Sunday, August 7, 2011

Watching the wheels go round and round

Sunday, August 7, 2011
For the first time, I rode three consecutive days, moving across 12,000 miles on this odometer. Somehow, the weather cooperated and we got in our usual rides Saturday and today.
This morning, since Joe and Sam were not riding, I took my headphones and plugged into Pandora and listened to music before meeting some guys at the circle. And this was the first song I heard and I think it is going to become the theme song for my ride.

"People say I'm crazy doing what I'm doing,
Well they give me all kinds of warnings to save me from ruin,
When I say that I'm o.k. they look at me kind of strange,
Surely your not happy now you no longer play the game,
People say I'm lazy dreaming my life away,
Well they give me all kinds of advice designed to enlighten me,
When I tell that I'm doing Fine watching shadows on the wall,
Don't you miss the big time boy you're no longer on the ball?

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round,
I really love to watch them roll,
No longer riding on the merry-go-round,
I just had to let it go,

People asking questions lost in confusion,
Well I tell them there's no problem,
Only solutions,
Well they shake their heads and they look at me as if I've lost my mind,
I tell them there's no hurry...
I'm just sitting here doing time,

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round,
I really love to watch them roll,
No longer riding on the merry-go-round,
I just had to let it go.
 

--John Lennon

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Opening Remarks

August 2, 2011
Well, like my brother said, I've gone off the deep end. It's a rubber room for me now. I've decided to do something productive next June -- ride my bicycle from  Maine to Florida. Crazy, huh? But I have a purpose and that is to raise funds for cancer research. Too many of my friends and family have either died from cancer, beat the disease into remission or are battling it today. My Mom died of lung cancer in 1988 and I think of how I was cheated out of seeing her grow old and live to be 100 like her mother did. My brother Bruce and sister both beat the disease and now my friend Roy in Idaho is doing chemo. The list continues but you get the point.
For 8 years I participated in the MS 150 bicycle ride helping raise funds for that disease as Bobbie's sister has MS. To date, I think my total is like $4,000 raised, I don't remember exactly.
Since I was a kid, I thought of riding my bicycle from coast to coast and maybe even get to throw the first pitch out at Dodger Stadium when I made it to Los Angeles. But time and money and the fact that I didn't even have a good bike kept that thought in the cobwebs of my head. Back there with all of the less important stuff, like Koufax' statistics and the last time the Dodgers won the World Series.
Since 2003 however, I met a couple of guys at my service station who got me into biking long distance and since about late 2003, I've been riding with a bunch of guys each weekend 40-50 miles. Even did the cross-Florida ride a few years back which went 135 miles from coast to coast in one day.
Today, after dismissing an ocean to ocean ride because of time constraints, I've settled on the Maine to Florida ride which I think we can knock out in 2 weeks.
Last year, I met Diane Sawyer at one of our LeaderBoard events in Orlando and we briefly talked about biking. This year, when we got together again at the same event I mentioned to her of my intentions about going long distance and somehow I touched a nerve. She is as excited about it as I am. I guess she qualifies for the rubber room as well, huh Bruce?
So that's how we got to where we are today, August 2, 2011. The trip is more than 1,200 miles in length and we plan on starting in Kittery, Me., which is just across the border from New Hampshire. I'd like to finish in Miami and may be throw out the first pitch at the new Marlins stadium in July, but that would add 350 miles and a couple of more days to the trip.
Obviously, there are a lot of logistics but at this point, we are looking for donors, donations and riders. If you know of anyone interested in helping cancer research, please forward them this link. It's a beginning but hopefully by the time we depart next June from Kittery, we will have 12 people embarking along with our own SAG wagon.
Miami Marty