Thought I'd let you know how my training is coming along. I'm right on schedule according to my TNT coach. I've been doing long rides every Wednesday with each ride being about 10% longer than the previous week's. My ride on October 10th was about 62 miles.

The above graph shows all of my training rides since August 17th (when I got the new bike).

I don't want to imply here that this is all (or even primarily) about me riding a bike. It's not. I do that because it's something I like to do and because it's good for me. This (my involvement with TNT/LLS and riding El Tour de Tucson) is more about making that activity mean something in a wider context.

It's about taking something that would naturally be quite self-centered and making it good for other people, too. More to the point, it's about raising money to fund the search for a cure for blood cancers and for helping people who are living with those cancers. And to that end, I'd like to be doing much better ...

The support I've already received has been wonderful. It means a great deal to me that people have donated so generously in my name to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Every time I'm out there training, I ride for them; I ride with them. I expect that during the 111 miles of El Tour de Tucson it's their support that will ultimately pull me through.

I'd love to be riding with your support, as well. Please click on that DONATE NOW button over there on the right and take a few minutes to lend your support to the LLS in my name.

As I said in my first post here, my first bike ride (in nearly 40 years) was a 4 miler back in March of this year and was pretty s-l-o-w (less than 8 mph). I didn't start training for longer distances until June (at which point I'd decided to join TNT and ride El Tour de Tucson).

Since then, I've ridden over a thousand miles, logging about 75 hours in the saddle (so to speak). My average training rides now are about 15 miles long and I do those 4 or 5 times a week. And once a week I also go on a longer ride, slowly building up my endurance in preparation for the 111 miles of El Tour. This week's ride will be a 40 miler and I'll average somewhere around 14 mph.

The biggest change I've seen (aside from my getting up at 5 in the morning to go riding) is that I've lost about 16 pounds. It makes sense that I would, but it was just never anything I was expecting. That, and the fact that I recently got a much more capable bike, might explain why my overall speed and endurance have come up so nicely.

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If you watched the video of Talia I linked to in my last post, you might be interested to know that she is back on chemo but, as far as I know, hasn't received a bone marrow transplant. She continues to inspire me, especially when I'm out there training and start thinking that I'm too tired and should just stop. I call all the miles I do after that point my "Talia miles." (You might appreciate this new interview with Talia, by the way.)

I also carry with me the support and encouragement of everyone who has donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in my name. I am honored by their support and ride with them in my heart and mind every time I go out.

I'd love to be riding with your support, as well. Just click on the DONATE NOW button over there on the right. It will only take a minute or two.

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“Unless someone like you

Cares a whole awful lot,

Nothing is going to get better.

It's not.”

― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

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(Note: In November, 2012, I will be riding the 111 miles of El Tour de Tucson to raise money for finding a cure to blood cancers.)

I would like to introduce you to someone I just "met" a few days ago. Her name is Talia Joy Castellano. She's a rather exuberant 13 year old living in Florida who has made quite a name for herself recently on YouTube dispensing both make up tips and some pretty sage advice about living.

Talia has been fighting cancer since she was 8. In a YouTube video posted just a few weeks before her thirteenth birthday, she talks about having just found out that she has pre-Leukemia and that she is faced with either a painful bone marrow transplant that is not likely to succeed or simply giving in and spending the next 4 to 12 months the doctors are saying she has left in as much peace as possible.

I wanted to share the video with you for two reasons. First, your life will be enriched just by watching it. Her openness and honesty coupled with her attitude about life are simply remarkable. You come away from watching it feeling glad there are people like her in the world. If you're like me, you'll also find that once you've "met" Talia, she tends to go with you out into your life. She is very much on my mind when I'm out on training rides (pretty much 6 days a week now) and when I'm tired and feel like quitting, she's right there to say, "You can do it. Keep going."

Second, I wanted to share this because it conveys so much about the reasons I wanted to join Team In Training to help fund a cure for blood cancers. Watching her video, you may miss the very important point that Talia has been alive the past 5 years because of what we've already learned about treating cancer – we've made a lot of progress. But the fact that we may only have another year of all this young lady has to share? That is testament to how much more there is still to learn.

I chose Team In Training and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society because I believe in what they're doing and how they're doing it. If you choose to press that DONATE NOW button over there on the right, you can be sure that something good is going to come of the money you contribute. I'm perfectly fine, though, with you finding some other way to help - any other way to do something that will actually make a difference. Do it now, though, before the normal day to day things sweep you up again ... There are thousands and thousands of "Talias" who will appreciate it.

This coming November I will be participating in El Tour de Tucson, riding my bike one hundred and eleven miles, literally around the perimeter of Tucson, Arizona.

As I sit here now writing this on a Saturday afternoon in June, that day—that event and that accomplishment—seems both far away and too soon, not to mention bordering on the absurd. I rode my bike just one-tenth of that distance this morning and returned home completely spent. I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to ride one hundred and eleven all in one day.

But I'm going to.

One reason I know I will is that I'm not just riding to ride. I'm not just riding to make myself healthier. I'm riding because I've chosen to help change the world for some people who, through no choice of their own, have had their world turned upside down by leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease or myeloma. I'm riding to help pay for all the services and hands-on help they need. I'm riding to raise money for those who are looking for cures. And I'm riding in hopes that I might inspire you to help, too.

By itself, this morning's bike ride is barely worth mentioning. But it's not the only one. I've been out 5 days in the past week doing 10 to 11 mile rides. And it isn't just this past week. I've been riding quite a bit since I got my bike a few months ago. My first ride was 4 miles long and it took me 32 minutes. My best ride this week was 10.3 miles in 43 minutes. Over time, all the little "it's the best I can do right now" efforts add up. Together they make the impossible possible. And in time, what is possible can be made probable ...

I believe that.

Please make a donation in support of my efforts and help advance the research for cures. It doesn't have to be much. You don't have to fund the whole thing yourself, although you're welcome to try! But if we all simply do what we can do right now, that, too, will add up.

Thank you.