3rd Hill Climb - I'm Tired!

I can't believe that we are already on our 3rd set of hill climbs. I have been feeling a little congested lately with a sore throat but I couldn't pass up another day of hill climbs. Luckily we don't start until 10:30am so I got to sleep in a little bit today.

Once again we met at Monta Vista Park in Cupertino and road 3 miles to the base of Mt. Eden. Today's agenda called for 5 times up and down! 1st time up was warm up, 2nd time up we were to go up in a low gear with a high cadence, 3rd time up was to try standing up all the way up, and the 4th and 5th times were simply to make it to the top as fast as possible.

The Spin Classes I have been taking has definitely helped me to stand up while climbing. At least I have the technique down....I think! But it's still hard and my legs burn after a while. Going downhill was pretty fun. I did what Coach Dave told me to do by adjusting my handlebars and putting a shim in my brake lever definitely helped me to get to my brake levers. Now just some practice.

I am totally tired! Can't wait until Spin Class on Thursday! :)

Buddy Ride in Almaden Valley

First of all, I hope each and every one of you had a fantastic Thanksgiving. I got to play 27 holes of golf (9 holes with the Island Boys and another 18 with my brother). No riding on Thanksgiving and because it rained on Friday, I wimped out of working out and just sat at home with the family and watched movies.

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, this Saturday (11/28/09) was not a sponsored TNT ride. However, Coach Leigh Ann organized an unsupported buddy ride starting from Almaden Expressway and Coleman in San Jose at 8:30am. It was a pretty good turnout. Like I said in other posts, the TNT team of coaches, mentors, and captains are amazing. They volunteer their time to come out and support us. Coach Leigh Ann had a print out of our 23 mile route.

I felt good riding behind Coach Colin in the lead group. He has great technique and I really focused to use my new pace lining skills. I slowed down when we went up "a little bump" as Coach Rick described it. It was a short climb on Camden Avenue heading towards Almaden.

It was a good hill for me, but I stayed ahead of most of the rest of the others and caught up to the lead guys, Coach Patrick, Coach Rick, Coach Colin, and Eric at Starbucks in Los Gatos. They warned me about Kennedy Road and that it was more than just "a little bump" so I decided to go off on my own and get a head start. Although Kennedy Road was a tough hill for me, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I guess the hill climbs really work!

Thanks Coach Leigh Ann! Great ride!

Spin Class before Thanksgiving

So this Spin Class was on Tuesday instead of the usual Thursday due to the Thanksgiving Holiday. I am one class closer to $100 that Coach Peggy pledged if we go to every one of her classes. Oh, speaking of fundraising, if you haven't done so already, please do what you can to donate to the fight against leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin Lymphoma and myeloma. Check out my site at http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/tdps10/hdeguzman

So Peggy comes in and says that she has some good news for us. She brought us some pumpkin bread to eat after the class. But she said that the bad news was that when she brought food, that meant it would be a hard class! Yes, I can vouch it was hard...at least for me. We climbed on the Spin Bike for most of the hour. She had us stand and climb for 2 - 4 minutes at a time. This was good for me because I have never practiced this skill before.

Ok, I guess the workout was worth it...the pumpkin bread was pretty good! Happy Thanksgiving!

More Hill Climbs!

Yup, another wonderful day of hill climbs. This time, I knew what to expect so the 3 mile ride from Monta Vista park to the bottom of Mt. Eden seemed easier even though I was still tired by the time I got there. Today's agenda called for 4 times up and down Mt. Eden. It's funny how I feel like I get stronger and have more energy after each trip up and down.

I was really trying to focus on descending today. I have ridden and raced motorcycles in the past so the speed is not an issue for me, but man, at least with motorcycles, we wore full leathers and a full faced helmet! Coach Dave gave me some tips on descending. My problem was going down in the "drops" when going downhill. I think my belly doesn't let me go down that low! :) Plus I have a hard time grabbing the brakes. Coach Dave told me to adjust my bars a little and get some shims to bring the brake levers closer to my hands. Ok, I'll give it a shot and let you know next week how it goes.

After the ride, I joined many other participants for a recovery meal at Chipotle. This seems like a popular choice with our group of folks! One of the funnest parts of this experience is sitting down and talking with the other participants, coaches, mentors and of course honorees!

I can't wait until Thanksgiving to eat! Oh, I mean until Tuesday to go to Spin Class!

Pace lining Clinic

I must say that I could hardly wait for Saturday to get here. I think this riding stuff is addicting. :) It was an earlier ride than usual, which is great for me. I am used to meeting a group of friends (the Island Boys) on the weekends at 5:45am to play golf. Today's pace lining clinic started at the corner of Edgewood and Canada at 7:45am (no I didn't go out and play 9 holes first). We were assigned our teams, based on last weeks timed sorting rides.

Before the ride, we heard from the son of one of our team-mates, Joan. Joan and I met at breakfast after the sorting ride last week. I also got to know her well during last weeks hill climbs as she kept passing me on the hill. She is a great supporter and helped me get up the hill with her encouraging words. Her 36 year old son, Dave, was diagnosed with Lymphoma just a year ago. Dave had a great job in Washington DC but decided to move back home to the Bay Area where he could be treated at Stanford. He described how he felt when first told of the diagnosis as well as all the treatments he has undergone. This gentleman is truly amazing. Dave's strength and determination and his outlook on life is so inspirational. Our group was truly lucky to have Dave come out and speak to us during this cold morning! That is Joan and her son Dave to the left!

The cool part of the day was learning that my buddy Cliff and I ended up on the same team, even though he is a better rider than me. The bummer part was that Cliff was done riding for the season. He was training on his own yesterday (Friday) and he hit something in the road that caused his bike to high-side (do they use that term in cycling?) him. Cliff landed square on his head and fractured several bones in his back and neck. He is so lucky that he was wearing a helmet! Well buddy, you'll be missed on these rides, but hopefully you'll still be able to join us for the party in Palm Springs!

We went up and down Canada road (logged in 30 miles) just doing pace lining drills. I didn't realize that you could actually draft a bicyclist. It was definitely easier to ride as a group. Trust and focus is the name of the game with pace lining. Check out the pic of the coaches demonstrating how it's done! Don't they look like pros?

I can't forget to say thanks to the support group! You guys rock! I am constantly amazed at the TNT folks (coaches, mentors, captains, etc...) for the amount of time they put in just to support us. They make it so easy for us to train. Thanks so much for donating your time!

Spin Class

Part of our TNT calendar indicates that we should do some strength training during the week. So I asked Coach Patrick what kind of training should I do? I mean he's got to say that I should do some squats or leg presses or something like that right? Nope, he said do the Spin Classes. The what? Are you joking me Patrick? The TNT Cycle Team was able to get Equinox of Palo Alto to donate the facility and then Coach Patrick recruited a former TNT coach and Spin Instructor, Coach Peggy, to donate her time to lead the classes. A huge thanks to Equinox and to Coach Peggy. What a great workout. I haven't worked that hard in looooooong time!

Palo Alto is a drive for me so I wasn't sure I was even going to make it but I'm glad I did. Coach Peggy challenged us all and said that if we take every one of her classes during the season (just 1x per week), that she would donate $100 to our personal fundraising. Well, looks like I know what I'm doing each week! Get your 100 bucks ready Coach Peggy!

Hill Climbs...what's a hill climb?

Sunday (11/15/09) was on the training calendar as "Hill Climbs". Ok, that sounds like fun (sarcasm). It's exactly what it sounded like, hill climbs. We started at Monta Vista Park in Cupertino and road 3 miles to the bottom of Mt. Eden. Ok, just the 3 miles getting to Mt. Eden was tough for me! Must have been all that wind! :) Coach Patrick made us, I mean allowed us, to climb Mt. Eden 3 times. He said we would increase the times we go up and down each week. Oh, what fun!!

Sorting Ride in Portola Valley

This past weekend was a blast! Saturday (11/14/09) was our sorting ride, which started out in Portola Valley. Our coaches asked us to ride a comfortable pace on this 12 mile loop that started on Portola Rd to Sand Hill Rd to Santa Cruz to Alpine Rd and then back to Portola Rd. This would be a timed ride so that the coaches could sort us by times and break us up into our mini-teams that we would be training with for the rest of the training days.

My overweight and out of shape body did pretty good at the beginning but I must admit that the small (and I mean small) hill going up Alpine Rd. was tough for me. I finished the ride in about 56 minutes...ok, I have no idea if that is good or not, but I know I wasn't the fastest and I wasn't the slowest. Oh well, it is what it is and I'm sure I'll know next week what team I will end up on! Bottom line, it was a fun ride! I ended the day with a nice breakfast at Mike's Cafe with the rest of the participants and coaches.

Kick-Off Celebration - 11/09/09

Monday evening (11/9/09) was the TNT Kick-Off Celebration for the South Valley Teams. I attended the meeting with my #1 supporter, my wife Laarni. Ever since I told her I was interested in making the commitment to join TNT, she has been a huge supporter of mine. In fact, the day I told her I wanted to do it and why, she went on-line and booked hotel reservations in Palm Springs!! She is the best and I am very lucky to have her in my corner! I mean it's not like she doesn't have anything else to do (works full-time, we have 4 kids all under 10 years old, volunteers at school, cooks, cleans, and goes to the gym 3 or 4 times a week, that's all).

We also went with our good friends Cliff and Michelle. It was actually thanks to Cliff that I decided to join TNT. He called me one day to ask me to support his ride and of course I did, but it also got me thinking of doing it myself. I mean why not...I've always wanted to do something to support the fight against cancer. I mean I lost two fathers to this terrible disease and I've seen so many of my friends and family members have to deal with this terrible ordeal. To read about my personal story, please go check it out here:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/tdps10/hdeguzman

At the Kick-Off Celebration, a very brave and strong woman and her 6 year old daughter, Ella, got up on stage to talk to us. The place was packed with all TNT participants including marathoners, triathlon athletes, hikers, and of course us cyclists. By the end of the story, there was not one person in the room who didn't have a tear in their eyes!

This beautiful and strong little girl, at only 6 years old, has already lived through the fight of her life. Ella's mom told us how she was stricken with a blood cancer at only 14 months old. There were days that the pain was so great for Ella that her mom actually had to whisper in her ear that it was ok for Ella to leave and go to heaven so that she could rest! But no way! Ella was not ready to leave. She was determined to stay with her mom and fight through this battle. Today she is in remission, but the reality of it is that the medication and treatment that Ella endured can still have it's long-term effects. That's why it is so important that research continue so that we know how to once and for all cure these deadly diseases. For now, we are all lucky to have Ella with us.

Ella's story only confirms that I did the right thing by joining TNT. Yeah, I'm out of shape, and yeah, it will be hard to train, but nothing could ever compare to what Ella did. It puts life in perspective! All Laarni and I could do afterwards is say how lucky we are that our children are healthy!

The rest of the evening was full of socializing, meeting some great sports vendors who support TNT and its participants and learning a lot more about fundraising.

We also got our participant jerseys and are now ready to go!

First Training Day

Ok, so the 1st training day is here (11/7/09). We met at McKenzie Park in Los Altos and it was scheduled to be an orientation ride. A short 15 mile ride just to get everyone acquainted with one another. We broke up into small groups and it took a little over an hour for our group to finish the ride. Hmmm....not too bad, ok maybe I could do this!

We have several people on our team called Honorees. These are folks fighting or have fought a blood cancer. After our first ride, we all sat around and ate some breakfast and listened to our Honorees stories. These people are truly amazing and are true inspirations. They really put the meaning of life in perspective. Probably the biggest thing that stood out was when Bill got up and shared his story.

He actually looked at all of us participants and asked us if we realized what we were doing? He told us how it's people like us that are the reasons that he is alive today. He thanked us for what we were doing by participating in TNT and helping to raise money so that more people who are fighting these terrible blood cancers can live longer and with more quality. It's you who we should be thanking Bill!

Thanks to all the Generous Supporters

WOW!!!! I have been saying that a lot lately! I am totally overwhelmed and amazed at the generosity of my friends and family! I thought I might be setting my fundraising goal too high at $5,000, but to my surprise, I surpassed my goal in just one week!! WOW!!!! Since it is still months away until my actual ride in Palm Springs, I had to increase my goal. I mean I can't stop now!

Every time I speak to someone who has either fought a blood cancer or someone who is currently fighting it, I come to realize it takes a whole lot more than my $5,000 to help these cancer fighters!! I've decided to raise my goal to $7,500. Yeah, I know the donations are going to slow down, but I'm not going to stop trying to get folks to help me fight this cause!

Thanks to the generosity of so many people, we are making a difference! If you haven't donated yet, please know that every dollar counts. In it not the amount that matters to me, just knowing that I have your support in this battle against cancer is enough to keep me motivated to keep training to make that 100 mile ride in Palm Springs in February 2010. You can go to my donation web site at http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/tdps10/hdeguzman to see how much I've raised so far.

Thanks again everyone for the support!

Together We Can Fight To Save Lives

Well, I decided to create this blog to allow all of my family and friends to track my progress in my quest to raise as much money as possible to help fight leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma. I am not much of a blogger or social networker or whatever the technical term is. But because so many of you have generously donated to my cause, I feel like this is our fight and I want you to feel that way. So, hopefully I can find the time to keep you all updated and describe my experience. Thanks to all of you who support me in this journey!

As most of you know by now, I joined Team in Training (TNT) in October 2009. I put away the golf clubs for now and am training with TNT over the next few months to do a 100 mile bike ride in Palm Springs on February 13, 2009. I am doing this for a lot of people, including my two fathers who both passed away from cancer. For more details on my fundraising and my personal story, please go to http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/tdps10/hdeguzman

Ok, so now the truth? There is one other very important reason I want to blog this experience. There are so many people that I have met in my short time on the team that make me realize that there is still not enough money to fight this battle and it will take more! So, this will hopefully serve to get people thinking and realize, like I did, how important it is to continue the fight to find a cure for these blood cancers. If you haven't donated yet, there is still a lot of time (February 1, 2010 is my last day to accept donations) so please read on and check back frequently. I will hopefully do a good enough job describing my experience and relaying the experience of some of the cancer survivors and current cancer patients that you will in fact donate. For those of you who have already donated, I truly appreciate your generosity. You already know how important this is to me, but more importantly, to the people who are living this nightmare today! Please help me spread the word and pass this info on to more people and help me ask for donations!

Thanks again, I hope you take the time and enjoy my updates throughout the season! See you at the finish line in Palm Springs!