Team Stamford is training hard!

Mark Yawman and Carola Paganini of the Stamford CT. are training hard.  They are going to be hard to keep up with!

And now a word from the Founder- Fred Isaak

Three years and still riding!  Actually four if you include the year where Kevin Coleman and I set out for San Diego from San Francisco and dreamed up the concept of the Chasing Daylight Tour.  By the end of this year’s ride I will have cycled over 2600 miles – that’s LA to NY!  Combining all the riders over the years, as a team we have cycled over 25,000 miles – that would take us around the globe with a 100 miles to spare!  (And that’s doesn’t even include the one day rides that take place in Denver, Hartford, and the SF Bay Area.) That all sounds like a lot of effort and hard work, and it is, but I (we) love to do it.  I enjoy the long days on the road, the sights this country has to offer and the people you meet along the way, as well as sharing that experience with fellow KPMG’ers.  It also gives me the opportunity to give back to the community.  For me, this is the most satisfying but hardest part of the Chasing Daylight Tour.  Getting out there and asking for donations is one of the last things I like to do with my time – not my idea of fun.  Since each rider pays for their own flight, food and accommodations it would have been easiest to just organize an annual bike ride.  But even when the ride was only an idea bantered around by two sun beaten (and perhaps delirious) cyclists on their way to San Diego the opportunity to give back to our community as well as honor the memory of Gene O’Kelly had to become the cornerstone for the ride.  So, here I am once again asking each of you to reach deep into your pockets to support the American Cancer Society, the memory of Gene O’Kelly and the 24 KPMG cyclists that make up the Chasing

Team Bio for Mark Pennington

I’m originally from London office and am coming towards the end of a 3 year rotation to New York.  I’m incredibly excited about taking part in this year’s Chasing Daylight Tour as it gives me the opportunity to raise money for a great cause, see some new areas of the US and inspire me to achieve a personal goal of completing the ride.  Most of my training takes place in central park or on my trainer in my apartment, with longer rides on the weekends when I can squeeze them into my busy work schedule.   This will be my first time riding on the tour, or indeed any ride of such a long distance, and I’m really looking forward to the challenge and am sure all the pain will be worth it!

The CDT will start in less then three weeks. Its going to be a much bigger event this year with 24 riders from across the US and 2 support personnel. In the first few posts of this ride log we though it would be good to introduce the team members that are participating. In this post we are highlighting Carola Paganini, Robert Shutt, Gordon Newman, Mark Yawman, Dan DeYoung and Kevin Coleman.

Carola Paganini, Tax Senior Associate-Samford

I am originally from Argentina and have been in Stamford, CT since 2005. I work for KPMG where I assist with the US tax compliance and advisory for expatriates. My interests include: dancing, mountain biking, road biking, hiking, snowboarding, tennis, traveling, exploring new places, wine tasting, eating ice-cream, yoga and kayaking. This year I am transitioning from mountain biking to road biking and so far, it has been a great experience. My training regimen includes going to the gym, riding over 100 miles per week, indoor spinning classes, yoga and swimming combined with good nutrition. Participating in the “Chasing Daylight” bike tour will be a great new experience that will allow me to see parts of the US I have never seen, as well as, Vancouver, Canada; meet other people from KPMG, and push myself to achieve a difficult personal goal that most people would never even attempt, all while supporting the American Cancer Society cause

Robb Shutt, Audit Senior Manager-New York

Originally from our Kansas City office audit practice. Now on rotation in New York City DPP having had a 2-year layover in-between in our Sydney Australia office. I'm a huge fan of adventure and travel. I've done a number of marathons and decided it was time to try another discipline and figure out why all those people are spinning around in those spandex pants. Although my training has not been the best due to all my work travel, I've started to really enjoy this biking thing. And the spandex pants are not so bad after all. I got involved in the Chasing Daylights ride not only because it is a great adventure bike ride, but because it is for a very important cause that really hits home to me. I lost a friend this past year to brain cancer. My mom is a breast cancer survivor. One of my best friends had surgery last year to remove thyroid cancer. I have a friend my age going through chemotherapy in Houston for rectal cancer. So it seems like this cancer disease is everywhere and I’m sure many others could list all the love ones that have been affected by it. This event allows me to raise money for the American Cancer Society to help people deal with their disease and hopefully help fund research to eliminate it. I read Gene O’Kelly’s book this year and it really motivated me to chase daylight on this bike ride. I can't wait to see the Pacific Northwest by bike. I hear it is beautiful country. Looking forward to getting amongst it!!!!

Gordon Newman, Advisory Senior Associate-San Francisco

In my sophomore year with the ride, I am even more excited this year! To see the ride triple in size from last year is amazing and the enthusiasm with the riders (as well as supporters) is very motivating. Even though I’ve been fortunate to not have anyone in my immediate family battle Cancer, I lost a friend in my senior year of college to an aggressive form of stomach cancer just weeks before he was supposed to graduate. Both Jason and Gene’s memory will serve as more than enough motivation to keep the pedals cranking up the climbs. Coming from a triathlon and hockey background, cycling has been an important part of my exercise routine for as long as I can remember. Since moving to Marin County early in the ‘08, I have no shortage of great weekend riding at my disposal. Lately, I’ve gained a bit of a reputation as being a mountain goat after attempting (and completing) a five mountain pass ride in Northern California which covered 129 miles and 15,000 feet of climbing in one day.

Mark Yawman, IES Associate-Stamford

Let me start off enlightening everyone that I am 24 years old living in Stamford, CT and am brand new to the sport of cycling. My desire to ride long distances on a regular basis has been the most important training method for me to fully prepare myself for this lengthy event. I anticipate this tour through the Pacific Northwest will test my strength of character, provide me with some amazing scenery, give me the opportunity to hang out and enjoy some cold beers with my fellow colleagues coming from all over the US, and most of all allow me to raise funds for the American Cancer Society in order to make progress in the fight against cancer.

Dan DeYoung, Audit Partner-Seattle

I’m excited, and candidly a bit nervous, about riding for eight days on the Chasing Daylight Tour. One day this past May, I pulled my trusty old road bike down out of the rafters of my garage (for the first time in more than ten years) pumped up the tires and rode it a few miles down the hill to watch my son’s soccer practice. I enjoyed the ride, until the chain derailed on the hill going home. So I considered whether to fix up the bike I’d had since I was 17, and finally decided to buy a new one. After receiving much advice on new bikes, supplemented by a little of my own research, I bought a new bike on June 1. On June 2, I received the e-mail announcing the Chasing Daylight Tour. I signed up that same day, because I like the American Cancer Society mission, the comraderie, the adventure, and because it seemed appropriate in light of the message Gene left us in his book. Since then, I’ve been training at every opportunity and think I’m ready. I think that I’ll be fine with leg and lung strength, since I play soccer fairly regularly, but the seat and body position is more of a challenge. I expect the ride will be particularly challenging for me in light of my limited experience on a bike, but it will give me a lot of time to reflect on what is really important to me, while at the same time raising a meaningful amount of contributions to the American Cancer Society.

Kevin Coleman, Advisory Partner-San Francisco

I am really excited about this years Chasing Daylight Tour because we are reaching critical mass with 24 riders this year. Also, we will be touring through Washington and Oregon which has some great scenery to ride through. I have been riding long distance rides for about 6 years now and while I am not the fastest rider, I can ride a long time. I am involved in the Chasing Daylight tour because it’s a great event that supports an important cause in honor of a great partner, Gene O’Kelly. Not a lot of people know that the reason I ended up in IT Advisory is because of Gene O’Kelly. My training regimen for the ride consists of a structured training program on indoor spin bikes and rowers along with random rides on the weekend. The coach that instructs the class places a heavy emphasis on the meditative aspects of endurance training and I am looking forward to applying this to the CDT.