Rich Werning's Team In Training journal

Went back out to Holyhill for our Saturday training ride. As you may recall, it was *crazy* windy on Saturday. But - Sunday wasn't looking to be any better, and with only a month left for before we head to Tahoe, the coaches decided we should ride on and just cut the ride a bit shorter. All things considered, I didn't mind the ride much.. the winds made it a challenge and people were swerving due to the gusts and such, but it was doable.
  That is until the ride back, when coach Bob bumped tires with another rider a down hill. He took a nasty fall, ended up at Menomonee falls hospital - seperated shoulder, 2 broken ribs, bruised kidney and a whole bunch of road rash. In what can only be described as typical Bob, rumor has it that the first words out of his mouth as he stopped sliding was "How's my bike?". (grin) I'm sure he'll be fine, but I haven't heard yet if he'll be able to do the ride at Tahoe.
  To repeat what coach Bob said at the emergency room when commenting about his fall .. "That's part of cycling".

Training is well under way. Everyone is pushing to make up for rides that were cancelled due to the lovely spring weather we're having, so it's ride ride ride every chance you get. My schedule is now a speed ride on Tuesday (20 ish miles), a very hilly ride on Thursday (20+ miles), an endurance ride on Saturday or Sunday (60 miles last weekend), and an easy paced recovery ride Sunday/Monday (15 miles). I missed the group ride on saturday, so I rode solo on Sunday - what great weather for once! Days like that are such a pleasure to ride - early morning, birds chirping, sun shining, a great chance to clear your head.
One of the things the coaches & mentors have us doing is trying to incorporate 'memory miles' while you ride. Give some thought to why your out there in bad weather during the wee hours of the weekend, pushing yourself and sweating when it'd be so much easier to stay in bed and sleep like everyone else is doing. Consider who you're riding for, the people and the cause, and how many of those that are dealing with cancer would love to be able to be out there with you. It does work too - helps put everything into perspective, Instead of griping about cold and rain, be glad that your healthy enough to do it. Maybe thats the answer to many other things in life.. :)

I've been having problems with this page not displaying properly for 2 years now, I think I may have just solved the problem. I had some html code that wasn't properly ended. I should have thought to use an html validation tool earlier.

Finally made a sucessful team ride, woohoo! We had a decent day for riding and were able to get a decent ride in at Holy Hill. I'm pretty sure that they use that route as a way for parishinors to pay penance for their sins, instead of having them say Hail Mary's. With all the hills along the way, most cyclists end up asking God for help somewhere along the way. (grin). No breakdowns, no flats, just a nice training ride. On the positive side, this years Holy Hill ride wasn't nearly as difficult as I remember it being from last year, guess I didn't lose all of my conditioning during the off season!

Off to a bit of a rocky start here. The weather hasn't been very kind to riding, and 3 miles into the 2nd ride of the season with the group I blew out a tire & tube. After putting new tires on my bike, I blew that out 2.4 miles into the 3rd ride. (sigh). Been doing far more solo riding than group riding so far. Here's hoping that Saturday's ride to Holy Hill goes better!

Well the snowstorm yesterday didn't help training much at all. I have 3 15-20 mile rides under my belt so far, but I really need to get going on the long hilly rides. Looks like we'll try to get 2 30+ mile rides in next weekend.

I've signed up to do another Team in Training event this year, I'll be returning to the Milwaukee Chapter cycling team for another go at Americas Most Beautiful Bike ride.  I've been hemming and hawing about it for a couple weeks now, trying to make up my mind on the committment of it, it does tend to take up a lot of your free time for 4 months. And the commitment to raising the funds can be a bit of a gut check. :)

What finally helped me make my decision was at the bike maintenance seminar the coaches put on, introductions were being made and people were talking about their reasons for doing it. There are some new members for the team, and of them 1 is a survivor (believe that makes 4 for our team), 1 lost a family member to leukemia, and another one has a brother that was diagnosed when he was 9, he's now 13.  That's why we do this, thats what this is all about - making a difference for the survivors and for those that have lost loved ones due to a blood born cancer.  It reminded me of the friends, coworkers and others I talked to last year who had been affected by one of them, and of the things they shared with me.  I recalled the stories I heard at the bike ride last year, the people who were there cheering us on, and knowing that I was helping to make a difference.

The Leukemia and Lymphoma society has made a real difference in the battle against these cancers. 2008 marks their 20th anniverary, in those 20 years 360,000 voluneteers have raised over $850 million to be used for education, research, and helping patients and their families.  In 2007 alone they contributed $66.5 million to support more than 396 researchers in 15 different countries.  And it's all through tax deductible donations from people like you - they receive no federal funding.  They've made real progress, but there is more work to be done.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.  If you wish to make an online donation, you can click on the Team in Training image in the top right corner.  On behalf of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, I thank you.