A little over a year ago, a very good friend of our daughters was diagnosed with cancer. In a short 9 months, Brianna finished the race strong but ultimately lost her battle with the disease. As a father, watching a child’s life cut short was heartbreaking. It’s hard for me to even write about it.
I’ve formed a team for the Relay for Life in Bolingbrook to make a small contribution and maybe help one more child enjoy another birthday and I’m asking for your support.
In the 2 minutes it takes to make a donation to my American Cancer Society Relay For Life® team, you can help me and my team save lives – and improve the quality of life for people who have cancer.
The American Cancer Society invests much-needed funds raised through Relay For Life® to save lives from cancer. They’ll use your donation to:
• Help people stay well by educating them on ways prevent cancer or detect it early, when it’s most treatable.
• Help people get well with FREE hands-on support through every step of their cancer experience.
• Find cures by funding groundbreaking research that helps us understand cancer’s causes, determine how best to prevent it, and discover new ways to cure it.
• Fight back by working with lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer and rally communities worldwide to join the fight.
Every donation really does make a difference. Please visit my personal Relay for Life page to make a secure, tax-deductible online donation.
If it’s easier to spread your donation over several months, you can do that by choosing a “sustaining gift” option. Thank you for joining me in this effort. I will keep you updated on my progress.
To learn more about Relay For Life®, please visit RelayForLife.org
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Two years ago, I had the opportunity to ride one of the most famous mountains in France, Mt. Ventoux. The Giant of Provence dominates the landscape in southeast France. It’s eerie top portion, referred to as the Moonscape, is nothing but white rocks. Nothing else. For riders in the Tour de France, it’s demoralizing because you can see the summit for the final 7km but you never seem to get there.
For me, it was anything but demoralizing. I felt incredible as I rode the 22km climb with an average incline of 7.7%, sometimes kicking up to over 11%. I rode the entire climb with a giant, stupid grin on my face because I could hardly believe I pedaling my bike up one of the most iconic climbs in cycling. It took 2:15 to get to the top. I spent almost an hour on the summit before making the ripping fast descent in 20 minutes to the town of Bedoin in the valley below. I trained hard leading up to the trip and it paid off.
The Ventoux will be used in this year’s Tour de France this Saturday, July 25. never before has a climb this large been featured this late, with the race’s final day coming on Sunday. With a massive climb like this on the penultimate day, there could be fireworks among the leaders.
Be sure to watch it on Versus
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I was on a bike ride this morning and I was passing homes who had set their trash out for pick up. I saw something that really disturbs me. Someone was carelessly throwing away a bicycle.
Think back to when you were a kid and you got your first bike. Remember that feeling of freedom? The joy of being able to power yourself along to go places you couldn’t go before was amazing, wasn’t it? Think about that time you taught your child to ride their bike as they wobbled on two wheels.
Now, think of how you would have felt if you never got that bike. There are a lot of kids who can’t afford a bike and here someone’s deciding that they’re going to throw one away. What a waste.
Their argument is that by putting it out by the curb, the trash pickers will scoop it up and it will go to use. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that bike that was once your prized posession is on it’s way to become scrap metal. What a waste. That bike could bring a whole new life to a kid. It could give them hope, inspiration, keep them off the streets and give them a goal to work towards. It could help someone get to work. It could make the difference between putting food on the table, or not.
If you’re about throw away a bike just because you no longer need it, don’t do it. Donate it. Take it to Goodwill. Take it to Working Bikes Cooperative in Chicago. Drop it off at the The Recyclery. Or, take it to any one of these places. If that’s too much trouble, contact me and I’ll take care of it for you.
Please, don’t throw it away.
(Photo provided courtesy of Deborah Courson Smith)
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Since we’ve opened our business, I haven’t had as much time to pursue one activity that I’ve done in the past, and that’s Adventure Racing. I’ve had the good fortune to have been involved in races as short as a few hours to as long as eight days.
One that brings back the most incredible memories for me was the Four Winds USA Adventure. The race was held in August 2002 in the Wasatch Range, just outside Salt Lake City.
If you’re interested, read on.
(Be ready, it’s a long race and a long story, but it’s fun!)
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If you’re on Twitter, you can now follow me.
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February 22nd, 2009
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If you’ve been watching The Biggest Loser on NBC, you might have seen this week’s episode. The contestants had to compete to get a key to their gym so they could work out indoors. The whining and complaining about having to work out outdoors was incredible!
Give me a choice between indoor and outdoor and I’ll take the fresh air anytime.
No treadmill? Walk outside. Take a run. Add even more fun and hike on a trail. You might find something fun in your city that you never knew existed.
- Did you know there’s an abandoned putt-putt golf course hidden in the woods less than 4 miles from the Lifestyles Fitness Center?
- Whalon Lake offers several miles of paved trails around a peaceful lake just a few miles from your home
- Camp Sagwau offers a naturally formed rock canyon, and it’s in Lemont!
- Where can you see Bolingbrook, Naperville, Woodridge, Lisle, at the same time?
- There’s a naturally occuring waterfall just 20 minutes from Bolingbrook? Have you been there? If you’re lucky, you might even see the white deer herd.
We’ve got miles of bike trails, hiking trails, rivers, golf courses, and more right in our backyard. Think it’s too cold outside? Give it a try and you’ll be surpised how quickly you’ll warm up and won’t even notice the low temps.
It’s Mother Nature’s equivalent of the treadmill, Stairmaster, elliptical machine, rowing machine, and exercise bike. Pretty cool if you ask me!
Do you know a fun and interesting place nearby? Let’s hear about it.
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February 14th, 2009
admin
I’m building a boat in my basement. It’s a 17 foot cedar strip kayak. The plans I’m using are the Great Auk design by Eric Schade of Guillemot Kayaks.
I’m pretty excited about it and it’s coming along nicely. I’ve built the “skeleton” and started laying the strips. It doesn’t look like much to the casual observer, but I can see what it’s supposed to look like and in my mind I’m already paddling. More pictures to follow as the project progresses. It’s going to take awhile!
I’ve had the plans for two years now and I’ve finally gotten up the guts to start the project. It just seemed so overwhelming when I thought about the entire task. I kept looking at the whole and not seeing the parts. I guess it’s kind of like starting a fitness program. Break it down, look at it in smaller chunks and it becomes a lot easier.
For the question you’ve been asking (and my family has been asking), how am I going to get it out of the basement once it’s finished? I’ll worry about that one later. One step at a time.
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