were we to do? A few drinks later, and things were looking up. Yes, we were tiring but we were also realizing we were in a fight. Many members of our group had lost loved ones to cancer. One of our group had just recovered from the disease.
Can you imagine it? If it was you and you were told “you have cancer,” well now, you’re really in a fight. This realization reminded us we were doing something that mattered. It was important. It was bigger than hurling matches, Tour de France victories, awards, nights on the beer and anything else you want to add to that list.

Finally, we had arrived in Austin, Texas. The city was overran with 60 tired, hungry and thirsty cyclists representing the TGF. Our little army of almost 100 people (drivers, mechanics, cyclists and support staff) arrived safely at our journey’s end.

We joined thousands of others in a five kilometer run and the LiveStrong Challenge to celebrate the fight against cancer, the real and unrelenting fight to make this disease a thing of the past. A very personal fight for the thousands of people in Austin, Texas.

For, believe me, when you see a little girl and it could be your little girl without her hair from chemotherapy walking hand in hand with her father, then the fight becomes very personal.
And so we are done. As a group form Ireland we raised 30,000 euro. This was due to people like Alan Logue of Lahinch, HerbaLife, Darren Hayes Motors, Bulmers and many others. It might not be a massive amount, but it’s enough to make a real difference.

So far as a foundation we have raised over 650,000 euro, close to $1,000,000 in two years.
So now, where do we go from here? Who knows?

My enthusiasm had started to tire, due to the workload and then last night I heard Lance Armstrong speak with real honesty about the fear of being told “you have cancer” and realized all over again why a small idea called the Tony Griffin Foundation was born.

Our work may be done for now, but who knows what’s up ahead, around the next bend in the road.
As always, my sincere thanks to the people of Clare, The Clare People, the people of Kerry and The Kingdom newspaper…and even your man that told me I should have stayed on the bleeping bike. 

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Hey Everyone,

I thought I would post this here just in case some of you didn’t see it.  It is a video clip from CTV News in the evening.  

Shaun

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Hi folks,

As we all settle back into our lives, working, schooling or parenting. It easy to now look back and appreciate what we accomplished together. It’s hard though to look back and realize what we just did.

Ironically, I personally miss being on my bike at 6:30am riding in the freezing cold, through the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont. I miss everyone dearly already, and I even miss our messy and stinky van we travelled in. At some points durring the trip, it almost looked like someone had a brainstorm and it landed on the floor of the van. I’ve never seen that much garbage and misc clothing in my life. I’m almost positive that when we arrived in Austin and cleaned the damn thing out, that an armadillio fell out of the side door with a PowerBar and Donuts stuck to it’s arse.

Regardless, I just wanted to say how proud I am of everyone! I’m really proud of my teamates as well. I felt very connected to each person on our team. We all pulled together and everyone helped each other, as it should be. I’ve been getting a lot of feedback from co-workers, friends, and family members on how awesome it was we did this.

In fact, a woman that I hadn’t seen in years, actually personally came up to me and thanked us for what we accomplished. Her dad was diagnosed last year with Cancer. She said that treatments and resources are getting better these days….and she said it’s directly because of what folks like, that do these types of things.

That personally resonates with me, and I realize now how important it is for all of us to do our part to help others. No matter how painful, suffering or stressfull we may have thought this TGF trip to Austin was. It was completely worth it!

I also wanted to mention that it was awesome to have Shaun do the video and put it in the blog for us. I’ve heard so many comments from people that I know, that tracked our jouney, to say that without the video, the blog wouldn’t have been as impactive as it was. The video really put you in there and made people feel as though they were part of the ride itself. There is no better way to express feelings and emotions on this trip than to show daily videos of riders and how they are progressing.

Big thank you to Shaun for taking the time to do this. Also I look forward to seeing the work done by Dan and Ryan when they compelete Steve’s Movie. Dan and Ryan took some incredible footage and I have no doubt these two will produce something that will blow people away.

Finally, I’d like to thank Tony because he is so inspiring and I really enjoyed riding with him when I could. He’s a very interesting and great guy.

Also, my buddy Toddy, whom I’ve known since grade 10. Did you know we used to call Toddy “Doogie” in highschool? (Doogie Houser) I want to thank Todd once again for a very inspiring year and if it wasn’t for him….I never would have pushed myself to do this ride at all.

Anyway, I’m was just a participant along for the ride. But when I hear these good things, I feel it necessary to share with everyone.

Cheers and here is to next years TGF. I can hardly wait!

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