Thank You, Ed Brooks

Ed has covered my back by providing for my insurance needs for over 20 years. He is an amazing person and a good freind. Thank you, Ed, for your donation to my ride.

Thank You, Chris!

Thank you, Chris, for your generous donations to both my Arthritis ride and my MS ride to San Diego. I shall dedicate my ride to San Diego to you.

I've known Chris for a long time-not that long, we're not that old! She's taken care of my billing and collections, and has been a good freind.

Chris is CEO of Practice Management Plus, a physician's billing service.

Send Off Ride-What A Climb!

Last "practice ride" for the Arthritis Group today from Helen's Bicycle in Manhattan Beach to Palos Verdes Penninsula. The climb up Hawthorne Blvd was 3.8 miles with a verticle of 840 feet. One of my toughest hill climbs yet.

Many thanks to
Dr. B. Ted Field-Orthopedic Surgeon
and
Dr. Gary Baker-Pain Specialist
for their generous donations to
the Arhthritis Foundation

Getting Ready To Go

Just 14 days to my ride! Getting my bike ready by replacing worn parts: Handlebar wrap with extra padding, Continental Ultra GatorSkin tires with Kevlar, Wipperman Connex Stainless Steel chain. Today begins 8 consecutive days of 2-4 hour training rides-just like a mini tour.

Covered With Sand

Saturday's ride went through Palos Verdes, along the South Bay Beach Path which ends north of Santa Monica at the Will Rogers Beach. The bike path is winding in places with many S turns and can be covered with sand.
On the way back I missed a turn and ended up in the sand. My right shifter, derailleur, and gears were coated with fine stuff. Even after washing things off-including half my body, my shifter was jammed. I ended up riding back just using my three front chianring gears.
Back home, I spent over three hours, one can of Clean Streak, and a lot of Tri-Flow to finally get things back in working order.

The loop around Palos Verdes is well worth the effort. View of Point Vincete Lighthouse looking north along Palos Verdes Drive South.

An Inspirational Story

Eighty-five times Dick Hoyt has pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in
marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheel
chair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and
pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.
Dick has also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back
mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes
taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?
And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick
was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him
brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.
"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told
him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. "Put him in an
institution.''
But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes
followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the
engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was
anything to help the boy communicate. "No way,'' Dick says he was told.
"There's nothing going on in his brain.''
"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out
a lot was going on in his brain.
Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by
touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to
communicate. First words? "Go Bruins!'' And after a high school
classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a
charity run for him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do that.''
Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self- described "porker'' who never ran
more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he
tried. "Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. "I was sore
for two weeks.'' That day changed Rick's life. "Dad,'' he typed, "when we were
running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''
And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with
giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such
hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston
Marathon.
"No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite
a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a
few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway,
then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they
ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston
the following year. Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''
How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since
he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still,
Dick tried.
Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour
Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud
getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you
think?
Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way,'' he says.
Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick
with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.
This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th
Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters.
Their best time'? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off
the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things,
happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a
wheelchair at the time.
"No question about it,'' Rick types. "My dad is the Father of the
Century.''
And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had
a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his
arteries was 95% clogged. "If you hadn't been in such great shape,''
one doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years ago.''
So in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.
Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in
Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland,
Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the
country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including
this Father's Day. That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really
wants to give him is a gift he can never buy. "The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, "is that my dad sit in the
chair and I push him once.''
From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly
see video post entitled "Can"

Can

Can

Team Hoyt-One of their many triathalons together.

Mr Cool Leaves Home

If this video makes you laugh, the least you can do is donate 10 bucks to my Multiple Sclerosis Ride

Intervals And Hills

Yesterday-Three fifteen minute intervals pushing my heart rate to 85-95% of max (red line). This was done along the beach into a 15 knot wind.

Today-Two hill climbs (dark red line). First hill is a two mile climb from PCH along Newport Coast at a 6% grade. Second hill is a four mile climb from Jamboree along San Joaquin up to Newport Coast.

Worth Your 7 Minutes and Your Donation-Even Though Streisand Sings

The Arthritis Foundation supports a camp for children and their families. A good example of how your donations are put to work. A seven minute video.

Almost A Century

Nice long ride on Saturday along PCH to Laguna Beach. Steady climb up Lanuga Canyon Road to Irvine. Cut through Shady Canyon to Bonita Canyon Dr, up Newport Coast, down San Joaquin Hill, up Spyglass Hill, down San Miguel, up San Joaquin, down Newport Coast, down and up Pelican Hill Rd, a final downhill along Newport Coast to PCH, and into the headwind all the way to Long Beach. 76 miles in 6 hours. Stay tuned-video coming soon!

Remember Mr Chocolate Bunny?

Remember the contest in April?

Mr.Chocolate Bunny still lives. All that is left is his white tail which is chalky and I don't think I want to eat that. So, the Chocolate Bunny outlasts the chocoholic.

Another Rider's Story

When Jani Bohn first started feeling body pains approximately a year ago, she thought they were due to injury or overuse from exercising.

The pains did not go away; rather, they became more severe and began to spread to Jani's other joints. Though she sought medical help and tried different medications, nothing seemed to work. It wasn't until the day her husband had to help her dress that Jani was referred to a rheumatologist and discovered she had Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Jani acknowledges that she often wonders what her future with arthritis will be like, "It is there everyday. I can never get away from it."
Rather than running away from her diagnosis, Jani embraced and accepted it as another part of her. With the nearest Arthritis Foundation chapter 75 miles away, Jani and a few friends created a chronic pain support group, called "Rising Above the Pain" or RAP, at the YMCA in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where Jani teaches fitness classes. The symbol of the "RAP"pers is a hot air balloon, an object that has come to represent the way its members will live their lives: You never know which way the wind (representing pain) will blow you but you can control how high or low you go.

In January 2005, two months after she discovered she had RA, Jani learned about the Amgen California Coast Clasic bike tour while reading an Arthritis Today magazine. The reaction was instant: Jani knew she wanted to do it. Though she was always physically active, Jani never cycled long-distance or taken a spin class before. Through her perseverance and enthusiasm, Jani not only finished the 8-day ride along with seasoned and veteran riders, she raised $5,700 for arthritis reseach and programs! Today, Jani is "riding proof" of the power of the research and education programs that the Arthritis Foundation funds.

Since her diagnosis, Jani has been proactive about raising awareness for arthritis, staying healthy and keeping physically active. Though her schedule consists of teaching fitness classes, working at her auto parts business, Lyon's Auto Supply, and speaking to various groups about her disease, Jani still wants to do more for arthritis causes in Grand Forks.

The way Jani lives her life is similar to the slogan she placed on the helmet she will wear during her 8-day bike ride: No time for RA, riding on faith.

Donate to Jani's ride for the Arthritis Foundation.

My Ride to Marina Del Rey

First video attempt on my bike using my Canon SD300 digital camera on video mode.

Recovering From A Cold

I've been recovering from a cold which started about a week ago. I've been riding 1 to 2 hours every other day at an EZ pace, but missed my planned 75 mile long ride. Maybe this Saturday.

More donations from the staff at North Anaheim Surgicenter. Thank you to:

Lynda Fox
Linda DeGroodt
Denise Dewey

Why Not Go To San Diego?

Since I'm doing all this training to ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, why not go all the way to San Diego?

I will be riding from Orange County to San Diego and raising money for the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society. For more information and to donate check out the following link.MS-150 Bay to Bay Tour

The ride will be two days October 7&8.

One More Month To Train

Just one more month to train. This is my training log, and is based on Joe Friel's book Cycling Past 50 and also the training guide provided by the Arthritis Foundation.

679 miles logged in for July.

Why We Ride, Why We Donate

A fellow rider, Jeff wrote:

I joined this Yahoo! Group a couple of weeks ago and then got the
idea that I would wait to post until August 1st. "Why August 1st",
you say? Well, today is the one-year anniversary of my 6-year old
daughter Lindsey's last shot of Enbrel. So, as of today, she has
been off all prescription medications for her Systemic JRA for one
full year!!

I won't go into the details here, but suffice to say that Lindsey is
in a much better place than she was three years ago when she was
dealing with daily temperature spikes, pain in joints throughout her
body, taking six prescription medications a day (including 3 shots a
week), not growing an ounce or an inch for 18 months (due to
steroids) and dealing with having to be fully anesthetized for
cortisone shots. In fact, except for an occasional, brief symptom
here or there, she is completely back to normal, at least for now.

I tell you this because the Lindsey we have today is probably not
the Lindsey we would have if she had developed JRA even ten years
ago. Results like hers are why we are all riding in the California
Coast Classic, and more advances are on the horizon. So, I want to
say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who is riding and I want you to know
that you are making a difference in people's lives!

So, this will be my first California Coast Classic, and I am very
excited about it. I have thought many times about doing a SF-to-LA
ride, since I live in the area. Little did I know that it would
take Lindsey getting arthritis before I'd actually get off my butt
and do it. But ever since the day I made the decision to ride, I
have grown more and more excited by the day.

I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can in San Francisco
and on the road.

Visit Jeff's donation site and make a contribution.