James Brady's Team In Training Page
Riding to Save Lives
Welcome to my Team In Training home page.
Congratulations and Thank you! Together WE DID IT! Your
support helped me complete this event!!
We can fund even more life-saving research by donating more!
Read about My Story of Leukemia
If you prefer to donate by check, mail checks payable to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to:
Jim Brady
TNT Fund-raiser
250 Omira Dr.
San Jose, CA 95123
Email Jim Brady
Event log: 6/1/08
I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We started at 10 minutes to 6, and reached the first rest stop at the top of Emerald Bay by 7 am. We made it to Truckee (mile 46) by 10 and got to Kings Beach for lunch, mile 72, at 12:20. About 6 miles outside of Kings Beach you start an 8-mile climb to Spooner Summit. That took until about 3:30. We finished at about 4:30!
There were teams there from all over the country. Most decorated their helmets with some icon representing where they came from. The Georgians had peaches, the team from Las Vegas had the classic Las Vegas sign in miniature on their helmets. The team from Sacramento had tomatoes (these were fake, unlike the peaches), three different chapters from Pennsylvania had Giant Hershey's Kisses, Mr. Ketchup figures, and I forget the third, the Wisconsin team were cheese heads, the ones from Minnesota had spam cans (never knew the spam factory is there), the ones from the Central Valley had raisin boxes, the ones from Alaska and northern Washington State had umbrellas... Kansas had black pipe-cleaners that looked like springs until you noticed the small houses glued to the tornado swirl... you get the idea.... The Silicon Valley group, for reasons not yet clear to me, names themselves after Sharks, and each ride group picked a type of shark. Since our coach works in the financial industry, we were the Loan Sharks. Others were the Card Sharks, the Hammer Head (sporting hammers on their helmets), Mako, and more that I don't recall.
This was such a tremendous experience, I cannot wait to do it again!!
Status for 5/26/08: Due to the smoke from the Summit Fire blowing into the South Bay, I did not join the "buddy Ride" on Saturday, and made my last training ride solo. I did 56 miles, brushing up on hill climbs with my triple-threat: Mt. Eden, Pierce Rd., and a little further than 2 miles up Highway 9.
Status for 5/18/08: Today was a 72 mile ride in the Peninsula, consisting of three loops: 25 miles, 35 miles, and 17 miles. I was riding on my new rear wheel (after breaking yet another spoke before last week's ride, I replaced the wheel). I told everyone my new wheel made me faster! In truth, it was a lot easier. I'm now confident I can make the 100 miles, but I expect to be quite exhausted!
Status for 5/10/08: Today was a 67 mile ride in the South Bay, starting in Almaden and going to Morgan hill and Gilroy, with a loop around the reservoir. It was a perfectly stellar day for the ride, and I made the ride just fine. I also rode from home to the start and from the end to Chevy's for post-ride Margaritas :-) All-told, this was a 77-mile day!!!! Also, I hit 967 total miles logged on my "flight computer" - representing the distance I've ridden since the first week of February! That means I'll cross 1000 miles this week!
Status for 5/3/08: I had a meeting to go to in the afternoon, so I rode 25 miles to Los Altos, then after the meeting I rode home via my favorite hills: Mount Eden and Pierce. Then, for good measure, I turned right on Highway 9 instead of left, and made it 2 miles up the road. That put me almost halfway along the 7.5 mile stretch from downtown Saratoga to the top!
Status for 4/26/08: With another week of the bike in the shop, I didn't get to ride mid-week. Sigh. It made the Team ride hard. Add to that the heat, it was REALLY hard. As the coaches kept saying, the ride was BEAUTIFUL! Starting in Milpitas, north to 84 to Pleasanton, down to Sunol, and up Calaveras and over the hills back into Milpitas. Over 3700 feet of climb, they tell me. I did OK in the first half, then bonked pretty hard. Had to wait quite a while for the SAG vehicle to come rescue me, then we stopped to help out at an accident scene - one of our riders was sideswiped by a horse trailer. Both she and the bike were miraculously well-off. With the accident scene well in hand, one of the other team-mates and I set on up the great hill of Calaveras. I'd rested and recouperated enough by then that I made the rest of the ride.
With riding in the morning and afternoon, in addition to 55 of the 58 miles of the ride, I totaled 70 miles for the day. I know Tahoe is not likely to be in the upper 80's, but I still need to get better performance in the heat....
Status for 4/19/08: Didn't get to ride much at all this week. On my way to work Tuesday morning, I broke a spoke on the back wheel and with that and a few other tune-up things, I didn't get the bike back until Friday. Then I got started late this morning, so I missed the "official" buddy ride this morning, so I plotted a course and set off. About half-way through I started having trouble with the back wheel. Not having a spoke wrench in my emergency kit (one more thing to add) I had to stop every so often to retighten about 1/3 of the left side spokes - by hand. It started as every 8 miles, eventually got to every mile by the time I'd gone over Mt Eden and Pierce Road and gotten to Saratoga. The mechanic at the Breakaway Bike Shop on Highway 9 in Saratoga did the best he could, and it got me home, but looks like I need a wheel rebuild... aargh! more time without my bike!!!! :-(
Anyway, the good news is I went 10% further than last Saturday: 110km, or 69 miles!!!!!!! I considered looping around the block to get an even 70, but decided a 10% improvement was good enough considering I had no mid-week rides..
Status for 4/12/08: What a week!!!!!! I got cleats and pedals this week, which turned out great! I rode 35 miles on Wednesday and 25 on Thursday, so finished the week at 110 miles.
Then today's team ride was 52 miles from Los Gatos High School up to Los Altos and back, plus I rode from home to the start of the race, so I did a METRIC CENTURY (100 kilometers - 62.5 miles!). It was 87 degrees as we were riding back through Cupertino, and I was dumping as much water on my head as drinking to keep up... My darling wife came to retrieve me so I didn't have to ride the 10.5 miles home in the afternoon heat... :-)
Unfortunately, one of our ride team took a nasty spill at the front of the pack thanks to a sizeable rock in the bike lane. Sadly he's out for the season with a broken clavicle and 4 broken ribs. We all wish him a speedy recovery!
Status for 4/5/08: Today's "buddy ride" started in Cupertino and traversed the rolling hills of the foothills up to Woodside and down Sand Hill road to Foothill Expressway, South to Mt. Eden Road and Pierce Road to Saratoga then back to Cupertino. 47 miles in all. So I made a loop out to Stevens Creek Blvd and back to make 50.3! Having only ridden on Thursday this week, I am very glad to have made this distance. It was a lot harder than the 50-miles in South San Jose. It was cold in the morning but evolved into a beautiful day!
Status for 4/3/08: Ugh... I caught a cold over the weekend and haven't been on the bike until today. I did 32 miles today broken up in three segments: half way to work, then work to downtown San Jose for an evening meeting, then home. I think I need a new seat... :-)
Status from 3/28/08: I have things to do on Saturday that mean I'll miss the 45-mile team ride, so I did my own ride this evening. 46 miles up Almaden Valley to Morgan Hill and back, with a bit of an extra loop tacked on to extend from 38-miles to 46. That makes 116 miles this week!
Status from 3/22/08: We had a 38-mile buddy ride in the South Bay down to Morgan Hill then back north along the reservoirs. Since the start place was nearby, I rode my bike there. On the way home, I was feeling pretty good, so I added a few miles to make today's total 50 MILES!!!!!
I now know I can make it half-way through the ride on June 1 and still have 9 weeks of training left!
Status from 3/20/08: Tuesday night I did hill-repeats at Bernal Road, then rode down to Morgan Hill and back: 25 miles.
Thursday night I rode home via Mt. Eden Road and Pierce Road, then added some extra distance to make 35 miles total. Then Friday morning I added another 4 miles to bring my one-week total to 101.5!!! On 3/15 I wrote: The rain cleared long enough for us to complete a 35-miler. This was a lot easier than the 33.4 I did Tuesday, mostly because the hills were less intense. Also, I've lost 8 lbs since starting the training in February! Whoo-hoo!
On 3/11/08 I wrote: The first Hill Repeat Training was this evening. Being a glutton for punishment I warmed up with a 9.4 mile ride from the Castro Street Light Rail Station to the bottom of Mt. Eden Rd. On the third trip up Mt Eden, we went all the way to the top. There I parted company with the Team and headed down to Pierce Rd in Saratoga and rode the rest of the way home. All told, 33.4 miles! - a third of a Century!
On 3/8/08 I wrote: It's my birthday, and I celebrated with the "buddy ride" of 29.4 miles from Foothill College to the end of Stevens Canyon Road including a detour up Mount Eden where we'll start practicing hill climbs on Tuesday. It went OK, but it would have been easier if my schedule had allowed me to ride during the week.
On 3/2/08 I wrote: Crazy me, went for another ride today, and set a new high: 30.3 miles to Morgan Hill and back! That makes nearly a 60 mile weekend.
On 3/1/08 I wrote about Team Ride #3: I did it! 28.4 miles of "gently rolling hills" in Portola Valley!!!"
This ranks as my second-longest one day ride! The longest was 30 miles the week before I went to the doctor about the lump in my left side last September. 6 weeks ago when I signed up for this, I could only do 5 miles!
It's a long ways to 100 miles around Tahoe, but I'm feeling better every day!
On 2/27/08 I started this log with: I rode all the way home from work today for the first time since Chemo. With my new Bike Computer, I learned that this is 21.5 miles rather than the 18 I believed it to be! So Saturday's ride should be OK.
My Story:
After nearly a year battling a variety of health issues, the underlying complicating factor was found when I was diagnosed with Hairy Cell Leukemia in October 2007. Right off, my doctor referred me to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The Society responded immediately, providing me a wealth of information on patient and family support services. After going through chemotherapy, I am now in remission. Now, as a way to give back to the Society that does so much to help people like me, and as a way to get back in shape, I am training to participate in a 109-mile endurance bike ride around Lake Tahoe on June 1st, 2008, as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training.
All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I'm completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!
Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance the Society's mission.
I hope you'll visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!
