Monday, May 26, 2008

The Memorial Day edition of the update

This week's update is late because we spent most of the weekend in Canton, Michigan at a soccer tournament with our son Ian. His team won the championship. Then we spent some time at our friends Susan and Elvin's cottage on Lake Paw Paw. We did get some riding in to go with all the driving and watching (soccer that is). On Sunday we rode on a little trail that follows I-275 in Novi. Despite having the highway on one side there was a nice natural area on our other side. So natural, in fact, that Tom was attacked by a red winged blackbird. It swooped down and pecked the top of his helmet, then made a second pass and went for his neck. It's amazing how fast you can ride when you need to get away from something. The entire ride was just short on 11 miles.
Today we rode with Susan and Elvin from their cottage to Sister Lakes and back. It was a beautiful morning for a ride and we put on 30 miles through the rolling countryside of Berrien county. However, since it's Monday, those miles will be reflected in next week's update.

This week's ride totals:
5/25 - 10.9 Miles; I-275 trail Novi

Total: 10.9 miles

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Five months to Death Valley

That's right, 5 months from today, October 18, we will be riding across Death Valley once again. That will make four years in a row. Speaking of riding we got a lot in this week. We hosted the team ride today so Tom went out earlier in the week to check out the route. On Tuesday he road the first half which went west out 7 Mile to Blakely to 9 Mile to Young to 12 Mile. Then on Friday he did the finishing half which was basically 12 Mile to North Division to 9 Mile to Baumhoff to 8 Mile back to Division back to 9 Mile and then home via Post Drive and Rouge River. There were a few other turns in there, but those were the major roads. Almost 40 miles. And just to mix up the training Tom took out his mountain bike on Thursday and did a little four mile loop through Rouge River Park. That makes for an over 80 mile week. A lot of miles for this early in the season.

This week's ride totals:
5/13 - 17.5 miles, western loop (Tom)
5/15 - 4 miles, mountain bike trail (Tom)
5/16 - 20 miles, eastern loop (Tom)
5/18 - 39.9 miles, described above

Total: 81.4 miles (Tom)
Total: 39.9 miles (Mary)

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Why do we do this?


Yesterday was a reminder of why we put ourselves through the pain and suffering of riding 105 miles in a single day through the desert of Death Valley.

Tuesday morning started like any other school day, the boys get up, take showers, eat breakfast and are out the door for school by 7:00 a.m. Except yesterday Jake said he didn't feel well and then proceeded to throw up. He tested his blood sugar and was over 400 with small keytones. He had changed his site the night before so we wondered if he hit a bad spot. After giving himself some insulin with his pump he checked his blood sugar an hour later and it was 340. The numbers were going the right direction, so that meant his site was okay. After another hour he was down to 240. He kept monitoring his blood sugar and adjusting his insulin dose all morning and eventually got his blood sugar down to 120 around noon. He then finally went to school.

Luckily Jake doesn't have these episodes often. The frustrating thing is that there seemed to be no reason for this. His site was fine, he had given himself the proper amount of insulin, he wasn't sick. And then BAM, out of the blue, he goes really high. Even though he handled the situation well it served as another reminder of how tenuous the life of a diabetic can be. Do everything right and still have complications.

This is why we ride. To find a cure for diabetes. Things around home can go along "normally" for months, then all of a sudden we get a sobering dose of reality. Jake's life has been drastically affected by this disease, as have the lives of millions of others. So we will ride. We will fund raise. We will find a cure for diabetes.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

A quick report

We didn't get a lot of riding in this week. Between cold weather and kid duties the riding took a back seat, which is hard to do on a bike. Tom got out yesterday and did a quick 15 miles on the White Pine Trail. Check out our team photo site for pictures from some of our recent team rides.

This week's ride totals:
5/10 - 15.5 miles; WPT north (Tom)

Total: 15.5 miles -Tom

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Another Sunday night...

Michigan weather in the spring is quite unpredictable. After a couple weeks of great weather in early April things turned ugly in the later part of the month. However, improvements are coming and today was a glorious day. The temperature was in the mid 60's with sunny skies and a light breeze. A great day for a ride. So ride we did, 34 miles in fact, with out West Michigan Ride Team. Today's training ride left from Townsend Park and traveled through Rockford and then past Wabasis Lake. We had a good group of 14 cyclists and just had a fantastic time. It's interesting how we are doing more mileage earlier in the year with each passing season. Four years ago a spring ride would have been 12 to 15 miles on a rail trail. Now they are 30 plus out on the road with hills and everything.

This weeks ride totals:
4/30 - 13.2 miles; WPT south (Tom)
5/4 - 34.4 miles; Townsend Park, Rockford, Wabasis Lake

Total: 47.6 miles - Tom
Total: 34.4 miles - Mary