Reflections: 100 Miles on a Bike

It's been almost eight months since I finished the Fletcher Flyer Century and I decided it was time to do a little update about the ride and all my fundraising efforts. (started this blog over six months ago and never posted).

The Ride

What can I say? The ride was beautiful. One hundred miles of hilly country, lots of trees and (mostly) a refreshing breeze. None of the hills were as rough as the hills we trained on in Clermont. Who would have thought that flat Florida had plenty of training hills for the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The morning was cool and perfect riding weather. It only got hot after noon, with temperatures peaking in the 90s. Thank goodness we trained in the heat!

Asheville

A lovely little town with friendly people and very walkable. If you ever go, I highly recommend the Corner Kitchen for breakfast and lunch. We didn't go for dinner, but I'm sure that's just as good too.

I made it to the Biltmore for a whirlwind tour of the house and part of the grounds. See the pictures I took of the exterior. No camera use allowed inside, but I bought the picture book of the estate, so I have something to show for the interior.

The Fundraising

And finally, though not the least important part of this trip. I personally raised over $3,300 towards the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's mission. All the riders at the Fletcher Flyer raised a total of $130,000 for LLS. It was a fantastic event and very successful.

A big THANK YOU to all my donors!

Halfway to the Finish Line

So… This week marks several big milestones in my Team in Training season. We completed a 52 mile ride on Sunday. That’s half of a century. By distance, we are halfway to the century. This week also marks the halfway point in our training schedule. Actually, today is precisely the midpoint of our 17-week training schedule.

A little about Sunday’s ride… It was cooler than the week before, I managed to stay hydrated and, all in all, it was an enjoyable ride. Or a “Fun Fifty” as I dubbed it. We traveled through a bunch of small towns including Ferndale, which has one of the smallest post offices I’ve ever seen. It appears both of my tires were actually on the way out, since I managed to get another flat tire, this time on the front. Actually, the tire blew. We patched it with a GU pack and off we went. It lasted all the way to mile 41 and blew again. After repairing this flat (thanks to Erin’s spare tube), I finished the rest of the ride. This makes a total of four flats for me this season. I think I’ve had my share!

So the only halfway mark I have not reached is in my fundraising, which would be $2,000. I have raised $1,140 which is enough for me to recommit to the rest of the Team in Training season. Please help me reach my final fundraising goal of $4,000 by May 5^th. You can make a donation online at http://pages.teamintraining.org/ncfl/fletcher11/jrandolnhb. If you would rather write a check, send me a message and I’ll let you know where to mail it to.

Thank you for your continued support!

Who Am I This Time?

Fair warning, this blog pretty much is a complete spoiler.

I recently decided to start reading Kurt Vonnegut again. As most high school students, I was required to read Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five and a few others. To ease myself into it, I began with a collection of short stories titled Welcome to the Monkey House. Just reading the introduction had me cracking up.

One short story that really grabbed my attention was "Who Am I This Time?" It tells the story of an actor in a small town theatrical company. Told from the perspective of the director, it's an unlikely romance.

The lead actor of all the town's plays is a shy and retiring young man who can barely hold a conversation when out in the "real world." Give Harry a part in a play and he becomes the character. All his interactions with his fellow thespians, even when not performing, are carried out as if he was Stanley in A Street Car Named Desire or Cyrano in Cyrano de Bergerac.

When a young woman who travels from town to town installing new computers for the phone company is invited to try out for the part of Stella. Helene falls madly in love with the actor playing Stanley, as Stanley. Not realizing that he becomes a non-entity the moment he steps off the stage.

After several miserable encounters, Helene comes up with a novel idea, or should I say a "play" idea. At the end of their last performance, before Harry can slip away, she gives him a copy of Romeo and Juliet and has him read her favorite part of the play.

Juliet:
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

Romeo:
I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

And their relationship blossomed. By basically giving Harry permission to be whoever he needed to be in order to woo her, they developed a strategy of courting through plays.

As a postscript, I came across the 1982 film adaptation of the story starring Christopher Walken and Susan Sarandon. Just under an hour long, it was an excellent adaptation, keeping many of the main themes behind the story. Christopher Walken was phenomenal in the roll of Harry and Susan Sarandon kept up her side of the story very well also.

29 Gifts - February 9th

Okay, I haven't been following the 29 Gifts like I should. It's been off and on that I've remembered to do anything. Today, however, I remembered!

A couple of days ago I made some gluten-free chocolate chip cookies from Bob's Red Mill mix following the directions except replacing the oil with pumpkin. Needless to say, they are yummy! So yummy, in fact, that I've been eating four each night when I get home. Not a good trend to start.

So this morning I brought in half the cookies I had left and gave them to another person in the office who is avoiding wheat.

This gift had several parts to it. The motivation was fairly selfish--I wanted to get the cookies out of my house so I would stop eating them. However, I was glad to give the cookies away to someone who would enjoy them without worry.

And one more thing, I have a hard time giving food away. It's strange, but I am always afraid I'm going to run out of food. (Not really a true worry.) Just subconsciously, I act on a basis of scarcity and try to hoard food and dislike sharing. So giving away the cookies also was a training exercise for me to let food go.

29 Gifts - February 1st

Day 1
Yesterday was a friend's birthday, so it was an easy day to give. She really likes wine, so I pulled a leftover bottle off the shelf from a party on Friday. I had two options--both unusual wines. I picked the wine from Spain, since it sounded like something she would enjoy. I can't wait to hear about it!

29 Gifts Challenge - Restart

So, I did not work the challenge 100%, probably not even 25%, if I'm honest. There have been some days that I remember, others I don't.

I've decided to start again as they say. Beginning tomorrow, I'm going to spend some time each day finding a way to consciously give something away. In an effort to increase my accountability, I'm going to try to post a quick note every day at least saying what the gift was if nothing else.

Train Endure Achieve Matter

Today I attended the Winter Kick-off Party for the Central and North Florida Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training (TNT) program. I had attended an early interest meeting in December where I signed up to ride the Fletcher Flyer Century in Asheville, North Carolina on June 5th. For those who don’t know, a century is 100 miles on a bike. Similar to doing a 26.2 miles on your feet, but in my opinion, much more fun.

I have participated in two TNT events in the past, the Mayor’s Marathon in Alaska (2006) and the Intracoastal Century here in Florida (2008). I originally became involved with TNT on a whim. I wanted to be more active and complete an endurance event. A friend of mine mentioned TNT and convinced me to attend an informational meeting. At the time I was too overwhelmed with the idea of training and fundraising together, so I did not join. The following year, when I received a postcard from TNT, I attended another meeting and decided to sign up.

The TNT campaign’s sole purpose is to raise awareness and accelerate research funding so a cure can be discovered for leukemia and all blood cancers. It is especially important to know that finding a cure for leukemia will also facilitate finding cures for many other types of cancers since leukemia research has proven to be a catalyst in the development of life saving treatments for other malignant diseases. Upon learning that, I became committed to the mission of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. My father passed away in 1997 from esophageal cancer. It was heartbreaking to lose a parent at twenty and every time I participate in a TNT event, I hope that the money I raise will help prevent another family from losing a loved one.

This year I ride in honor of an additional person. During my 2008 TNT season, I trained with Doug Oxendine, who was one of the team’s honored heroes. He trained and completed the Intracoastal Century with us despite small setbacks from his CML (Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia). Early in 2010, he came out of remission and eventually underwent a bone marrow transplant. Sadly, he developed severe Graft vs. Host Disease and did not survive the surgery. Doug was truly inspirational! He always had a smile and spread joy everywhere he went.

My personal challenge for this season is to raise at least $4,000 to support the programs and research of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. You can donate and follow my fundraising progress on my website http://pages.teamintraining.org/ncfl/fletcher11/jrandolnhb. I will be posted training updates throughout the next four months here on this blog.

If you’re interested in participating in a TNT event, post a comment or send me an e-mail and I’ll point you in the right direction.

Go TEAM!