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Dude's 2013 Ride-2-Survive

Dude

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r2s 2.jpgR2S 1.jpgTo my TTP brothers…

This is my 5th year taking part in this incredible event, organized by and incredible, 100% volunteer army. I’m happy to return as a rider, captain, and trainer for this hard core group of folks that makes me want to be a better person every time I ride with them. At 3:30 AM on June 22, 2013, we will ride out of Kelowna as a team, for 400 KM, and pull into Delta somewhere around 11:00 PM as a team. Nobody gets left behind. I am very proud to have been asked to be one of the ride captains and trainers for this epic day.

2009: http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/c...neral-offtopic-banter/15045-dude-spandex.html
2010: http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/c...banter/16280-dudes-ride-2-survive-2010-a.html
2011: http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/c...banter/16812-dudes-ride-2-survive-2011-a.html
2012: http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/c...c-banter/17194-dudes-2012-ride-2-survive.html

This year has hit close to home with Cancer, this disease we are all trying to end. The man I have dedicated my last four rides to- my father in law Mohammed Hussain- passed away in August 2012 after his long battle with Multiple Myeloma. He was an incredible man who always put others ahead of his own needs and desires. His passing was peaceful…he led a long and extremely fulfilling life, and although the disease finally took his life, he was able to live many good years after his diagnosis due to improvements in medication and treatments, made available through research that this ride is dedicated to. I know that when he finally did pass, it was with the knowledge that he’d led a long and happy life, and those around him had the time they needed- many years, in fact- to prepare. Mohammed was a test patient on some new treatments early in his diagnosis. Had it not been for the new treatments, he would have been gone much earlier than this past year. Although his passing has hit the family hard with grief, it is with some solace that he was able to live a very long and fulfilling life- even if his last 10 or so were battling the disease.

One of the, shall we say, sucky parts of being so entrenched in r2s is that you make friends who die. We all do…we all have in this game, for example, but in r2s it is a higher percentage, because many of my teammates have or are currently fighting the disease. One of those teammate is Jonathan Stibbs. I can’t even recall if I’d written about John before, but here’s is how I met him...

…well, on a bike, of course, but it was not a normal introduction. My first year riding was also Jon’s. He was then a very fit early 50’s guy. Great guy, strong rider. As I’ve often told, we all do a little intro the night before, talk about why we ride, and who we ride for. I told my story. The next day, on the very long ride up the Penask Summit (3+ hours) out of Kelowna, John rode up next to me and introduced himself. We didn’t get to know each other at all in training, so this was our first meeting. He had remembered my story, and told me that he was in fact also currently fighting Multiple Myeloma. This floored me just a bit…I was amazed that he was able to train and do this ride. He was also happy to hear that treatments for my father in law were going well…and he had a very surreal outlook on life. He knew he was on borrowed time. He has had the agonizing talks with his wife and kids. He has made financial preparations. He knows his time will come, but is living every day like it’s his last, while still trying to keep himself as alive as possible through treatment and medication.

We finished the day together that night…I saw the look in his eyes as he rolled into the store parking lot, and picked out his family.

He has continued to volunteer every year since, as his illness doesn’t allow him train what he needs to…but he does ride the last mile into Delta with us, wearing his yellow jersey.

I don’t know if I will ever have the strength to live with this disease, and fight it, like a lot of my friends have or do now. Or worse, have your children struck with it. I live in fear of that.

Jon has suffered a major setback and is now in the hospital fighting for his life…and this weighs heavy on a lot of us as we go into training. Jon likely won’t be there.

This year has been very bad for cycling. Lance Armstrong, with blowing up his own cover-up, and most disappointing to me, the misuse and misappropriation of Livestrong funds has shaken the foundation of many who were supporters…fans of his, fans of his fight. As it turns out, it appears it was all a sham to make Lance richer. Maybe in the beginning his intentions were noble, but somewhere he went sideways.

Heroes…as a member of this board put it, the real heroes are in our community…coaches, mentors, volunteers giving of themselves without fanfare for the betterment of others. I ride to support those types of folks…Kerry, Vikki, and the whole organizing crew of the r2s. For my friend Jon, who I hope can be there. For all of my teammates, each and every one a hero of mine.

Please consider my cause this year for your charitable donations. Your money earns a sharpie spot on my legs or arms for your dedication.

Learn more: Ride2Survive

Donate at: https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1041083&supId=353057232
 

sixfyv

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you can stay on the shore if you want... otherwise, i could use you (as well as a few other TTPers) to help get the desired wake for wakesurfing. your call.
 

Dude

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Got a donation from an unknown person to me, Paul, who I can only assume came from TTP. Thanks Paul, whoever you are.
 

Rangerforever

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Dude:

The link didn't take me directly to your page.
I kept trying Dude, Sir Dude, Dr Dude, Dude-where's-my-car?, Dude III, Angry Dude, and Cinder Block Touch and nothing worked.

What's your real name and I might be able to blow the moths off my wallet.

Some other people might want to donate too. :cool:
 

Dude

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No worries, Regs! Quite honestly, allowing me to whore myself on your site is donation enough, TBH. I'd say 80% or more of my donations over the years have come through TTP.

But, I won't say no...
 

Dude

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The good: went out for my first training ride w/ the team yesterday. A nice, easy, flat 65 KM spin. Nice day for it, as it was raining on the drive out to the meeting place.

The bad: one of the men of R2S that has become a very close friend went in for his yearly check-up w/ his oncologist last week, and the x-rays came back showing spots on his lungs. This isn't a clear diagnosis that the cancer is back, but it is a real possibility. I guess they find out last week. A man around my age with a wife and two kids that are the same age as my kids, people that have already been to hell and back together fighting the disease. His wife is in between calm and full on panic, saying she already feels like a widow.

People go through this, I understand, and this is life. But the disease seems to be able to strike w/ no rhyme or reason, taking good people way too early, before their real timeline is up.

Check out what we are doing in June to help fight back at Ride2Survive . A link to my donation page is in my signature.
 

Dude

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Regs- thanks again for the generous donation, and for continuing to allow me to pimp myself on your website.
 

Rangerforever

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I had a good friend pass away last week from pancreatic cancer.

Diagnosed on December 21st, we lost him on February 10th.
They gave him six months, he lasted six weeks.

Keep up the good work Dude.

RIP Willie
 

Regs

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How's training going?

I'm a bit worried something drastic has happened with the lack of updates/pimping here - has male pattern baldness set in?
 

Dude

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Regs- thanks for the generous donation, and training is going well this year. In fact, with being 75% retired from footy this year, I was able to make some serious gains through the winter- which were briefly put on hold in a short “out of retirement” comeback. Seriously, I love the game to my detriment…

And, for the record, I still have a luscious, full head of brown hair. Maybe the grey will hit me when I turn 40 next year.

I know many of you get sick of my Ride-2-Survive posts…that’s cool, I have my post pet peeves, too, especially on Facebook (Crossfit WOD posts FTW…seriously, just go outside and play already…what’s the point in training if you don’t go outside and use it).

My son Michael & I had two great mountain bike rides over the past three days, sandwiching Sunday’s 93 KM R2S training ride through nasty winds out in Richmond. A hard day for some rookies, but that’s OK. The R2S is hard…one day, 400 KM, two huge mountain passes, usually a lot of wind, often times rain, sometimes hail, sometimes snow. It’s supposed to be hard, because fighting Cancer is hard.

This year our team is a bit light- only 75 riders signed up so far, as compared to over 100 by this time last year. It’s a hard event to keep on your list year-after-year. I guess until I have a better reason not to ride, I’m going to keep it on my list. That being said, the organizing crew has adjusted…they are accepting riders for shorter segments…100 KM, 200 KM…bring in a team of 4 and pull 100 KM each. This way they don’t have to attend all the training rides, and the task is not so daunting.

The R2S is unique for a few reasons:

#1: EVERY single penny you donate goes towards the Canadian Cancer Society. Not one penny of your donated money goes towards overhead. The R2S was founded on this principle.

#2: Because it is grassroots, all of our “advertising” is done by word of mouth, and if we are lucky, some goodwill articles in the community papers. Because we don’t have an advertising budget, we don’t get any attention in the big papers or media because “that other ride” buys their space and time, as well as media exclusivity. If you want 100% of the money you can afford to donate to go directly to research for better treatments and cures, donate to Ride2Survive.

#3: We train together, and on ride day, we start together, and finish together. Nobody gets left behind…this is not a free-for-all.


If donating to the Canadian Cancer Society is important to you, and you want to not only ensure 100% of your money goes there, but raise awareness at the same time, please consider donating to my page, here: https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1041083&supId=353057232 . If you want 50% or more of your money spent on expenses and advertising...there are a lot of other options out there for you. Let’s make our donations do the most good!

Learn more about the Ride-2-Survive at Ride2Survive .
 

Dude

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Somebody from TTP has just made an annonymous donation to my page- many thanks Mr. Annonymous. I'd give you more public props, but the last time I did that, I was called out, and made to write an unholly socialist message on my leg for ride day. Can't have that happen again.

:D
 

Dude

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I just received another generous donation from the original anonymous person who shall remain anonymous because the last time I thanked him publicly he whacked my pee-pee.

So thanks, Anonymous. :D

We’ve had two training rides since my last post, the most recent on Sunday. The team, as a whole, is stronger this season. Less riders needing a push, and most of the riders who needed pushes in years past are now strong enough to make most of the climbs and keep pace on their own. Which is good!

On Sunday we were given a harsh reminder as to the importance of safety, and maintaining focus when tired. We rode from North Delta out to Spanish Banks, then the airport and back. Both ways we use the Alex Fraser. This bridge has literally made some riders cry…newer riders who are afraid of the tight quarters, or the height, unnerved by the railing whizzing by, dodging around the posts in the middle the path jogs around, and particularily the concept of cresting it at the tail end of the ride, when the temperature is higher, riders are tired, and the winds seem to be gusting.

Some of us find that fun, in ****ed up way. Honestly, riding road can get borring- even if you have to have your head on a swivel- so the descent off the peak of the bridge is fun, but you have to be careful and focused. No matter what speed you go.

Anyhow, one the return trip near the end of our 110km day, one of our guys clipped the railing in one of the jogs around a post on the way back, and crashed hard. He broke his arm bad enough to have surgery with new hardware yesterday, as well as a couple of fractures of some vertabre in his neck that should heal with rest. I was about 4 riders back and second on the scene…the reality is that he is lucky it wasn’t worse. He was alone, so nobody piled in…and let’s be honest, that fall off the railing and down wouldn’t require an ambulance, it’d require a spatchula. When I got to him he was still somwhat consious, but obviously very banged up, and going into shock fast. We’re lucky to have both a firefighter and doctor in our group, so the rider was well attended to right away, and the ambulance only took about 10 minutes to get there. Actually, I think it was the fire department guys that got there first.

This guy was a pretty experienced rider, too…so, needless to say, it can happen to any of us.

It was a pretty sombre ride back up to Scott & 80th. I’ve crashed a lot, and have seen a lot of crashes, many ugly, so maybe I’m a bit desensitized to these things. “Rubbing is racing”, as the saying goes. But, in the case of a lot of these riders, they haven’t been around crashes, or in this case, accidents, and they didn’t like the bridge to begin with…so…needless to say it’ll be interesting to see if we take the bridge again this year. I’m betting not.

Otherwise, a beatiful day on Sunday. And, since I was so jacked up on adrenaline from the end of the R2S ride, I went with mountain biking my son for to assents of Burnaby Mountain before the evening was done. Would rather have been playing footy in some meaningfull game, but as days go, pretty good…except for my fallen comrades misfortune, that is. But he’ll be OK, just needs time off to heal now. Happy it wasn’t worse, that’s for sure.

Anyways…TTP has been tremendous in helping me get to my $2500.00 goal every year. If raising money for cancer research in Canada is important to you, and you want to see every cent you donate go to the Canadian Cancer Society (R2S doesn’t skim one penny for overhead or administrative costs), please consider a donation to my page: https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1041083&supId=353057232

Many thanks again for allowing me to blab.
 

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