Life Spoke

So here's me and the bike I'm training on. I found the same model on EBay and it's from 1982 or something. A friend of mine gave it to me eight years ago. The only thing I've done to it was adding the white aero bars.

Just so you know, I usually wear a helmet but Tracey thought it would look funny in these photos. Also, don't laugh at my skinny legs. I'll know if you laugh at my skinny legs and I'll laugh at yours too if you do.

In the second photo check out how huge this bike is. I'm 5'11" and I can't even stand over it without the top bar getting, 'in the way'. It's a cool machine to train on though, and I'm glad I have it while I save up for the bike I'll take cross-country.

I've been giving my fundraising flyers out to pretty much anyone who knows my name. At work, several people have been very generous. Nearly everyone in the office is excited for me and there are lots of questions about my preparations and fundraising strategies. At a meeting of the minds one afternoon (ie, around the water cooler) our conversation was overheard by a guy I didn't know very well but whom I'd given a flyer anyway.
It seems he had decided that in no case was he going to contribute to the fundraiser, which is perfectly fine of course. I guess he just wanted to let me know about it when everyone else was there, which is also fine. Then things got weird and his tone changed to accusatory, "Why are you doing this cross country bike ride when you could do a fundraiser and never leave town?" Followed by, "It just seems like you found an excuse to take a trip without having to pay for it."
Have you ever been so flabbergasted at an accusation that your mind went blank to the point of reboot? It takes a few minutes for your desktop to come back up. By that point we had all dispersed to our cubes and our cars. The discussion was over for the day.
How could someone doubt my motivations? Am I not transparent enough? Does this person see some truth that others don't? Doubt and insecurity rolled down my back like cold rain drops. The internal dialog, "Yeah Drew, why you do dis?" It would be so much easier to do a massive fundraiser without having to train for a six week bike ride at the same time. I wouldn't have to worry about time off from work, lost income, missing my wife. No future anxiety about loneliness on the road or frustration from breakdowns. I could spend more time working in my grandfather's garden and hanging with him. I could do more carpentry side jobs. Maybe even buy some new tools with the money I will have spent feeding my way across the country.
Is it about raising funds for a cause or doing a bike ride?

The answer is staring me in the face, it's about both. I originally started planning the bike ride in honor of my grandmother and my best friend Brian. That's how this whole effort got started. In Brian's case I felt I needed to do something to honor the way he lived his life and the way he helped me understand mine; bare bones and impossible. In my grandmother's case, I felt I needed traveling and physically testing my will. Riding cross country with no help seems impossible at face value (enter Brian's influence). But broken into segments, series of days and daily goals it turns into a test of will marked by miles and town names (Grandma).
Then there is Dan Harrington who's dying of bone marrow cancer. I wanted to let him know that this ride is also for him. My wife's family to let them know that this ride is for their grandmother. My mom's family to let them know it's about our other grandmother and my great-grandfather. I started adding up the names and it became glaringly clear that everyone I've ever cared about who has or will pass away has been taken by cancer.
I want to scream to everyone that I care about these people and am deeply affected by their passing. That's why I'm doing a fundraiser. It's not a way to do a bike ride without having to pay for it. It's not even an excuse to go on a bike ride. I could and would have done this ride without putting the pressure on myself to raise money for the American Cancer Society. I could have set a fundraising goal of $1000. But I didn't, I chose to do this as a huge fundraiser because that's the voice I want right now. Big, loud and compassionate. I care about you all and I'm not sitting around town with a sock in my mouth.
The doubt I felt had scattered my motivation. It's good to question yourself, question your intentions in matters like this. When the motivation comes back to center its dense and powerful as mine is now.
Thanks to everyone who's been donating: Jon Thompson is a good friend from work. Keith and Jolyn Green are Jon's sister and brother-in-law; their daughter Megan had cancer and recently survived. Stephen and Emily Terrell are good friends of my wife and me. Of course, "Mom" is my mom, Laurie. Amy Lancaster is a very close old friend of mine. And of course, Dan Harrington is the dude who says what he means and does what he knows is right. Thank you all for your support!
I hope you continue to read this blog every week. Send me a message if you have questions or want to comment on the stuff I ramble about.

-Drew

here are the before and after pictures of the bar i built in New York. there wasn't much but plumbing and a fridge when i started. i sunk the fridge into the wall and moved the plumbing around for the new sink. i built the back bar including: a sink, counter space, mirror, wine rack, switch operated lighting (i installed my first switch!) and power and cable on the wall where the TV will hang. the bar was pretty basic with some intricate molding around the bar top and a recessed ice bin. the whole project got stained with serious help from my mother-in-law, Pat (i hate staining).

i'm really happy with how it turned out. definitely looking forward to some nice family parties down there, watching football games and playing foosball.

i got out for an hour bike ride yesterday. rode about 25 miles on the bike path that runs along the river in Eugene. the old bike i'm riding needs a new derailleur and the spokes keep 'pinging' because they're loose.

i also wanted to mention that i met a young woman on one of my flights last week. i mentioned my fundraiser and she told me she'd had Hodgkin's Lymphoma when she was in high school. i had no idea that Hodgkin's Lymphoma is a form of cancer. it's amazing how many people have had cancer and how many different types of the disease there are. she told me about her chemo and the long-term worry that it may return.

all these people with cancer, all this worry in our society. the unanswerable health questions seem daunting and yet our soceity flirts with known carcinogens on a daily basis. we apply them to crops, dump them on the ground and in landfills, clean our houses with them and build basement bars with products that offgas them. we even put them in the air from car and truck exhaust.

it's illogical that we accept being exposure to carcinogens. the risk of developing cancer is out of sight and out of mind. even if we are conscious of carcinogens it's inconvenient to avoid them all. it's not like putting on a seat belt or wearing a bike helmet. you'd almost need to step out of mainstream society to avoid them altogether.

i'm not being alarmist or suggesting this system comes to a screeching halt. it's the way we live. change happens lethargically. research like exposure studies into human health effects may over time, help determine how much of a carcinogen will trigger cancer. the numbers are tricky though, because every single human on the planet has a different tolerance. it's difficult to nail down how much exposure to A or B chemical will trigger cancer. right now our best estimates are just 'avoid and/or minimize exposure'. in the long run, companies have excuses to keep making carcinogens and we have excuses to keep surrounding ourselves with them.

all this is not to say that exposure to chemicals in the environment is the only way a person can develop cancer. so even if we reduced exposure down to zero we'd still be seeing people develop the disease. for now, we've got to focus on the disease. the funds we raise for the American Cancer Society will be allocated toward research, toward helping people who have cancer and supporting the sad and scared people who love them. every single one of us who has donated is helping society understand cancer. we're helping to find answers to our current unanswerable questions.

thanks to everyone who donated!
Andrew

thanks to everyone who recently donated!

Mike Moltzen and Reema Loutan are two of my good friends from the EPA in New York. Pat Rolls is my mother-in-law who I just spent most of the past week with on Long Island. Ken and JoAnn Lickel are my wife's aunt and uncle in Southern California. Charles Lickel is also one of my wife's uncles who now lives near Poughkeepsie. you guys are great and Tracey is going to stencil your names on my forth-coming bike!

i spent the last week at my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's house in Bethpage, NY building them a bar in the basement of their new house. i put in some long days (12-16 hours) and it came out looking fabulous. thanks to my friend Manoli who loaned me his compound miter saw; i could never have done it without that saw. i'll post before and after pictures so you can see what i did.

i flew back to Oregon last night and plan to get on the bike this afternoon to catch up on my training. it was really nice to ride to work this morning and get my legs pumping again after a week out of the saddle.

i've decided that after i complete the ride to the Jersey Shore i'm going to ride into Manhattan to show off my bike to my friends. when i was working in the City i always wanted to ride in, so it will be really special to finally do it. i also think it's important that people be able to see their names on the bike and know how big of an inspiration they are to me.

check out the links to the left, there is one very funny video and a link to the fundraising site where you can see your names scrolling. thanks again!
Andrew

thanks so much to my brother and sister-in-law and my father-in-law for being the first to donate. i'm at 1% of my fundraising goal! it's a great feeling, thanks guys.

this week has been hectic; with my grandmother passed away six weeks ago i've been spending lots of time with my grandfather. on Monday i took off part of a work day to go with him and my aunt to the hospital. he was getting a screening by the anesthesiologist who will assist in his prostate surgery tomorrow. i'm heading to his house at 4:30am to wake him and take him to the hospital for the procedure. then tomorrow night i catch a red-eye to Long Island - i think it's going to be a long day.

my wife, Tracey has been working so hard on her final architecture project that we only see each other in passing it seems. watching her work so hard has been inspirational in the sense that i'm throwing myself at the Life Spoke project with all my intensity. that's why it's so great to have gotten the first donations. it feels like i've just embarked on a long exciting journey that won't stop until i reach the east coast on a bike in four months.

thanks also to the folks i've been talking to on the phone this week. Bud and Lindy, i'm looking forward to speaking to you over the next months as this all comes together.

have to go pack, thanks again-
Andrew

Hey everyone,

So now I'm set up to give you updates on my progress toward fundraising, getting my gear in order and training for my cross country ride. Once I start my ride I'll give you updates on my progress across the US.

I got my training bike in the mail from my parents the other day (thanks mom!). It's a racing bike from the 80's that a friend had given me when I was 19. Yesterday's 15 mile test ride was great and it will be sweet to train on this bike for next month or two. Before I depart on the cross-country trip I need to get a touring bike. A touring bike is designed to handle the bags that go over the front and rear wheel and carry all my stuff; beefy wheels, special tapped holes to bolt on racks, longer wheel-base so your heels don't rub the rear bags. They also have a relaxed riding position, which will help keep my hands from going numb on 100+ mile days.

I've been brainstorming with friends here in Eugene about fundraising and there are some excellent ideas. One friend thinks she can set up a benefit concert, others are thinking of hosting parties and asking for donations at the door. Another friend works for REI and suggests that I join the REI biking team and work through them to get a deal on a touring bike. For now, I'm going to be contacting all my friends and family. I'm also going to contact bicycle manufacturers to see if they are interested in donating gear (or a bike?).

Thanks for checking this page, I hope to keep it up to date every few days so you have something to look forward to when you're poking around online at work, between class or after work. Send me an email or give me a call (ask for my number in an email), I'd love to hear from you.
-Andrew