So I have been battling a cold and allergies for the past week plus and haven’t been out on my bike. Its killing me! I plan to get on the saddle tomorrow morning when I head in for an appointment down near Pike Market. Looking very much forward to spinning my wheels a little.
Things around here have been good, although challenging. We had a great weekend with a Saturday picnic (read more on Beth’s new blog http://www.offthetopofmyhead.org ), and a productive day around the house today and some fun running around with Beth this afternoon. Things have recently gotten a little harder for Beth as she has more right side weakness in her arm, hand and leg. She also has had more difficulty with her speech, particularly when she is tired. My heart aches a lot more these days and I find that I am a bit more tired too…
You may notice that we have gone far past our fundraising goal as a team. Thank you to everyone who has put a little something forward in our salute to our incredible Beth. I am only a few steps away from making my goal. I just so wish that somehow we find what is necessary to reach a goal for Beth in halting the tumor growth. We will continue to fight and will never give up hope for Beth!
thanks again for everyone’s support! We love you all!
I woke up early yesterday, Memorial Day, and used the extra time for a solo ride around the North loop of Lake Washington. I was supposed to call Kevin about a ride but that seemed inappropriate at 5:30am. I spent some time lost near the UW where the only vehicles out were garbage trucks moving our disposables about as if it were any other day.
I felt good about the ride which ended up being 48.5 miles. I try not to look at millage while riding otherwise I might have spun around the block until the computer said 50. I was able to average over 14 mph which isn’t too bad given the 2900 feet of climbing. I’ll get a map up once my phone is willing to upload it. The route is interesting where I got lost in Laurelhurst and avoided the speed trap on the Burke-Gilman in Lake Forest Park. Yes, there is an officer on a Motorcycle clocking cyclists and will give tickets.
Kevin did this loop a couple weeks ago and wrote about motivation. One thing clear to me is the motivation provided by hatred for cancer. Cycling affords time to concentrate, relax and release some anger all in one package. Sometimes a solo ride is just the ticket, until you get caught talking to yourself.
Erika and I got out for a few hours while everyone napped and rode to Greenlake, Sitka’s main hydro source lake. We are guessing that the ride was about 30 miles. Great ride! Wonderful weather as you can see in the video! No bears, although there were recent reports of them being out on the road near the fish hatchery. Most of the ride is on gravel road that is in pretty good shape as it’s the only access to the hydro damn and the power station.
It was really fun and Erika was glad to get out for long a ride with me.
It seems like every time I ride out to the end of Sawmill Creek Rd. I am facing the wind going out, and I am facing the wind coming back. How is that?
Kevin and Beth are in town for the week. They arrived this morning. I was able to eat dinner with Beth and then take off on a ride with Kevin out SMC Rd. to Herring Cove. It was good to ride by his side, chatting away. The wind seemed to subside for once while riding with Kevin. Maybe it’s my imagination, maybe it’s a distraction or maybe riding with support-like with battling cancer-it seems easier with someone by your side.
Went on a long ride, longest of the year too. Started out with a loop in mind around the north end of Lake Washington. The first twenty plus miles being on the relatively flat Burke Gilman Trail. Kept the pace up and averaged about 18 mph. The second half of the 4 hour ride (3:15:22 actual rolling time) I was up and over several hills so the pace slowed and by the time I found myself climbing up the last hill home I was pretty sapped!
Throughout the ride I found myself looking for the motivation to keep going with the loop. At the top of Juanita Drive, the first climb I had to fight off turning around and heading back home via the flat trail along the lake. I had to dig down a couple of times in order to keep up a decent pace. Kept thinking about what was going to get me through a long ride and what was keeping me going through every other day for Beth and I. Its really hard to say what powers me through any particular moment in daily life. Love, hope, determination, sometimes anger and sadness. On the bike I find that I have an overwhelming streak of competitiveness that comes out. On this particular ride no one passed me. I joined up with a couple of groups even and once I was out in front setting the pace, they all dropped off…
I see what the metaphor is here and hope that I don’t do this in other parts of my life. I do sometimes feel a little out there, alone and peddling like mad for something I can’t seem to catch. If I am leaving anyone behind out there please grab my shirt tail and ask me to slow up.
Moving Beyond Cancer to Wellness 2009, Saturday, June 13, 2009.
This event is designed for cancer patients and survivors including caregivers, friends, family and health care professionals.
Keynote speaker — Daniel Shapiro, Ph.D
The event will feature keynote speaker Daniel Shapiro, Ph.D. Dr. Shapiro is professor and chair of the Humanities Department at Penn State College of Medicine. He is a cancer survivor having been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease at age 20.
Breakout sessions
The event will also offer breakout sessions led by experts in the fields of nutrition, complementary and alternative medicine, exercise, fatigue and energy, relationships and intimacy, insurance rights, emotional adaptation, cognitive function, bone health, stress management, lymphedema and late effects from cancer treatment. Learn more »
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Survivorship Program provides clinical care, patient education and research opportunities to patients who have survived cancer and are not in active cancer treatment or are in long-term therapy to prevent recurrence. Our services are provided through the Hutchinson Center and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) and supported by the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Survivorship Program is a member of the LIVESTRONG Survivorship Center of Excellence Network.
Saturday took me to the the very South end of Sitka, as far as a person can possibly go. Sunday, today, I rode myself to the very North end of Sitka, to the sign that literally says “END.”
It’s a quick 15 miles and fairly flat. The ride passes the Alaska State Ferry Terminal which I suppose I could someday ride right onto if I wanted to extend the workout. Bellingham anyone?
The temperature topped 71 degrees yesterday! My ride required SPF 30 and a full camelback of water. I never would have thought I would be seeking shade on the 2nd of May. Or ever for that matter in Sitka.
Our 35 mile ride was nearly the same as the others except we pushed out to the last possible inch of road on the south end of Sitka and Baranof Island. Any further we would have crashed down a craggy slope of Graywhacke rocks and plopped us in a frigid and icy lake. The last mile to the end is up a 14 or 15% grade hill. Because my mountain bike has slick tires and my legs have uncooperative muscles, I eventually had to walk the last half.
In a couple of weeks, I’m looking forward to doing this ride with Kevin when he comes for a visit with Beth.
Okay, so on Michael’s suggestion we thought a preview was in order of the Village Park Drive climb, and what we found was one heck of a climb! Somewhere around 3 miles in total (I forgot to check the distance once I reached the top as my legs were burning enough to numb the brain a little!) Michael, Mary, Anthony (need to recruit him into the ride!) Marc and I spent the better part of 2 hours riding from the I-90 lid in Seattle, across Mercer Island, through Factoria and Easgate and then up and over Cougar Mt and back via a short loop through Lakemont Park and back to Seattle.
Took a little video clip once we made it down the hill and were spinning along on our way back…
Over all ride was 27 miles, average 13.5 mph. We hit the Village Park climb at mile 11 and hammered up the climb best we could. I myself had to stop once… that 42/28 combo might be a bit too small a gear for me so will have to look into a bigger spread on the rear cog! The decent off of Cougar Mt. clocked a couple of us at 48mph! That was great after that climb, that’s for sure. Just over 2 hours of riding as a group of 5, and we are really looking forward to the next ride.
