Hurry Springtime

Thanks to Bill Watterson

Stability Balls.. Nothing Stable about them!

I have managed to reach 57 years old without feeling or even thinking of age as a major factor in my life. I maybe be heading toward what are called the "Golden Years" but I have always felt as if I were still in my salad days. One of my most pleasant memories come from a comment my son Jeff made to me. We were at a girls softball game and admittedly a bit bored and decided to wander about. We reached a rail fence at the far end of the field and I took 2 or 3 easy steps and hurdled the fence. Jeff who was probably 10 or 11 looked at me and said with pride "Dad, You are the biggest kid I know!"

It is perhaps a dozen or so years since then but I cherish that day. I am the biggest kid I KNOW! I try never to let a physical challenge pass but I do it with discretion these days. I have always felt like I was in good shape and I hate to admit I have never paid much attention to my physical condition. Daily activity and riding bicycles, skiing, skating and all have kept me in relatively good shape. Now that I have embarked on this challenge I have decided to take my conditioning a step further. I have quit smoking totally, I am eating better and am working on breathing exercises to help offset the torture I have put my lungs through. And I bought a stability ball!

WHO NAMED THIS THING?! At this moment a big red ball lurks in the corner of my room where it has made its home. I looks at me each time I walk by. It waits for another chance to humiliate me, to push me over the edge, to remind me I am no longer that big kid. I have conquered smoking and beaten blood cancer only to find myself held hostage by a big red ball!

Now this is not your typical red rubber ball.. its not the ball of whom the Cyrkle sang in 1964.. it is not a ball you would give a 3 yr old at the beach. No this is a ball that is determined to bring me to my knees figuratively and literally! It is obviously a device crafted by the Marquis de Sade's own personal trainer. Rumors abound that the President has banned its use at Guantanamo!

I tried to use it for core strengthening. "They are Great!" I was told by one 'friend', "You will get so much from it Dad, and with a LOT less soreness" said my former gymnast son, "Go for it!". Lies and propaganda! I tried to sit on it, to bounce on it gently, to become one with this unstable squishy torture device. It tossed me from side to side, it rolled me across the floor and during one "Easy stretch" it unceremoniously rolled me over tossed me up in the air and left me flat on my face in a corner after I completed a back layout with 1/2 twist onto the hardwood floor of my apartment, as it, my oppressor, rolled gleefully into the corner, where it now sits awaiting the opportunity to once again remind me of my impending dotage.

Who ever named these things stability balls must have been the same person who came up with Jumbo Shrimp, Military Intelligence and Educational Television. There's nothing stable about it!

On a saner note, I met the rest of my team this wekeend and we went for our first ride. I am really looking forward to spending more time with them. It was 28 degrees (Fahrenheit - don't get me started on Metric) and here were a dozen people as determined as I am to both conquer blood cancers and the mountains of Nevada and California. We rode together, finding our riding partners and making friends. I am very excited to be part of this wonderful group and look forward to spending the next 4 months and hopefully well beyond riding and becoming friends with these great people!

My fundraising continues to amaze and astonish me, my teammates and even the LLS, and I once again find it hard to express my gratitude for your support! I learned this past weekend that YOU are the 9th most generous group of sponsors in the entire nation! Only a corporate team of 8 has raised more funds than I have. Thank you and congratulations!

Spinning Closer to Tahoe - Week 2 Fourteen to go!

The weather is slowly turning better, except it seems on the days I plan on a ride. Layers and underarmor again!

And bronchitis!! UGH I hate colds!!

It really hard to ride when you fight for that extra breath. Ok, I am a former smoker, the former aspect a recently added adjective. That said its easy to recognize where my concerns for our ride comes. My legs can handle the lactic burn, the hills will hurt no doubt but by June the muscles will be ready. If there is one concern that will be with me until I coast down the last hill and make that turn back into the Horizon I am going to worry about my lungs.

I got to watch some of the Tour of California yesterday. I watched the riders struggle up Sierra Rd and again over Peterson. I have driven the 580 and 205 and I know those hills! They are formidable, and to watch the best riders in the world struggle along at 12-14 mph I could feel thier burn. Again I felt MY Lungs ache, and I ride at Sea Level! I listened to the commentary as the talked about the difficulty of today's leg south through the Sierra Nevada above 2000 ft. Tahoe is at 6200 and Spooner Junction climbs to more than 7000. I do hope I cant see them breathing hard!

Tomorrow is supposed to be blustery. We don't have very big hills here so I will point my front wheel into the wind. As any cyclist knows wind is the hill that Never Ends, and as I train for Tahoe its going to be my mountain simulator.

Once again I want to say thank you to all my supporters. No matter how hard my training is, no matter how thin the air is or how much my chest aches. No matter how difficult the headwinds, I have one secret weapon in my bag, I have YOU!

The First Summit is Behind Me! - A Thank You!

When I think about the ride I am training for, the AMBBR 09 - Lake Tahoe Century, I think of hills. The 800 foot climb through the switchbacks on the way up to Emerald Bay and the 1000 foot 9 mile pull up to Spooner seem to be the toughest. But there is another one, and thanks to the support and generosity of my friends and colleagues I am over the top of that first critical hill!

About 2 hours ago my son Daniel and my future (hopefully) daughter in law Becky made the donation to my fundraising page that put me over the $4800 minimum goal required to be part of the team.

My personal goal is to raise as much as WE can for this effort to fight Blood Cancers, and I hope that those of you who have not had the chance yet to make a donation still do so. No matter how big the hills are that I face, or have faced during my own journey with leukemia, blood cancers are the biggest hill of all. That summit is still in the distance, and we won't cross it until we have eliminated them all!

Thank you all for supporting me both through this and through my fight. Words can not begin to express how much your friendship and support have meant to me!

Weekend 1 in the Mirror 15 more til Tahoe

Mother Nature cooperated this week! I put the cabin fever aside, dusted off the gears and proceeded to over do it!


Actually 2 rides for about eighty miles total isn't overdoing in my book. and with the ambitious conclusion to this 16 week training I have embarked upon it really is just a warm up.


Last week we kicked off the 09 TNT training season. Even though a snowstorm delayed us 1 day team members got together and got their training schedules.


Now lets stop for a moment here... I am a cyclist but I have never maintained any specific fitness regimen. My occasional gym memberships have gone wasted. I would rather go for a long hike, walk 18 holes or ride 50 miles than do 3 sets of 10 reps of some mindless exercise. That said the idea of riding a century at 1 mile plus above sea level has made me a bit more conscious of the need to prepare. So I have begun to do a few of those sets and reps. I have started to eat better and I am riding harder!

OK so I muddled through the core training Thursday afternoon.. took Friday off to let my muscles stop throbbing and woke up Saturday with the idea of a good hilly ride. I live on the Jersey Shore. Hills for us are mostly what other people consider bumps but with some planning I was able to plan a 43 mile loop with some pretty good ones. I use bikely.com to plan and map my rides and the elevation profile there is a great tool. While the biggest hills were 150-300 ft. there are a few pretty steep ones (150 ft in 1/2mile for example) and the hilly sections totalled 1600 + feet.

Sunday the weather was even better! Temps were in the 50s at 9am and heading into the 60s. No UnderArmor today! We took off from Swedesboro in south west NJ and headed east toward Parvin State Park.. a 50 mile loop on flat country roads. They said by afternoon the winds would pick up but our plan was to be back by then. The best laid plans.... by noon the winds were howling.. westerlies.. and our cars were 18 miles west! We decided to break off the ride about 8 miles short of our goal and head back. I later learned the winds were steady at 25 with gusts to 45. There were times it felt as if the bike hit a wall. Speeds and cadences dropped as we climbed small rises only to be greeted with gale force gusts as we crested each successive rise. It was like a hill that never ended. I imagine this is what the 9 mile climb up Spooner is like.

This weekend is our first Team ride. In between is Core and cardio and a couple of short rides. The weather doesn't look promising for Saturday a chance of rain or snow they say, but I will be there.

**Fundraising Note: I just send off a check for a few cash donations. With pending matching funds, a likely corporate sponsorship and the check I just mailed my first hurdle is behind me. I am on the Team! I AM GOING TO TAHOE! I can not express often enough my gratitude for the generosity of my family, friends and colleagues. Not only does having the fundraising aspect complete allow me to focus on training, but you have provided a boost to my motivation that is beyond words. Thank You Thank You Thank You

16 Weeks and Spinning!

Four Months from today the SNJ Team will be meeting at the airport and heading off to put our training to the test.. the Sierra Nevada and the AMBBR - Lake Tahoe Century.

Its there.. the light at the end of the tunnel. At kick offs across southern New Jersey last night and tonite my team mates got their packets and training schedules. Mother Nature promises to help this weekend with comfortable cycling temperatures (its 9F as I write this) and the off cycle training has been laid out for us. Sunday is Day 1 of Week 1. 102 days to prepare.

My fundraising has almost reached the target so I can focus now. Thanks to many generous friends and colleagues I can concentrate on legs and lungs so when that first hill rises up I am ready to rise to the challenge.

Go Team!

I Used to Like Snow

I just had a chance to look out the window at work. Where I work the view is awesome. The exchange is located on the west side of downtown Manhattan, on the Hudson River. Normally looking out the front windows offers a view of New York harbor, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and more. Today all I see is snow flakes!

Tonite IS the TNT kickoff so an afterwork ride was not on the agenda, but I really dont want to ride my trainer the rest of the week. Sunday's ride gave me the urge.. primed the pumps.. made me long for good riding weather. And that darn rodent says 6 more weeks of this?!?!

I know I have a long way to go til I am ready for Spooner and the switchbacks and I am getting impatient. The weatherman says this weekend will be warm and sunny so I will focus on that and try to get an hour on the trainer between now and then.

And to think... I really used to like snow!!!!

Feb 1 - My Training Kick Off

The weather cooperated today with sunny skies and warm(er) temps.

My legs may have been rusty and the course was not the Sierra, but I got on the bike today and pulled a 17 mile run. (If you're interested I will list all my routes on Bikely.Com -CLICK HERE -search for Gene990)

Only some small hills, but with a steady wind in my face for most of the ride I got a good workout.

When the lactic acid burn hit and I thought about breaking off the ride and heading home I thought about the generosity of my friends and pushed on.

On a fundraising note I again want to thank all of you for your support! Our official Team in Training Kick Off isnt for 2 more days yet and I am at 80% of my minimum goal! Thank You again from the bottom of my heart!