As we rolled into Medford today, Mrs. Previ got the first flat tire experienced by Team OMS. Mrs. Cipollone and I (but mostly Mrs. Cipollone) changed the tire and replaced the tube following the instructions Mrs. Scola read from the box the new tube came in. It's a dirty, greasy job... but somebody's got to do it! It looked like everything was fine, but only three miles down the road, the tire went flat again. We left Mrs. Previ and Mrs. Cutts on McKendimen Road and then went back to pick them and their bikes up in the car. Over root beer floats at Conte's, we did discuss the fact that if we had been out in Chatsworth or somewhere farther away, we would have had to deal with the situation differently-- like change the tire again and hopefully get it right this time! The culprit turned out to be a piece of glass that was wedged in the tire, which had punctured both the original tube and the replacement making it necessary for Mrs. Previ to replace not only the tube, but the tire as well. The bike shop took care of the repair!

--Ms. Russell

Well, we finally made it out to Matt's Pizza on the Mullica River in Green Bank. The real story, though, is how fast we got there. We averaged 15.5 mph for the first 22 miles, and ended up with 15.2 mph for a 29 mile ride. Some days it just seems easy! (or maybe pizza is just an especially good motivator?)

--Ms. Russell

24 miles today to Chatsworth and back at an average speed of 14.5 mph-- which is faster than usual for us. We really earned those root beers at Conte's!

While we were at Conte's, Mrs. Grosser, Mrs. Craig, and Mrs. Terry stopped by to check up on us. Mrs. Terry was holding a toad in the back seat of the car. We're not quite sure what that was all about!

--Ms. Russell

What can we learn from the 2006 Tour de France? Pennsylvania native, Floyd Landis, was leading the tour on Wednesday and looked like the sure winner. On Thursday, he "cracked" and lost 10 minutes. At the end of the day, he was in 11th place and 8 minutes behind the new leader-- a seemingly insurmountable time gap. Everyone knew his chance to win the tour was over. BUT the next day he blew everyone away and finished 5 minutes ahead of everyone, moving up to 3rd place, just 30 seconds behind the leader. The rest is history. Landis went to France to WIN the tour. He believed in himself even when his chances looked pretty slim. Never, never give up!

We covered some new territory on today's ride, which took us all the way out to Burlington County College for our longest ride so far: 39 miles. So we know we can make it at least half-way to Ocean City! Our OMS team will be riding as members of Team ELF in the MS 150. Team ELF is a big, well-known team, originally made up of teachers from Mt. Laurel schools. They are excited about adding our OMS members to the team, and today's ride was a combination of Team OMS and Team ELF riders. Kind of like the merging of the tribes on Survivor...

--Ms. Russell

Found on Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk blog. Doug is lucky enough to be biking in Ireland right now.

Two long rides this week (despite the heat and humidity)-- 29 miles on Tuesday 7/11 and 30 on Thursday 7/13. If we can make 30, we may as well go for 40... maybe next week?


Go Team OMS!

Every now and then amidst the camaraderie, and the candy bars, milkshakes, root beers, ice cream, and donuts, we get a reminder of what this ride is all about. Here is part of an email I received this week:

" I cannot tell you how pleased I was to read about TEAM OMS
in my Tiger Tracks. I have two boys who attend TES and it meant a lot
for them to see Tabernacle teachers actively participating in the fight
against MS. I am always touched by the generosity of strangers in this
fight. I have been battling against the disease for 13 years."

This is why we ride.

You can help Team OMS in the battle against OMS by sponsoring a rider, or making a tax-deductible pledge to the team. Checks should be made out to the National MS Society and sent to:
Team OMS
c/o Olson Middle School
132 New Rd.
Tabernacle, NJ 08088

Yeah okay, there's always food involved. But we did put in 18 miles or so before stopping at WaWa for a snack!

Mrs. Mundy is the record holder for most miles ridden in one day-- 47! This was a two-ride day: 20 miles in the morning and 27 after dinner. What a difference a tune-up and a whole lot more air in the tires makes! Way to go, Mrs. Mundy!

The team reached a new milestone-- the first 25+ mile ride-- 27 miles on July 7th. Remember when 14 or 15 miles seemed like a big deal?!