09.26.08
Posted in blog, cycling, gps, health, links, martialarts at 7:18 am by 1speeder
Urge the U.S. Senate to Include NIH Funding in the Continuing Resolution - “On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a “continuing resolution” to fund the federal government through March 6, 2009 until a fiscal 2009 budget can be agreed upon. This resolution would keep funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the fiscal 2008 levels and would not provide a funding increase for cancer research. However, the U.S. Senate will vote on the continuing resolution this afternoon or tomorrow morning and Sens. Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Harry Reid (D-NV) are expected to offer a $56 billion economic stimulus package as an amendment. This package will include an additional $1.2 billion for NIH. Advocates are asked to call their senators and ask them to support Sens. Byrd and Reid’s economic stimulus amendment to the continuing resolution. The Senate is expected to vote on this bill AS EARLY AS THIS AFTERNOON, so your immediate help is requested!” Find advocacy action items in your state.
The
CarvX four-wheeled carving recumbent bike, from GBO design - engineering, “takes an aluminium frame 14-speed, four-wheeled recumbent bike and and adds four independent double wishbone suspensions, four hydraulic disc brakes and the ability to steer the machine with the aid of a tilting mechanism.”
The
elliptiGO bike “offers riders all the best elements of running and cycling in one machine. Whilst running is an excellent way to improve cardiovascular health and general fitness, many runners are plagued with back and leg injuries due to the high impact nature of the sport. Similarly, bike riders often suffer from shoulder and back injuries and saddle-soreness. When you ride the elliptiGO you use the same biomechanics of running but the impact is reduced and the upright position is a much more comfortable way to ride a bike.” While I enjoy “traditional” cycling too much to switch to something different, I’d be interested enough to check out a ride on one of these.
Here’s the news no White Rabbit junkie wants to hear:
Melamine found in White Rabbit candies. This is indeed sad news.
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09.18.08
Posted in blog, cycling, events, gps, health, links, martialarts, video at 11:58 am by 1speeder
From NothingButNets.net - “Despite the magnitude of the problem, there is a simple and cost-effective solution to prevent malaria deaths. For just $10, we can purchase a bed net, deliver it to a family, and explain its use. Bed nets work by creating a protective barrier against mosquitoes at night, when the vast majority of transmissions occur. A family of four can sleep under an insecticide-treated bed net, safe from malaria, for up to four years. The benefits of bed nets extend even further than the family. When enough nets are used, the insecticide used to deter mosquitoes makes entire communities safer—including even those individuals who do not have nets. Although $10 for a bed net may not sound like much, the cost makes them out of reach for most people at risk of malaria, many of whom survive on less than $1 a day. Nets are a simple, life-saving solution, but we need your help to provide them to those in need.” Here’s how you can help.
While the charity ride I am participating in for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is still two weeks away, I just wanted to say Thank You! to those who have donated to the cause so far. Of course, I understand that these are financially difficult and uncertain times and I fully understand that most people want to help out others, but it’s not always possible. No one knows this better than I do, since it has been difficult for me to find work that doesn’t result in a total compromise of my immune system. Just being in the presence of people on occasion has repeatedly resulted in my being sick for four weeks at a time. I’m actually fortunate that it hasn’t been fatal for me yet.
BTW, while everyone knows that endurance cycling is how I prepare my body, preemptively, for harsh cancer treatments, like bone marrow transplants that involve high-dose chemotherapy, and it’s my preferred form of rehabiliation every year after I leave the hospital, the other reason why I’m doing the MS NYC event on 10/5 is because my neighbor’s father has MS. And the reason why I ride my fixedgear bike is because it’s hard for me as a cGvHD patient. (No, cycling for me is not easy. Just ask anyone who rides with me.) And it reminds me, with every painful pedal stroke, that while I’m suffering to turn over the pedals for 100+ miles, there are those who I am riding for that have it much worse than that.
According to Transportation Alternatives, the organization that puts on the NYC Century, I was “one of 5,517 riders who took to NYC streets on September 7th and made this year’s NYC Century Bike Tour the best ever!” Cool. It goes on: “Together we raised $250,000 to support T.A.’s campaigns to win more bike and better designed bike lanes, more bike parking, indoor bike access in buildings and other key improvements that will make everyday bicycling safer and more enjoyable.”
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09.17.08
Posted in blog, cancer, cycling, environment, gps, health, links, martialarts, video at 8:20 pm by 1speeder
I stopped posting about my rides and rehabilitative efforts this year, largely because of the more stable nature of my health since cGvHD, and not cancer, guide my daily routine. So, no, just because I don’t always mention anything on the blog doesn’t mean that I am idle. On today’s ride, however, I thought I should start a new theme of posting what I was thinking during my ride. I will call it Ridethoughts.
I do some of my clearest thinking while I am on the bike. On the road, that is, during my solo training rides. All my rides are solo. Mountain biking, on the other hand, requires much more mental activity. Lose your focus for a second, and you can suddenly be flying through the air, unintentionally. Which is not to say that riding on the road is mindless, like riding in a group, or on a ride like the NYC Century, or in a race, but since I’m talking about my solo training rides, I tend to not focus on riding as a technical activity.
Since employing cycling as a rehabilitative exercise to prepare my body for the rigors of refractory cancer treatments since early 2005 when I relapsed the first time, riding on the road to me has always been linked to fighting cancer. So, my thoughts tend to gravitate towards cancer and health related issues. My long rides these days are usually about 65-70 miles long, roughly about 4:15 in duration, so I have time to think.
Today’s Ridethought is about cars (and other petroleum based vehicles used for transportation) and how the car as a convenience tool is so ubiquitous, that Americans can’t live without one. Besides the obvious oil related problems that come with our dependence on cars, the geopolitical conflicts, the environmental hazards, like oil spills, fuel fires, and global warming, there’s also the personal health hazard: carbon monoxide poisoning. If you sit in a car that’s running, you’re getting it. More so if the car is not moving. Also, I’m getting it while I’m riding my bike.
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09.04.08
Posted in blog, cycling, gps, gvhd at 6:22 pm by 1speeder
In the past week I was able to get three good training rides in on my fixie to prep for the NYC Century this Sunday. Two and a half weeks ago, I was still sick with a sinus infection and coughing up a lot of sputum. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get over it in time to get enough training time in, but I was able to get 62, 68, and 76 mile rides in with little spinning/recovery rides in between.
Yesterday’s 76 mile ride was the longest ride I’d ever done on a fixedgear bike. When I left the house at 10:30, it was so overcast that my GPS had trouble acquiring satellites. Not too long afterwards, it started getting pretty hot and sunny. As someone dealing with cGvHD, I have to be careful about being out in the sun too long. While my skin seems to be a little less sensitive to sun than it was last year, I’m still sensitive. To prepare myself for being outside for several hours while riding the century, I figured that tanned skin would fare better than untanned skin, and I’d be less apt to burn. Last year, I seemed to fare pretty well, but I was totally paranoid the entire time. And it was sunny and hot last year. So, for the last two weeks, I’ve been intentionally going out in the late morning with my exposure to the afternoon sun spanning through to as late as 3:30. I got tanned each time with no real adverse effects that I can see or feel. (One of the scary warnings I received right after my BMT, when the possibility of acute GvHD was high, was “explosive GvHD”, in which a sunburn could lead to death within 14 days.)
As it turns out, this Sunday might be wet and rainy with hurricane Hannah hitting Long Island by early Sunday morning. I probably won’t have to worry about the sun, but if it’s rainy, there’s another GvHD related risk that might crop up. Pneumonia. Also, I was hoping to ride my fixie, but it only has one brake, the front brake, that I use only when I can’t stop the bike in time with the pedals in typical fixedgear fashion. But as my condition with GvHD persists, I try hard as possible not to crash or injure myself since this can lead to a GvHD flare-up or other bad immune system related problems, such as organ failure. So, I might default back to riding the Zion, which I rode the last two years. It’s got disc brakes and is a better “bad weather” bike.
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