ROCK CF City to City Ride
This year Rock CF Foundation introduced a new event that raised $9,000 and plenty awareness about Cystic Fibrosis. In the summer of 2007 Emily and her friend Kevin rode their bikes from Detroit to Chicago following US-12/Michigan Avenue the entire way. Below is the story of the ride in Emiy’s own words. Also a camera followed the riders the whole time and a Rock CF documentary is in the works.
Though the event is now over, you can still make donations to the Rock CF Foundation by visiting our DONATIONS page. CITY TO CITY 08 IS IN THE WORKS. STAY TUNED FOR UPCOMING INFORMATION ABOUT RIDING!
Introduction from Emily’s blogs:

(13 days before the ride)
“City to City Ride 07″ involves me riding my bike from Detroit to Chicago! Kevin, co-owner of Pure Detroit Brand Apparel, and I decided we are going to do this trek because he has family history with CF and is really dedicated to the fight against CF. Since I am a firm believer in exercise as a big part of keeping me healthy, the Rock CF Foundation and Pure Detroit are teaming up for this crazy ride.

We are planning to leave on July 28th from Campus Martius in Detroit. We will follow Michigan Avenue the whole way into Chicago with stops in Clinton, Coldwater, Union, New Buffalo, Whiting (IN) and then into Chicago. We are planning to ride anywhere from 50-65 miles a day and about 20 miles on the last day. There is a great possibility that a huge company will sponsor the ride giving us some national attention. The coolest thing is that Lollapalooza (the huge music festival) is happening in Grant Park the weekend we are planning to get to Chi-town and if this sponsorship comes through we will ride into Lollapalooza giving us the chance to reach thousands of people and spread awareness about Cystic Fibrosis. This is a perfect match for the Rock CF Foundation since our main way to reach people is through music and entertainment.
The ride will be the two of us on bikes with my brother driving our relief car..A film crew is in the works to make a documentary. We will be taking donations (just like a walk) and we are currently seeking sponsorships.

Kevin and I have been training our booties off and we are ready for the challenge. Our biggest enemy will be the heat, so we are hoping that the weather will cooperate for us and we’ll be riding in the coolest days of summer.
I found the perfect guy to make the documentary. He will be taping along the way and getting everything (bad and good) on tape. He has a great vision for this and I am expecting a great film to come out of this ride.
Hotel sponsors are still needed, so if you would like to help us out please email me emily@letsrockcf.org. Hotels are necessary because all of my medicine and treatments either need refrigeration or power.
(5 days before the ride)
This is it! We are 5 days from hopping on our bikes, leaving Detroit and not turning back until Chicago. The weather looks like it will cooperate for us and I am constantly hoping for no 95+ degree days.
My bags are all packed, my bike is tuned up, the grocery shopping is done and my spandex bike shorts are ready…don’t expect to see too much of those though!! Oh and I learned how to change a flat, fix a change and true my spokes last night too.
**Please join me and Kevin Saturday (July 28) morning from 9am to 11am for a kick off party at Campus Martius Park in Downtown Detroit. We are planning to leave at 11am so this gives us some time to mingle and squeeze last minute donations out of people!! We are working to get bagels and coffee for people, so come hungry.
You can follow our ride right here everyday and see how we are doing. I will be blogging on here each night from the hotel rooms keeping everyone in tune with what’s going on on the road and off the road. Feel free to send emails or messages!!
Rock CF,
Emily

DAY ONE
Orange Julius..in Saline!!
Wowza we are already in Saline, MI…41 miles..we left Campus Martius at 11am and we are now 10 miles out from Clinton, our first stop.
We stopped for lunch 27 miles out…cruised through Ypsi and Ann Arbor and now we are taking it easy in a sweet Cafe in Saline drinking Orange Julius’..
I thought I would blog here because I’m sure Clinton isn’t the Wi-Fi capitol of the world.
I feel great..it sure is hot and you should see the salt crystals on my arms haha amazing!
In Wayne Heather and Scott drove by us and that really gave us a boost..then in Ann arbor my brothers friends drove by us and gave us another boost. Tonight Carrie (jay’s wife) and her parents are meeting us for dinner in Clinton. Hopefully we get a good nights rest..Coldwater is 60+ miles tomorrow!
Thanks to everyone who showed up in Campus Martius..it was amazing and almost overwhelming..Luckily I was wearing my aviators because I did have some tears under there. Thanks, it means a lot.
Well I’m gonna run..finish my drink and hit Michigan Avenue.
Rock CF!! Keep on rockin’ till we find a cure.
XO,
Em

DAY TWO
Whew we made it!! I am sitting in the Comfort Inn in Coldwater. So far we are 112 miles into our trip. Today was definitely a challenge! Irish Hills, I have renamed them Irish Hells. For real? Those hills are rough and I definitely got my share of working out today. I would say a big portion of the 59 miles today were up hill..kicked my butt.
Last night- Clinton was an A+ in my book. The Inn was great, our dinners were really good (I had steak, shrimp and sweet potatoes)..Carrie’s was a little disappointing though, Lame…My room was very cool..maybe haunted? We topped it all off with a little DQ. 2:30am we were was awaken by sirens..loud sirens. We were right across the street from the fire station and apparently training at 2:30am was a great idea..not on my watch!
We ate breakfast at the Clinton Cafe..Mike our camera guy was dropped off by his girlfriend and we all chilled for a bit while Jay made a CITY TO CITY 07 “HONK” poster for the back of the truck. The waitresses were great and even helped us color the sign! We had over 100 nice honks since the sign was added.
On our way out of Clinton, a man in a truck (Stan) who heard about the ride said he bought us 3 bushels of peaches 5 miles up the road at the produce stand. It was sooo nice. We reached the stand and for sure there were fresh peaches waiting for us!! We also made $7 in donations from some other customers there.
The Bearclaw Coffee Company in Clinton heard about the ride too and offered us free coffees on our way out..So when we stopped in they were ready for us and even packed us all lunches!! OH and Stan was there waiting for us too haha. About 10 miles out from there I saw Stan again, on the side of the road cheering us on and taking pics as we went by. Stan is my favorite and Clinton is full of great people, that’s for sure.
We stopped in Jonesville(I know thats right) for a rest…I was starting to feel pretty dehydrated so we stopped in a great ice cream/coffee house and chilled there for over an hour. I caught a bit of shut eye, drank some Gatorade and after that my headache was gone.
17 miles to Coldwater from Jonesville…about 5-10 miles out there was a really cute little kid selling Kool Aid for 25 cents a glass..we had to stop. We all got a glass of Cherry greatness and shot the breeze with this 10 year old. She made a cool $10 off us and when I asked her what she was going to buy she responded “umm my brothers birthday is coming up..something for him.” Love it!! Kids are so cool, she made my day.
We arrived into Coldwater at like 6:19pm to our scheduled hotel..after being approached by a man in a “Bite Me” tee shirt and no other cars in the parking lot we decided that staying there could be not such a good idea. So we went to the Comfort Inn back some miles and boy was this a nice decision!! Great hotel and it has an awesome breakfast spread..Score!
Jay and Carrie had to go home so my dad dropped my mom off here at the hotel so she and Jay could switch driving positions for the rest of the trip. I want to thank Jay and Carrie for the support..you helped more than you know..you too Haley..now it’s Mom’s turn to party with us. See you in Chicago Daddy!
I’m feeling great..my lungs are awesome, my legs are rockin’..my booty is uhh ok? hahaha
Time to catch some shut eye..Union, MI coming right up!
Rock CF
XXXXOO
Em

DAY THREE
Hey guys!! After a really hot and hilly day we hit New Buffalo.
I wasn’t able to blog Day 3 so I will do two at once.
Day 3 we left Coldwater and made our way to Union. It was a hot one yesterday too but we had some great roads and not too many hills..that was a relief! We stopped for lunch in Sturgis and I had some french fries, I haven’t truly ordered fries in over 6 months so my stomach was surely grumbling the whole day. ..It was pretty darn good though! About 12 miles outside of Union we stopped at a cool park in White Pigeon (crazy name) and relaxed..that was until I spotted 4 middle school kids heading to the basketball courts. I had to get in our their game and show them how to really play ball. So I reffed their game for a second, grabbed them some waters then they invited me back for a friendly game of HORSE which I renamed F*U*C*F..their parents will love to hear that haha. Well needless to say I ended up taking 2nd out of 4..not too bad eh? I haven’t played basketball since 8th grade but I have a sweet spot…Jacob (one of the dudes) found me on MySpace and he’s still crying because I beat him hahaha. Sorry Jacob and Mark..good game tall guy, you win!
We finally made it to the Union House B&B..wow this place was the perfect!! Great house, Barb and Judy were the best. They are sisters that own the place and keep this place looking great. First sign of goodness was when we pulled into the driveway; they had the energy efficient light bulbs in every outside light. I love that!! Any who, we slept well and were pleasantly surprised with a perfect homemade breakfast..I mean it was really really tasty.

DAY FOUR
Day 4 (Tuesday) 48 miles to New Buffalo
We left Union this morning and headed straight to Niles. Today was killer hot so we took our time and needed that long rest in Niles at the Riverfront Cafe. I had tomato bisque soup with a ceaser salad and that hit the spot..not too heavy but just enough energy for me.
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We took our time the rest of the way to New Buffalo. I stopped to do some special filming in a corn field..my friends will appreciate the footage once they see it. All I’m saying is Corn fields+Blonde Hair+ Blue Eyes…get it??
We rolled into the Roadway Inn today at about 5pm and I literally changed right into my bathing suit and headed to the beach for a dip. The water was really refreshing and the beach was very fun. I also realized that we made it coast to coast, Michigan style. Shawn (Kevin’s wife) and their son Aidan met us out here and I know Kevin is really excited to see them both. I heard “Emmie” 100 times already! We all went out for Mexican then I hit up Culvers Ice Cream for a vanilla cone and now it’s time for bed!! You all need to experience this ice cream though..it is unbelievable..something to write home about.
Tomorrow is a pretty short day into Portage, IN. We are going to do an evening ride tomorrow because it is supposed to be 97 degrees..plus I want to get out to that beach and fill in my shirt, short, sock and glove tan hahaha. It is awful.
Hope you all are well…we are rockin’ CF Coast to Coast.
XXXXOOO
Em

DAY FIVE
Days 5..already..it was breeze!
Good suggestions from everyone…we left New Buffalo,MI at 4pm EST to let the heat simmer down a little bit. Let me tell you that was the best decision of my life I think.
We spent the morning in New Buffalo bumming around..I had the best strawberry milkshake though and I think I deserved that one! We had a light lunch, ate some fresh popcorn then it was time to hit the road and head to Portage, IN.
Boy did Kevin and I fly though..We averaged 18-20mph and the ride took like 2 hours and 1 minute haha. The roads were great, easy and we got more honks then we have had the whole time!! Indiana rules! Nothing really exciting happened though..we did pass a sweet nuclear energy cooling plant and some really nice shade to help cool us off.
I am pretty darn hungry and I’m ready to eat so that’s what we are going to do. Rest up tonight then get up and head into a hot hot day in Chicago.
We are planning to leave Portage and 9am and should be into Grant Park between 12 and 1pm. If you are in the area come on out..my dad is scoping out the area though because Lollapalooza is going on and it may be hard to find a good area to meet.
Rock CF!!! One more day and we have accomplished our goal. Oh and I’m feeling GREAT..some awesome green stuff I’m coughing up too.
Rock CF,
XXOO
EM
Oh and I may throw on a gas mask through Gary, IN tomorrow haha!

DAY SIX
After a day of fun riding through Gary Indiana and some sweet spots in Illinois we made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 282 miles in total (Kevin’s meter says 277..we’ll go with mine), 6 days and tons of hard work and a lot of swear words hah.
We rode into Grant Park at 1:45 under the Lollapalooza sign and we were greeted by Mom, Dad, Shawn, Aidan..with Mike filming. It was such a rush riding up Michigan ave to the park! It felt like all of the sweat finally paid off, oh and I wanted to just get off of the darn bike asap. We had a champaign toast, had some interesting gawkers and took tons of pics and video. We went straight to a cafe and ordered a Chicago style dog..I must say it is quite great tasting, plus you get a tons of Veggies on there..to compare though would be tough and I can’t turn my back on the Detroit Coney Dog. I call it a tie. After that snack we I was able to clean up and Glenn and Jac’s and we headed out to dinner with a big crew to Moonshine..Great choice and I was completely satisfied with that..plus I had a beer! I feel like I broke my training regimen, Heck it was free!! I am really exhausted and ready for bed now. Tomorrow I catch a flight back to Detroit and hopefully I can rest it out.

I’ve got to thank Kevin, my mom, my dad, Jason, Carrie, Adam, Marcy, Mike (film maker),Shawn, Aidan, Becca, Steph, Amanda, Katie, Charmain, Jac and Glenn and all of my friends (old and new) and family! This wouldn’t have happened without all of your help and support. I also want to give a huge shout out to www.cysticfibrosis.com..all of the patients, family friends and administrators there kept the fire under my feet and you are a huge part of me!
Until next year’s ride, (not really…there are a ton of Rock CF Events in the works)
Rock CF,
Em