Well I’m only a few weeks away from really kicking off the ride and I’m excited to get started. I’ve gotten so much support from everyone and I can’t wait to get the war started against this killer.
I have to say I’ve been overwhelmed by the donations and the support of the people who’ve stepped up to sponsor me. These people and their companies are very special to us because their financial support will allow me to cover expenses and make sure that every penny of pledges goes to the American Cancer Society. So in the next few weeks I’ll be getting jerseys for the cold weather, printing up brochures, and tuning up “my trusty steed” so it’s ready to handle 12 months of commuting on Long Island.
Of course, I’m being as frugal as possible so as much of that sponsorship money as possible can go to ACS for fighting this disease and to hopefully add some icing the $10,000 cake we’re baking. So far we have more than $2,000 and the pledges keep coming in!
On a more somber note, one of our dearest friends has just been diagnosed with stage 2+ breast cancer and we’re all anxiously awaiting test results to tell us exactly what the situation is. So I’m unhappily adding another person I am riding for to the list: my sisters, Hope Machedon, and now our good friend.
I’m also nervously waiting for news on the biopsy of a growth that was removed from my mother’s left arm. The doctor in describing it used the term cancer but wasn’t at all specific so we still don’t know exactly where we stand, and we’re on pins and needles waiting to find out the results of the test.
I’m so sick and tired of people around me being stricken by this disease and I can’t wait to start working to kick its tail!
So far my “dress rehearsal” this year has yielded 1575 miles (yes, I broke the post surgery goal of 1500) and I’m hoping to get in at least another 75 miles before December 22 when school break begins and my season officially ends.
I did my first A level ride with the Huntington Bicycle Club and got my butt kicked, but I learned a lot of lessons from that ride.
1) Make sure to eat breakfast before embarking on a 50 mile 20+ mph ride.
2) Make sure to really hydrate on the ride
3) No matter how good you feel, don’t try pulling at the front for even five minutes
4) Get a good night’s sleep the night before, and
5) Never do a long, fast ride the day after a party!
Needless to say, I hung on for the first 40 miles and then got dropped. It was humbling. The ride leader stayed with me, even when both of my quads cramped up so badly I had to stop riding for about five minutes. I’m determined not to let that happen again.
Lastly, although they’re in first place in the NFC East, my beloved Cowboys got their hats handed to them every which way this past Sunday. They were beaten and badly; but we are endlessly optimistic here and we know that they will prevail in the end. We are true believers. Okay, it’s just Sarah, James, and me - my wife and William are Giants fans (ugh!).
That’s it for now - I’ll write again in a few weeks - just in time to kick off the season.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Blog - Part Deux
For those of you keeping track, this is my second ever blog and much has happened since my last installment.
First of all, we’ve already reached 10% of our goal!!! As of this writing, we have $1,040 and I haven’t even started officially logging the miles yet! We've also had four great sponsors sign on in support of Connor's Army, so please check out our Sponsor’s page and try to do business with these incredibly generous people if you can.
The trial run is going very well. As of the end of this week I’ll have logged 1400 commuting miles for the 2006 calendar year. My commute from Northport to Syosset is 25 miles round-trip, and I also count my 30 mile round-trip commute to Usdan, the camp I work at in the summer. That one is sometimes harder because it ends up being 100+ degrees sometimes when I’m riding home - I just stock up on the Gatorade. (If you look at the picture, that’s what that yellow stuff is in my water bottle!)
Another great thing that’s happened is that a bunch of my students have started a Facebook group called “Connor’s Army”. You can go on to www.facebook.com and check it out. Join up and try to spread the word to others of what we’re trying to do. If everyone could send in one dollar for the American Cancer Society that would get us to 20% of our goal!
Lastly, on a more personal note, my beloved Dallas Cowboys played badly against the New York Giants, my wife’s favorite team. I have to tell you life around here has been difficult - especially since certain family ‘friends’ have placed a sign saying “Giants Rule” in my front yard. I’m checking to see if Northport has an ordinance against littering.
Oh well, that’s it for now - with any luck my next installment will be able to tell you we’ve closed in on 20% and climbing - not to mention I hope to hit 1500 miles!
Until then, peace to you all and stay healthy.
First of all, we’ve already reached 10% of our goal!!! As of this writing, we have $1,040 and I haven’t even started officially logging the miles yet! We've also had four great sponsors sign on in support of Connor's Army, so please check out our Sponsor’s page and try to do business with these incredibly generous people if you can.
The trial run is going very well. As of the end of this week I’ll have logged 1400 commuting miles for the 2006 calendar year. My commute from Northport to Syosset is 25 miles round-trip, and I also count my 30 mile round-trip commute to Usdan, the camp I work at in the summer. That one is sometimes harder because it ends up being 100+ degrees sometimes when I’m riding home - I just stock up on the Gatorade. (If you look at the picture, that’s what that yellow stuff is in my water bottle!)
Another great thing that’s happened is that a bunch of my students have started a Facebook group called “Connor’s Army”. You can go on to www.facebook.com and check it out. Join up and try to spread the word to others of what we’re trying to do. If everyone could send in one dollar for the American Cancer Society that would get us to 20% of our goal!
Lastly, on a more personal note, my beloved Dallas Cowboys played badly against the New York Giants, my wife’s favorite team. I have to tell you life around here has been difficult - especially since certain family ‘friends’ have placed a sign saying “Giants Rule” in my front yard. I’m checking to see if Northport has an ordinance against littering.
Oh well, that’s it for now - with any luck my next installment will be able to tell you we’ve closed in on 20% and climbing - not to mention I hope to hit 1500 miles!
Until then, peace to you all and stay healthy.
Sunday, October 8, 2006
The Road Begins
Hello, and welcome to my very first blog!
I don’t just mean that for the Connor’s Army website, I mean ever. For those of you who know me, you know that I’m only one step above Luddite (sorry, I started as an English teacher so you’ll have to go look that up!) on the technological food chain. My kids at school are constantly razzing me about my “old school” cell phone and the fact that, although computer literate, I still don’t know how to access most of the stuff on the internet.
So, I’m not so good at the techno stuff but I am good at the physical stuff.
I guess that’s why I wanted to find something I could do to give thanks to the American Cancer Society for all they did for my sisters that would use my physical abilities. I had thought about a dance concert but I realized that I wanted something that would be more visible and that could hopefully “recruit” people from many walks of life. I also wanted to start something that might become an annual event.
So once again my Executive Director (a.k.a. wife Amy) came up with a brilliant idea - combining my love of bicycling with a great idea for a fund-raising event for ACS. (Incidentally, she’s also the brilliant mind behind our Theater Club’s annual Bard-a-thon!) As a matter of fact, since she’s a lot more techno-savvy than I, she’s the one who came up with the website and the one who’ll actually be putting the blog page together.
I have to admit, I’m very lucky. I have a fantastic wife, three beautiful and healthy children, and I’m in the best health that I have been in for a few years.
As far as the ride goes, I am still gearing up for January 1, 2007 by getting my body used to the constant commuting. I try to ride at least twice a week - weather permitting. I have to admit heat, cold and wind don’t bother me so much but I hate riding in the rain. I guess a big part of that is because my “Frankenbike” (a Diamondbike compact geometry cyclocross frame salvaged from the trash with FSA cranks, nine-speed Shimano 105 componentry, Bontrager stem, bars and saddle, Weinman cyclocross wheels, Avid Shorty 4 cantilever brakes) has a steel frame and I’m trying to protect it against the damning ravages of rust!
Right now my cyclocomputer (which I reset every year) reads 1,377 miles since last January 1 and 1,225 of those were commuting miles.
Unfortunately, I had to take off two and a half months because of reconstructive surgery I had on my right ankle. Fortunately, my podiatrist Dr. Barney Martin (yes, Doc Martin, for those of you who remember the craze) did an incredible job and I’ve had very little pain since I started riding again last June. I’ve been dancing and riding and chasing the kids, and I have very little discomfort.
A lot of that is also due to the help of Mary English and the staff at Northport Physical Therapy. She really put me through the paces and got me rehabilitated quickly. As a matter of fact, before the surgery in mid-April I had only logged about 400 miles of the 1300, so I’m doing pretty well. My goal is to reach at least 1500 miles this year to get ready for the push in 2007.
I have to say, I’m very excited about being able to actually do something to help my sisters and to give something back to a group that I feel is so responsible for them being healthy today. My goal is to log 2000 commuting miles next year but I honestly think I can do even more!
What you’ll see here going forward is less about my past life and more of a weekly (perhaps sometimes even daily) progress report on how the ride is going, my bike, what I experience on the road (especially in December and January when it’s cold) and any other life observations that pop up.
I hope you’ll join me on my journey - at least on this cyber-journey - and if you feel like joining me on an actual ride, just drop me a line.
I don’t just mean that for the Connor’s Army website, I mean ever. For those of you who know me, you know that I’m only one step above Luddite (sorry, I started as an English teacher so you’ll have to go look that up!) on the technological food chain. My kids at school are constantly razzing me about my “old school” cell phone and the fact that, although computer literate, I still don’t know how to access most of the stuff on the internet.
So, I’m not so good at the techno stuff but I am good at the physical stuff.
I guess that’s why I wanted to find something I could do to give thanks to the American Cancer Society for all they did for my sisters that would use my physical abilities. I had thought about a dance concert but I realized that I wanted something that would be more visible and that could hopefully “recruit” people from many walks of life. I also wanted to start something that might become an annual event.
So once again my Executive Director (a.k.a. wife Amy) came up with a brilliant idea - combining my love of bicycling with a great idea for a fund-raising event for ACS. (Incidentally, she’s also the brilliant mind behind our Theater Club’s annual Bard-a-thon!) As a matter of fact, since she’s a lot more techno-savvy than I, she’s the one who came up with the website and the one who’ll actually be putting the blog page together.
I have to admit, I’m very lucky. I have a fantastic wife, three beautiful and healthy children, and I’m in the best health that I have been in for a few years.
As far as the ride goes, I am still gearing up for January 1, 2007 by getting my body used to the constant commuting. I try to ride at least twice a week - weather permitting. I have to admit heat, cold and wind don’t bother me so much but I hate riding in the rain. I guess a big part of that is because my “Frankenbike” (a Diamondbike compact geometry cyclocross frame salvaged from the trash with FSA cranks, nine-speed Shimano 105 componentry, Bontrager stem, bars and saddle, Weinman cyclocross wheels, Avid Shorty 4 cantilever brakes) has a steel frame and I’m trying to protect it against the damning ravages of rust!
Right now my cyclocomputer (which I reset every year) reads 1,377 miles since last January 1 and 1,225 of those were commuting miles.
Unfortunately, I had to take off two and a half months because of reconstructive surgery I had on my right ankle. Fortunately, my podiatrist Dr. Barney Martin (yes, Doc Martin, for those of you who remember the craze) did an incredible job and I’ve had very little pain since I started riding again last June. I’ve been dancing and riding and chasing the kids, and I have very little discomfort.
A lot of that is also due to the help of Mary English and the staff at Northport Physical Therapy. She really put me through the paces and got me rehabilitated quickly. As a matter of fact, before the surgery in mid-April I had only logged about 400 miles of the 1300, so I’m doing pretty well. My goal is to reach at least 1500 miles this year to get ready for the push in 2007.
I have to say, I’m very excited about being able to actually do something to help my sisters and to give something back to a group that I feel is so responsible for them being healthy today. My goal is to log 2000 commuting miles next year but I honestly think I can do even more!
What you’ll see here going forward is less about my past life and more of a weekly (perhaps sometimes even daily) progress report on how the ride is going, my bike, what I experience on the road (especially in December and January when it’s cold) and any other life observations that pop up.
I hope you’ll join me on my journey - at least on this cyber-journey - and if you feel like joining me on an actual ride, just drop me a line.
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