It's been about ten months since my last post... yes, I've been training, and yes, I've even ridden a bike century recently (more about that later). But in the meantime, I needed to clear the sidebar of the blog for this year's list of those people who've given $109 or more in order to sponsor an entire mile of El Tour de Tucson, so here's the list of people who did that last year:

Miles 1-5: Paul Anbinder
Mile 6: John Raimondi
Mile 7: Thomas Lento's girlfriend's cat "Awsome"
Miles 8-9: Tyler & Lisa Anbinder
Mile 10: Jessica Lang
Miles 11-12: Noah Price
Miles 13-21: Meg Silvern
Mile 22: Fred Trinkoff
Mile 23: Rebecca Seacord
Miles 24-26: Henry & Christine Bial
Mile 27: Michelle Lee
Mile 28: Marisa Bocci
Mile 29: Missa Bergin (In Honor of Luke Romano)
Mile 30: Andy Grosser & Nadine Macolini
Mile 31: Jason Damsker
Mile 32: Brandyne Warren
Mile 33: Stacey Golub (In Honor of Bob Golub)
Mile 34: Rob Necco
Mile 35: Kendall Golladay
Mile 36: Temple Sinai
Mile 37: Adriano Manocchia
Mile 38: Jeremiah Gertler
Miles 49-50: Lev Spiro
Mile 52: Dustin & Linda Moskowitz
Mile 54: Jeffrey Anbinder
Mile 55: Wade Kwon
Miles 58-59: Mark Weiss
Mile 60: Stu Fox
Miles 62-63: Linda Rodd
Mile 64: Dustin & Linda Moskowitz
Miles 65-68: Ross & Melody Brown
Mile 69: Mark Giordano
Mile 70: Ken Deschere
Mile 72: Mark H. Anbinder
Mile 77: Barry & Adrienne Anbinder
Mile 78: Ann Senghas (In Memory of June Murray Senghas)
Mile 79: Ernie & Martha Bial
Miles 93-94: Tim Vinciguerra
Miles 95-99: Madeline & Steve Anbinder
Mile 100: The Future Mr. & Mrs. Ellsom
Miles 101-4: Tracy & Rob Baron
Miles 105-9: Helen Anbinder

Thanks again to all of last year's Mile Sponsors!

Click Here for Gallery of El Tour de Tucson 2008 Photos




Late in the afternoon on November 22, 2008, I pedaled my way over the finish line for El Tour de Tucson XXVI, completing 109 miles of bicycling that I'd started by crossing the start line at five minutes after 7 in the morning, a couple thousand riders already starting ahead of me in those five minutes. I finished nine hours and thirty-two minutes after I started, in 3,487th place out of the 3,814 riders who completed the entire 109 miles.

Click here to read my transcribed voice posts from the day of the ride for more detail.

It was my third century ride in slightly over a year, and the second year in a row I've ridden El Tour de Tucson - and in many ways, the two rides were like night and day for me. The weather was equally gorgeous and tame, starting in the low 50s in the morning and topping out in the mid-70s. But my training had gone very differently, and my riding habits were very different as well.

I still had more strength in my core from working on it in the spring while preparing for America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride in Tahoe in June, and although it wasn't as strong as I'd hoped, it did help me take fewer and shorter breaks instead of having to nurse my back every hour or so. I had also learned a lot of valuable lessons during last year's Tucson ride about feeding myself constantly, hydrating myself effectively with electrolyte powder, putting on plenty of sunscreen, getting a good night's sleep beforehand, and wearing shorts with thicker padding... so I never had a moment like last year's where I felt like I was simply too exhausted to finish the ride.

On the other hand, I missed a lot of training rides this fall. Between the weather, greater demands on my time at work, and other issues, I just didn't work as hard to get my legs strong. And I felt it, but not for a while, and not nearly as badly as I expected. For the first several hours, I really felt great - I had some trouble climbing hills, but my riding was otherwise strong and efficient, and I was very glad to be out there. As I alluded to in one of my voice posts, on more than one occasion I thought the rest of my teammates were ahead of me when they were actually behind me, and vice versa (we were just stopping at different rest stops, and hopping over each other, basically). I wasn't doing too badly by comparison, though I knew the effect would worsen at the end of the day when they had more steam in reserve than I did.

Nevertheless, when I realized I had overestimated how much it would affect my overall time on the ride, and I actually had a shot at finishing earlier this year than last, I knew I had to seize the opportunity. All of my teammates had passed me for good by this point, but that was fine. I knew my training had been subpar, and unlike last year the cyclists on the team who were weaker than I had dropped out a couple of months ago, so I knew that one way or another I was almost certain to finish last; the only question was how far behind.

So I hammered my way through those last fifteen miles, especially - with my knees starting to hurt from the exertion, and beginning to run low on my last bottle of Gatorade (or so I thought, anyway; as it turned out, I still had one more packet of mix buried in a pocket somewhere). And at this late stage of the ride, with the police actually stopping us to let suburban automobile traffic through, I was forced to channel my frustration at those stops and renew my efforts.

But it paid off - just as our route took us onto the downtown flats that begin two miles from the finish line at the Tucson Convention Center, I felt my phone vibrate, and I checked to see that Coach Kurt had sent me a text message: "How are you doing, sir?" The rest of the team had finished, and had obviously had time to gather themselves and their thoughts together long enough to wonder just how far behind I was. So I answered him the best way I knew how - by powering up the flats at 20mph, rounding the corner, and finishing the damn ride. This time, Mom and Dad were both there, as was my old friend Mark, and it was a relief to get off the bike, check in, and get my medal.

So I finished this year four minutes earlier than I had last year - but my bike's computer registered a ride time of 7 hours and 32 minutes, meaning it took me about twenty minutes longer to do the actual 109 miles of pedaling. As I'd planned, I made it through with fewer and far shorter breaks, which more than made up for the slower biking and accounted for getting me across the finish line sooner.

But another thing I pondered was this: Last year, I started in the back of the Gold group, which meant I crossed the start line pretty quickly after 7am. This year I started with the rest of the team (minus Anna and Peach, who were shooting for gold medals) in the Bronze section, and we didn't cross the start line until 7:05am. If our ankle chips were scanned at the start line when we actually crossed, then my ride really took nine hours and thirty-two minutes; if on the other hand they were all set with a default start time of exactly 7am, then the time it took me to bike the 109-mile route was really nine hours and twenty-seven minutes, and I shaved nine minutes off my time. Naturally, I sent an e-mail to the organizers to ask them which it is, because I'm just that obsessive - and the answer came back this morning that the start time was 7am for everyone, meaning I actually shaved nine minutes off my time. Woohoo!

(Not officially, but whatever.)

The victory celebration was a nice turkey dinner, just like last year's, and this time instead of feeling burned out from too much sun, I just had trouble using my knees. To my pleasant surprise, the next morning I was getting around just fine, and my knees have been great ever since. My back had trouble on the flights back on Sunday, and then went into full spasms on Tuesday, but I've fully recovered from that now. Last night was bike pickup, so my bike is now back in its rightful place in my apartment's entry hallway.

I even got a very nice e-mail this morning from Team in Training, asking if I would be a mentor or fundraising captain again for the spring/summer season, as I did this past spring. But I politely declined this time, because I think I need a season off - several months during which when I bike, it's because I want to. I made sure to let them know I'd be available as a fundraising resource if they needed me, though.

Which brings me to the final point, and the reason I was doing this in the first place: So far, friends, family, colleagues, and complete strangers have sponsored me for this second El Tour de Tucson ride to the tune of $14,774, which will go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to support its missions of blood cancer research, patient support, and lobbying efforts. I'm very grateful for everyone's support! Still, it's not quite 75% of the way to my 2008 goal of $20,000; and in fact it's still short of my total from last year, $15,395. I would really love to top last year, even with the economy in its current state.

If you haven't made a donation yet, there is still time. There are even a few miles left open that you could sponsor retroactively with a $109 donation (see the sidebar to your right)! Click the link below for information on how to give by credit card or check. Please also feel free to share the information with your friends and family if you think they would be interested; I'm perfectly happy to have strangers sponsor me if it'll help the LLS find new treatments and cures. Thank you for reading, and for supporting my ride and this important cause!

Click Here to Sponsor Me

I won't go into too much detail about this year's pre-ride Pasta Party, because for the most part it was very much like last year's pre-ride Pasta Party. There were some differences, of course. First of all, the NYC team is a bit smaller this year, with a total of about 15 between riders, mentors, and coaches.



Second, this year both of my parents were able to join me in Tucson, instead of just my mother - along with my old friend Mark, whom I've known since first grade, and who drove out from southern California just to be in Tucson for the weekend.



Third, this year instead of Larry being the #3 fundraiser in the country and me being #8, Larry was #3 and I was #7, with $13,881 raised so far! Ironically, it was a pretty good sign of the current state of the economy that I moved up a spot while raising a little bit less money. But it's still a wonderful honor, and something I owe to all of you, my friends, family, and colleagues, for continuing to support this endeavor. There's still time to give, of course - through mid-December, really.

Anyway, here are also a couple of shots from the Shake-Out ride earlier today:








I hope to have many photos of tomorrow's big 109-mile El Tour de Tucson as well. Just like last year, I'll be voice posting from the road. In the meantime, I'm going to try to get about seven hours of sleep before the main event, which (sadly) would be about four or five more than I got last year.

Thanks for following this blog, and for your interest in and support of this very important cause!

Click Here to Sponsor Me

After last Saturday's somewhat painful ride, I was determined to take advantage of as many opportunities to ride as possible before bike drop, when my bike will disappear and head for Tucson over a week before I do. I was ready to do this past week's Tuesday 6am ride, but it was rained out. Then, I did actually show up for Thursday's 6am ride in Central Park, but unfortunately not all the air in my front tire showed up with me; there was some kind of slow leak, and Coach Gregg decided it wasn't worth the risk or potential damage to my bike. So I rode a total of 3.5 miles that morning, and had to bring my bike in Friday evening to make sure I'd be ready for yesterday.

Yesterday was beautiful, perfectly cool and sunny weather for riding. And ride I did, a total of 57 miles (including my 16-mile round-trip to the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge). I rode up 9W, over Tallman Mountain, into Piermont, up to Nyack, and a little beyond - but not very much beyond. The rest of the group went on to Rockland Lake Park, where I presume some of them did loops of that park and then rode back down. But I was having a lot of trouble with hills by the time we were heading uphill out of Nyack, so I turned back, and Gregg joined me.

(As a side note, on the way back, a bee flew into my helmet. I would love to report that I didn't panic, but this would be a lie. I did, in fact, panic for a few moments, and nearly rode right off the road (I probably also nearly swerved into car traffic, but I can't say for sure). Finally I managed to get the helmet off and toss it to the side, allowing the bee to fly away and me to calm the @#$% down. No stings. Yay.)

57 miles is still nothing to sneeze at, but I was having trouble with my back, my legs, and my ass. Ironically I had plenty of wind left, so I know that aerobically and cardiovacularly, I'm still doing great. I just had muscle and energy problems, which should be no real shock given how much training I unfortunately missed this season. But one thing was very curious: after Gregg remarked that he hadn't seen me eating very much on the ride, I stepped up the pace at which I consumed my carbs and electrolytes, in the form of Clif Shot-Blocks, Clif Shots, and Gatorade. And by the time I finished the ride at 57 miles, I felt much better than I had 28.5 miles in.

It's a rather foolish lesson to have to keep learning over and over again, especially after I had a similar problem on last year's El Tour de Tucson - but unless you're really stupid about it, it's almost impossible to overeat during a ride. So I resolve, on my one remaining long training ride next Saturday, and on El Tour de Tucson in twenty days, to feed and hydrate myself constantly and effectively. I will also work on my core as much as reasonably possible between now and then, so that my back feels as good after this year's Tucson ride as it did after this year's Tahoe ride, not as bad as it did after last year's Tucson ride.

As I've said before, I won't be as ready for this year's ride as I was for last year's. But I will finish it.

Click Here to Sponsor Me

For a variety of reasons, before yesterday, it had been over a month since the last time I'd ridden my bike at all. El Tour de Tucson is in less than a month away, and yesterday was the first of only three remaining long training rides. The weather wasn't promising, but I knew I had to go, or I might even have to withdraw from El Tour for lack of preparation. Travel reservations (including my parents') notwithstanding, that would have been extremely disappointing for a host of reasons, so I knew I had to ride yesterday.

I felt my five-week layoff pretty powerfully during the ride; my legs, my ass, and my back all felt it. I'm still feeling it today. The headwind on the way back didn't help, but most of it was my own fault for the lack of riding. But it's a good pain, the kind of pain that says, "What the hell were you waiting for?!" And I did make it up all the horrific hills that 9W South offers, it just hurt.

Since there was rain coming soon, the (fairly small) group only went up 9W as far as Piermont and then turned back. I even got a lift back into Manhattan with Kurt and Sandra instead of riding back over the Bridge to home because I was so wiped out, but that was fun as well. And the whole experience has renewed my determination to do a few weekday rides in the next two weeks as well as the last two weekend training rides, both of which promise to be quite long.

I will be ready for El Tour de Tucson on November 22. I may not improve on my time or performance from last year as I'd hoped, but I will bike 109 miles that day.

Second-round fundraising e-mails go out this week and next.

Click Here to Sponsor Me

Due to weather, some annoying health issues ('nuff said about that), and my travel to Ithaca for a wedding this past weekend, I haven't been out on the bike to train in a couple of weeks, and won't be again until this weekend, weather permitting. Now that we're in the last calendar month before the ride, it's sort of the "stretch run" - only five Saturday rides remain before we ship our bikes off to Tucson and hit the ten-day "taper" period. I may try to make a couple of the 6am Tuesday or 7pm Thursday rides as well, but my work schedule makes that rather difficult. Either way, I believe I'll be ready to ride El Tour de Tucson XXVI.

Meanwhile, fundraising has proceeded nicely - y'all have kindly donated $8,591 toward my goal of $20,000, or nearly 43% so far. We're already way more than halfway to the $15,395 I raised last year, and I haven't even sent out any reminders yet. And trust me, I will.

Slight update on the training schedule - I just moments ago heard from Coach Gregg that this weekend's training ride is on Sunday instead of Saturday. Naturally, because "all" the training rides are on Saturdays, I cleared my Saturdays for the remainder of the training period, and committed myself to something else for this weekend specifically making sure it was on Sunday instead of Saturday. So it looks like I'll have to ride on my own Saturday to get my training in, unless one of the coaches offers an unofficial alternative ride. *grumble*

Anyway, my apologies that this blog isn't quite as active as it was last year... I had a lot more free time and flexibility last year. But I am still training and fundraising, and I am still grateful for all your wonderful support, both financial and moral!

Click Here to Sponsor Me

...and some very good riding indeed.

I couldn't manage to drag myself out of bed at 6:30 yesterday morning to do the group training ride up 9W; I'd had a long week and desperately needed the sleep. That's one disadvantage of TNT's otherwise excellent training program; all the major rides are Saturday morning, and that's the day I most need just a few more hours. I'm sure yesterday's ride was beautiful, if probably a little bit on the cool side.

But I did make it out this morning, and did several loops of Central Park, for a total of 34.3 miles. More importantly, I pushed my hill-climbing past my comfort zone; instead of dropping down to my granny (the easiest crank) for Harlem Hill, instead even of relying on the largest gear in my middle crank, I forced myself to climb Harlem Hill in the second largest gear in my middle crank. Every time. It wasn't easy, but I made it up five times, which was pretty instructive. Even though I've got a little more padding around the middle than I did while training for El Tour de Tucson at this time last year, my legs are obviously still quite strong from all the hill climbing we did training for, and during, America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride around Lake Tahoe in June.

Of course, the endurance bicyclists among you know that leg strength isn't always the most important thing; I still need to ride often enough this fall, and long enough distances, for my ass to be ready. I think, but I'm not positive, that next weekend our trainig ride is a choice of the 50-mile or 75-mile routes of the Twin Lights Ride, which I found fairly hilly and challenging last year. Again, my only complaint is likely to be how absurdly early I have to get up to catch the ferry from downtown Manhattan to New Jersey... but I'm looking forward to the ride.

Fundraising: $6,413 so far, or 32.065% toward my goal of $20,000. I finally decided that the only way I was going to find enough "free time" to send out all the remaining e-mails was to take my laptop with me pretty much everywhere I go now, so I'm queueing up those e-mails during my commute on the bus and subway. Stay tuned, if you haven't gotten yours yet, you will this week!

Click Here to Sponsor Me

I posted a preliminary honor roll for last year's El Tour de Tucson ride on November 14, 2007, when I was about to leave for Arizona - but I completely forgot to post a final honor roll after the December 15 deadline had come and gone. So now, with apologies for the delay, and in honor of everyone who sponsored me for last year's ride, I present a list of everyone who sponsored me for last year's ride! (*)

Adara Alston
Barry & Adrienne Anbinder
Helen & Paul Anbinder
Jeffrey Anbinder
Madeline & Steve Anbinder
Mark H. Anbinder
Tricia Anbinder
Anonymous (4)
Laura Armstrong
David Arroyo
James Baron
Penny Baron
Robert & Tracy Baron
Elyssa Bass
Marc, Andrea, & Samantha Beck
Kimberly Bendus
Melissa Bergin
Dave Berman
Julie Bestry
Ernie & Martha Bial
Henry & Christine Bial
David Bilmes
Marisa Bocci
Farrah Bostic
Laura Brody
Ross Brown
Heather Burns
Jason Cali
Stacy Chandler
Jonathan Colan
Benjamin Cooper
Jason Damsker
Scott Davis & Arlene Finkelstein
Brett DeChaine
Greg Deckrow
Al Deflorio
Mike Dempsey
Ken Deschere
Will Devine
Elke Dochtermann
Brian Dozer
Henrik Dullea
Brandon Eldridge
Cyndi Faulkner & Andrew Ellsom
Scott Fener
Glenda Flores
Anne Foerg & Colin Delaney
Serina Fojas & Manny Mercader
Scott Folla
Stu Fox
Adam Ganderson
Stephanie Gendell
Nicole & Tom Gerbe
Addison Golladay
Rebekah Gordon
Andy Grosser & Nadine Macolini
Peter Grossman
Gerald Grunsfeld
Jishnu Guha
Oliver Habicht
Yuji Hakuno
Jeff Hardgrove
John & Micaela Hayes
Howard Herman
Sanjay Hiranandani
Dawn Hoffman
Jeffrey Honig
David James & Leslie Daland-James
Matt & Naomi Kall
Keith Kannenberg
Seth Kaufman
Patricia Kellogg
Sonja & Ed Kelly
Ari Kissiloff
Liza Koenig
Alana Landa
Jessica Lang
Michelle Lee
Randy Lee
Adam Levenson
Kelly Lindsay
Joseph Lyons
Sandy Manuel
Jocelyn McCarthy
Kelly McLees
Barbara McMullen
Kim McMunn
Amelia Michael & Larry Hershman
Margot Miller
Dara Mirsky
Thomas Monclova
Gordon & Fredy Morse
Dustin & Linda Moskowitz
Lisa, Martin, Christopher & Alex Mueller
Margaux Neiderbach
Robb Newman
Edie Nugent
Mike O'Hara
Doug Onsi
Aviva Orenstein
Clayton Osbon
Cindy Overacker
Stuart Pergament
James Perkins
Stacie Perlman
Jeffrey Pettiross
Michael Pezzillo
Margot Plumadore
Barbara Powers
Noah Price
Thelma & Herb Rabin
John Raimondi
Alan Rose
Barbara Katz Rothman
Helene Rothstein
Matt Ruff
David Russo
Leslie Ryan
Lauren & Valdi Sapira
Rahadyan Sastrowardoyo
Abigail Schlaff
Douglas Schneider & Joni Kletter
Rebecca Seacord
Stephen & Nancy Segall
Ann Senghas
Mia Shargel
Margie Hodges Shaw
Kimberley Shults
Meg Silvern
Morton Sinkoff
Miriam Sivak
Fred Smith
Ian Smith & Melissa Payne-Smith
Stephanie & Todd Smith
Mike Stuhlmiller
Brian Sullivan
Lloyd Targer
Temple Beth Shalom
Temple Sinai
Joseph Terranova
William Brewster Thackeray
Teri & Jack Thill
Anil & Waikuen Thomas
Stephen Thompson
Fred Trinkoff
Cheryl Turner
Taryn & Stephen Turner
Bob Van Voris
Wendy Wagner
Andrew Wallenstein
Rosalie Walters
Peg Warner
Brandyne Warren
R.M. Weiner
Elizabeth Woolf
George Zachar
Elizabeth Zogby

(*) I compiled this list from several different sources. I'm fairly sure I got everybody, but if I inadvertently omitted you, please let me know, and I apologize.

Click Here to Sponsor Me for THIS Year's Ride!

As with last year, it's a relatively small group training for El Tour de Tucson this season. Even including the coaches and mentors, I think we're at about 25 (and this time I'm "just" a rider again). So even with the shortened training season, the Labor Day holiday was going to mean a very small group for any potential training ride. And then each of the coaches independently made the decision to be out of town for the holiday.

So for whatever it was worth, I volunteered to "lead" a Saturday morning training ride just so there would be something for those riders who had stayed in town, especially those first-time TNT riders who might still be feeling iffy about whether they could do this with only eleven weeks of training left. Coach Gregg encouraged anybody who wanted to join me to e-mail me so that I would know to expect them; exactly one teammate did.

Yesterday morning arrived, and New York City was still pretty wet from the nighttime rains, plus the forecast was for more, so I told Jeanine that I was canceling, and we could ride today instead if she was available. She was, so we did.

Jeanine is the quintessential TNT first-timer; she's a woman on the cusp between young and not so young, who hasn't done much in the way of exercise in the last few years, and just bought a brand-new road bike. Although she's already met her fundraising minimum, she's been doubting whether she could actually complete the ride, and in fact last night her long-time jeweler, who used to bike, came right out and told her that she wouldn't be able to do it. Well, that discouraged her a little, but to my delight, it also pissed her off a bit, and she arrived this morning hopeful that I could help.

Now, I'm no coach. But I've learned an awful lot in the last year and a half about what helps me, and I've picked up plenty of pointers from the coaches and mentors I've trained with. So we took it slowly at first, I told her some of my stories about last year in Tucson, and she took to the planned regimen for the day pretty well. We rode three entire loops of Central Park, plus three extra repeats of Harlem Hill, my old nemesis. I taught her how to use the triple crank and gears on her bike for a more efficient ride, and proved to her that she could ride at 25 miles an hour without much effort under the right conditions. I explained how to explore what road food would serve her best (she liked my piña colada Shot Blocs). I narrated a lot about what would happen in Tucson and why, and by the end, I'm pretty sure I had her convinced that on November 22, she might not finish 109 miles in first place, but she damn well wasn't going to finish in last place, either.

I even accompanied her to her bike shop afterwards, after telling her the story of my disastrous training ride last year that led me finally to get clipless pedals after hemming and hawing for twelve years, and I watched as Sam the bike guy swapped out her old pedals, helped her pick out new shoes, and trained her in clipping her cleats in and out.

Unfortunately, and ironically, after close to thirty miles, some great hill climbing, and subtly encouraging a new teammate to overcome personal obstacles, I arrived home and promptly slammed my knee on the stairs carrying my bike up to my apartment. I was supposed to attend a wedding on Long Island this evening; instead, I'm icing and resting. I'm sure I'm fine; my knee is a lot stronger than it was a couple of years ago shortly after surgery. But I'm going to be extra careful about it.

Click Here to Sponsor Me

I've been starting slowly with the fundraising e-mails this year, but the first batch of them (and my fundraising page [click on the link below]) have told a little bit of the story about what Mom has been up to this year, referring to it as "a different kind of fight." Although she's been in fairly good health for the last seven years, Mom's leukemic lymphocyte count reached levels early this year that led her doctors to start treatment notwithstanding a lack of other symptoms.

The treatment has been a sort of "chemo plus," a treatment that was not available at the time of her diagnosis - and was developed by researchers supported by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with donations like yours and mine. There are "rounds" of treatment, generally a week at a time with three weeks off in between, and Mom's doctors anticipated anywhere from four to six rounds of that four-week cycle.

The great news is this: After three rounds of treatment, and a few false starts over the last few weeks concerning a possible fourth round, Mom's Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia has been judged to be in remission!

Now, this isn't a "cure," but it's remarkable progress and wonderful news for Mom and for all of us. She's been taken off all dietary and lifestyle restrictions that were placed on her during the treatment, and she's looking forward to just living her life as she sees fit for a while. It's more than likely that somewhere down the line she'll have to go through more treatment, but that's a long way off - and in the meantime, we're going to try to help her enjoy every minute.

We're also going to keep doing everything we can to help win this fight for her and for the tens of thousands of other people battling blood cancers. In the first several days of fundraising, with only a small percentage of my planned e-mails having gone out already, my wonderful friends and family have already come through with $2,040 of my $20,000 goal for this year's El Tour de Tucson. I'm training on my bike two or three times a week, and I'm going to ride it 109 miles on November 22 - I hope you'll join me by making a gift to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to sponsor my ride. Every gift of any size is wonderful - and if you sponsor me for at least $109, I'll dedicate an entire mile of the ride to you for each $109 you give.

Thanks for sharing in our great news, and for keeping tabs on this here blog!

Click Here to Sponsor Me

...I wanted to preserve this list of the kind folks who sponsored individual miles on my 2007 El Tour de Tucson ride by giving at least $100. I had to erase their names in order to clear the sidebar for this year's mile sponsors. Other than that, nothing to see here... move along.

* Warmup Mile 1: Meg Silvern
* Warmup Mile 2: Molly McDowell
* Warmup Mile 3: Scott Folla
* Miles 1-2: Henry & Christine Bial
* Mile 3: Temple Sinai
* Mile 4: Linda Craugh
* Mile 5: In Memory of Michael I. Shore
* Mile 6: Thelma & Herb Rabin
* Mile 7: Barry & Adrienne Anbinder
* Miles 8-12: Tyler & Lisa Anbinder
* Mile 13: Laura Brody
* Mile 14: Noah Price
* Mile 15: Mike Stuhlmiller
* Mile 16: Mike O'Hara
* Mile 17: Jeffrey Honig
* Mile 18: Dustin & Linda Moskowitz
* Mile 19: Ernie & Martha Bial
* Mile 20: Elke Dochtermann
* Mile 21: Addison Golladay
* Mile 22: Stephen & Nancy Segall
* Mile 23: Scott Davis & Arlene Finkelstein
* Miles 24-25: Howard Herman
* Mile 26: Rebecca Seacord
* Miles 27 & 28: Temple Beth Shalom
* Mile 29: Andy Grosser & Nadine Macolini
* Mile 30: Helene Rothstein
* Mile 31: Jason & Sharon Damsker
* Mile 32: Amelia Michael & Larry Hershman
* Miles 33-37: Noah & Rebecca
* Mile 38: Brandyne Warren
* Mile 39: Stephanie & Todd Smith
* Miles 40-41: Cheryl Turner
* Mile 42: Laura Brody
* Miles 43-52: Steve & Madeline Anbinder
* Mile 53: Fred Trinkoff
* Mile 54: Mark H. Anbinder
* Miles 55-59: Greg Deckrow
* Mile 60: Marisa Bocci
* Mile 61: Scott Fener
* Mile 62: Matt Ruff
* Mile 63: Stephen Thompson
* Mile 64: George Zachar
* Mile 65: Sonja & Ed Kelly
* Mile 66: Thomas Monclova
* Mile 67: Cyndi Faulkner & Andrew Ellsom
* Mile 68: Kelly McLees
* Mile 69: Brandon Eldridge
* Mile 70: Jessica Lang
* Miles 71-72: Ross & Melody Brown
* Miles 73-76: John Raimondi
* Mile 77: Laura Brody
* Miles 78-83: John Raimondi
* Mile 84: Jeff Pettiross
* Mile 85: Elyssa Bass
* Miles 86-87: Anil & Waikuen Thomas
* Mile 88: David James & Leslie Daland-James
* Mile 89: Ian Smith & Melissa Payne-Smith
* Miles 90-95: Dad
* Mile 96: Doug Onsi
* Mile 97: Doug Schneider & Joni Kletter
* Mile 98: Brian Sullivan
* Mile 99: Matt & Naomi Kall
* Mile 100: Laura Brody
* Mile 101: The Mueller Family
* Mile 102: Ken Deschere
* Mile 103: Barbara Powers
* Mile 104: Farrah Bostic
* Miles 105-109: Mom

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I haven't posted in several months, and there really have been things I should have been posting about. For the fall season, I was just another rider for TNT; this spring I have been the Fundraising Captain for the NYC chapter of TNT, helping about a hundred riders raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society while they trained for the Montauk Century (now already two weeks past) and America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride, this coming Sunday in Tahoe. Together, as a team, they have raised nearly $700,000. I think that's pretty fantastic.

Oh, right, about this coming Sunday. I'm biking another 100 miles on Sunday. I've been training again, though my schedule (now that I have a good job where I'm pretty happy) hasn't allowed the same level of training as I had in the fall (at least not bike training). Plus, this ride is hillier. And at a much higher altitude. But here I go nevertheless, flying out to Reno via Salt Lake City early tomorrow morning, and Sunday I'll be riding 100 miles through the hills around Lake Tahoe. Many familiar faces will be with me; fellow Tucson riders Larry, Paul, and Sal are now mentors, fellow rider Steven is now a training captain, Coaches Matt and Gregg are again coaches, my "other mentor" Kurt is going along as "just" a rider this time, and my mentor Kathryn is now the Mentor Captain for all the team's mentors.

And I'll be live-blogging the ride again via voice post, just like I did for El Tour de Tucson. So feel free to follow along right here on Sunday, June 1, or check in any time after that to read what the ride was like as it happened.

There's a difference this time. After seven years of "watch and wait" with Mom's Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, she started treatment in early May. She tolerated the first round of treatment itself pretty well, but ended up in the hospital for several days last week with an upper respiratory tract infection - which ironically meant the treatment had likely worked too well, given its effect on her immune system. She's got two more rounds coming up, and the next one actually starts while I'm on my way back from Tahoe on Monday. She's a brave, strong woman, but I know she appreciates any and all support she gets from anybody, so if you have a moment to think of her this month, that'd be really nice of you.

When it comes time to ride El Tour de Tucson again in November, I will once again be asking you for your donations, and I'll be asking you for the most you can give. But riding as a Captain this weekend means I don't have to raise very much, though I am paying my own way as far as airfare, hotel, etc. If you are inclined to make a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in honor of my ride this weekend anyway, I do still need to make it to $500, so I'd be grateful - please feel free to contact me via e-mail at beeeejesq at gmail dot com for information. (But I do ask as a favor that you not forego sponsoring me for Tucson this fall in favor of Tahoe now.)

Anyway, Mom's got the hard part. I'm just riding my bike. Thank you for all your support.

Folks, as far as El Tour de Tucson 2007 goes, the time for raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is coming to a close. As of midnight this Friday, December 14, I can no longer accept donations online or by check. Friends, family, and colleagues have already donated the incredible sum of $14,760. But I don't want to stop until I have to, because every dollar counts, and every dollar helps real people fighting blood cancers, like my Mom, my friend Christine's dad, my friend Lindsey, and hundreds of thousands of others. I would love to reach $15,000 before pulling the shades on my first Team in Training event... so I will make this offer:

The person whose donation puts me over $15,000 gets one of my legendary, award-winning, got-me-on-TV-with-Toni-Senecal, make-my-southern-friends-weep, home-baked pecan pies.

I hope you'll give anyway, even if it's not enough to put me over $15,000 (or even if someone has already put me over $15,000 by the time you give)... it's a great cause, all gifts are tax deductible, and I'll be incredibly grateful for your help.

This page is where you can make a credit card donation or find my address for mailing a check. If you're going to send a check, though, please do it pretty quickly... or if you're local, let me know where I can come pick it up, which I'm happy to do.

Thanks!

Click Here for Gallery of El Tour de Tucson Photos




Just after 4:36 in the afternoon on November 17, 2007, my mentor Kathryn and I pedaled our way over the finish line for El Tour de Tucson XXV, completing 109 miles of bicycling that we'd started at 7 in the morning. We finished 3,851st and 3,852nd, respectively, out of 4,252 riders who completed the entire 109 miles (and the estimated 4,534 who started the 109-mile ride).

( 109 Miles of Desert on the Bike, 109 Miles of Desert; Take One Down... (Click here for the entire story!) )

Thank you to everyone who supported me on this ride, by sponsoring me or getting involved in some other way. If you haven't yet sponsored me, there's still time; Active.com and I will be accepting donations through Friday, December 14, and I'll post a final honor roll shortly thereafter. Click below to make a credit card donation or for information on where to mail a check.

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Tonight, close to a thousand of us - including nearly seven hundred Team in Training teammates from 40 regions around the country - gathered together in the Tucson Convention Center for an extremely well-run pasta dinner. The NYC team was greeted like all the other teams - by a deafening, exciting gauntlet of cheering volunteers, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society staff, and riders who'd arrived earlier. Here we are, just before our entrance:



They got us through the lines and to our tables, and put on a presentation involving several guest speakers, and got us out the door in an hour and a half, and we felt neither rushed nor bored. There was plenty of good, solid, carb-heavy food (and non-carb options like salad and plain chicken), and fruit and beverages at the tables.

The hour-long presentation was really the thing, though. At the beginning, NYC's coordinator Karen handed me a hat she said I should wear, and that I might be recognized for my fundraising. I'm not a hat guy, but when I saw that my teammate Larry had been given one as well and was wearing it, and I saw the back said "Top Fundraiser" on it, I figured I should go along.

Well, after all the individual regions had been given their shout-outs, and after all the Team in Training alumni (those who are back for their second event or more) were recognized, the main speaker individually introduced the top ten fundraisers in the country.

At $14,180, I was recognized as the #8 fundraiser in the country. (The speaker also recognized Mom, who was sitting next to me, as my inspiration for riding, which recognition was a pleasant surprise to her.) Larry, in many ways the heart and soul of the NYC team as a blood cancer survivor himself, was recognized as the #3 fundraiser in the country at just over twenty thousand dollars. The recognition certainly wasn't why we did it, but we didn't turn it down, either. Larry and me with our mentor, Kat:



We retired to the hotel, where we did final tire pressure checks, and now it's just about time to go to bed, since I'm getting up at the truly happy hour of 4:15. But before I sack out, here are a few select photographs from the last day:

Getting ready for the "shake-out" ride...



The folks bringing up my rear on the way up the Big A Hill...



"It's a what degree incline?!"



A view of Tucson from the top...



We made it!



Down at the bottom again...



Much more to come tomorrow, obviously. Get a good night's sleep, willya?!

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Today's Final (Shake-Out) Training Ride (Hotel Arizona to The Big A Hill, up to the top, back down to the bottom, to the Hotel Arizona):

5.4 miles

Total to Date:

1,241.6 miles

Yes, seriously, 5.4 miles. And at the bottom of the Big A Hill, when we started whining that we wanted more, Coach Matt said it warmed his heart that his object lesson had succeeded. We managed to ride up the biggest hill in Tucson, the Big A Hill...

...and we all made it just fine. Okay, between the elevation, the exertion, and the fine, fine back meds I was on, I nearly threw up at the top, but I made it there just fine. And that hill is worse than any we'll face on tomorrow's El Tour de Tucson, so we're obviously ready. Darn you and your successful object lessons, Matt - darn you!!

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I don't know if I slept on it wrong, or if it was the flights, or if I'm just tired and out of whack, but my lower back has been weak and in pain all morning. I lay flat on it for a while, which helped - but I finally decided that it was in bad enough shape that I had to take my back meds. I'm glad I thought to bring them with me, though I hesitated, not having needed them in a couple of years. So an hour and a half later, I'm flying a bit high on Ultracet and Robaxin, some pretty good stuff. I made it through the El Tour de Tucson registration, orientation, and bike expo process okay, but my back is still feeling weak.

And our warm-up ride is in 45 minutes.

I'm going to lie flat for another half hour, and see how I feel. It may be that a shake-out ride is exactly what I need, but it also may be that I shouldn't be riding 25 miles under the influence of these really happy drugs. If it comes down to a choice between riding today and riding tomorrow, I will without any hesitation choose tomorrow.

Lots of other stuff to blog about since our trip here yesterday, including a bunch of photos, but that will have to wait until after I get myself right. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

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The suitcase is packed. In case the suitcase disappears in transit, the carry-ons contain everything I need for the ride (except my helmet, which I can replace in Tucson if need be). My boarding passes and the list of dedicated miles are printed out.

I'm nervous and excited, and I sure hope I can get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow morning I fly to Tucson with Mom and with about half of the El Tour de Tucson team from the NYC chapter of Team in Training (the other half are traveling on their own schedules). The weather forecast still looks fantastic.

As I get ready to leave, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has sponsored me so far by making a gift to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It's not too late to do so if you've missed this particular deadline; just click on the link at the bottom of this post. But these wonderful people on this extraordinary (and still growing!) list have given the remarkable total of $14,180 so far:

Barry & Adrienne Anbinder
Helen & Paul Anbinder
Jeffrey Anbinder
Madeline & Steve Anbinder
Mark H. Anbinder
Tricia Anbinder
Anonymous (4)
Laura Armstrong
James Baron
Penny Baron
Robert & Tracy Baron
Elyssa Bass
Marc, Andrea, & Samantha Beck
Kimberly Bendus
Melissa Bergin
Dave Berman
Julie Bestry
Ernie & Martha Bial
Henry & Christine Bial
Marisa Bocci
Farrah Bostic
Laura Brody
Ross Brown
Heather Burns
Stacy Chandler
Jonathan Colan
Benjamin Cooper
Jason Damsker
Scott Davis & Arlene Finkelstein
Brett DeChaine
Greg Deckrow
Mike Dempsey
Ken Deschere
Will Devine
Elke Dochtermann
Brian Dozer
Henrik Dullea
Brandon Eldridge
Cyndi Faulkner & Andrew Ellsom
Scott Fener
Glenda Flores
Anne Foerg & Colin Delaney
Serina Fojas & Manny Mercader
Adam Ganderson
Stephanie Gendell
Nicole & Tom Gerbe
Addison Golladay
Rebekah Gordon
Andy Grosser & Nadine Macolini
Peter Grossman
Gerald Grunsfeld
Jishnu Guha
Oliver Habicht
Yuji Hakuno
Jeff Hardgrove
John & Micaela Hayes
Howard Herman
Dawn Hoffman
Jeffrey Honig
David James & Leslie Daland-James
Matt & Naomi Kall
Seth Kaufman
Patricia Kellogg
Sonja & Ed Kelly
Liza Koenig
Jessica Lang
Michelle Lee
Kelly Lindsay
Joseph Lyons
Sandy Manuel
Jocelyn McCarthy
Kelly McLees
Barbara McMullen
Kim McMunn
Amelia Michael & Larry Hershman
Margot Miller
Dara Mirsky
Thomas Monclova
Gordon & Fredy Morse
Dustin & Linda Moskowitz
Lisa, Martin, Christopher & Alex Mueller
Margaux Neiderbach
Edie Nugent
Mike O'Hara
Doug Onsi
Aviva Orenstein
Clayton Osbon
Cindy Overacker
Stuart Pergament
James Perkins
Jeffrey Pettiross
Michael Pezzillo
Barbara Powers
Noah Price
Thelma & Herb Rabin
John Raimondi
Barbara Katz Rothman
Helene Rothstein
Matt Ruff
David Russo
Leslie Ryan
Lauren & Valdi Sapira
Rahadyan Sastrowardoyo
Abigail Schlaff
Douglas Schneider & Joni Kletter
Rebecca Seacord
Stephen & Nancy Segall
Ann Senghas
Mia Shargel
Margie Hodges Shaw
Kimberley Shults
Meg Silvern
Morton Sinkoff
Ian Smith & Melissa Payne-Smith
Stephanie & Todd Smith
Mike Stuhlmiller
Brian Sullivan
Lloyd Targer
Temple Beth Shalom
Temple Sinai
Joseph Terranova
William Brewster Thackeray
Teri & Jack Thill
Anil & Waikuen Thomas
Stephen Thompson
Fred Trinkoff
Cheryl Turner
Taryn & Stephen Turner
Bob Van Voris
Wendy Wagner
Andrew Wallenstein
Rosalie Walters
Brandyne Warren
R.M. Weiner
Elizabeth Woolf
George Zachar
Elizabeth Zogby

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

And a special thanks once again to Eddie Negron for shooting and producing my video, Tucson or Bust.

The next time I post will be from Tucson.

Tucson, Baby!!

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Expanding upon a comment in another entry...

Obviously five days out is a little early to be celebrating, but the current weather forecast for this weekend in Tucson, Arizona makes me incredibly optimistic. After hearing stories of sub-freezing 6:30am start temperatures and 90+° middays in some earlier El Tours de Tucson, a start in the low 50s and a high in the low 80s sounds just about perfect.

A few days after writing about the happy problem of having all 109 miles sponsored already, I got yet another $100 donation, from fellow Top5 List contrib Meg. After consulting on her wishes, I have indeed dedicated to her the first mile of the Friday afternoon warmup ride. And since she lives in Tucson, we've planned to try to have breakfast together Friday morning; her own father has been undergoing treatment for lymphoma, so she is close to the cause as well.

The entry hallway to my apartment looks so bare without my bicycle sitting there! I miss it already... and I hope it arrives in one piece.

112 hours to go. I plan to post a "final" (pre-ride) honor roll of donors before I depart.

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Well, after Sunday's ride, I sort of expected there would still be some riding this week. But a possible Tuesday morning ride in Brooklyn (due to my once again "accidentally" not having work that day) was rained out, and Coach Matt's tapering instructions specifically said it was now time to stop. Ideally, we want to arrive in Tucson next week absolutely itching to get back our bikes - and if my current mood is any indication, that will be no problem. The only real challenge is not continuing to eat like I'm burning 8-10,000 calories a week on my bike.

Tuesday night was the official "Send-Off" for the NYC Team in Training group; we gathered over pizza and beverages in the conference room of a midtown law firm where one of our conditioning mentors works, and went over the details of our upcoming travel, packing, preparation, the ride itself, and the various parties we'd be attending. For many of us this was the first time we'd seen our teammates in actual clothing, without helmet-hair, and we're a pretty good-looking bunch.

Following the meeting, we adjourned to Papillon for a different sort of beverages, and enjoyed each other's company without the pressures of training. We're a pretty fun bunch, too.

Tomorrow is "Bike Drop," wherein we're all supposed to deliver our bicycles (sans pedals, which we have to take to Arizona ourselves) to a truck at Toga Bike Shop on the west side so they can be driven to Tucson. I have an out-of-town obligation tomorrow evening, though, so Coach Matt is doing me the favor of taking care of my bike drop as long as I bring my bike to him by seven in the morning. Many thanks to him.

After that, it's just a matter of waiting... staying stretched out and loose... working on the strength and stability of my core (for my back) and my quads (for my knee)... and praying for the continued good fortune that has smiled upon me in the six months I've been working toward this goal. One week from today, I'm flying to Tucson; on Friday, there will be a relatively short (25 miles or so) warm-up ride to get us loose; then on Saturday, we'll be doing the real thing, El Tour de Tucson.

I wish I could post several times during the ride itself, because I'm sure that afterwards, I won't remember everything I wanted to say. I'll try at least to get some good photos of my team and myself, and of the spectacular Arizona scenery. Thank you for indulging me by following this journal these past months, and I look forward to posting the full report soon.

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