Let's Make a Change

An Exercise in Humility The dictionary defines "hubris" as "overbearing self-confidence, arrogance". Shakespeare often wrote about protagonists that had hubris and became victims of their own arrogance. Well I don't know if it was a case of hubris, but this year's Death Ride was a humbling experience - to put it mildly. I came to this year's ride having trained more than I'd done before. I lost 20 pounds in the process and I was riding exceptionally well. I conquered the last few training rides with energy to spare. On each ride I finished strong and felt great. The training was right, the weather was right, all signs pointed to a ride where I'd easily beat my previous times. I'd ridden the route 4 times before, so I knew exactly what to expect. The day started cool at 5:20am. I started well, keeping my heart rate below 140 beats per minute. I climbed the first pass in an hour and 20 minutes, 10 minutes better than last year. Thi...

I got more than a few disappointed emails when readers went to see my walnut crushing exploits only to find out it was a cheap ploy to get people to the fundraising site. Okay, I admit it was an underhanded act on my part. I apologize profusely and will figure out the walnut crushing exploits at a later date. In the meantime, I have another Death Ride to do. That's right, I've completed my fundraising. Thanks to everyone who has sponsored me. You've contributed $3,891 towards fighting Leukemia and Lymphoma. Thank you very much. I am still committed to riding a mile for every dollar raised. I've ridden over 2,800 miles so far and will continue to ride until I exceed the fundraising amount. I capped the limit at the fundraising deadline a couple weeks ago, but it may be the wine talking here, if anyone wants to make a last minute donation I'll gladly ride those miles too. Here's the donation site http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/steveasche Quick Li...

Greetings again. Time for another installment of My Latest Challenge 2.0 - my continuing quest to punish my body on a bicycle while raising money to fight Leukemia and Lymphoma. My fundraising deadline is coming up, so let's go to the tote board to see how I'm doing against my goal of riding a mile for every dollar raised. I've raised $3,541 and I've ridden 2,200 miles. The good news is I still have plenty of riding to do but the fundraising deadline June 22nd. That means if you want to punish me through the summer, you need to get your donation in. Simply go to my fundraising site and make a donation. I realized I tend to get cranky in my updates. I usually complain about some transgression from squirrels and motorists. This update I'll refrain from focusing on the negative experiences, like one particular idiot motorist on Mt. Diablo a couple days ago, and I'll focus on some of the positive effects. First, riding over 2000 miles in a few months real...

Greetings from afar, Since my last update, I've been to Mexico, Atlanta, and I'm sending this update from Las Vegas. Only one trip, Mexico was for pleasure. It's been nearly a month since my last update, so there's a lot to cover. Of course, I'm still raising money to fight Leukemia and Lymphoma. If you're interested in joining me in this fight - that is by sponsoring me - please go to my fundraising site at http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/steveasche Traveling and Training Don't Mix So I was in Mexico for a week. My wife, Sherri, and I spent a week in Cabo San Lucas. Fortunately they offered spinning classes at the resort where we were staying. Spinning is an interesting exercise experience. If you've never taken a spinning class, you should try it out. You get to spend an hour on a fancy stationary bike while a super-fit instructor yells at the class to put more resistance on the bike and pedal faster. The objective of the instructor is ...

Hello again, I'm back online and writing about my crusade against cancer. As you all know, I'm riding the Death Ride this July in an effort to raise money to fight blood cancers. Anyone wishing to support my cause should visit my fundraising page at http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/steveasche There you will learn that I'm raising money in memory of my mother-in-law, Margie Griffin. If you want to read about my misguided adventures, then visit my blog at http://notabouttheback.blogspot.com/ "I am super clever" If you've been following my updates, you'll know that I pledged to ride 100 miles for every $100 raised. Well I'm pleased to say that I'm finally getting ahead of the curve. Since my last update I've ridden over 340 miles but the fundraising was about $225. So I picked up over 100 miles on my deficit. So how do I do it, I started riding my bike to and from work. That allows me to add another 27 training miles each day. If I do that 4 ...

Hello again everyone. I'm back with another gripping update about my latest challenge. My biweekly (or is it semi-monthly) update on my training and fundraising. I'm back for another season of fighting cancer while riding hundreds...er...thousands of miles on my bike. I'm raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society in honor of my late mother-in-law, my friend Stacy, who both battled Leukemia. If you'd like to support my cause, visit my fundraising site at http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/steveasche Ever so slowly forward If you've been following this year's update you'll know that I pledged to ride 100 miles for every 100 dollars raised. I've ridden 100 miles each of the last two weekends. That's the good news. You've donated over $1600. That's great news. I've picked up my training pace so I should be able to match the fundraising. Sure I'm 980 miles in debt, but my average continues to increase. Now, of cours...

Welcome back to My Latest Challenge 2.0. Things have been progressing very well. I've added a few new people to my mailing list, so if you're seeing this for the first time, check out the rest of the blog at http://notabouttheback.blogspot.com/ There you will learn that I am, once again, embarking on an unwise challenge in an effort to raise money to fight Leukemia and Lymphoma. And if you feel inclined to make a donation to support my effort, go to my fundraising site at http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/steveasche This May Be Harder than it Looks I made the bold claim that I would ride 100 miles for every $100 raised. So far I am woefully behind. I have trained 420 miles and I have raised $1,127. I expected to gain some ground, but I think there's a lot of people that want to see me put in the hundreds of miles. That's okay, I'm still confident I'll easily match the donations. That is unless, some overly generous person steps up. I think there should be a...

Challenges are Everywhere Hello again. I'm back for another update about my Latest Challenge 2.0. I didn't have enough challenges so I'm back for another year of self-punishment in the form of hundreds of miles and hours on my bicycle. Once again I'm on quest to conquer 129 miles over 5 mountain passes in one day and raise $5,000 to fight Leukemia and Lymphoma in the process. If you want to support my cause visit my donation website at ( http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/steveasche ). If you want to know more about my quest, then visit my blog. ( http://notabouttheback.blogspot.com/ ) Let me catch you up on the latest developments. Me and my big mouth In my last update I pledged to ride 100 training miles for every $100 donated. Right now I have trained 250.7 miles but your generous donations are at $520. I have a 270 mile deficit. I intend to reduce this deficit considerably this weekend. As I explained to one naysayer, I have a plan that will allow me to keep my m...

From on My Back to on My Bike I bet some of you were wondering whatever happened to those nice updates we used to get from that bike riding guy. Others of you are probably saying, "I'm glad I don't get those updates anymore." And others are wondering, "How did he get my email address?" Once again I'm going to be filling your inbox with inane blather about how I'm doing on my latest challenge. As some of you will recall, last year I took on the ill conceived challenge of rding my bicycle 129 miles over 5 mountain passes. I did this as part of a challenge to raise funds to fight Leukemia and Lymphoma. Well thanks to many of you, I collected over $7,500 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in honor of my late mother-in-law, Margie Griffin and my friend Stacy Bowman, who is a leukemia survivor. So what am I up to you say? Well shortly after I completed the Death Ride last year I was contacted by my coaches from Team in Training and asked if I wanted to ...

Why I Ride for Team in Training For those that don't understand why I raise money to fight blood-related cancers, this story pretty much says it. From the book, Life Lessons, by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler. “Some years ago, I knew a young boy who was eager to spread love and find life, even though he was at the end of his. He had had cancer for six of his nine years. In the hospital, I took one look at him and knew he was finished fighting. He had just had it. He had accepted the reality of his death. I stopped by to say good-bye the day he was going home. To my surprise, he asked me to go home with him. When I tried to sneak a peak at my watch, he assured me that it would not take long. And so we drove into his driveway and parked. He told his father to take down his bicycle, which had been hanging in the garage, unused, for three years. His biggest dream was to ride around the block once—he had never been able to do that. He asked his father to put the training wheels...

It's January 22nd, 2007 only 5 months and 3 weeks until my next crack at the Death Ride. Last year I rode the Death Ride as part of the Team in Training organization. I endured sadistic coaches, bitter cold, scorching heat and many grueling hours on a hard leather seat. In spite of those challenges, which I've chronicled in past blog entries, I'm doing it again. So why am I doing it again? Two reasons - I think I can do it better than last time. I believe that if don't give graviity such an advantage and I get my weight down, that I should be able to finish it an hour faster than last years ride. The second reason, is that despite all their efforts, they did not find a cure for cancer last year. As I did last year, I will be riding and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. To make the effort a little more challenging, I should point out that I have not been able to ride for 3 months and that recovering from back surgery limits one's exercise options. ...

On the Road to Recovery A lot has happened since the last post -- A lumbar disk (L4/5) blew out just before Labor Day. I endured 2 weeks of unabated, debilitating pain. I've tried every drug combination shy of intravenous morphine. I lost countless hours of sleep. Lost 15 pounds. The narcotics precipitated a nasty gastro-intestinal disorder. I had surgery on September 12th. Endured further intestinal problems and have had to put up with withdrawal symptoms as I wean myself from the narcotics. It looks like, and I say this quite a bit of caution and a lot of "wood knocking", the worst is behind me and I am slowly on the mend. First the good news - the eye crossing, heart stopping, intense pain is pretty much gone. I have had a few episodes where if i turn my foot the wrong way or sit improperly that I have sharp spasms that eventually subside. If I'm careful and slow, I can get by. I can get my own socks on. I can walk up and down stairs. I can get through a day witho...

The Fateful Day has Finally Arrived "This should be interesting" "I'm surprised you could walk in here" "This is unprecedented" "If this herniated section were any bigger you'd lose control of your legs and bowels...try to not make it worse." These were all quotes that my surgeon said to me this Wednesday. After all my work and my training for the Death Ride the one thing I worried about the most finally broke...my back. I mentioned that I had two herniated disks in my back that were causing quite a bit of pain. Through some cutting edge treatments I was able to keep the disks in check and survive the Death Ride. But like a thread-bare tire, it decided to blow. And like a blowout, it happened suddenly and furiously. My back had been sore for a few days prior and I had made an appointment to see the doctor later that week, but when I sat down in the wrong chair, I learned a new level of pain. They say kidney stones are pretty painful. As a...

Over the past few months, thanks to your generous donations, I’ve raised over $7,400 to fight Leukemia and Lymphoma in honor of my mother-in-law, Margie Griffin, who passed away from leukemia last August, and my friend Stacy Bowman, who is a leukemia survivor. I’m at 99% of my $7,500 goal; thank you for all your support. If you're interested in sponsoring me or learning what it's all about, check out my fundraising site at Steve's Team in Training Page Steve's Team in Training Page . Working Every Angle I decided to take a tip from the riders in the Tour de France and see if I could find anything to work to my advantage. Not being up to speed on blood doping nor having access to EPO, I tried to gain an advantage through moderate and, I might add, legal means. In addition to the weeks of training, I did other things to help give me an extra edge before the event. I started drinking excessive volumes of water, combined with electrolyte supplements. I had two deep tissue m...

Welcome to the next to last installment of my latest challenge. Over the past few months, thanks to your generous donations, I’ve raised over $7,200 to fight Leukemia and Lymphoma in honor of my mother-in-law, Margie Griffin, who passed away from leukemia last August, and my friend Stacy Bowman, who is a leukemia survivor. I’m close to my $7,500 goal with a week and a half to go until the Death Ride – a one day, 130 mile ride, climbing 15,000 feet, over 5 mountain passes. If you're interested in sponsoring me or learning what it's all about, check out my fundraising site at Steve's Team in Training Page Steve's Team in Training Page . In my last update I wrote about the grueling challenges that our coaches had cooked up for us. One would have thought that they had exhausted their list of torturous routes. We were wrong. Have you ever said, “It can’t get any worse.” Only to find that things can, and do, get much worse. This is one of those times. They told us last week ...

Welcome to another installment of my latest challenge. . For those of you new to receiving these updates – here's the deal: I've taken on the challenge of completing an epic endurance event with the purpose of raising money to fight Leukemia and Lymphoma. I decided to take up this challenge in honor of my mother-in-law, Margie Griffin, who passed away from leukemia last August, and my friend Stacy Bowman, who is a leukemia survivor. My goal is to raise $7,500 to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma society through the Team in Training program. My personal challenge is to complete the Tour of the California Alps, also known as the Death Ride – a one day, 130 mile ride, climbing 15,000 feet, over 5 mountain passes. If you're interested in sponsoring me or learning what it's all about, check out my fundraising site at Steve's Team in Training Page Steve's Team in Training Page A Near Death Experience Since the last time I wrote, I have discovered new levels of pain a...

I finally cracked the code. After all these years of riding I learned what my biggest problem has been. Thanks to my coaches from Team in Training, I've learned that I generally start out too fast, bonk, and suffer through cramps the rest of the ride. For the first time, I've been able to tackle a really hard ride without any leg cramps. I kept my heart rate at a reasonable level and took Endurolytes . So far, it seems to work. Saturday, I rode 75 miles with over 10,000 feet of climbing. For a picture of pain, look at my heart rate chart from climbing Mt. Diablo three times in one day. (Known as a 3-D). No kamikaze squirrels this time - just a curious coyote.

Welcome to another installment of my latest challenge. . For those of you new to receiving these updates – here's the deal: I've taken on the challenge of completing an epic endurance event with the purpose of raising money to fight Leukemia and Lymphoma. I decided to take up this challenge in honor of my mother-in-law, Margie Griffin, who passed away from leukemia last August, and my friend Stacy Bowman, who is a leukemia survivor. My goal is to raise $7,500 to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma society through the Team in Training program. My personal challenge is to complete the Tour of the California Alps, also known as the Death Ride – a one day, 130 mile ride, climbing 15,000 feet, over 5 mountain passes. If you're interested in sponsoring me or learning what it's all about, check out my fundraising site at Steve's Team in Training Page Steve's Team in Training Page I’ve created a blog of past updates. It also includes the unabridged version of this update...

I'm back, or if this is the first time you're seeing this, welcome. This is my third update about my latest challenge. For those of you new to receiving these updates – here's the deal: I've taken on the challenge of completing an epic endurance event with the purpose of raising money to fight Leukemia and Lymphoma. I decided to take up this challenge in honor of my mother-in-law, Margie Griffin, who passed away from leukemia last August, and my friend Stacy Bowman, who is a leukemia survivor. My goal is to raise $7,500 to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma society through the Team in Training program. My personal challenge is to complete the Tour of the California Alps, also known as the Death Ride – a one day, 130 mile ride, climbing 15,000 feet, over 5 mountain passes. If you're interested in sponsoring me or learning what it's all about, check out my fundraising site at Steve's Team in Training Page Steve's Team in Training Page I’ve been remiss in w...