Today I woke up to an e-mail from one of the recipients of my letters, Mr. Peter Niccum. He is one of the main ways in which I have been affected by cancer. Admittedly, I still know very little about Cancer and it has not had a huge effect on myself, but his story has been one that my mom has kept me updated on throughout the years, and I hope that my efforts in this ride help Mr. Niccumand others like him and prevents others from having the same experience. Truth be told, I was initially wanted to do the ride purely for the experience of riding a bike from Austin to Alaska, and the fact that it benefits cancer research was just another motivating factor in making me want to do the ride. But, I tell everyone I talk to about what I am doing, and when they hear about it, they tell me some of the most incredible stories I have ever heard. Some of the tales I have heard just in the past month have really touched me and I think that by the time we begin pedaling from Austin, this trip will have a completely different meaning for me, and probably for the rest of my team as well. It is all very exciting right now.
Anyway, I wanted to share Mr. Niccum's story so that others may know what motivates me to ride. I talk enough as it is though, so I will give you the story in his own word, directly from his e-mail. It is people like Mr. Niccum who make me feel as though riding to Alaska is not enough, and make me want to do more to help those who have been diagnosed:
"Hi Miguel,
We got your request and put a check in the mail today. This is a fantastic effort on your part and I applaud you for your humanity.
I am one of your friends whose life has been touched by cancer. I was diagnosed with Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma April 26, 2000. In the ensuing six years I have had three different chemotherapies and two rounds of radiation. I have been on an experimental drug called Depsi Peptide, administered by the National Cancer Institute, since March of 2001. I hold the record for most Depsi Peptide taken by a person. That is 67 chemotherapy cycles with 134 doses of the drug.
My cancer is sadly not cureable but it is treatable. I expect to live for quite a while longer but I will have to be treated for the rest of my life unless a cure is found. I have suffered many indignities in conjunction with this disease but it has its positives. Our family has never been closer and I attach greater value to every day I have. The continuing friendships such as your parents provide massive support to all of us. I had to retire from my full-time job several years ago. However, I have begun teaching History and Government at Campbell University part-time.
We are all grateful to you for what you are doing. Feel free to use my story to help you solicit donations. Keep us posted.
Sincerely,
Peter Niccum"
Monday, November 20, 2006
Finally, back on my wheels
Yesterday, I went bike riding for the first time all semester! I cannot tell you how amazing it felt to finally be back on my bike. It has been waay too crazy and I am so glad I finally got the time to do it. I hope to be riding much more now that band is finally settling down. I'm hoping to hit the trails with Steffi this Wednesday. My parents come in that day, but they can wait for me to get back. Riding is important. Considering I am way behind in my training for this ride, riding is especially important right now, whenever I get the chance. Truth be told, I should probably be riding right now instead of blogging, but I've got a few saddle sores from yesterday, so I don't think it is going to happen.
So, about the ride. I went exploring the Far West area basically. I found this place called the Bull Creek District Park on MapQuest, and found out some information about it, and it sounded pretty sweet. I headed out to see what it was like, and first of all, the hills up here are amazing. I was actually scared a couple times because they were so steep and I started flying down them. I cannot wait to ride these hills on a road bike. I cannot wait to ride a road bike period. Riding my mountain bike is not so much fun on the streets. It's rather clunky. It's not bad for descents and it's awesome because you can ride on just about any type of terrain, but for purely road riding it's not too fun.
Anywho, I made it to Bull Creek, and it is a very beautiful place. There is a creek (Bull Creek) which runs through the area, cutting through limestone so that there are solid banks on either side and the bed is solid as well. I think it will make for a good swimming hole in the spring when the rains come and the weather begins to warm up again. I did not have much luck finding trails however. I rode on one very rocky, aggressive trail that had my feet off the pedals half the time to catch myself, but it seemingly led to nowhere. I got to a point when there seemed to be water trickling down the side of a hill I was next to, and I was curious as to where the water was coming from. So I climbed this rather slippery, moss-covered hill/bank of some sort of rock, not sure what it was. Needless to say, it would have been considerably easier had I not been dragging my bike up with me. But I made it. Although, I did not realize until I reached the top that I had ended up behind a row of houses and came to the assumption that I was on private property...
I did not want to climb back down the hill as I feared it would be much too slippery, especially carrying my bike. So, I tried to casually walk between houses to get out to the street. Naturally, the house I would end up behind would be hosting a family gathering sitting down to eat. The man who owned the house came out and asked if I needed something as I passed between the houses. I was honestly quite scared at this point, thinking of the possibilities as I was technically trespassing on his property... But, I explained what had happened, and he told me that he had owned the property for some 40 years and every time he puts up signs, they get torn down and that he is mostly concerned about people's safety as it is a rather steep, slippery hill. I was relieved to know he wasn't too terribly upset. I mentioned to him that I had just recently moved to the Far West area and was a student at UT, and it turned out that he was a professor in the Music school at UT for quite some time, which was quite a coincidence. I told him that I was in the Longhorn Band and we discussed music and his schooling for a while, and he told me he had conducted in 35 different states and 25 different countries. It was amazing to hear what this man had done. He did his undergraduate schooling at Colorado State University, Masters at Oregon, and Doctorate at USC. I told him I was involved in the Texas 4000 and he seemed impressed and wished me the best of luck.
To sum up what I've been babbling about, I ended up on someone else's property where I should not have been, and this man who owned the property could have very well come out and been a complete jerk, and very well understandably. But instead, he was a very kind, knowledgeable and all around interesting person, and I consider myself very lucky to have met him. It was somewhere between leaving his house and returning to my apartment that I decided that I was officially in love with Austin. The beauty of this area is breathtaking. I never knew Texas could be so beautiful. I want to explore more and more, and cannot wait for the Spring now. I love the cold weather to death, but I fear soon it will be too chilly to go on adventures like yesterday's. All in good time. And of course, once I get my road bike, I will be able to see even more of the city, just not go off-road. But I am young and there will be time for that in the future. It is getting harder and harder for me to say I want to live in Colorado or Oregon, because I'm not sure if I will be able to leave Austin when I get the opportunity to do so.
Peace and Love,
Trespassing Tito
So, about the ride. I went exploring the Far West area basically. I found this place called the Bull Creek District Park on MapQuest, and found out some information about it, and it sounded pretty sweet. I headed out to see what it was like, and first of all, the hills up here are amazing. I was actually scared a couple times because they were so steep and I started flying down them. I cannot wait to ride these hills on a road bike. I cannot wait to ride a road bike period. Riding my mountain bike is not so much fun on the streets. It's rather clunky. It's not bad for descents and it's awesome because you can ride on just about any type of terrain, but for purely road riding it's not too fun.
Anywho, I made it to Bull Creek, and it is a very beautiful place. There is a creek (Bull Creek) which runs through the area, cutting through limestone so that there are solid banks on either side and the bed is solid as well. I think it will make for a good swimming hole in the spring when the rains come and the weather begins to warm up again. I did not have much luck finding trails however. I rode on one very rocky, aggressive trail that had my feet off the pedals half the time to catch myself, but it seemingly led to nowhere. I got to a point when there seemed to be water trickling down the side of a hill I was next to, and I was curious as to where the water was coming from. So I climbed this rather slippery, moss-covered hill/bank of some sort of rock, not sure what it was. Needless to say, it would have been considerably easier had I not been dragging my bike up with me. But I made it. Although, I did not realize until I reached the top that I had ended up behind a row of houses and came to the assumption that I was on private property...
I did not want to climb back down the hill as I feared it would be much too slippery, especially carrying my bike. So, I tried to casually walk between houses to get out to the street. Naturally, the house I would end up behind would be hosting a family gathering sitting down to eat. The man who owned the house came out and asked if I needed something as I passed between the houses. I was honestly quite scared at this point, thinking of the possibilities as I was technically trespassing on his property... But, I explained what had happened, and he told me that he had owned the property for some 40 years and every time he puts up signs, they get torn down and that he is mostly concerned about people's safety as it is a rather steep, slippery hill. I was relieved to know he wasn't too terribly upset. I mentioned to him that I had just recently moved to the Far West area and was a student at UT, and it turned out that he was a professor in the Music school at UT for quite some time, which was quite a coincidence. I told him that I was in the Longhorn Band and we discussed music and his schooling for a while, and he told me he had conducted in 35 different states and 25 different countries. It was amazing to hear what this man had done. He did his undergraduate schooling at Colorado State University, Masters at Oregon, and Doctorate at USC. I told him I was involved in the Texas 4000 and he seemed impressed and wished me the best of luck.
To sum up what I've been babbling about, I ended up on someone else's property where I should not have been, and this man who owned the property could have very well come out and been a complete jerk, and very well understandably. But instead, he was a very kind, knowledgeable and all around interesting person, and I consider myself very lucky to have met him. It was somewhere between leaving his house and returning to my apartment that I decided that I was officially in love with Austin. The beauty of this area is breathtaking. I never knew Texas could be so beautiful. I want to explore more and more, and cannot wait for the Spring now. I love the cold weather to death, but I fear soon it will be too chilly to go on adventures like yesterday's. All in good time. And of course, once I get my road bike, I will be able to see even more of the city, just not go off-road. But I am young and there will be time for that in the future. It is getting harder and harder for me to say I want to live in Colorado or Oregon, because I'm not sure if I will be able to leave Austin when I get the opportunity to do so.
Peace and Love,
Trespassing Tito
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
First Response From the Letters
Just a few hours after I wrote that last post, when I returned from band rehearsal, I got an e-mail from a good friend's mom (Mrs. McDonald) saying that her and her husband had donated to my ride!! Yay yay! My letters have reached some people and are already starting to work! I hope this trend continues! Exciting!
Update
So, since the last post... I have made considerable progress on fundraising. I suppose most importantly, I got my letters sent out. 53 of them. It took me 6.5 hours from 3 to 9:30 AM, but I did it. Although, after hearing from other members, I don't think that's nearly enough letters. I'm kind of at a loss as to who else to send letters to. But, when I go up to Grapevine over the winter break, I plan on going up to the high school and giving some letters to my former teachers and maybe some administrators. Also, I have a dentist's appointment over the break, so I think I'll take a few letters with me there as well. I'm not sure if anyone even reads this, but if they do and they have ideas as to who to send letters to, please share them. Hopefully I will be hearing from those people who received my letters soon.
But the more exciting news is that I have collected two donations from people here in Austin already, from Steffi and Danielle, so that is awesome and I am very grateful to them for that. Doing something like this kind of revives your faith in people seeing the generosity of some people. I also have at least 6 other people who have told me they plan on donating, so I just need to hit them up for that and what not. Yay!
The exciting news doesn't end there. I talked to a friend of the family in Seattle who is a published author and has a new book coming out soon, and she said she would donate part of the proceeds of the book to my funds! That is one of the coolest things I have ever heard! I'm so amazed! She also has many friends and business contacts in Washington who she said she would share my letter with and what not, so her help should be a great asset in my fundraising campaign.
So, as of now, I sit right at about $130 in donations, but I am confident that I will reach the $4,000 mark by the time we leave. I hope to raise at least $5,000. However, this $1,000 deadline that is quickly approaching may not be so easy. I am pretty sure I will end up having to front the money I lack myself. But, with the news I've shared with you, it shouldn't take long to get that money back. Things are going well.
Oh yes, and one last tidbit of exciting information: Yesterday, I got fitted, er "pre-fitted" I suppose for my bike! Basically, they took my helmet and shoe size, measured my inseam and got an idea of what size bike I will need. I was super excited about it, just the fact that it's another step closer to getting a bike and going to Alaska, so I was pretty nervous, so I probably seemed like a total goon to the guys who measured me. I couldn't even remember what size my mountain bike is, so I probably seemed like a total idiot to the guys. Oh, and I've been wearing a size 14 shoe for some 5 years now, but when they measured my foot, they said I had a size 13 foot... So I'm starting to wonder if my feet have shrunk, if that's even possible. But I do know that my achilles tendon has been hurting me on and off this semester, as well as my feet in general, which hasn't happened to this extent before. I read that a lot of those problems can come from ill-fitting shoes, so I may have to look into this whole issue. But beyond that, the guys probably thought I was an idiot for fumbling my words, not knowing what size bike I have and not even knowing my shoe size. Gah, it was embarrassing. But, I can't wait to get my bike!! That is all for now.
Peace and Love,
TremblingTito
But the more exciting news is that I have collected two donations from people here in Austin already, from Steffi and Danielle, so that is awesome and I am very grateful to them for that. Doing something like this kind of revives your faith in people seeing the generosity of some people. I also have at least 6 other people who have told me they plan on donating, so I just need to hit them up for that and what not. Yay!
The exciting news doesn't end there. I talked to a friend of the family in Seattle who is a published author and has a new book coming out soon, and she said she would donate part of the proceeds of the book to my funds! That is one of the coolest things I have ever heard! I'm so amazed! She also has many friends and business contacts in Washington who she said she would share my letter with and what not, so her help should be a great asset in my fundraising campaign.
So, as of now, I sit right at about $130 in donations, but I am confident that I will reach the $4,000 mark by the time we leave. I hope to raise at least $5,000. However, this $1,000 deadline that is quickly approaching may not be so easy. I am pretty sure I will end up having to front the money I lack myself. But, with the news I've shared with you, it shouldn't take long to get that money back. Things are going well.
Oh yes, and one last tidbit of exciting information: Yesterday, I got fitted, er "pre-fitted" I suppose for my bike! Basically, they took my helmet and shoe size, measured my inseam and got an idea of what size bike I will need. I was super excited about it, just the fact that it's another step closer to getting a bike and going to Alaska, so I was pretty nervous, so I probably seemed like a total goon to the guys who measured me. I couldn't even remember what size my mountain bike is, so I probably seemed like a total idiot to the guys. Oh, and I've been wearing a size 14 shoe for some 5 years now, but when they measured my foot, they said I had a size 13 foot... So I'm starting to wonder if my feet have shrunk, if that's even possible. But I do know that my achilles tendon has been hurting me on and off this semester, as well as my feet in general, which hasn't happened to this extent before. I read that a lot of those problems can come from ill-fitting shoes, so I may have to look into this whole issue. But beyond that, the guys probably thought I was an idiot for fumbling my words, not knowing what size bike I have and not even knowing my shoe size. Gah, it was embarrassing. But, I can't wait to get my bike!! That is all for now.
Peace and Love,
TremblingTito
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Here goes nothing
Hi, my name is Miguel. This upcoming summer (2007), I will be riding a bike with 49 others, mostly from the University of Texas like myself, from Austin, Texas to Alaska. Why? We ride to raise awareness about cancer and also to raise funds to further research to discover a cure for cancer. For 70 days, we will ride 4,500 miles on two different routes, one through the Rockies, and another up the West Coast. We have an official website at www.texas4000.org which has much more information. Please check it out if you are interested. Each rider also has a blog on the website which we use to share our experiences related to the Texas 4000. I created this blog because all our posts on the website must be well representative of the group since it is our official informational website and this blog will serve as I guess what would be considered an "unedited" version of my blog on the website. Or, whatever happens, at least it will be another website to raise awareness about the ride. Well, and I was getting tired of Xanga, and have been wanting to start a new blog here anyway.
Also, I wanted to make this another way to reach out and ask for donations. I know that most people who will read this will be friends of mine, most likely in college. And if you're anything like me, you don't have much money. So, I won't be pestering everyone for donations all the time. I'm just posting this on all my blogs, asking for any donation you might be willing to give no matter how large or how small. Any bit helps, and it goes towards a great cause, and it will be much appreciated by many people. Let me know if you would like to help out, whether it be by e-mail, a comment, phone call, or if you see me sometime, whatever.
With that said, you can expect me to be posting here rather often most likely with updated on fundraising, training, hardships, and anything else Texas 4000 related. Hell, it'll probably anything I feel like writing about, but I'm sure that the Texas 4000 will be consuming much of my life for the next 10 months or so, especially as the ride nears. But for now, I'm out.
Peace and Love,
T4k Tito
Also, I wanted to make this another way to reach out and ask for donations. I know that most people who will read this will be friends of mine, most likely in college. And if you're anything like me, you don't have much money. So, I won't be pestering everyone for donations all the time. I'm just posting this on all my blogs, asking for any donation you might be willing to give no matter how large or how small. Any bit helps, and it goes towards a great cause, and it will be much appreciated by many people. Let me know if you would like to help out, whether it be by e-mail, a comment, phone call, or if you see me sometime, whatever.
With that said, you can expect me to be posting here rather often most likely with updated on fundraising, training, hardships, and anything else Texas 4000 related. Hell, it'll probably anything I feel like writing about, but I'm sure that the Texas 4000 will be consuming much of my life for the next 10 months or so, especially as the ride nears. But for now, I'm out.
Peace and Love,
T4k Tito
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