2012 riding season

All signed up to do the bike to beat cancer September 2012. This year I've signed on to ride 65 miles with a friend. This will be her first experience. I'm glad I get to share and help her with that.

Kid and I are officially signed up for the tour de cure diabetes ride on May 19. She chose to up the ante to 40 miles this year! Proud of her for sure.

Now the hard part comes... Fundraising.

Route and dedications

The '>route for the 100 mile ride has been released. Here is the link to see it. Mile deications are official now since my jersey is in print. That list is below in case you want to match your miles with the location and come cheer me on :-)


These Miles Are For You…
Me 1-5
Mom (Carol Metcalf) 6-10
Leigh Anne Sieg 11-15
Rachel Canter 16-20
Debbie Carden 21-25
Mark King 26-27
Grandpap Grove 28-29
Margaret Harris 30-31
Beth Costin 32-33
Uncle Rick Metcalf 34-35
Clinton Shepherd 36-37
Granny (Carol Madden) 38-39
Jebby Erdman 40-41
Sandy Browning 42-43
Rose Anne Klotz 44-45
Grandma (Jeanette Voyles) 46-47
Dad (Mike Metcalf) 48-50
Stacey & Bryon 51-53
Silent Mile 54
Corey Queen 55-56
Kate, Dustin, Avery, Ashton 57-58
Tina & Red 59-60
Tom & Susan 61-62
Oncology Staff 63-66
Jennifer Kraha 67-68
Matt & Raine 69-70
Monica & Bobby 71-73
Jennifer & Paul 74-76
Heaven, Zach, Raquel, Jocelyn 77-80
Holly Stacy 81-82
Melissa Crowe 83-86
Michael Metcalf 87-90
Derek & Krysteena 96-100

The Dedication List.........

These Miles are for you....

In memory of those Lost.....
Me 1-5
Mom (Carol Metcalf) 6-10
Leigh Anne Sieg 11-15
Rachel Canter 16-20
Debbie Carden 21-25
Mark King 26-27
Grandpap Grove 28-29

In Support of who have fought or are still fighting....
Margaret Harris 30-31
Beth Costin 32-33
Uncle Rick Metcalf 34-35
Clinton Shepherd 36-37
Granny (Carol Madden) 38-39
Jebby Erdman 40-41
Sandy Browning 42-43
Rose Anne Klotz 44-45
Grandma (Jeanette Voyles) 46-47
Dad (Mike Metcalf) 48-50

The rest of my support.....
Stacey & Bryon 51-53
Silent Mile 54
Corey Queen 55-56
Kate, Dustin, Avery, Ashton 57-60
Tina & Red 61-62
Tom & Susan 63-64
Oncology Staff 65-68
Jennifer Kraha 69-70
Monica & Bobby 71-73
Jennifer & Paul 74-76
Heaven, Zach77-78
Raquel, Jocelyn 79-80
Holly Stacy 81-82
Melissa Crowe 83-86
Michael Metcalf 87-90
Derek Bernardi 91-95
Krysteena Metcalf 96-100

Sick to my stomach or 68 days

I know the ride is continuing to get closer and I know the amount of riding I have been doing is becoming less and less, but today, just now, it hit me and hard how close it is. I logged on to the main ride page, www.biketobeatcancer.org, and right there in front of me was something that literally made my stomach ache and my heart drop.

Event Countdown : 68 days!

68 days?!? That's it? That's all I have left to train myself from the 38 miles I've ridden on my farthest ride this year to 100 miles?!? 68 days to get my bike ready and my brain ready and my body ready?!? 68 days......just 68 days.......

I have a headaache now.

Excuses or valid reasons?

I've not been on my bike in too long. Mostly it's been because of the number of hours I've been working. The secondary reason has been weather but I'm starting to question whether the weather has been a valid reason or if it's just been an excuse. Has it really been to hot or have I just been lazy and fearful of what my next ride means?
I keep saying I'd like to try for 50-60 miles on my next ride. That is scary. That is 6 hours worth of time. That's stop to eat and refill water and drink riding. That's only half of the amount of mileage I’ll be fighting to complete in September. What if I fail? Am I afraid of failing at 50 and discouraging myself from the 100 or has it really been the weather?
So I looked back to see. I noticed that most of the days I had planned to ride had random thunderstorms. The others had 100+ degree heat indexes. There were very few I could have actually ridden safely and sanely, Especially that many miles at my level of fitness and experience. So was the weather a reason or an excuse?
It was a good reason to make an excuse because honestly.... I'm afraid to get out and ride and fail and let myself and everyone else down.

116 degree heat index?!?

I'm getting more and more worried that I won't be able to complete this century ride I signed up for. I've not had much time off lately. The time off I've had it's been raining/ popcorn storms, or like today: too hot to safely ride.
I've been cross training in the gym and doing spin and stationary training bike. But those are nowhere near the same thing. What am I going to do? I think I may be in over my head.

Stimulation

At the chiropractors office again. I am amazed that all this had helped my knee and shoulder so much. I've been able to start some light running again with very little pain! Muscle stimulation, traction, adjustments, physical therapy, and massage.
Was going to ride my bike to my appointment today but storms through the night took care of that. Plus there is a high chance of random storms today. Tomorrow looks clear though so I should be able to finally get some miles in then.

Seems so recent

It's been 9 years ago today since my mom passed away. Leukemia. A blood cancer. It's hard to believe it's been so long already. It still feels like it just happened. But honoring her memory and fight against cancer, as short as it was, has been one of my main driving forced for training for this ride and raising money to help find cures. Not treatments but CURES!

As I thought might happen

Since I announced I had made dedications of my upcoming 100 mile bike ride September 24 I have unfortunately had to add 3 more names to the roster of those battling cancer. Cancer sucks!!!!!!

Testing something new

Updates and changes

I updated and changed my links and about me today bringing this old blog back to life. Let's see how lng it takes before it goes back into a coma...lol

How it Went

The Tour De Cure was today. My daughter's first bike ride and my third. We did the 20 mile ride together and it could not have been more perfect. The rain stayed away and the temperature was in the high 60's low 70's for our ride. I had ridden the course before on day two of last years ride to conquer cancer. There was a hill I had to walk up last year that I took like nothing this trip. We ketp a 13 mph average speed and complete 20.9 miles in 1 hour and 38 minutes. Krysteena really enjoyed it and is looking forwawrd to doing more rides in the future. I am so glad we now have somethign we can share!!

Tour de Cure

This Saturday, May 21, is the Tour de Cure bike ride to raise money for the American Diabetes Association. I am really excited. I had signed up for the 40 mile ride, but then, to my surprise, my daughter asked if she could do it too!!! She signed up for the 20 mile ride and I told her I'd ride down to support her. I've really enjoyed that she has begun riding. It's been nice not only having someone sharing in one of my passions, but it has been even better to finally have something my daughter and I can enjoy doing together. Together we raised almost $700 for the wonderful cause. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the weather forecast. Right now it is forecasted to have thunderstorms on Saturday. The ride goes on rain or shine, but I sure hope for some shine!!

Dedicating this to you

I hesitate to release my list for fear of having to add any more names to the list of those with cancer, but I do want to say this. I have dedicated each and every mile to teh special people in my life. I hope to have the money to have the names added to a shirt to help remind me of who I am doign this ride for every mile. The first half of the ride is dedicated to a list of people clsoe to me and that have touched me in a special way that have cancer. Some have passed, some still fight. Those are th oens that got me started. The second half of the ride is for those who have k ept me goign through it all. The family of friends that are there cheering me on and helping me out htick and thin through every last crazy mile and whim I get. Closer to the ride I will release the list of names and the miles which are dedicated to each person.

Rain Rain go Away

I got my new bike this past weekend but haven't been able to ride it yet for all the rain! I'm hoping to get some good weather out of Sunday when I am off to go for at least a short jaunt to try things out. Keep the fingers crossed. I am a LONG way from being able to ride 100 miles (biting nails)