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

Just a quick note, since I have to be in court this morning...

My bike has been on its way to Tucson on a truck with many other bikes, since Friday evening.

I've been doing crunches and planks to work on my core so that it's strong enough to support my riding 109 miles.

You wonderful people have sponsored me to the tune of $13,047 so far!

And very early tomorrow morning, I'll head to Tucson myself via American Airlines, with the TNT group.

The ride is Saturday.

Stay tuned, and thank you for all your support!

Click Here to Sponsor Me

I did, in fact, get in two more rides this week - I rode both Tuesday morning at 5:45, and this morning at 5:45. Each time, I rode to Central Park, did two loops, and returned, for a total of about 16 miles. It wasn't a major workout, but in light of El Tour de Tucson being only nine days away, it was important for me to get in the saddle time. My back is doing well, and I'm continuing to work on my core. Meanwhile, bike drop is tomorrow - we put our bikes on a truck and wave goodbye, and we won't see them again until a week from today in Tucson.

I'm very excited - and gratified by all the messages of support I've been receiving from friends and family, both with and without donations. Fundraising is still lagging behind last year at this time, but I'm hopeful that there will be a last wave of giving as there was last year - particularly from those who gave last year but have not yet given this year. If you're one of them, watch for my next e-mail.

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Just as happened with last year's final big training ride, the group at large is out there somewhere right now, attempting to put 79 miles behind them in the rain. It's not nearly as cold as last year's, but also just like last year, the weather forecast for tomorrow is better by degrees of magnitude. And again, just like last year, I have a big social event tonight - not my own birthday party this time, but a black-tie wedding in Brooklyn. So after taking everything into consideration, I have once again opted out of the group ride in favor of riding on my own tomorrow. And, once again, I feel fairly vindicated - although it wasn't raining at the time Coach Gregg made the decision six hours ago, it's pouring right now.

Unlike last year, though, bike drop is on a Friday this year, so I may actually be able to get in two shorter weekday rides after tomorrow's longer solo ride. I've also been working my core very hard every day since my last ride, and I'm confident that my back and abs are getting stronger and will be better able to support me on the 109-mile ride in Tucson on Nov. 22.

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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.

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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

Despite the storms traveling through the area yet again, we finally had some decent Saturday morning weather today. It was humid but not very hot, and so we had a moist but otherwise very nice ride up 9W from the George Washington Bridge to Piermont (Bunbury's Coffee Shop in Piermont for muffins, to be precise) and back. I biked from home to the bridge, and back home from the bridge, as well, so my total was 44.3 miles. The ride back from Piermont was incredibly hilly as always, and due to my relative lack of preparedness at this point in the season compared to this time last year, I took longer than most of the group, but I completed it just fine... and there's still two months left to work on my conditioning.

In addition to a pretty good crowd of this year's Tucson team, all of whom did a great job, my old friend Brian Sullivan also joined us. He lives in Jersey City, so he had about a twelve-mile ride from home to the bridge, and he also rode home afterwards, which probably put his day's riding at about 53 miles. He was pretty serious about bicycling way back in high school, and today he actually rode the bike he'd used in high school, which is amazing, given how old we are and how old the bike must therefore be. We'd only reconnected two years ago, after close to twenty years of not being in touch, so it was a little surreal biking with him, but also most welcome.

As for fundraising, many of you kind folks have already made a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in support of my ride, and the total thus far is $4,964. This means that I've more than met the $4,500 "minimum" TNT sets before we're allowed to travel to Tucson and participate in the ride, so I'm covered where that's concerned. But I've set my own "minimum" this year, like I did last year. I'm aiming to raise $20,000, and I hope to send out the last of the "first-round" e-mails to all of you within the next week.

In the meantime, if you'd like to make a donation without being prodded by e-mail:

Click Here to Sponsor Me

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.

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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.

Click Here to Sponsor Me

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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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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When we started training just over five months ago, the NYC Chapter of Team in Training had nearly two dozen El Tourists - bicyclists hoping to take on the challenge of El Tour de Tucson on November 17. About two weeks from now, only about fifteen of us will actually set off on the journey to Arizona.

One or two dropped out immediately, reconsidering what they must have thought was a good idea at the time. One semi-notorious member of the group dropped out when she finally figured out that she hadn't the slightest idea what she was doing - on a bike or with raising money - and wasn't interested in learning; unfortunately, it was many weeks after the rest of us had figured it out for ourselves. And rumor has it, of course, that at least one person dropped out because she had found raising $4,400 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society a far greater challenge than she'd expected, and did not want to risk having to make up the difference from her own funds - an understandable concern.

But the real shame is people who had to drop out for health reasons. My new friend Sarah, a fellow college hockey fan whose first instinct (as with so many women I meet in NYC) was to set me up with one of her single Jewish girl friends, unfortunately aggravated an old knee injury along the way, and was just plain told to stop biking until it can be fixed. My new friend Ofer (bike_to_tucson), one of the few other regulars at 6am Central Park rides and someone who was always willing to plan rides outside the official schedule, hurt his shoulder in a biking accident in Israel in August, and although he has been able to bike a little since then, he couldn't bike enough to train properly for a 109-mile ride seventeen days from now.

(For my own part, I recognize that I've been very lucky not to hurt my own knee, little more than a year after surgery and rehab. I've been very careful, but you can't control everything, and I'm grateful that I've gotten to this point with only the ususal bicyclist's bruises and scratches.)

These are people I've grown to care about and enjoy, and I intend to spend time with them again. But especially because we had already been through so much together, and because we are all fighting for this most important cause, I had looked forward to spending three days with them in Tucson, and one day with them biking 109 miles. I hope they can join me if I do it again next year, and I hope I can join them if they choose one of TNT's other rides. In the meantime, I wish them speedy respective recoveries, and I hope they know we'll be thinking of them out on the road. Thanks for the inspiration.

Click Here to Sponsor Me

Back in late June, I decided that since I had set a challenging goal for my bike riding - 109 miles in one day - I should set an equally challenging goal for raising money. I set my goal at $10,900, and in mid-July, I started asking my family and friends to rise to the occasion. You have come through in grand style, and I cannot thank you enough for that.

I knew in my heart that I would eventually reach my goal, but I honestly did not expect it to happen a full fifty-one days before I put rubber to the road in Tucson. This afternoon, just after I got off my bike, my friend Brandyne made a donation to sponsor Mile #38 of 109... and put my total fundraising for this event at $10,922. Even better, her firm may match her gift. (Which is a great excuse to remind you: If you work for a matching gift company, please submit the proper forms to double the impact of your gift to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!)

So this is a virtual toast to Brandyne, and also to everyone who has donated thus far. I'm overwhelmed by your support, and immensely grateful. I also hope that those of you who haven't yet given won't be deterred by my having reached my goal. Every dollar you give helps real people with real health problems, and I intend to continue to raise money until El Tour de Tucson comes and goes in mid-November.

Thank you!!

Click Here to Sponsor Me

Many thanks to Chris White, the proprietor of The Top5 List and Ruminations, for his shout-outs in today's e-mail editions of both humor publications. For those of you who've landed here for the first time, the basic gist is this:

1. I'm in training to ride my bike 109.3 miles in the Tucson, Arizona area on Nov. 17, in "El Tour de Tucson."
2. I'm doing this through Team in Training, an arm of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, to raise money for the great cause of battling blood cancers, in part because my mother has leukemia.
3. I would love it if you sponsored my ride by clicking on the link below. All donations are tax deductible and all amounts are much appreciated.
4. The list of "Miles" to your right indicates to whom I'm dedicating some of the individual miles I'll be riding on Nov. 17; if you give $100 or more, I'll dedicate a mile to you for each $100 you give.

I think that brings us up to speed... scroll down for more specific accounts of training rides, the fundraising process, a short video, and what else I've been up to. Stay tuned... some great training rides are coming up, and I'm going to start bringing my camera. Thanks for dropping by!

Click Here to Sponsor Me

An old friend sent me an e-mail expressing her concern:

"I read through your blog, and it seems like you're training less often than you were a couple of months ago. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Are you sure you're going to be ready come November?"

Well, "sure" is a strong word. I was "sure" in 1995 that by training in and around Ithaca for four months for the Boston-NY AIDS Ride, I would never see a hill worse than the ones I'd trained on, and then they routed us through the Berkshires.

The fact is, the last few weeks have been particularly busy for me because the law firm where I'm currently stationed asked me to put in extra hours. I'm here thirteen hours most days (I'm on a brief break right now), and probably will be until this project is finished, most likely late next week. So for the moment, I don't have time to join the weekday training rides. I'm trying to keep my hand in on the weekends, but the weather has lately been a challenge to doing more than one relatively brief ride per week. The forecast for this three-day Labr Day weekend is looking good, though, so stay tuned; I'm hoping to put at least a hundred miles on my bike during those three days.

And thanks for your concern. The weekend rides will continue to get more serious once the holiday is behind us, and I absolutely plan to be ready when mid-November comes around and I arrive in Tucson.

Click Here to Sponsor Me

In early 1995, still feeling bitter and helpless over the 1993 AIDS-related death of a family friend, Mike Riesenberg, I poured out my feelings to my friend Kate. As it happened, she had a friend named Chris who had done the first California AIDS Ride in 1994, and was now on the staff of the first Boston->NY AIDS Ride for 1995. She suggested that maybe this kind of event was just the opportunity to allow me to feel like I was doing something about Mike's death, or at least to start to put it behind me.

I started training in mid-May, raised about $5,200 from friends, family, and colleagues, and from September 15-17, I biked the 271 miles from Boston's World Trade Center to Chelsea Piers in Manhattan. (As it turns out, coyotegoth was another of the 3,200 riders, but we wouldn't meet for several more years.)

It hurt. :-)

But it was also an overwhelming experience, the likes of which I had never experienced before and haven't since. I had done walkathons or bikeathons, but those had been pretty limited, one-day events. Time and again, when I asked people to sponsor me for this, they were amazed at the level of commitment and effort I was putting into this - evenings and weekends given over to training, etc. - and they rose to the challenge by writing checks. Of course they also found the cause compelling, but I certainly felt like the "biking 271 miles in three days" part helped get people off the fence.

I started to develop arthritis in my neck and shoulders the following year, and never did another AIDS Ride as I'd hoped to do (including one with my friend Andy, who later did one on his own). When I moved to New York City in 2000, I started doing the AIDS Walk (10K through Central Park and the Upper West Side) with my parents, and eventually started a Cornell alumni team which was pretty successful for a few years.

That includes a few years following Mom's diagnosis with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia in 2001. After she was diagnosed, Dad and I felt that a switch in priorities was in order - but because her CLL remained relatively inactive, she preferred not to tell people of her diagnosis, so that they wouldn't treat her like a patient. Unable to explain why we'd be doing a Leukemia fundraiser, and still feeling strongly about the need for funds to fight the spread of AIDS, we all kept on with the AIDS Walks.

When Mom changed her mind in 2004, deciding that she could do more good for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by coming out as a patient and becoming an active advocate, we all immediately signed up for the Manhattan Light the Night Walk. It's a chaotic but inspiring event where a few thousand people carry lighted balloons from South Street Seaport to the Brooklyn Bridge, then over the bridge to the Brooklyn side and back to Manhattan, a total of around four miles. Mom is our team leader, and with the participation of only a handful of friends and family members each fall, we have consistently raised more money than even most corporate teams.

But I couldn't help feeling that it was all a little too... well, easy.

Don't get me wrong - I don't mean to disparage or devalue Light the Night or any other short-range fundraising walk. And Mom and the rest of the team will be raising money for Light the Night again this year, and I support them 100% (and will even be walking with them, albeit without sponsors). But every year I was coming back to my friends and family and asking them to donate to a cause that was important to me, and in return I was walking a total of around four miles, something I was already doing most days anyway - then sitting down with my folks for some beer and fish'n'chips at the Beekman Pub. And to my surprise, each year I was actually getting fewer donations - and for less money. And I couldn't help but think that maybe it really was a little too easy.

Plus, I have experienced some of the same anger and helplessness over my mother's illness that I felt twelve years ago about Mike. It's not that there's nothing I can do, it's that what I can do (or at least what I have done) feels thoroughly inadequate.

So I honestly don't know if my raising the bar on my own personal commitment will help encourage my friends and family to do the same. I am planning to set a very ambitious goal for my fundraising (about which more later), but I also have some interesting ideas as to how to achieve it (again, more later). In the meantime, I'm training to go to Tucson and bike 109 miles in one day because I need to push myself... because I need to know that, at 37 and with two knee surgeries behind me, I can still make my body do what I want it to... because it's my mother, and that's reason enough... because there are already enough areas of my life where I do the least I can do, and it's time there's one where I do the most I can do.

I'm doing El Tour de Tucson because it's not easy.

I haven't been able to, and likely won't be able to, join the group on any of our officially scheduled training rides this week - largely because of the absurdity of trying to make it to Prospect Park at six or seven in the morning, which would require getting out of bed at 4:30 or 5:30. There's a Thursday evening ride in Central Park tomorrow, but I already had other plans to support a cause important to a friend of mine, plans I'm loathe to break.

So many of the early morning rides are in Brooklyn because most of our coaches and mentors apparently live in Brooklyn, plus there are constantly other things going on in Central Park that would get in our way. At least one other Manhattan rider, an Israeli gentleman named Ofer, got in touch with me through our coach to talk about scheduling our own independent Central Park rides on a regular basis, but I'll be away for the next two weeks, and then he'll be away for a week right after that.

I will still probably do my own ride in Central Park tomorrow, though; the weather looks to be perfect, partly cloudy in the high sixties. The group rides are never required, they're just suggested. The main two reasons I would be disappointed to miss them are 1) continuing to make friends with the other Tucson riders, and 2) that some of the rides have specialized lessons, such as bike safety or body core training, that I could certainly stand to get refreshers on, if not learn from scratch.

But the main purpose of the rides is to ride, and that, I plan to continue doing, by myself if necessary (coyotegoth, are you up for something midday tomorrow?). And after I return on June 3 from my vacation in France, I plan to join as many of the training rides as possible.

Meanwhile, I had a slight disappointment earlier this week. Originally, I had planned to do the Honolulu Century on September 30 rather than El Tour de Tucson on November 17, particularly because I've never been to Hawaii and this would have been a great excuse. Unfortunately, Team in Training dropped Honolulu as an event; I gather the expense of sending the riders out there and putting them up had become too high a percentage of the money they were asking riders to raise (I'm not sure why they couldn't just increase the minimum, but they don't consult me). When I first told my parents about my plan, and asked them if they might be able to join me in Honolulu to greet me at the finish line and spend a few days with me in Hawaii, they thought that was a great idea. But now that it's Tucson - and it's later in the fall - my parents have told me that they're likely still to be on a vacation that includes a long cruise, one which they booked months ago.

I'm sure I will have no trouble finding meaning in completing the Tour without having my parents there, but it would be especially nice to greet Mom at the end of the ride, just to say, "That was for you." But of course, whether she's in Arizona with me or in Rio with Dad, she knows.