See updates at end and in comments.
We've all heard of personal transformations after a health crisis, but this one's a little abnormal: I have become a bike rider! For the first time in my life! (Well, since high school.) Donate now, or read on:
In June, with no "should" attached, I told my wife "I want to start riding a bike." I got myself a yard sale bike and started riding it, and I liked it.
- I bought some pimpy gadgets for the bike. Nothing major, but yeah, I pimped my yard sale bike. I liked it more.
- I found a really nice big park in my town, a riverside park I'd never known was there. I rode through it end to end until it wasn't big enough.
- I had a concern about discomfort in my arm so I checked with my orthopedist. (It had hosted a metastasis during my illness.) A-OK.
- I rode the park's trail extensions to downtown Nashua till that wasn't enough.
- I learned there's a 12 mile "rail trail" from Nashua to Ayer, MA, and I loved it.
- 12 days ago I rode it all the way, back most of the way twice - 30 miles total. First time in my life I've ridden 30 miles.
So I went home and opened the email where... my orthopedist Dr. Anderson had invited me to join HER in a fundraiser bike ride for the hospital's cancer research - and I registered!So now it's your turn: you get to donate! To my very first cancer fundraiser!
Click here. And thanks!
Update 9/5: This is good for the soul, too: here's a photo I snapped today on my training ride, from an overlook above Fresh Pond in Cambridge:
- You guys are awesome – you've already made me the #10 fundraiser in the whole event. This is SUCH an excellent way to thank my hospital. And extra thanks to friend Harry Zane, who's joined the team and will ride too!
- Today I rode the Minuteman Bikeway rail trail from Bedford MA all the way to Alewife Station on the Boston "T" subway line, then continued to Fresh Pond - a 25 mile round trip. This is so unlike me - except now it's not! Thanks for your support.
- Today I did another 22 mile ride on the Nashua River Rail Trail. I "PR'd," as athletes say - beat my own Personal Record, doing the distance in 1:54, vs the 2:12 it took me to do that distance a couple of weeks ago.
- Your donations have raised me to #7 in the event's list of top fundraisers. Thank you!
Dave;
ReplyDeleteWear a helmet, haha!
nonlocal
Nonlocal,
ReplyDeleteI could have sworn I replied to this but I guess not. Yeah, it's not visible in that photo (due to camera angle) but I do wear a helmet.
(All, "nonlocal MD" is a frequent anonymous commenter on Paul Levy's "Running A Hospital" blog. Very good social media citizen, though he sense of humor isn't terribly inventive. :-))
AND, ladies and gents, today I (unwittingly) did my first real trail ride. On the map and websites it looked like an extension of the Minuteman Bikeway, but it was a genuine Trail Through The Woods, complete with branches across the trail, rocks in the path ("Is that a shadow or a rock?"), and fun moguls. I discovered that although the center of Bedford MA is nowhere near the center of Concord MA by car, it's just 4 miles through the woods.
I *loved* it. And although it was just ~25 minutes each way (to a meeting with an old friend), it was physically more challenging than earlier rides.
FUN!
Did I mention I bought a new bike on Labor Day? Got a good deal at Target but they'd put it together all wrong, so my local bike shop fixed it up quick & easy. FUN!
AND, because of you, I'm no longer #10 in the fundraiser, I'm up to #5, with $750 raised! So what the hell, I raised my goal to $1,000. Think we can drum up $250k somewhere?
Oh yeah, and Monday I got a new bike. With 21 speeds, shock absorbers, and a much more comfortable seat. Quick-release front wheel and a seat post that can be adjusted without a wrench.
ReplyDeleteI mean, the 1975 Raleigh is a great bike, but this one supports me a lot more conveniently so I can focus on GETTING PLACES!
And its brakes don't squeak.