Team Bob 2012!

Thank you for supporting our Pan Ohio Team once again! We have TWO exciting ways that you can donate to our team AND get something in return!

Cruiser Bike Giveaway

We have a fabulous 1960 Schwinn Speedster Cruiser donated by Blazing Saddles Bike Shop. A value of over $500! Every $1 donation = 1 entry to win the bike! The more dollars you donate, the more chances you will have to be coasting along on this awesome bike for...the rest of summer! Check out this bike!

Market Garden Brewery Happy Hour

Wednesday, July 18th (5:30pm - 7:30pm) we will be hosting a Happy Hour in the Harbor Room at Market Garden Brewery.

The $20 entry free gets you:
-2 drink tickets
-10 Cruiser Bike Giveaway entry tickets,
-$10 donation!

RSVP on facebook here!

Address: 1947 WEST 25TH STREET CLEVELAND, OHIO 44113

Day 3 Pan Ohio Hope Ride 2010

Greetings from day three Pan Ohio Hope Ride. Today we rode from Columbus, OH to Springfield, OH a total of 62.91 miles in 4 hours and 8 minutes. Not a bad day's work. See our pictures at the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/gradypics/POHRDay3#

Day 2 Pan Ohio Hope Ride 2010

Greetings from Day 2 Pan Ohio Hope Ride! Wow what a day. 101+ miles, 6 hours and 45 minutes of ride time from College of Wooster in Wooster, OH to Otterbein College in Columbus, OH.

Up before the sun this morning we were in the dining hall at College of Wooster to get fueled up for a long day on the bike. Nobody was hungry, but we all knew that we better get some food so we could get through the day. Most people had the look on their face that said, "100 miles today? I just rode 77 miles yesterday. Can I do this?"

It turns out they can. Thanks to another beautiful day, temperatures in the high 70"s to low 80's, you couldn't ask for a better day at the end of July.

When we left College of Wooster this morning, the fog was thick up and down the first few hills and the air was cool. Within an hour the sun burned off the fog and we enjoyed sunny skies for the rest of the day.

The POHR staff and volunteers organized rest stops every 20 miles and provided a great picnic lunch in Danville, OH.

During today's ride, we enjoyed many miles on the paved paths that were former train routes. The paths are referred to as "Rails to Trails" and provide a great venue for the miles ridden.

We arrived at Otterbein this afternoon around 4:30 p.m. Very glad to be off the bike and happy to know that the hardest ride was now behind us.

That's the latest. Check out pictures if you are interested!

http://picasaweb.google.com/gradypics/POHRDay2#

Day 1 Pan Ohio Hope Ride 2010

Greetings from Day 1 Pan Ohio Hope Ride! It was a beautiful day for a bike ride; partly cloudy skies, temperatures in the high 70's and a northerly breeze.

Today's ride was from the Cleveland Hope Lodge to College of Wooster in Wooster, OH. The course was 77 miles through rolling hills in northern Ohio. Tom Sessions picked up the riders; Bill Wagner, Fran Kennedy, and Bob Sessions at 5:45 a.m. for the car ride to Case Western Reserve for the start of the ride.

Breakfast was provided, the music was playing, and people were excited for the ride. The 2010 ride has 350+ riders, up from 220+ in 2009.

Mary Ellen Grady and Andy Hartnett showed up at Case to wish the riders well. Both looked like they wanted to get on the bike and repeat the fun from last year. 2011 anybody?

At 7:30 a.m. the riders departed CWRU and followed a police escort all the way to Lakewood. Once in Lakewood, the riders rode on Clifton Blvd. and enjoyed yellow flashing lights and no stops.

In the middle of Lakewood we were cheered on by Sarah Sessions Reid, Elizabeth and Evan Langfeldt, and Kate, Mary and Jane Sessions. Thanks for your support!

The ride continued into the metro parks where we were greeted by the Grady, RF Sessions, TM Sessions, Gibel, and Colleen Aldinger clan! Thank you all for the support.

At 10:30'ish we arrived at the Coppertop gold course for an excellent lunch. We were all pretty hungry and didn't mind getting off the bike after 40 miles of riding.

Back on the bikes by 11:00'ish and riding south and east we enjoyed the rolling hills and the Ohio country view. Wow, who would guess so close to Cleveland you can be in the country so quickly.

We arrived at Wooster College at 1:45 p.m. Feeling tired and hot, we were glad to arrive safely. Great day so far.

More to follow on Day 2. Thank you for your support!

Bob

Fran

Bill

Pictures from today can be found at the following link

http://picasaweb.google.com/gradypics/POHRDay1#

POHR 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy Summer. It is hard to believe, but it is almost time for the 2010 Pan Ohio Hope Ride. As you might recall from last year, the Hope Ride is a four day, 328 mile charity bike ride from Cleveland to Cincinnati. Funds raised help support the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodges. The Hope Lodges provide free, supportive lodging for cancer patients and caregivers who have to travel for treatment.

The 2009 Pan Ohio Hope Ride was a great success. The ride proved harder than I anticipated, but I truly enjoyed the experience. As a group, TEAM BOB raised over $17,000! THANK YOU! For the 2010 event, we have another great group of riders and supporters looking to have fun, enjoy a great ride, and make a difference for those fighting cancer. TEAM BOB and I will do all the pedaling. But we need your support to make this incredible journey! Our ride starts on Thursday, July 29th and we will arrive in Cincinnati on Sunday, August 1st 2010.

In the spring, Kate and I took the kids to Chicago to meet our new nephew Billy. During our travels around the city, I saw a Livestrong t-shirt that said, “I now have two kinds of days…good days and great days.” Truly a statement I can appreciate. I still take a regular Rx cocktail to keep the cancer in remission, but I don’t let it run my life. I continue to burn the candle at both ends keeping up with all the joys and challenges that family and work throw my way.

Please consider making a donation through the website link below or by writing a check to American Cancer Society and mailing it to my attention. (Sessions, c/o Pan Ohio Hope Ride, 1632 St. Charles Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio 44107)

Thank you for your generosity. If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email.

TEAM BOB

Bob, Kate, Bobby, Mary, and Jane


Donation link to the TEAM BOB effort:
http://main.acsevents.org/goto/BobSessions

More about the Pan Ohio Hope Ride:
www.panohiohoperide.org

Follow our Blog during the 2010 POHR:
http://trainingbobs.blogspot.com/

Final Ride and Wrap Up

For the few of you still reading the blog, we had a great final day riding to the Hope Lodge Cincinnati. You can view the course here. And our gallery of photos here.

We left Springfield around 7:30am and were on the 'rails-to-trails' within 4 miles. Bob's wife Kate met us around mile 15 in the very hip town of Yellow Springs OH (home of Dave Chapelle). Over 70 miles of the 85 mile day were on dedicated bike paths - it was a great way to end the ride. John & Matthew changed a flat rear-tire in record time (9 minutes) and the pacelines continued. Lots of great rest stop volunteers and we made it to the group meeting point which was 3 miles from the Hope Lodge. When we arrived at 2:30pm, the majority of the riders were waiting for us and welcomed each new rider with a glass of champagne. We then had a mass-depart for the final 3 miles with police escort. It was a great way to end our journey.






TEAM BOB is thrilled to have raised over $18,500. The total event grossed close to $300,000! Congratulations to all and until next year...

Thank you all for your support.

Cheers,
Team Bob

Day 3 - Pan OH Hope Ride

Apologies first on the delayed response. For the four of you out there reading this blog, you are probably wondering what happened to our postings. I was updating the Blog for Day 3 at Wittenberg University but lost my wi-fi connection after a few minutes and it was bedtime. For the finish in Cincinnati, Internet access was not in the schedule and I'll explain further below. Most importantly, the promise of 'Guest Editors' from my fellow TEAM BOB riders never happened - next year I am only riding with bloggers!

We left Otterbein University in the Northeast quadrant of Columbus at 0730 Saturday morning. The day's ride was only 68 miles and clear skies were forecast. We were forewarned that Day 3 may appear easy on paper but could be the hardest day. The ride was nearly due West into the heart of Ohio cornfields with little natural shelter from the consistent westerly winds. Sunny and 75 degrees with headwinds of 5-18mph as forecasted. TEAM BOB rode as a group to our first rest stop (mile 18) and were greeted by a crazy field of 7' high corn statues. It's hard to explain so check out the photos here. The group went ahead while I had a minor adjustment to my bike from the friendly mechanics. John was my domestique and we made up the 20 minute gap back to the group in no time. We picked up Kelsey and the 3 of us cruised ahead at a nice 19-21mph pace. As you can see from our ride detail, we stayed off the course outside Plain City. With the help of a GPS enabled Blackberry phone, we corrected our ways to meet Bob, Anne, and Andy at the lunch break / stop #2. The group consensus was to pass on a big greasy brunch and to move on while the westerly winds were still modest.

John, Kelsey and I pacelined ahead while Bob, Anne & Andy did the same at a slightly slower pace. We hit rest stop #3 around mile 50 in no time, downed some fruit, danced to the latest Black Eyed Peas song, and topped off the water bottles. Andre & Christy joined us along with 20+ other riders for the home stretch to Wittenberg. Riders settled into their own pace and Kelsey, John, and I were soon riding along again. We stopped for a great photo op (corn fields - not surprising) and Christy & Andre caught us again. The five of us rode the last 8 miles into Springfield as a group.

We arrived at the finish line with less than 10 cyclists ahead of us at 1pm. Kelsey graduated from Wittenberg 10 years earlier so we headed out to a well-deserved lunch of burgers and beer at "The Station". With a few phone calls and two beers later, Hilary, Kate and the kids met us The Station. At about the same time, my rear tire deflated...25 minutes after we stopped riding. It was a good thing the family support wagons had arrived.

When we got back to campus Bob, Anne & Andy has just arrived along with our brother Tom and his family. The kids helped us check into the dorms while the spouses headed to the local Frank Lloyd Wright house. After a shower, tire change, and beer, Kelsey gave us a campus tour. Later that evening, we all went down to the dreadful town of Fairborn, Ohio where we had 3 rooms reserved at the Comfort Inn. The highlight of the town is the Wright Patterson Airforce Base which houses the official US Air Force Museum. And if you ever make it there, Pizza Hut is about the best option