Pelotonia 2012

Pelotonia 2012 is in the books and although this cause is part of a big fight, I am going to deem this a small victory. First and foremost, I have raised $3,116 for cancer research this year. (Donations are still welcome through October 12.) That is a personal best for me and I give all the credit to you all who have supported me.

THANK YOU!!

Here are the details on my ride this year:

As I have mentioned, my work rode with the Huntington team this year. Seven of us made the trip at various distances, but all of us raised well beyond our fundraising commitment.

What was the biggest difference in Pelotonia this year? Sure, the destination changed, but the shocker of the summer is how cold it was on the day of the ride. We were hitting 100 degrees with consistency in June and July, which worried me for the ride. All day on a bike in intense heat is not advisable. But on the day of the ride, we had a high in the low-70s with an occasional drizzle. In fact, it was COLD during most of the ride.

Four of us did 100 miles (one of the others did 184 miles in two days). We stayed together for a good chunk of the day. As we took off, I shook hands with Gordon Gee, the president of Ohio State University. He gets out there every year shaking hands with riders before departure. He is no Hot Rod McDavis, but it was cool. (Just kidding, Gee is OK.)

The starting line was at the Columbus Commons this year, a huge improvement over The Fawcett Center from years past. The first several miles went through German Village and Southeast Columbus just as it had in years past. The four of us stayed together for about 60 miles, most of which seemed like a breeze. There was some occasional wind, but I feel like we had the wind behind us just as much as it was in front of us.

We split up at the 60 mile mark, with myself and one other rider electing for the route with more hills. I had driven the part the most difficult stretch of this earlier in the summer and decided it was not all that and a bag of chips. I was wrong.

The famed Reynolds Road pales in comparison to the largest hills of the Athens route, but in my opinion the 30-ish mile stretch I elected for was tougher than any equal stretch of the Athens route. The hills were continuous and I had to change my big gears on almost every down-and-up. When asked why I chose the difficult route, my answer is this: "This ride is not supposed to be easy."

As I made one of my final turns, I was told I was just three miles from the finish. I continued on and had one last hill to reckon with. One last change of the gears and I am there... And then my chain fell off. This had never happened to me before. I am the worst fix-it guy on earth, so it took me about 15 minutes to get things figured out. I got back on the bike, the two 100-mile stretches merged, and I was at the finish line. No, I do not think I beat my time from last year. The long stretch of hills challenged me, but ultimately I think the time I spent repairing my chain cost me my personal best. Oh well, there is always next year...

Keep an eye on my Facebook and Twitter accounts, as I will update my fundraising status and snap a few pictures at the Pelotonia check ceremony in October and November.

Once again, thank you to all of my supporters!

Why I'm Riding

Something happened to me in the midst of this very busy training and fundraising season. Or shall I say, some things. Just two weeks before Pelotonia I had a relative pass away following a battle with brain cancer. I am thankful to have been able to visit with him when he was doing better back in April, but my heart still aches when I think about what he and those closest to him had to endure.

No sooner did I return from that funeral than someone I know notified me that his wife, who had been in remission for breast cancer for six years, was recently diagnosed once again. They caught it early and surgery is on tap for this week. Hopefully that will take care of everything, but there is no way to know until after the surgery.

Moments after finding this out, I talked about it with another friend. I had no idea about this, but she told me that she also fought off cancer six years ago.

These are by no means the only people I have known to fight cancer, let alone those in the last year.

All of this caused my heart to sink. This disease can wield a sense of powerlessness. Sure, we know some ways to take preventative maintenance against cancer, but by and large it's a cruel game of genetics and awful, awful luck. For so many other diseases, we take a pill or get a shot. We balance our diet or we exercise more. When something happens to us, medically or not, we do something about it. In some cases there is simply nothing we can do.

Having never had cancer I choose to do this ride as a way to end both cancer and that feeling of powerlessness. In a moving opening ceremony to Pelotonia 2011, executive director Tom Lennox promised that cancer would be cured through this program. That is a bold statement. And I am holding him to it.

I truly hope that I can play some small part in making a difference with this disease. And I thank all of you who are behind me this cause with me. You are making that difference too by supporting Pelotonia.

To any other riders who might read this, let's have a great ride on Saturday!

Kicking Off 2012...

Yikes! Time is flying and I sent out my flyers before even getting a post up on here. It has been a busy year and I can't believe summer is already half way over. I have been busy with a number of things and it took a lot of effort to find the time to fit Pelotonia in.

Over the last few months I have felt too busy to ride or to fundraise. I come home from work and I'm tired. The heat is too intense this year. I moved to a new place. I've had a nightmare dealing with a car I bought... Then I realized the way I am talking reminded me of something. Check out the video that was released at the Pelotonia Opening Ceremony in 2011:



Excuses. We all have them.

At the end of the day, this ride and this cause are important to me and I want to do my part in the fight against cancer. Only three weeks ago, I had not raised a single dollar and I had only been out to ride twice. Since I decided to get over my excuses, I have ridden almost every day I have had available for a total of over 200 miles. I created my flyers and sent out about 80 of them. I have updated my Facebook and Twitter. And now I'm writing this post to get the blog rolling.

It wasn't easy to get all those things done, but then again participating in this cause is not supposed to be easy. There have been some late nights addressing envelopes and some early training mornings to beat the heat. I know it will be worth it when I cross the finish line in just under a month.

Thank you for reading and for your support!

I am almost positive I will be riding with Mayor Coleman tomorrow night in a ride that finishes at the Food Cart Festival. Look me up if you are down there...