Reason No. 16 to Ride – Holiday Bike Giveaway

Reason No. 16 to Ride is a great holiday bike giveaway!

Here’s your chance to give your and others the gift of health this season.  Sign up for the San Diego Tour de Cure or better yet, Team US Cares rides the Tour de Cure and start your fundraising to help make a difference!

Raise $100 by December 16th and be entered to win a Specialized Road Bike courtesy of UC Cyclery!

$100 = 1 entry; $200 = 2 entries; $300 = 3 entries

About Diabetes
Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. The cause of diabetes continues to be a mystery, although both genetics and environmental factors appear to play roles. There are 23.6 million Americans living with diabetes, a disease that is outpacing heart disease, cancer and AIDS. Diabetes is a disease that has deadly serious consequences, and there is no cure.

Can a marriage survive a bike addiction?

Sometimes you marry the perfect match, but yet, your interests drift in different directions. Such is the case with Dave and I.

How did it happen? We were two geeks happily following the path of techno weenies everywhere, downing Jolt Cola and eating Fritos, never leaving our keyboards, never seeing the light of day. Life was good. Until…

I found out about Team and Training. Instantly, I was back in the world of biking – something I had not done since I left for college a lot of years and 3 kids ago. I loved it, the constant joy of being back on the bike, the constant struggle of being back on the bike, I rode every chance I got. I was hooked. Dave, not so much.

Rae joined me in our first Team and Training event and the months of training up to it. Then a few years later, Josh joined in – in fact, he participated in his second event this past weekend, the Tour de Cure. Most of the household was now in the saddle.

My husband was not too enamored of the concept of peddling to get to where he wanted to go. Still, he continued to meet me at Helen’s cycles, eyeing the new models and every now and then looking at a bike for himself. He would talk to the manager and gear techs, making sure I was being taken care of, asking about the new Madone I was looking at, etc. He seemed into it, but I still couldn’t get him on a bike.

I teased him, encouraged him, cajoled him and finally I just gave up. I muttered something about those tech support guys whose only time away from the computer is when they are discussing going to the next level with other World of Warcraft players. He jerked his head up in hurt surprise. “You really think so? You think that is all I am interested in?” Uh oh, I had crossed a line. “Uhm, well…” trying to quickly assess how much damage I had done, “it does seem odd that you keep looking at bikes and talking about wanting to ride and you never do.”. Not knowing when to quit, I continued on, “Dave life is just better when a couple have things in common, things they do together other than raising kids. I know we can’t do everything together, we have to have some interests of our own, but this is something that the kids and I really love and you have to get up in the morning and drive us to training rides anyways…” I whined. “Right,” he responded, “I get up early, check the bikes to make sure they are safe and ready for the road.” . “I know, I know. So if you are there anyways, why not be a part of it?” I asked perplexed. As patiently as a Father to a dolt child, he learned close and softly asked ” If I rode with you, who would be your SAG vehicle?”.

It must have been seconds, but it felt like minutes or even hours passed as I processed this. All this time I thought Dave just didn’t care about it all. The very fact of the matter was that Dave cared a great deal. He cared about us. He has spent the last two and a half years carrying bikes, tires, tubes and basic medical supplies, waiting hours at SAG (support and gear) stops and picking up hurt riders, taking them to safety. His addiction may not be to cycling but it has been to “his riders”.

Sometimes, you marry the perfect match.

Be The Stain

You would think that as I approach this week end’s Tour de Cure, I would be preoccupied with training, nutrition and preparation. Not so much.

Part of my mental game plan is to go into this century ride for the American Diabetes Association with a happy, upbeat attitude. One large key in overcoming some of my obstacles has been to love what I am doing and find the happiness within.

While Tide may not be aware of how they are helping me across that finish line (and thus helping others) I thought I’d share with you something that has sent me into uncontrollable peals of laughter every time I look at it…

I went over to BeTheStain.com and upload my pic to their applet, making me the talking stain that you see in the commercial. Sure its dumb, but seriously, what sane person spends their day off biking 100 miles.. on purpose?

One more offspring joins Team US Cares

For the last two years, since I returned to the saddle, my son had been asking to join one of our teams working towards a Century ride. Because he was so young (12 now) LLS would not allow it and poor Josh got stuck standing in the sun working SAG with his dad or just sitting in the car waiting until his sister and I finished a training ride. So not fun for a kid.

This season is a little different. With the Tour de Cure I am a ride leader that offers weekly training for my own team (Team US Cares) and anyone else who wishes to join in. Its not a ADA thing like Team in Training was, so I can bring my son.

I have to admit, I went into this with the typical mom view of lets-see-if-it-will-stick. I really didn’t expect him to give up Saturdays with friends or attempt putting mid week rides into his already full after school schedule. But he is doing wonderfully. He has even added biking to and from school to his daily routine so that he gets in more hills!

Red Rider, Red Rider

Oooh, I have another cause and a great ride ahead of me! Admittedly, the event is not until April 18th, 2009, but I am pretty excited about it.

I’m putting together a team of dedicated people who have and have not been on a bike for a distance event before.   Our goal is to fundraise and bring awareness to the American Diabetes Association during their Tour de Cure.

A few people have been surprised that this is not my “Cancer Thing” but since my goals are to make a difference in some small way, it works very well for me. Also, I will be wearing the designated Red Rider jersey to show myself as someone with type 2 diabetes.

Come join Team US Cares.