12 City Tour. 12 Honorary Heroes. 12 Inspired Works of Art.

12 City Tour Dates

Ayla                                   Wichita, KS                       Feb 1st – Feb 9th
Oceana and Killian       San Antonio, TX              Feb 11th -  Feb 17th
Aiden                                 New Orleans, LA             Feb 19th – Feb 26th
Watson                              Atlanta, GA                      Feb 28th -  Mar 10th
Conner                              Nashville, TN                   Mar 12th – Mar 20th
Katelyn                             St Louis, MO                    Mar 22nd – Mar 28th
Joe                                     Kansas City, KS                Mar 29th -  Apr 7th
Addison                            Denver, CO                       Apr 8th – Apr 16th
Ronin                                Salt Lake City, UT            Apr 18th-  Apr 24th
Dominic                           Las Vegas, NV                   April 26th – May 6th
TBA                                   San Francisco, CA            May 8th – May 15th
Dominick                        Sacramento, CA                May 17th – May 24th

America’s Most Beautiful Ride! 100 miles!                LAKE TAHOE                   JUNE 2nd, 2013!

Have you ever encountered a person that changed you, impacted you so dramatically that you remember how precious life is? I have, and not only did it change me, it changed my direction in life. I’ve had the opportunity to meet children both battling and surviving cancer, and discovered that my skillset in the arts has been a great tool in helping raise awareness and resources to help with the fight against cancer. My goal is to help these families, help their cause, and help change others to act and showcase these children, not just their disease, in a 12 city cross country tour.

In each city I will have identified a family whose child is battling, or in remission, with a cancer related illness. I will be hosting live painting events with these families and their friends during my brief stay in each city as fundraisers, and will work to create 2 additional pieces of art in each city: one painting of the child for the family, and an additional painting that the patient and I will create together.

My love for this cause was brought to light during my experience with Leukemia Lymphoma’s Team in Training in 2012 where I trained for and finished a 100 mile century ride in Lake Tahoe. Team in Training is an organization devoted to the world wide fight against cancer through fundraising, awareness, and team training athletic events like marathons, century rides, and triathlons.

I will be continuing my cycle training in each city individually, or while riding along side local team in training chapters. I will be capturing the nation wide journey via helmet cam and blog as I explore each city, meet the volunteers, patients and families, and sharing the experience with my fans across the country. This training will culminate for my 2nd century ride at the June 2013 Americas Most Beautiful Ride around Lake Tahoe.
During this ride I will experiment with an interactive painting experience – painting at 4 designated breaks during the 100 mile ride around Lake Tahoe, and completing the painting by the end of the ride. The finished Tahoe piece will be a color acrylic original piece, and be auctioned off at a later date, with proceeds benefiting Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

Tour Structure:

Travel nationwide to 12 cities. Mike will be interacting with patients, Team in Training Chapters and raising awareness and funds for children and families that are affected by this disease.

Timeline:

Beginning in Wichita, KS on Feb 1st 2013 Mike will visit each of the 12 cities for up to 9 days as he paints, trains and participates in Team in Training Fundraising events in preparation for the Tahoe race on June 2nd, 2013.

Patients:

In each of the 12 cities an honorary patient will be chosen to highlight as part of the tour. The paintings produced in that city will be auctioned off to raise money for that individual and family, and the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

Telling their story:

Mike will host a variety of activities with the families during the tour stops to document their story, challenges, triumphs, and obstacles. Each patient will also be able to participate in the live painting shows with Mike.

“A Year in the Life” Commemorative Calendar:

In culmination of the tour all of the honorary patients will be placed in a 2014 calendar to be used as a fundraising tool for Team in Training groups and cancer families. Each month will feature a painted picture of the patient, Artwork that the patient and Mike created together, and a summary of that patients previous years’ experience as a cancer patient.

Tahoe Race and Event:

During each leg of the tour Mike will be working along side local volunteers to train for the Tahoe 2013 race. During the Tahoe race Mike and his team will have painting stations set every 25 miles so he can paint in 15 min. increments at each stopping point of the of 100 mile century ride. The result will be a finished piece of art, by the end of the ride, that will be donated and auctioned off. 100% of proceeds of the Auctioned painting will aim at funding the 2014 calendar.

Documenting the journey:

In addition to the video blogs of patient stories, Mike will also be utilizing both bike and helmet cams as he interacts with his training team and the Tahoe race to document the journey to share through his website, blog and social media.