The Reason I am Doing It.

It was my brother's idea at first, he told me he had looked into doing a sponsored bike ride in England. The idea was to raise money for leukemia research because our mother had been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in 2005. Since I enjoy cycling, raising money for leukemia research while bike riding sounded perfect. An evening of "Googling" later, I had found Team In Training, a group that fund-raise with endurance sports for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I initially registered for the 2007 Lake Tahoe event, but had to drop out when it became aparent that Mum was losing her battle with leukemia. This year I am back and intent on raising $5000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The event I am training for is a 100-mile bike ride around Lake Tahoe on June 1st 2008. Because of the altitude (6,225ft.) and the distance, training is important. So, every Saturday for 5 months I will be getting up at 6:00 a.m. to join my team for training rides. There will be a lot of hills to climb!


So when the training gets tough, I look down at the top tube of my bike where I carry 2 names that inspire me to push on. The names are, my Mum – Ruth Davies, and my Aunt Meg, both of whom lost their lives to blood diseases. My Mum, as many of you already know, passed away last year from Leukemia (AML). I thank God for the 14 months of remission she had and the last vacation we spent together in February 2006. At the end of 2006, the leukemia returned and this time there was no stopping it. After wasting away, my mother died in April of 2007. Similarly, my Aunt Meg passed away in February of 1993 after an 11-year battle against Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. What these two women endured is infinitely more than any discomfort I feel during my training.


To make a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, go to: TNT Donate



Saturday, April 19, 2008

Week 11 - April 19th 2008 - Distance 62.52 miles

Midweek Training: No Sunday ride this week, Saturday's heat left me exhausted. No Tuesday ride because Judy had to stay late at work. Thursday I rode to work and back adding in extra miles on the way home, for a total of 29.41 miles. I would have done more but I was hungry and Taco Bell would not let me bring my bike inside, nor would they let me go through the drive through, so I went home.


Group Ride: We rode out of Woodland Hills this week. We last rode from here 5 weeks ago. The weather was a complete contrast to last week. It was overcast for much of the ride holding temperatures down in the 50s. It felt downright chilly especially when descending hills. This week's highlight was a 4-mile grunt of a climb to the top of Stunt Road. On a clear day it is possible to see the ocean from the top. In fact the last time I was at the top of Stunt Rd was over 5 years ago with my Mum and Dad. But, today we were in the clouds. Literally, as we stood on the top a cloud bank rolled up the hill from the Santa Monica side of the mountain. So we snapped a couple of photos and headed straight down the way we had just come up.


The bottom portion of Stunt Road can be seen to the right of the group in the photo












It was a fast descent, but not my fastest speed of the day. That came when I hit 41.14 mph eastbound on Lynn Road after our trip through the beautiful Hidden Valley. The scenery for the ride was really nice and it probably was a blessing that we had cloud cover to keep us cool on the climbs. All in all, a fantastic day. Then when we were finished with the ride we all ate at Chicks, a local restuarant, where Ellie (one of the other riders) was holding a post ride fund-raiser.




Fundraising: You can read in the previous blog entry about our fundraising event at The Habit. Many thanks to my wonderful wife for organising it.

To make a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, or to learn more go to >TNT Donate
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