| Subject: | Cycling Cures Cancer |
| Date: | 07/30/2005 05:42 AM |
| From: | John Schader |
|
My name is John Schader, OBRA member, although lately, not too frequent a racer. I am the coach of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training for cycling, Portland, Oregon Chapter. Yes, cycling does cure cancer, albeit indirectly. Every year for some time now, thousands of cyclists have bicycled hundreds of thousands of miles to demonstrate their commitment to a cause - a cure for cancer and aid for those who have the disease. And it is working. The millions of dollars raised go a long way toward improving treatment and finding cures for cancer, and giving support to cancer victims and their families. This Spring I coached a bunch of pretty inexperienced cyclists to do their first century ride. Although some of them had never ridden more than 10 miles in one day, they trained for four months and in early June, proudly rode around Lake Tahoe, an awesomely beautiful route. These Oregon TNT riders raised over $89,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (http://www.teamintraining.org/hm_tnt). I have made another commitment to the LLS for their next cycling event, to help a new bunch do a century in November at "El Tour de Tucson" which seems to be an unlikely mix of recreational century and pro road race. Note that Chris Horner and other top riders have ridden it in past years. http://www.azstarnet.com/eltour/ http://www.pbaa.com/Home.html#ElTour I know racers are not going to benefit from my basic coaching and instruction. Your level of cycling is far beyond the level I teach at. However, I think many of you might be interested in a late season training weekend in Arizona. Would any of you enjoy a nearly all-expenses-paid November weekend (Thursday - Sunday), cycling in Tucson? The trip is paid for by Team in Training, through your fund raising. Let me know. It's a great way to get to Arizona for some Fall training in nice weather and you would be making a huge contribution to a worthwhile cause. Maybe some of the larger teams can raise the funds to sponsor a couple of their team members for the trip to Tucson. Okay, raising a lot of money to ride 100 miles may not be your cup of tea. You can do the Vernonia loop anytime, or ride around PIR 52 and a half times. If you can't be a TNT participant, I ask you to think about donating to the LLS through one of "my" cyclists. That would be sometime in September after the team has formed and I know the riders better, and can see who needs help raising money. With Candi's and the OBRA membership's permission, I'll send a reminder note to let those who wish to donate know who needs sponsors. Reply to me now if you are thinking of making a donation and I'll tell you more about the organization. I am also riding in the LAF Portland century in September. Please check out my donation page: http://tinyurl.com/drwcx Thanks for reading. Other than the rare email, I won't be bugging anyone for donations. John P.S. It would be wonderful if you pass this email on to someone else who you think might want to give, to find a cure for cancer, and ask them to get in touch with me. And please don't "reply to all"! I've probably annoyed some people already with just one email. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com |
