Well kids, here’s the course layout for the 70 miler. I used the course notes from the LiveSTRONG site, and it looks like we have a challenge in front of us! Its interesting to me that the climb over Cougar Mt is after going through Newcastle and Issaquah. This is going to be a fun challenge for sure!
A little morning break gave me a chance to lap Boeing Field a couple of times. Great spin and a nice head wind on each southbound leg. Still working on crossing the 300 mile mark for the month… will have to put in a couple of long rides. Maybe tomorrow after work. Anyone else interested, or can anyone play hooky for the late morning?
In the 110th Congress concurrent bills were introduced to eliminate the waiting period for those with life threatening conditions and need access to health care coverage. Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act (H.R. 154/S. 2102). This important legislation would improve access to health care for many Americans, including individuals with brain tumors. For those with life-threatening conditions, the 24-month waiting period to receive Medicare would be eliminated. Neither bill was given time in Committee and have expired with the adjournment of the 110th Congress. The 111th Congress has yet to introduce similar legislation and we need to urge our elected officials to act now!
Please consider contacting your legislators and ask them to sponsor similar legislation. You can find a sample letter HERE
If you need contact information for your legislators the Brain Tumor Action Network has a great interface.
I spent about an hour Saturday on hills – a fun but slow ride. Average speed was 11mph on a 12 mile route with 1380ft of climbing. The reward for climbing is a white-knuckle descent – up to 38mph. All stats for this ride are from My Tracks using the GPS in my phone which was very close to what my cyclometer read.
Two flat tires in as many days. Nothing takes the fun out of a bike commute like having to ride the bus. I even had to patron the local drug store to acquire the correct change and some Skittles. Now I can taste the rainbow the whole way home.
I’ve ridden my bike every day except Saturdays for a few weeks so this is something of a setback.
12,000,000 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed this year throughout the world!
Sixty percent of all cancer is preventable. One-third can be cured if detected early and treated adequately.
By 2030, there COULD be 27 million incident cases of cancer, 17 million cancer deaths annually and 75 million persons alive with cancer within five years of diagnosis.
The National Cancer Insitute’s total budget for Fiscal Year 2005 was $4.83 billion. The NCI invested an estimated $4.79 billion during Fiscal Year 2006. The budget was decreased to $4.75 billion in Fiscal Year 2007. 2008 and 2009 fiscal packages for the NCI were decreased as well.
After years of hampered efforts in US Government spending and research, 2010 will be a different story, with an additional $1 Billion set aside for research, prevention and screening in the 2009 stimulus package. The proposed increase in funding for medical research at the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute will make a big difference in the effort to fight cancer after years of flat or cut federal funding for medical research. Stem cell research will also be reopened to a broader range of options, finally being monitored and controlled through scientific standards rather than one groups moral values. The war on cancer steps up, and those 2030 numbers could look much different.
Aside from national funding, groups around the world have step up their fights. Tobacco control and prevention has made great gains around the world and we expect a very different priority from the Obama administration. Research, prevention, screening and survivorship are top priorities in the funding goals of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. LAF last year awarded over $3 million in grants to research, patient care, centers of excellence. It also provided support to over 6,500 newly diagnosed patients and their supporters, providing a new look at surviorship and life to hundreds of thousands of people. I for one am one of them…
I got in a ride around town on Sunday with a little sun, some snow and lots of cold. According to the computer it was 29 miles at 14.5mph with a max speed of 33.5 and an average cadence of 97. I’m trying to learn to spin faster so I was happy to see the 97 cadence, but the average speed is still too low – though there is a lot of stop and go in the city.
I tried out Cardio Trainer with some success, though it claims I only went 22 miles and and rode through some fences in interbay.
Trying this out… used mapmyride for the first time on a ride around West Seattle. Legs not that into it and my back is a little tight today too. According to the bike computer 13.7 miles and 50 minutes of spinning. According to the iPhone; 16 miles. Need to make sure the bike computer is calibrated correctly, or won’t trust the iPhone app.
From Kenmore to West Seattle.
Was originally planning to ride back from the Sunday Brunch at the Draye’s via the Burke Gilman but it was suggested by Michael that try the ride back via the East side of Lake Washington via Kirkland and Bellevue then over the 1-90 Bridge. Certainly was a more challenging ride than the flats of the Burke route, with three pretty good hills in there, up over Junita Drive then over Market Hill into Kirkland, a minor hill into and through Bellevue then of course the hill back up into West Seattle from Luna Park. Great ride 29.9 miles on the computer. Almost two hours of wheels turning and an average of just over 15mph with one downhill run topping out at 33mph. Here’s the rough map. I was hoping to get some elevation data off of it but haven’t figured that out yet…
