I told you I would do one more post! All of a sudden I feel like I have so much more to say but I will try not to get carried away….but no promises. Lets start with a few questions from one of our favorite people–Mr. Tom Tierney–for those of you who don’t know Tom, he is a former Mr. America and Olympic Athlete and is currently one of the top 2 Hedge Fund Managers in the WORLD (Sorry Nathan is #1)!

TT–“Did you and Shred have any other issues requiring Dom to step in and take charge?”  Well actually we did TT! At mile 58 on day one we were just departing Shake Shack when we were attacked by the local street gang.  We assumed our greatest risk of attack would be in Wilmington (which is a really scary stretch)  so I think we let our guard down a bit and that is when it went down. Shred and I were minding our own business when out of the shadows a group of hooligans popped out and hurled throwing knives at us. I immediately took evasive action and avoided all contact but Shred was distracted by my singing and took the brunt of the attack. Luckily the knives didn’t hit Shred but they punctured his back tire and he had a NASTY blow out.  It would have been the end for most people but Shred was able to control his ride and power through until we reached safety–this is standard military protocol when you come under attack you push through the ambush to equalize the odds. Now many of you weren’t aware that there are Street Gangs in Newport Beach but there are–trust me. The gang used to reside in NYC but recently moved West in search of a more wholesome life style. Yes, I am talking about the Van Buren Boys:

It was pretty dang scary. But, just like before Shred and I remained calm and sent out the distress signal:

and within 18 seconds The Dom appeared out of nowhere and the situation was quickly resolved–Thanks The Dom!

TT: “What is the scoop with the Ryles Institute?” Well we are as busy as ever as we approach our 5th anniversary. We have picked up many new clients so some of the Senior Leadership had to take on additional roles which means more titles and new business cards. Here are just a few of the new positions we dolled out–

Nathan:  Consigliere. Amateur Tattoo Artist Semi Pro Race Driver.  Sunday Sermon Writer.  The Velvet Fog.

Shred: Expert Witness. Fixer. Pyrotechnician.  Motivational Architect.  Valedictorian.

Rylo: Minister of Propaganda. Party Planner/Think Tank CEO. Golden God.  Maestro.  The Chocolate Genius.

There are many more but those are classified.

TT: “What is the secret to making RR enjoyable for all?” Well we adhere to many rules and standards with the main one being–Staying in our lane and running our race. With the CAF there is absolutely a hurry up/speed element that isn’t common for Ryolrides.  Its not bad it is just different so we tried NOT to get too wrapped up in the rush mentality so we could enjoy the amazing scenery.

TT: “Do you have any words of wisdom”? Ok TT last question from you Mr. Good looking! Yes there are some phrases that I have been known to use often–some of which you may know–but I think they are worth repeating!

-Piss Poor Planning Produces Poor Performance OR

-Propper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

-Hard work brings good luck

-Think of me as a doctor

-Do you ever ignore what you don’t understand (yeah thats a good one a lesson formed as a question)

-Do you know why we are still friends?

-Keep whats important and KNOW who’s your friend.

-Its happening!

-If it’s worth doing it’s worth doing well.

-and here is one that literally changed how I looked at everything and it was given to me by one of the greatest people I have met–Butch Harmon (thanks Solly/Citi!): “If you aim at nothing Ryles you will hit it every time. ” I swear that one statement really impacted me and made me realize without goals how can you achieve them?  Solid.

Heck I think that is a lot to absorb so lets wrap this blog up for another year!  RR5 was much different from all the other RR’s which was a nice change of pace but fundraising isn’t something you can do every year so if we can manage the attendance RR6 will be just the team on our own again.  We really hope we can get Bobby out here again but the man has 11 kids and 14 grandkids (he looks so dang young!) so we will just have to wait and hope! A special thanks to The Dom/Maust and Nathan for helping us out along the way and hanging with us in SD–well done. And a super thanks to Shred who once again made the ENTIRE journey from Menlo Park to Moraga to LA to SD and BACK without one complaint. Thats pretty dang fantastic trust me and makes for a GREAT travel partner. Shred and I dont only get together once a year but rather see each other often during the year for monthly lunches in Oakland and multiple rides during the year–in fact, Shred and I started off 2018 the RIGHT way by climbing the beast–Mt Diablo–ON  New years Day!

For me, I will go back to my normal routine of riding/volunteering for The State Parks and Loaves and Fishes along with my many many other hobbies and continue to try and be a good person who does good things while always remembering my #1 Job is to be a GREAT Husband and Father which I have decided I really am because well I am the Rylo! Thanks again for your fundraising support! Here we have Shred and I cheering another successful ride but now I must go work on the calendar! How much do I ride? Just the right amount!

Until Next year so long from Team Rylo!

The End.

 

 

Howdy! Sorry for my absence we have been moving back into our house after 7 months in the rental so I am way behind but luckily I don’t have any sort of deadlines to meet and I am sure the news has kept you plenty busy since my last post!

The toughest post for me is always the last one.  Believe it or not a LOT of work goes into the planning and implementation of Rylorides. We have a group of riders from as far away as Jersey and Brooklyn and we start where none of us actually live so it takes quite a bit of time and effort to plan all of the various aspects of the trip. I am not complaining cause I obviously love the event but trying to boil all of it down for the final post always takes a bit longer than I anticipate so thanks for your patience!

I think I need to start with a heart felt THANK YOU to all of the people who supported me and Shred by donating to Team Rylo! We had a goal in mind when we began the process and I am happy to say we handily exceeded our goal and raised 25k for the CAF on their 25th anniversary no less!

Not only did the 25k exceed our goal , we also raised over 3 times the funding minimum which is FANTASTIC.  Fundraising is always an interesting process and my wife commented repeatedly on how amazing and generous our (Me/Shred) friends were in supporting our efforts on behalf of the CAF. I had a target list of donors–some of whom I haven’t seen in over 10 years–and I had nearly a 100% hit rate from them. That is really amazing.  AND, I must give a special shout out to all of my friends from my days at Solly/Citi who were beyond generous in supporting us on this journey.  This includes the people who hired me and who I worked with at the firm along with old clients! I am blessed to have worked with some fantastic people over the years (1993-2013!) and the ones I really liked/considered my friends not only gave they gave generously and almost immediately upon receiving my funding request so THANKS to all of you it really meant a lot to me and Shred. Although I want to give a special shout out to our Platinum and Gold level sponsors, I want everybody who gave at every level to know that you are solid and Shred and I will love you forever.  So, you have that going for you which is good.  For those of you who didn’t support us well you don’t get a calendar. I know that hurts but we do have standards at the Institute and we make sure they are applied to all.  Here are the final stats from the CAF of what was raised on the epic journey this year:

“What an incredible week, thank you! As we reflect on last week and your final ride into La Jolla, we hope you were moved by the transformational moments during your MDC. Thank you for an amazing week of riding, camaraderie, and support to the mission of the Challenged Athletes Foundation. You helped change lives, and as a peloton, you pulled together to alter the perception of people with physical challenges.

You were a part of the journey of 166 riders, including 19 challenged athletes, who cycled more than 620 miles and raised over $1.8 million dollars, a new MDC record! Your efforts and time made a difference!”

Now that is pretty dang amazing.  Not only did they raise a ton of money they did it in a way that really impacted a lot of people from the Challenged Athletes to the participants to all of the people who saw a group of 165 riders cruise down the coast.  Its a pretty impressive sight to see 165 riders coming down the road all wearing the exact same outfits with 10 support vehicles/challenged athletes and of course our inspirational leader–Bill Walton!  How much sunscreen did he apply?

I strongly encourage everybody to visit the CAF website to see more of what they are all about because the number of people they help/ support is shocking. When we all ride into La Jolla Shores with a giant police escort we are met by literally hundreds of people who are cheering for us and a LOT of them are missing limbs and WAY too many of them are kids. And, I mean small kids.  During one of our dinners we heard the story of Zach who had both of us his legs amputated when he was 18 months old (he is almost 5 now) due to a rare rare disease.  His mother (who is a high end nurse) told of the desperation they felt when they had to go through this horrific situation and she told us how the CAF literally saved them by providing not only a support system but also a myriad of resources that helped them realize that Zach could lead a great life. Zach was bouncing around the room on his artificial legs with the biggest smile you have ever seen and if u asked him he was just the same as everybody else in the room.  Yes we all shed a lot of tears during this talk with Bret and I pretty much setting the tone for those who wanted to weep openly and loudly–yes we made it clear its fine to blubber in public.  I could go on and on but the CAF helps THOUSANDS of people like Zach and provides him with a support system that he can have with him his whole wonderful life.  You can see Zach in the front row of this picture ( and me and Shred in the back!–just click to enlarge)

Thats some pretty powerful stuff so hats off to a wonderful charity that impacts thousands of people (they have raised over 76mm by the way) and thanks to all of you who supported us/them!

Well I really got into the CAF portion but I have more to say but think the post is going long SO I am going to do another post over the next few days that will be more like the way I normally end the blog! Many of you are wondering did you have a post ride gala? Did anybody famous come? Did you and Nathan get to hang out at Halloween? Have you ever danced with…….Well here are some hints for those questions and YES there is another fantastic blog post coming which will conclude Ryloride5–I guess I just don’t want it to end!

See you soon!