A Ripple of Heroes

Randy Pausch died on Friday. I didn't find out until today through a bizarre series of events that illustrate the ripple effect heroes have on and through our lives.

It started last Wednesday afternoon when I stumbled across a reminder that Liz & Allison were hosting a happy hour fundraiser for their NYCDC ride. I met Liz & Allison on ESAR last year - their first fundraising ride. The happy hour was in Manhattan, I happened to be nearby on business, so I showed up to support their repeat effort to fight AIDS!

Shortly after arriving, in walked Annie, another newbie cycler in 2007 and member of our ESAR P.S. Breakthrough Riders team. The bug had also hooked Annie, who explained that this summer she'd switched to another new challenge for her - swimming. Two miles to be precise and in the Chesapeake Bay no less! All it took was a friend with a good cause - pancreatic cancer - and Annie stepped in to help.

Annie's stories of the effect of this horrible cancer on the lives of her friends caused me to ask if she'd heard "The Last Lecture", the Professor Pausch lecture on achieving your dreams. That lecture, first presented to his Carnegie-Mellon students shortly after being told he had three-six months to live, has since spread through the internet, daytime and primetime TV, and was an instant best-seller in book form this spring. Annie hadn't heard of Randy until Wednesday. Today she told me she'd gained new inspiration from him on Thursday and Randy Pausch died on Friday.

"If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself," Pausch said. "The dreams will come to you."

I am blessed by the heroes who inspire, motivate and drift in and out of my life, sometimes when least expected.


Footnote: My senior year at Oakland Mills High, Bret was a junior and Tammie a freshman. Randy Pausch was a sophomore. I knew his older sister Tammy but admit I needed the yearbook to show me Randy, who I did not know personally. In his lecture, Randy admits to being a nerd and while that fact is apparent in the yearbook pictures of chess team, student government and lacrosse, he was lucky to have been part of those formative OMHS classes at a time when individuality & experimentation - indeed dreaming - were nurtured. And the seeds grew...

The Journey Begins

A lot of activity had to be crammed into my 48hrs at home between business trips this weekend but the critical pieces got done – my Saturday ride and yesterday’s bike packing.

The activity of cleaning, dismantling and packing my Stellar is a multi-hour event in itself, involving a hose, toothbrush, wrench and elbow grease. Speaking of grease, I’ll be scrubbing it out of my fingernails for days cuz I can’t ever seem to keep the gloves on!

Since I starting traveling to events, I bought a wheeled hard case for my bike several years ago. Funny thing is, the directions have nice little pictures that don’t include or make any mention of a bicycle having handlebars (I'll scan it for you when I'm back home). The first time I tried fitting bike into box took most of a day, 3-4 tries and a lot of cursing. Now I can take it down and pack it on a Manhattan sidewalk in 20 minutes though must admit that it never goes into the case the same way twice and I still rely on many handwritten notes all over those instructions.

Midweek, Stellar starts her Fedex ground journey to Niagara Falls and I’ll hold my breath til we’re reunited August 9. The journey begins…

End of the Training Road

For the past 3 weeks my only riding has been on a spin bike or my California bike, both of which are quite literally less than Stellar. So though I was travel weary and not anxious for another solo ride, I pushed off on my Stellar from home for an afternoon ride through the valley.

I knew it wouldn't be my elusive century but it did become this year's longest ride at 60 miles, I threw in 2 extra credit monster climbs and pushed it hard into a headwind most of the way.
It's been a rough training year for getting out on the road, putting in far fewer pre-event miles than usual, but a quick review of my training log shows that while I only made about 20 road trips (5 in California), I took more than 45 spin classes. That 10miles/class gives me right about the same time in the saddle as previous years. I guess this means I'm ready.

Gold's Gang...priceless

Today would have been Bret's 49th birthday. In his honor, I chose to spend the day focused on gratitude for what is, rather than dwell on what might have been.

Today's post is dedicated to the early weekday morning gang at the Santa Clara Gold's gym who encourage by their own dedication, make you smile through the sweat and hoot through the pain even when your eyes aren't yet fully open. They're the reason you refrain from hitting the snooze (cuz they won't), the ones who save you a bike (when they shouldn't), work you hard (when you don't want to) and check on you if you're a no-show (or is that give you a hard time?). It's not exaggeration to say that if it weren't for these hearty souls holding me to year-round training these past 3 years, this old body could never meet the pedaling challenges that have motivated YOU to contribute over $25,000 to the Empire State AIDS Ride beneficiaries alone!

So here's to the critical component of my California training plan - my chubby little friends (who clean up good!),
spin instructors, "Wednesday is abs day" reminder, locker room sisters & road warriors at Gold's who, to me and the cause to which my fitness is committed, are PRICELESS!

Life is Better When You Ride Bikes

The body, stronger.
The mind, sharper.
The air, cleaner.
The grass,
greener.
The pretzels, crisper.
The beer, colder.
The weekday,
shorter.
The weekend, longer.
The sun, brighter.
The sky, bluer.
Life is better when you ride bikes...
- Gary Fisher
Thanks to Mike for the personal escort up Mt. Hamilton Saturday. What a great ride!