Little Chapel on the River

Please join me once again to support Kelly Guinan Preusser and her husband Ed Preusser as they hop on bicycles to ride from Boston to New York City in the Sept. 28th to 30th "Braking the Cycle" in honor of Kelly's late father, John Guinan . It's a tough fundraising environment out there, and any amount will go a long way to help them reach their goal of $3500 per rider. Here's the link to donate . I won't be able to ride with them this year, but encourage anyone who has supported me in the past to please consider supporting Ed and Kelly. It's not easy to commit to this ride year after year - and this year's proceeds will go to support Housing Works , a community for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Thanks to everyone who continues to honor John with their gifts and support.

Please join me in supporting Kelly Guinan Preusser and her husband Ed Preusser as they make their way on bicycles from Boston to New York on Sept. 16-18 as part of "Braking the Cycle" in honor of Kelly's late father, John Guinan. Any $$ amount will help them raise their ambitious goal. Time is running short! Here is the link to donate. Many of you have supported this endeavor in the past by donating to me, or to other members of Team Guinan . I cannot ride this year, but hope that everyone who can give, will put their support toward Ed & Kelly's goal. This ride was extremely important to John and to his wife Mary Jane. Thanks to all who have and continue to honor John with their generous gifts.

Welcome Home Team Guinan ! ... Here are photos of this year's two fearless riders: Ed Preusser and Christine Ashburn . They braved cold and rain and what was universally agreed to be the HARDEST hill in the history of Braking the Cycle . With them on the ride was Team Guinan Captain, Kelly Guinan Preusse r , who couldn't saddle up this year because she and Ed are expecting a Baby Preusser in coming months. Her mom Mary Jane Guinan was there helping and cheering as well. In total, all the riders raised more than $273,000. Really fantastic in a tough economy so THANK YOU to all who generously donated. It means more than ever this year. You are champs! And John Guinan would have been so proud. Photos by Kelly Guinan Preusser. All rights reserved. If you are on Facebook and friends with Kelly, you can see more of her photographs from the ride here .

Local "tile guy," pro photographer and graphic designer Russ Cusick has graciously offered to give away free one of these Guinan's-inspired trivets to anyone making a final week $50 or larger donation to Team Guinan -- led by Kelly Guinan -- for Braking the Cycle. Russ designed the trivets and they were sold at the store during its final weeks of operation. After you've made your donation, simply forward your donation confirmation email to Russ at rvc845@yahoo.com along with your mailing address and your trivet will be on the way. A ND MOST IMPORTANT -- Here's the link to donate . Time is short. They ride next week. Please be generous and thank you to Russ for his generosity. If you need any more inspiration to donate, check out the short video tribute Russ put together of Team Guinan and John below.

Time, and the cold weather, is catching up with Team Guinan . The latter isn't so bad -- the former is harder because they still need your donations to ride. It's the Boston to New York leg, and if you've never ridden a bike from Boston to New York, think about how long it feels in a car. Now imagine it on a bike. (That's Kelly Guinan in 2007 pictured.) They really need your financial support to ride because any money they don't raise, they are responsible for paying themselves. And $3500 per person is not small change. So, please give a little, give a lot. Just give! PLEASE DONATE ONLINE HERE.

Team Guinan will ride again this year for Braking the Cycle with a smaller, devoted crew who needs your support and donations more than ever. Riders include: Kelly Guinan Preusser , Ed Preusser , Christine Ashburn and Dean Bradshaw . Kelly's Mom, Mary Jane , is likely to be part of the crew. They ride/crew in honor of the late John Guinan , a long-time rider who has been dubbed honorary Rider #1 for Braking the Cycle, and his late brother-in-lawn, Tom Caruso . The ride goes from Boston to New York this time -- a tough terrain. They leave on September 11th and ride into New York City on September 13th. Those of us former riders who can't make the ride this year hope everyone who supported us individually will send donations to Team Guinan. CLICK HERE to donate online to Team Guinan. More updates on the team and their training progress to come here on the blog.

Thank you all for your emails asking for a report on Team Guinan . We are all back safe and relatively sound, except for a few knocked up knees. It was a rain-soaked 3 days coming from Gettysburg to NYC -- a pretty far cry from last year and our sun-filled 275-mile Braking the Cycle ride. Everyone rode long and hard, despite the soggy conditions, and we were supported by Quinn Chastant in our Team Guinan sweep van. This photo was taken at the end of Day One, after a 92-mile stretch. We are sporting mustaches in honor of John Guinan -- they were given to us courtesy of Mary Ellen Yannitelli . That night, BlackWatch Productions played an emotional video tribute to John after dinner. BlackWatch's Monica Anderson and John Anderson also provided arm bands with John's photo for every rider. The leaders of Braking the Cycle designated John as the honorary Rider Number 1. From left to right are Team Guinan members: Chris Robinson, Dean Bradshaw, Kelly Guinan Preusser, Ed Preusser,...

View Larger Map Tomorrow morning at 5:30 a.m., Team Guinan will gather near the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pa. to mount our bikes and ride 275 miles to Manhattan. Forecasts say it will be raining with thunderstorms much of the three-day ride, but as they say, we'll ride on... until they won't let us. We're part of a larger group -- Braking the Cycle -- but the seven of us are riding for someone you all loved well: John Guinan who did this ride on behalf of his wife, Mary Jane , and brother-in-law Tommy . And we're riding with John's daughter, our team leader, Kelly Guinan Preusser . Other members include: Ed Preusser, Dean Bradshaw, Christine Ashburn, Chris Robinson, Lisa Bernhard and me. This map above shows you our terrain. (It's mostly uphill. Seriously. Or at least it feels that way.) We owe many of you in this community and in our larger out-of-Garrison community a great deal of thanks for all you did to help us raise funds; we each needed $3500 to r...

While Team Guinan is away on our 275-mile bike ride this weekend, alumni from around the country will gather to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Garrison Union Free School . Anita Prentice writes to say there will be people returning to Garrison for the festivities from California, Minnesota, and Colorado, as well as all over the East Coast. Organizers of the event have put together a pretty slick social networking Web site here on Ning that links alumni and hosts videos, photos, links to local businesses and community institutions as well as details about this weekend's events. Given the weather report, I expect we'll all be pedaling in the rain wishing we were there for Jeff's Dain's grilling Saturday night.

Peter Collins of New Jersey is the winner of 4 tickets to see the Giants play the Patriots tomorrow night. His winning bid of $200 will go to Team Guinan . Many thanks to Peter -- and especially to Ed Ashton who donated these tickets for the 2nd year in a row to benefit our team and Braking the Cycle . Peter writes: "...We should probably leave out that I am a rabid-season-ticket-holding Pats fan who is married to a rabid won't-go-to-a-game-anymore-because-she-gets-too-stressed-out Giants fan and that we are trying to determine where the kids' alliances now lay football-wise...." Go Giants! (Sorry Peter)

UPDATE II: Bids will now close midnight Tuesday to give time to ship tickets. UPDATE: The highest bid is now at $200. Thanks to all! Here's your chance to support Team Guinan on our 2008 Ride in honor of John Guinan AND WIN 4 TICKETS TO SEE THE GIANTS PLAY THE PATRIOTS NEXT WEEK. Bidding starts at $150; that's a steal. It's a package valued at $390 -- thanks to the generosity of Ed Ashton -- and the game is between the teams that squared off in the last Super Bowl . Here are game details: NY Giants vs. Patriots August 28th 7 p.m. Game played in New York @ Giants Stadium Click Here to View the Actual Tickets and Seats. To place your bid, please email it to: email@gwendolynbounds.com. I'll let you know where bids stand at that point and you can raise if you like. New deadline for bids is midnight, Tuesday, August 26th. [changed from Wed.] Please be generous -- we're only a month away from the ride. THANK YOU!!!!

The Poughkeepsie Journal published this nice tribute to John Guinan last week by Barbara Nackman . She talks a lot about his commitment to Braking the Cycle (aka, "The Ride") that he participated in every year -- and which his daughter Kelly now does in his stead with a group of us from Guinan's. We're approaching the three-month mark for the ride. All the rain has kept a lot of Team Guinan off the road, but training has to begin in earnest soon. (Or we'll all be sorry.) We're also entering into serious fund-raising mode. Please consider making a donation to help us meet our $50,000 goal at the Team Guinan link . It's a large amount in an economy that's got everyone watching their dollars. But it's for a very important cause that meant a lot to a man who meant so much to us. We're very appreciative of your help. Photo by Kelly Guinan titled "I am my father's daughter." All Rights Reserved.

Barkeep a giving person right up to his own death Barbara Livingston Nackman 666 words 17 June 2008 Poughkeepsie Journal 1B English (c) Copyright 2008, Poughkeepsie Journal. All Rights Reserved. GARRISON - For a decade, Fishkill resident John Guinan each year rode his bike hundreds of miles to raise money to combat AIDS, the disease that took the life of his brother-in-law. Now, friends and relatives of the man whose family founded the legendary Guinan's pub will do the same to honor his memory this fall. Guinan, 56, died June 3 at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie after a two-year battle with brain cancer. Guinan first realized some numbness in 2006 during his last ride for Braking the Cycle, which benefits health services at New York City's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center. Garrison resident Gwendolyn Bounds rode with Guinan. A columnist for the Wall Street Journal, she wrote "Little Chapel on the River," chronicling how Guinan...

Friends of the Guinan family gathered yesterday to celebrate the life of John Guinan at Our Lady of Loretto in Cold Spring, N.Y. and later on Garrison's Landing at a reception hosted by the Garrison Art Center . Bagpipers (from the Cold Spring Fire Co. Pipe & Drum Corps , I'm told) gave a wonderful farewell to him. Several riders from Braking the Cycle came by train from New York to commemorate John, who has pedaled with them since the ride's inception. The organizers of Braking the Cycle, among them Eric Epstein , Blake Strasser and Steve Bratton , have graciously made John honorary Rider Number 1 this year. This ride was enormously important to John. He rode every year to celebrat e the life of his late brother-in-law Tommy . His wife Mary Jane often crewed; now his daughter Kelly leads a team of us from Guinan's who ride in his stead. In lieu of flowers or other tributes to John, the family has asked that donations be made to Braking the Cycle and Team Gui...

John Guinan died last night after a long, and extraordinarily brave fight with brain cancer. He is survived by his wife Mary Jane, children Sean, Kelly and Casey, granddaughter Zoe, his siblings Margaret, Christine and Jimmy and his father Jim. Your notes and calls to John over the past 18 months have meant more than you'll ever know. Rarely does someone hear such widespread affection from so many corners of the world. He deserved all of the love but took none of it for granted. And he changed many lives, my own included, in big and small ways. The family will hold a wake from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday: Clinton Funeral Home 21 Parrott Street Cold Spring, NY 10516 (845) 265-3333 John's funeral will be at 10 a.m. on Saturday: Our Lady of Loretto 24 Fair Street Cold Spring, NY 10516 (845) 265-3781 In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to Braking the Cycle and Team Guinan. This link will take you directly to Team Guinan's donation...

Black Watch Productions Inc. produced this video of last year's Braking the Cycle Ride. It's called "And So We Ride," and is the work of John and Monica Anderson who've been chronicling the ride for years. Watching it, you'll see members of Team Guinan pushing up hills, chugging back electrolytes -- but you'll also see the reason we ride: John Guinan, who's featured at the end of the film. You can't miss the white mustache. We're riding again this year, Sept. 26th to 28th, and have a Team Goal of $50,000 to raise. Help us get started! Here's the link to our donation page . (And leave us a note in the Honor Roll section.) Thanks again to all of you who helped our team meet it's goal last year. We're already on our way with training. (Pictured here: Kelly Guinan and Chris Robinson. Photos taken respectively by Team Guinan members Christine Ashburn and David Lant.)

Even though snow is still on the ground, Team Guinan -- led by Kelly Guinan -- is preparing for next year's Braking the Cycle ride. Several of us have attached our bikes to trainers inside so we can pedal through the winter. Our fund-raising, the hardest part of this ride, just got a great kick start thanks to Russ Cusick who is selling Guinan's tribute tiles and donating 25% of the proceeds to Team Guinan . Each rider must raise $3500 to participate; team proceeds are evenly split between riders. Thanks for your support!