Matthew Coles

Saturday Patrick drove up this way and we went for a nice 40-45 mile ride into Snohomish and on the Centennial Trail.  It was a great ride, great conversation, and some simple climbing at the very end.  It was nice to climb just a little since we were both fighting off head congestion.

However, the powerful part of the ride was the individual for whom I was riding.  Matthew Coles passed away in December of 2010.  He fought brain cancer and was alive to experience the birth of his third son.  A fellow parishioner was great friends of Matt and told me that Matt was the biggest influence in his life.  Chris was raised Catholic, but it wasn't until he met Matt that he truly embraced his faith in a new light and transformed his life.  Chris said of Matt, "He's the most devoted Catholic I've personally known and a true friend."  Below is a prayer that Matt wrote about 2 years ago:

"Vivre d'Amour" (To live in love)
To live your life, oh Christ - here, now, and with my whole being.
To give every one of my days to You, and with each of my actions to live in Your presence.
To put others before myself - and to give myself for them.
To focus on taking care of myself only insofar as it is an act of love towards you, Lord and towards others - especially Lucy and our family.
To love without measure and without fear.
To be misunderstood by this world, and to love you all the more!

Spring Riding, Winter Gloves

Despite the much cooler than normal spring that we've been having the weather is starting to turn a bit clearer than recent days.  Great news for riding.  However, our mornings are still hovering around 38-40 degrees and we are lucky to just cross over 50 during the day.  Now for the most part that isn't bad.  38-40 degrees I'm ok with bibs, leg warmers, arm warmers, base layer, jersey, and windfront vest.  It's my hands...

A few weeks back I went on a ride with some of my riding buddies, and had on my full finger Pearl Izumi Cyclone gloves which are known to be "heavy/warm" gloves.  It was true for that day when we were riding since it was about 45.  However, by 3/4 of the way through the ride I realized that I could have gone heavier.  Similarly, on the mornings I need to be wearing the pair of gloves that Sarah told me to get after I showed her my finger one night at dinner (about 45-60 minutes after getting home).  I almost wonder if I need to wait until 70 degrees to even think of fingerless gloves.

Now I've never said that I was a medical professional but here is what I think is going on.  On my 2nd chemo they accessed a vein in my hand.  At one point it felt really weird so they came over.  Adjusting the saline/poison ratio that I was getting my reaction was delayed.  I thought that it was feeling better at one point and the nurse was surprised since she had completely blocked the saline.  Then it came.  BURN.  Wow did that hurt.  Ever since I've noticed a dark smudge under my skin on my pinky.  Now I dont know if they are related and I'm not speaking medically but I think it is an internal burn.  One of the benefits of getting a port is that the chemo goes into a vein with a higher volume of blood so it dilutes faster rather than beating up veins.  Patients that continually use their arms/hands sometimes find it more difficult to access the vein because the chemo makes the veins collapse.  This is what I think, to an extent, happened to my middle finger.  One those cold days at my top knuckle there is a very specific line of coloring to white.  The tip of my finger gets VERY little blood supply and the only way to warm it up is to massage and push the blood back up, combined with heat.

Oh well, I live with that now, but at least I can just put on the winter gloves and get riding.

LIVESTRONG

Fundraising update and request

(text from email sent to family and friends on 04.10.2011)

Hello to all!

Happy rainy evening in the Greater Puget Sound region, and even a stormy evening to my friends in the Midwest who I hear are getting hammered with some tornado watches right now.  I wanted to send an update on how things are going in our world of fundraising, awareness, and my riding.  

First and foremost, thank you so much to the many individuals that responded to my first email and provided donations to get to our goal.  We are so appreciative of those donations and I wanted to include you on this email to say thank you, provide you with an updated, and also, you never know when someone may want to forgo that morning coffee and give an added $5 to a great cause - you can always give more too!!

Things are going well here.  We topped $1,000 in January, however, for the most part February and March were extremely flat.  That is okay, though, because people were focusing on paying their taxes, getting ready for some spring projects, and saving up for spring break trips.  However, I also hope that in the meantime it has added some pennies to a few pockets and that you would be willing to help us out.  

Why should you help us?  You know, that is a great question.  I'm sure that many of you wonder how we will even get remotely close to any of our goals just by targeting family and friends.  Let me be honest and say that you are definitely a big part of this endeavor and even if it is just $5 we will take any bit that you can offer up.  I wish that we could tell you about the various fundraising that we have done, but much of it has been in the planning stages.  Some things are too big and will have to wait for next year (like the Wine Night at Januik Winery), other things are too early to tell if they can happen this year (like a spinning relay with Anytime Fitness), and others are forthcoming in the upcoming months.  For example, we will be hosting a trivia night with various swag from local breweries and potentially some specials on beers at the Wedgewood Alehouse 1 or 2 weekends this spring/summer.  We have donations jars waiting for a home at local restaurants, businesses, or whoever wants to offer to help fill them.  Sarah and I have been stretching our arms out and finding those who would be looking to downsize or get rid of things, and this summer will be hosting a Livestrong garage sale (hoping the neighborhood may even jump on the bandwagon).  So trust us, we are doing a lot of the behind the scenes work right now which will be bearing fruit in the future.

Throughout the winter I was also fortunate enough to be able to commute quite a bit.  This has helped keep my legs in tolerable shape, and now we are back to building up miles.  Myself and some guys I ride with went 45 miles last weekend over the top of Lake Washington, took on the Kirkland hills, the wind of the I-90 bridge and back into Seattle.  It was a great ride and I really felt like my legs could keep going.  Great signs for the improving weather since, now that Gabbie is the center of our lives, most of my 60+ mile rides will be on days off during the week.  The greatest part of our ride the other weekend were the hills.  Last year I was always lagging in the back.  However, this year I'm not.  I've focused a lot on my climbing and I'm definitely getting better.  This will really help with the first ride of the season in June (Flying Wheels Summer Century) which has a fair bit of climbing in the Redmond/Carnation/Duvall region.  I'm also planning between the end of May and middle of June to take a weekend and bike up to Anacortes one day, meet Sarah and Gabs, and ride back the next.  Between the rolling hills, possibly some added riding on Fidalgo Island, and the 2 days of miles it will be great prep for the Seattle to Portland ride.

It is not difficult to keep the focus on this challenge and the reason why we are doing this.  A man I knew during my diagnosis has had his cancer spread into his lungs and the family is beginning palliative care.  The mother of a family at church was recently diagnosed for a second time with breast cancer.  Another friend had a spot removed which thankfully was benign.  Another friend was missing her mom who she lost too many years ago.  And then there is the little girl from church who comes in every weekend with her backpack holding the tubes supplying her dosage.  This ugly disease needs your help.

My experience in the grand scheme of things has been good.  In the next month or 2 I will be scheduling my 1 year check up.  They skipped my 9 month scan to give my body a break from the radiation of the CT scan - no sense in encouraging a secondary cancer.  I want to put off my 1 year scan as long as I can, but I'm also very excited for it.  Our oncologist has said that the greatest probability of recurrence is in the first year.  However, that also doesn't do much for anxiety - especially when your wife likes the temperatures warmer and the spring weather leads to warm - almost sweaty nights.  Or when a lingering sinus infection makes you wonder.  Still I trust the Lord that He will take care of our family and that there is nothing to worry about for years to come other than the scars on my body and decreased circulation in my pinky and middle finger of my left hand (damn chemo burns).  

So to that end, what can you do to help us?  Were you thinking of going to lunch this week?  Could you put that off for next week and make a donation?  Is there someone you know who's name you could make the donation in their honor - or if we've lost them, in their memory?  I know that everyone can help out, but I also know that everyone has to do what is best for you.  I'm just asking you to think about it.  We would really appreciate if you'd help us get that 1 step closer to never having to talk about this again.

Please generously consider supporting us in our efforts to end cancer and provide the support needed for all of the cancer community who has to hear the words "you have cancer"

You can make a donation online at http://austin2011.livestrong.org/steinaj or contact me for alternative methods.

Thank you for your generosity and remember that I will ride 1 mile for every $5 donated.  You just let me know who I should ride for.

LIVESTRONG!

Andrew J Steinbrecher

The Bernsteins

There have been so many incredible people that we have met through our time at Blessed Sacrament - hence the reason to drive the added miles to church every weekend.  One of these families are the Bernsteins.  They are a family with 2 little girls, a little boy, and another on the way.  As odd as it sounds they are partially to thank for the miracle that Gabriella is in our lives.  Michael and Monica teach the NFP class and Blessed Sacrament and it was through that course that my eyes and heart were completely opened to NFP.  Sarah planted the idea in my head which I had never thought of as a "normal opportunity" in the past and it has been one of the best realities in our life.  So without going into all of the detail (this is a cycling blog and all) the understanding of Natural Family Planning is to understand your body and get to know it in terms of when you are fertile and when you are not.  This knowledge helps you to achieve pregnancy or avoid depending on what God is calling you to do.  Men... well we are always fertile, but it is very interesting to get to know your wife on a very different intimate level.  Well, because of those courses and their shared knowledge, when we were diagnosed we had a much greater likelihood of conceiving a child because of NFP.  For this and many other reasons, the Bernsteins have a special place in our hearts.

One weekend after mass Michael shared with us 2 very contrasting things.  They were pregnant and could use our prayers during the earlier times, and also that Michael's mother was rediagnosed with breast cancer.  They were blessed to find out that the cancer was at stage 0 but still, surgery was recommended.  Last we heard, Mrs. Bernstein was doing well, but still never a thing someone wants to go through.

The family also made a very generous donation to our fundraising efforts and so this last weekend when we were out for our ride, I wanted to ride for their family.  We did a ride over the north end of Lake Washington, up Juanita hill, through Kirkland and Bellevue and over the windy I-90 bridge before re-entering hilly Seattle.  It was a victorious 45 miles and I was very happy with the added energy I had after pounding through those hills.  Great to be improving as a climber!

LIVESTRONG

Flushed Out

So for the most part I kept it to myself other than Sarah and those that I had to tell when they were curious as to what was going on, but I must say that though at first glance it may seem that I gave into peer pressure, I didn't.  Bryan, who I work with, was the first one to use Blessed Herbs and after sharing his experience with various guys in the office a handful of others did it as well.  I talked to Bryan about it a month or so ago and after discussing with Sarah decided to order some Blessed Herbs and do it myself.

Blessed Herbs has both a full Internal Cleanse as well as what is called the Colon Cleanse, but it does more and is more than just your normal colon cleanse (dont worry, there aren't any pictures).  Basically, Blessed Herbs operates from the foundation that our bodies are our most important possession.  We do A LOT to make sure that we look good and at least from the outside, appear healthy to others.  However, we really don't do much to take care of our insides, rather we just assume that nature is doing it's job.  Well unfortunately, as you hear over and over and over again on various news shows from research, the foods that we typically eat do not align with the organic, natural, raw, fruits and veggies, little or no animal protein, recommendations from the medical professionals.  In fact, it isn't to say that it is anyone's fault, nor is there anyway to find out, but I truly believe that my cancer developed as a result of the foods that I ate my whole life, stress in my life, and just my body being a little out of whack.

Back to Blessed Herbs.  Especially when eating any processed foods, unnatural sodium, etc. not all of those foods can be easily digested.  Therefore, overtime a plaque builds up on the inside of your intestinal walls.  The cleanse materials bind with the plaque to strip it from the walls of the intestines.  There is also a digestive stimulant that you take to increase regularity and stimulate the various organs that are involved in the digestive process (liver, gallbladder, etc.) to get those organs to work a bit harder and rid the body of toxins held within the organs.  I wanted to do it, not only for the standard processed foods and animal protein that the body struggles to digest, but also knowing the amount of toxins that made their way into my body that I just really wanted to make another effort to wring out my body of the "yuck."

Some of the benefits of the cleanse are increased energy levels, increased metabolism (since your intestines can now do what they are supposed to rather than fighting through the plaque), and just an overall feeling of "betterness."  I have definitely felt more energized and don't get the "I just want to lay on the couch and do nothing" feelings, I feel more alert, I've noticed the last 2 days riding to work that my body must be somewhat more efficient because I'm not getting winded, and a side benefit are the pounds and even inches that came off.  From when I started to the end there has been a 7.5-8 lb swing in my weight (now at 171 and closer to my goal weight), and about a notch and a half off my belt.  Others who have done it have kept off the weight and inches, and I'm even hoping that it helps me to get down to that 157-162 range I'm targeting since oxygen increases the burning of fat and now my body should be able to get more of that oxygen due to the plague it no longer has.

The way the cleanse works is you first ramp down your food intake.  75% on day 1, 50% on day 2, 25% on day 3.  Then you are on a liquid only fast for 3-10 days depending on what you choose (majority of people do 5 days).  During the liquid only fast you can drink water, organic apple juice, and filtered vegetable broth made from potato, carrot, celery, and onion.  Although that seems impossible, you also drink a shake which is a mix of apple juice and the toxin absorber every 3 hours.  This really helps since you always have something in your body and the toxin absorber is very fibrous and expands.

Afterward you pick back up by eating an apple for breakfast, small salad for lunch, and a small dinner of salad or veggies, brown rice, and some protein like tofu.  It has definitely decreased my portion size which is great since I've wanted to work on portion control.  Apple for breakfast is just fine for me these days.  Normally by 11 I'm watching the clock wondering when it is lunch, and its 1245 and my stomach isn't telling me anything.  I'm now in more of a routine of drinking 6-8 glasses of water/tea a day and don't have the feeling of wanting to eat just because (granted I just finished this past weekend).

All in all I've been happy with it thus far and it will hopefully help Sarah as we continue to focus on healthy eating.  Last night we made lettuce wraps with brown rice, crumbled tilapia, tomato, and avocado for dinner.  We had some veggie crisp chips on the side.  Perfecto!

More Scheduled Rides

The LIVESTRONG Seattle team (unofficially) has added another ride to our schedule - the Seattle Century.  Wooptido, another 100 miles.  I know that is what you are thinking.  Although I also know that some of you can't even fathom riding 100 miles on a bike.  I'm excited for my first century.  At times I can't even believe that I haven't actually ridden a century yet.  I was hopeful during the Livestrong Challenge, but the rain made the 70 miles that much more appealing.  I know I could do it though.  That was 2 months after chemo and I did 70.  100 miles would be a challenge but mostly mental.  I'm not worried.

So why does the Seattle Century seem all that much more crazy.  The Seattle Century is on July 30.  Still not sure?  Let me put this into a bit more of a perspective...

• Flying Wheels Summer Century - beginning of June
• STP - July 9-10 - 203 miles
• Tour des Chutes - July 16 - 100 miles
• Echelon Gran Fondo - July 23 - 100 miles
• Seattle Century - July 30 - 100 miles

Make a little bit more sense now?  That is right, 503 miles of "organized/scheduled" rides for the month of July.  I've been doing a lot of research for training during that month along with the prep in May and June.  I can NOT let my legs sit stagnant at any point.  Gotta keep the blood moving in those muscles so that they dont seize.  That means that, being July, the weather should be nice which means that I'll be riding about 30 miles a day for commuting.  And depending on how my legs are feeling I might need to get out for a walk or easy spin on my lunch.  30 x 5 = 150.  150 miles between the weeks of STP until Seattle Century means ~450.  

As I've told people joking, I'm either going to be in the best shape that I've been in, since high school basketball, or potentially in my life - or I'll need to find an old person to lend me their donut (pillowed seat with a hole in it) and wheelchair.  

I'm vowing for the great shape.  I can already tell that my legs are feeling more efficient and have trimmed out.  Some stuff to come in the future will hopefully lead to an increased metabolism and weight loss (more to come after the fact).  

To note, yesterday I had a GREAT ride home.  I'm on a new route these days, and in the first half of my ride (before the hills is important to note) I was at an average of over 20mph and spinning at a cadence of 105-112.  Felt great.  

As I've said before, and I like it, I'm addicted to cycling!!!

Well over 200 miles...

So as I've mentioned before I've been tracking every donation that I get to make sure that I ride enough miles in honor of the people who my donors ask me to ride for.  In fact, I know that I've covered enough miles for every dollar donated so far (reading between the lines that means I unfortunately haven't gotten any donations in February), however, I'm still saving one ride for a sunny day away from work.  So far my largest donor was my cousin Adam Sutton and I owe him 50 miles.  Making such a financial commitment that he did, I do not want to repay those in 12 mile increments of commuting or leisure rides.

That being said, I'm well beyond the other 202 miles that I owed you, but far behind on documenting any of it here on the blog.  That being said, I'm really sorry but I promise I will be better in the future.  Especially since my beautiful bride called me out on it - and in all seriousness, you are donating your hard earned money for such a great cause and deserve the recognition that I promised.

We have had one of the coldest February's on record and the beginning of March hasn't been much better.  Last year the average low temp for Jan-Feb was 41 degrees.  This year the average high for the same period was 40 for our area.  ZOIKS.  But with the gas prices the way that they are, I told Sarah that if gas gets anywhere near $4.50 (let alone $5 like they are saying for the summer) I will be investing in some more cold/wet weather gear and plan to bike commute 99% of the time.  No sense in paying that type of cents for gas.  (Pathetic pun and play on words I know).

That being said, I've gotten some good riding in these days.  Especially the past few weekends when we have seen some breaks in the weather.  Actually, Sarah helped me recently with some photos when I got back from a training ride because I needed to submit some for a few different reasons.  Firstly, there was an Alumni Spotlight article done about my battle and fundraising in our Sigma-Xi newsletter for TKE.  I tried to pass on some info to Nationals but no luck.  Secondly, my friend Ford works for the YMCA and at his Y they are running the Livestrong at the Y program and wanted to interview a cancer survivor.  I'll have to see if anything was posted about me there.  Anyway, here are 2 pictures.

I love this family pic!

Rather than rambling too much on here, I'll give a quick foreshadowing to come (and hold myself accountable to blog more).  I have updated and also added some organized rides to my summer.  Also, some fundraising updates other than targeting family and friends is underway.  See what you could do to help us!

Now to catch up on those miles:  Thank you very much to those who donated, especially to push me over $1000 for the month of January.  Here is who I've been riding for...

My friend from high school and college, Chris, made a donation in honor of his father.  Chris's dad is still around and a cyclist himself.  He wishes there were rides like these in the Midwest because Chris knows that his dad would want to get involved.  

Cosmo is a girl I knew from college.  She sent me an extremely compelling story about her Uncle Jim.  His cancer was bound and determined to get the best of him and Cosmo knew that all she could do was pray.  She said that thinking of our story and all that we are doing now really gave her hope.  Well, the last I heard, her Uncle Jim was doing well and the tests were providing the results that they wanted.  I really need to check in with her.

A gal that I indirectly met during my cancer experience named Monica has such a huge heart.  Her dad was diagnosed with Stage 4 the week after me.  So everything that we did with treatment, they did right afterward.  It was great to keep in touch with her and hear how her dad was doing, and we developed a great friendship though such an ugly experience - just another way to show how much good can come from cancer.  The rat will never get us.  Well, unfortunately, at his 3 month check-up, her dad did not have the same message from the doctor that I had.  His HL was back...and in full force.  Back to the drawing board they went and the medical team hit him with ICE - a very strong chemo.  Now all of the tests are underway and they are going through with a BMT.  I pray that everything goes well for them and when I dont have miles to dedicate, I will often be thinking of their family.  

Natasha is another girl I met in college and is currently a flight attendant.  Keeping up with what is going on through social media is how she keeps up with friends.  Well, one day she saw a post that I made asking people what they could do - in fact it was Cancer Awareness Day.  She made a donation in honor of her Grandpa who passed away not too long ago.  In fact, I recall when she posted on Facebook that he passed away and that she knew she would feel his presents when she was flying the friendly skies.

Several others have made donations and have told me that I should just ride for what we are doing.  I'm extremely grateful for all of these individuals no matter how large or small the donation was.  They include my beautiful bride, Topher (co-worker at Camp Gray), Queenie Knox-Oates from TKE at SNC, Jill Boyle, Uncle Scott, Emily, M&M Vega, Mr. & Mrs. Dougherty, and my parents.  

I'm looking for more donors and more reasons to ride.  Do you have one?  What can you do to help?  Every $5 helps.

LIVESTRONG

Chris Horner's Jersey

Unfortunately, some viewers of this blog don't know who Chris Horner is.  Chris is currently a member of Team Radio Shack and previously was on Lance's team when he was with Astana as well.  Chris is originally from Bend, OR.  As you may recall, one of the rides on our list for the year is the Tour des Chutes in Bend OR.  Gary, the organizer of the ride and fellow cancer survivor, posted in the last week of February that the first person to register for the ride would win a Chris Horner autographed TRS jersey.

Registration opened on March 1 so I put a calendar reminder on my phone for the 28th and then set my alarm for the morning.  With registration opening at 9 EST on March 1, that meant that I had to be ready to go by 6.  Up at 540 I got the computer and my credit card and just kept hitting refresh on 2 different sessions of Chrome. Promptly at 6:00 I was able to get in, I sprinted through registration, and then it was the waiting game.

I received an email yesterday from Gary letting me know that I was the winner and he was interested to hear that I too was a survivor.  I asked if he could ask Chris if I could get one of his Madone's instead of the jersey, but I'm guessing it will be the jersey in the mail.  Not sure if he will be around based on the summer season schedule, but it would be pretty neat to meet Horner at the ride.  He likely wont be there since his sponsored ride is a few weeks later in Bend, but we wont be heading for that.

I'll post a picture of the jersey when it comes in.  Thanks again Gary and Tour des Chutes.

LIVESTRONG!

Clif Bars and Chewy Granola

Last week I posted on my Facebook page that I made my second batch of energy bars and they turned out better than the first.  I've received many requests for the recipe, so rather than sending individually I decided to post it.  There are many variations and my recipe is a blend of a few that I found online.  I'm sure some images would help, so the next batch I make, I'll take some pictures along the way.  If you have any questions or need clarification, just leave a comment.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups Rice Crispies (I've heard there are some brown rice crispies but haven't found them)
1 cup rolled Oats (just your standard oat meal)
2 tbsp flax seed (I've also mixed in wheat germ)
1/4 cup Almonds, nuts, seeds (any mixture you'd like)

Based on your preference for bar...
1/4 cup dried fruit (obviously for a fruity one),
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (for peanut butter chocolate chip), or
1/4 cup peanut butter (for peanut butter - in addition to what is listed below)

The "glue"
1/3 cup almond butter (you can also substitute soy nut butter or peanut butter.  Peanut butter is the least healthy but also the least expensive.)
1/4 cup brown rice syrup (you can also use corn syrup though it is not as healthy)
1 tbsp vanilla
2 tbsp brown sugar

The process -
There are 2 variations that I've done.  For a bar that is more similar to a chewy granola bar, just chop up the fruit and nuts a little bit.  However, especially for riding and wanting a denser packing of energy, I like to make them more Clif Bar-like.  Below is how to make them Clif Bar-like (if you dont want that, put away your food processor)

In a food processor combine all of the dry ingredients.  Chop it all up so that it is a thick powder.  Pour into a mixing bowl.

In a saucepan combine the "glue" over medium heat.  Stir constantly and the heat will break down the almond/soy/peanut butter and marry it with the syrup, vanilla, and brown sugar.  Once it is all combined pour over the dry ingredients.  Using a wooden spoon, mix as best as you can.  Then take off any jewelry and get your hands sticky (this is the easiest way to make sure it is all mixed in together).  Lightly oil an 8x8 pan, and pour the mixture into the pan.  Using wax paper (and I've used another bowl or a bread pan) push down and pack the mixture into an even level (typically about 1/2 inch thick).  You want it to be tightly packed to stay together.

Place in refrigerator for approx. 30 minutes to cool/harden.  Remove from refrigerator and pull the bars out of the 8x8 and onto a cutting board (I typically put the 8x8 upside down and if the bars dont just fall out, I'll help pry it from the sides and let gravity do the rest).  Cut into bars the size you want.

Packing:
You can either individually wrap with plastic wrap or place into a pyrex container with wax paper between layers and then grab what you want, when you need it.  Really easy to just toss 1-2 in a plastic bag before a ride.

Enjoy!

Great Riding

The riding has been great these days.  The weather has definitely been crisp, but I've still been out riding.  The morning commute to work can be a bit chilly, but afternoon rides are just fine.  This weekend I got out and did some riding and even at the end of last week, clear skies got me on the road - some days just after work for a quick hour spin, but Friday after finishing up everything at work I took the long way home for an easy 18 miles.  Ended up in some higher traffic areas which then means that based on basic laws of probability that there are more idiots on the road.  Just like there are a few cyclists that drive the stereotype of "cyclists never obey the laws" well there are a few drivers who ruin it for the conscientious cyclists as well.

Friday night my wife's brother had his wedding reception so we left her car at her work so that we could get the carpool lane.  Saturday I took a long meandering ride to get to her work.  Ended up being about 25 miles, but a good 12 of those were going at a 15mph headwind that had 25-30 mph gusts.  Then I had about 2 miles of hills. It was a GOOD workout.  Sunday I got out for a nice spin too, though not as long.

The fraternity that I'm in is actually going to be doing an Alumni Spotlight on me and my fundraising so Sarah took some pictures of me for that.  Here is my favorite:

LIVESTRONG!

Weekend Intervals

Did some good riding this weekend.  The weather was supposed to be pretty nasty with wind and rain, but the rain didn't come until late in the afternoon Saturday and the wind sustained well through the night, which meant the roads were dry by midday on Sunday.  Saturday morning, wanting to catch any bit of the road before the storm blew in, I was sure to head out.  Did a nice 17.22 mile figure 8 near the house so that I was never too far away should the rain start dumping.  The route was great.  Had some nice hills (one that I was glad to be going down, but in the near future I'll challenge in the opposite direction) and some flats too.  I mixed it up and did some intervals as well as a sprint up half of one of my climbs.  Went anaerobic and then wanted to get closer to my threshold to ride the rest of the climb.  No use in beating up my body just to say I sprinted the whole thing right.

The hill on 164th in Snohomish joins my classification as a 50mph hill.  I wasn't pedaling that hard on the first half before the plateau, but the grade on the bottom half was enough to have me at 50+ were I not to start increased feathering as I was approaching the stop sign.  Should be a good climb, but definitely one I'll want to hit early in the morning to avoid traffic.

Sunday I took the same route once we got home from church.  Legs were burning a bit more, but that is a good thing.  Looks like we are in for quite the stretch of rain ahead, but at least the wind will be dying down which means, once my wife's car is out of the shop I should be able to get back on the bike commute.

LIVESTRONG

The Wheels are Turning

Fundraising wheels that is.  I really wanted to track my mileage this year, but I completely forgot about it and don't know if I want to reset it now since I wouldnt be capturing all of them....

...

I had to step away so I now have to catch up with this blog I started yesterday.  I reset my odometer today on my summer bike (still wont capture my rainy day rides, but decided it's worth the journey).

But what about these fundraising wheels.  Sarah's and my creative wheels have been a-spinning for various fundraising options.  Now we need to get some content around them instead of just being the skeleton ideas.  Some will definitely take more work than others.

• Event at Januik Winery - Woodinville (will likely pair with Mike and Patrick)
• Bike-a-thon - Sarah went to Anytime Fitness and they were willing to talk about opportunities to help
• Garage Sale - if you have any items you want to get rid of this spring/summer we are willing to take it
• Bombarding emails
• Reaching out to Black Raven Brewery for some sponsorship

Other ideas we've heard of, could be interesting but would need connections

• Halo or some type of Xbox or Kinect tournament
• Poker tournament
• Free-throw competition at a grade school - "Take a shot at cancer"
• Any opportunity at a bar - "Take a shot at cancer" - different type of shot
• Pool tournament - Wedgewood Alehouse?!?!?! 

I'm sure there are tons of others - if you know any connections or could help out, please let us know.

Weekend ride, dedications, and getting in shape

Now I have, but I haven't been holding up my end of the bargain on my riding.  I told you all in one of my earliest posts that my commitment to you was that I would ride 1 mile for every $5 that were donated.  Now I know that I am a little bit behind - though not much since I was able to ride a good portion of last week (including my Thursday morning ride and a ride on Sunday).  However, I haven't been documenting the dedications as much as I hoped.  To be honest, it all happened when I lost a bit of wind from my sails after I put together a video one evening the garage.  It was cold outside - my thinned out blood tells me it was miserably cold outside, but  my Midwestern roots (and parents) remind me that there is nothing "miserable" about 26 degrees.  Likely just another sign of me becoming a PacNWerner, but I digress.  I was in the garage, on the rollers (also can be miserable at times since you dont get any change in scenery), and I did a Flip video dedication to my friend and fellow survivor Flutie.  RAF gave me a nice donation when I sent out an email telling folks of what I've been up to.  In fact, even getting my email inspired him to take the plunge and register for LIVESTRONG Austin.  It will be great to meet him in person and hopefully keep up with him - it might not be a headwind holding you back, Flutie, I just might be holding onto your saddle for a pull.  Well, lo and behold, the damn video wouldnt upload to YouTube.  I've tried more than 2 handful of times and now I'm out of fingers - or at least have been out of motivation to try and repost it.  Nevertheless, I kept riding but holding out hope that I would do my rides in order (for the most part) and document the dedications the same way.  My list of dedications is at home, but look forward to an upcoming post on who I've been riding for.

This weekend was another great opportunity for a ride.  The stars aligned and Patrick and I were able to get a free pass from our wives to go on a ride and Michael was able to join us as well.  As Sarah got ready to go to the bridal shower for Kaitlin, I was getting my bike into the car and heading down to Seattle.  The forecast was calling for high 40s - maybe even hitting 50, but I wore my tights just in case.  Better to be warm than cold, right?  Well, it wasn't a miserable day, but it was biting cold.  I'd guess it was more like the low 40s and a few different times I needed to ignore the lack of feeling in my fingers, but we did about 26 miles, which included a climb up 65th in Seattle to Top Pot Donuts.  I decided not to get a donut since I'm trying to lose weight right now, and I'm glad I did.  Down to 183.6 this morning.  Only 20 lbs to go!  I'd say the most amazing part of the ride (and I know it's because they haven't had as much time), normally I'm able to do hills, but nothing like Patrick and Michael.  However, since I have a longer commute and have been able to ride more with my schedule, I've even started to become a bit of a hill hunter.  Going up the ridge, I was able to sustain a faster climb than both of them - something I've never done - and something I'll probably only be able to do for another week or 2 until they catch up and pass me.  Still, it was pretty cool.

In even better news, our friends Mark and Maria finally decided to get some hybrid/comfort bikes and Maria just told me today that she is hooked and didn't realize how much she would love biking.  They may not be doing the STP or a LIVESTRONG ride, but they are riding and that is all that matters.

Ride hard and LIVESTRONG!

My Wife is Amazing

It sure wasn't fun, but our 5 month old daughter got a horrible flu - in fact we spent the night in urgent care getting her some fluids via IV.  People at work thought I was crazy yesterday when I still biked into work, but as I told them, it was the only thing that kept me awake - nothing like a nice early morning breeze of fresh air.  It sustained me for a few hours, but by 3 I was cross-eyed and ready to sleep on my keyboard.  The ride home woke me up to get some chores done around the house and we were in bed by 8.  Knowing that she was taking off from work today (can't send a sick little girl to daycare), she let me sleep through the night.

On top of that, I didn't have any meetings this morning, the weather in the Puget Sound has been amazing, and I was planning to get a good ride in.  My bride insisted that I still take the morning off and go for a ride since I wanted to so badly.  I really should have brought my shoe covers because the nice thing about my shoes (LG Ergo Airs) is that they have great ventilation for the summer.  My toes were a bit chilly, and I didn't do the 50-60 miles I was originally planning since I wanted to get into work by 11-11:30.  When I got out to Carnation it was already 10 so I knew I should probably cut the ride short to get into work at a good time.

I was at the intersection of the Tolt River Road and West Snoqualmie River Road (heads to Preston - route to get to Issaquah) and decided it would be best to head back in to Redmond.  The climb is just over 1 mile at an average of 7.5% gradient.  I would be lying if I didn't say that I pulled over and didn't climb it all at once.  But for being my first "non-commuting ride" (typically 10-20 miles) this year, I'd say that a ride of 40 miles of rolling hills with the one climb was pretty good.  I was satisfied.

More to come on the ride dedication...

Sorry for being so absent lately.

LIVESTRONG

Rant

I apologize that I've been so absent on this.  I had been holding off on getting a video posted here, but our FLIP has not been cooperating when it comes to uploading to YouTube and it is irritating me.  I pulled together a nice video of cycling in the garage for my friend and fellow survivor Robert who made a nice donation to me.

I'll give it another try and then I'll have to just move past it and get some better postings up here.  Especially with the Tour Down Under kicking off today.

Ride hard and LIVESTRONG

Our LIVESTRONG Story

LIVESTRONG urges those affected by cancer to share their story.  This is what I shared...

After 4 months of what I was told could be a 6 month chronic cough, several appointments to the doctor until I could finally tell he was annoyed that "oh, you're back again" I finally pointed out additional research to the doctor and asked that I be referred to an ENT.  Despite the pathology reports not being 100% confirmed the ENT called that Saturday night as I prepared dinner prior to Trick 'r Treating to tell me that I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  "Looks like we caught this early."

I didn't know if it was a trick or a treat, but I definitely got sick from it after the PET scan revealed it was Stage 3.  27 years old.  Married for just 1 year and told we have cancer.  Immediately, my beautiful wife started telling everyone that "we have cancer" because she wouldn't let me go through it alone - and it impacted her just as much. 

We were recommended to visit a fertility clinic, but just couldn't see going that route.  So instead, knowing that there was a risk of infertility we took advantage of the 4 days between my PET scan and first round of chemo.  Our daughter was born in August of 2010.

Throughout treatment there were probably more good days than bad - I was blessed.  But during the rough days, the hope of our child growing kept spirits high.  Also, knowing that aerobic exercise has been recommended to help patients through treatment, I kept riding. There were nights when I'd ride on my rollers for only 3 miles and I would sit in the garage and cry.  But 3 miles was all my body could handle.  Still, though, we signed up for the Livestrong Challenge Seattle, shared our story of getting pregnant with Lance's friend College (who couldn't wait to tell Lance), and exactly 2 months after my last chemo I rode 70-miles in the rainy Seattle Challenge.

Those 6 months of treatment were the worst of my life, but they were also the best.  They taught us so much.  Patience.  Hope.  Love. Family.  Perseverance. Strength.  Unity.  My diagnosis was the worst thing for me, but the best experience.  Finally, my family knows someone with a cancer story that wasn't a death sentence.  My perspective on life, love, cycling, and the LIVESTRONG community is forever changed.

I will keep riding for those who can't.  I will keep riding to be a riding billboard for LIVESTRONG.  I will keep riding for my health and to share how much LIVESTRONG has impacted my life through my treatment and now afterward.  I will keep riding so that my daughter someday can say, "my daddy had and beat cancer, and LIVESTRONG did so much that now there is no more cancer.

Donations

I've been very proud and even a little amazed at some of the great donations that have already come in on our journey to $12,000.  Just after Christmas, I sent out my first email blast.  Although it didn't yield the quantity that I was hoping for, the quality (read: generosity) of those that I did receive were amazing.  As I write this, we are sitting at $725.  Aside from begging friends and family on email, twitter, and facebook, I've been designing things to help get some big funds raised - I hope!


I've submitted a letter to a past employer to see if the would provide a business donation and/or sponsor a ride for me, however, have yet to hear back.  It was a long-shot and not sure if I should expect to hear anything in return.  I've contacted Golds Gym to of Redmond/Issaquah/Bothell to see if we could set up a bike-a-thon or 24-hour ride fundraiser.  I haven't heard back yet and will be checking back with the manager next week.  Though Microsoft Gift Matching doesn't apply to vendors, I did submit a letter to them to see if there was anything else we could do - set up donation jars at locations on campus, if they could support me with a donation, etc.  Hopefully, whether positive or negative, I'll hear something back on Monday.

Other ideas that I'm going to pursue are with Albertsons, TOP Foods, local restaurants, and maybe Performance Bike (though I dont think that would happen because Brent said that stuff comes from corporate down).

I'm really hopeful that I can get some businesses to allow me to put out donation containers or do a LIVESTRONG night at a restaurant for a certain percent of profits.  Or, the easiest, is always a overall sponsorship.  It would be the best, and I think it is really what we will need to really get us climbing the ladder with the added zeros on the fundraising.

Just gotta keep on keepin' on!

LIVESTRONG