09.24.08
Donation goal reached / Dead truck revived
Yesterday, my goal of reaching $500 in donations for the Bike MS NYC ride was met. (Thanks, Kevin!) I just wanted to again say “thank you” to all of you who donated to this wonderful cause. Many of us are affected by, or live with, fatal or chronic diseases, or know someone close to us who is, and the reality of it really hits home. I am grateful that I can ride the bike, and I do so and put a lot of effort into it because it benefits me in my own situation, but it’s the donated money that really helps make a difference.
The two other guys who will be doing the ride with me on 10/5 are Johan and Rogelio, who also did the last two century rides with me this month. The Bike MS NYC ride will be our third century ride in this monthlong series. What’s notable about these guys is that they are hardcore singlespeed mountain bike racers, not roadies, and they have been ubersympathetic to what I’ve been going through. It’s been a real pleasure to ride with them. And these century rides are really helping me get back into shape so I can do what I like best, mountain biking!
My truck, a ‘95 Isuzu Rodeo V6, has been dead since 9/7 when I drove back home from Johan’s house after we rode the NYC Century. My power brakes also decided to die on my way to Johan’s house the night before the ride when tropical storm Hanna passed through. The drive home without power brakes wasn’t such a big deal, although I don’t recommend it unless you have a manual transmission. So, the starter had been acting up for most of the year, sometimes not starting at all and sometimes after a couple of tries at the ignition. Usually, I’d just do the job of replacing the starter myself, but it’s a little more tedious than what I have time for these days. Viraf came over to push the truck so I could push start it out of the driveway. (Obviously, without a working starter, you can’t start the engine unless you push-start it.)
I never really noticed that the road out of my driveway in both directions is slightly uphill. That is, until we tried to push my truck out of the driveway. We couldn’t push it fast enough up this ever-so-slight incline to start the engine. Viraf said he didn’t think my truck was that heavy! We could have got it started if we had one other person to help push. But, pushing the truck back down the road backwards and doing a reverse gear start worked. The truck hadn’t been started in over 2.5 weeks and smoke billowed once it started up. Once started, I was able to bring it to the shop. Thanks, V! I would have brought it to the shop earlier, but I couldn’t have gotten the engine started without someone to help me push it. I packed my bike in the back and after dropping off the car, I took a nice, leisurely bike ride home.
I have to drive to Baltimore next week for my 2-year post-BMT check up, which also coincides with my 3-month cGvHD follow-up with the GvHD team. Hopefully, I’ll check out OK and my prednisone dose can be tapered down some more.