Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

Hi, How are you? Or better yet, who are you? Or maybe I'm the only one who constantly asks myself that. Whatever. Things are going. Going indeed. Of course, they could definitely be better, but often the case is such. And, of course, things could indeed be much, much worse. I, however, choose to focus on the negatives for whatever reason. But, as Sir Paul taught us all, life goes on. And go on it will, hopefully soon. But until then, I suppose I will write and bike for lack of a better solution. Perhaps that's not a bad solution after all though.

Anyway, I'm sitting here, waiting for my next class, and I figured I might as well update this with my Texas 4000 progress:


Last weekend was our Texas 4000 Training Camp in Fayetteville, TX. Needless to say, it was awesome. Bill Edwards, a professional cycling coach taught in part by Chris Carmichael (Lance Armstrong's coach), along with seven other cycling coaches mostly from the Southern Elite cycling team gave us a free weekend of coaching and lodging, plus two meals at the Bed and Breakfast in Fayetteville and a couple other smaller houses. It was so much fun, and very helpful as well. The sign in front of the Fayetteville Bed and Breakfast calls Fayetteville "The Most Bike Friendly Town in Texas", and from my very limited experience, I would have to agree. It is a small town East of Austin, about an hour outside of Houston, of population 261 in 2000. Bill Edwards owns the Bed and Breakfast and does a training program for anyone who would like where they stay at the B&B and receive coaching from him for a weekend. One of the coolest things about the weekend is that all these guys passed on their years of valuable knowledge and experience that would normally cost several hundred dollars for us to receive, as well as a place to stay and two meals, at no cost to us. They gave us an entire weekend out of the kindness of their hearts, which was so amazing of them to do. I continue to be amazed at how grateful people have been in helping us reach our goals with the Texas 4000. When the weekend concluded, the coaches unanimously said that if next year's team told them a weekend that worked best for them, they would all be back and do it again for free. Amazing.

Stretching and preparing to ride in front of the Fayetteville Courthouse

Prepping the bikes

Nervous about our first big ride

"Wait, our feet will be attached to the pedals?!!"

Receiving instructions from the coaches

Chattin' it up with the coaches

On Saturday, we rode 40 miles on the country roads around Fayetteville. There was minimal traffic, a couple dogs, and a slight wind, but the conditions were about as perfect as you could ask for. The weather was gorgeous: sunny and about 70 degrees or so. Like I said, the wind picked up a couple times, but that just makes you stronger, haha. It was my first time to ride clipless pedals, so that was an experience, but I have now been converted. They are awesome, I love the power you can get by pulling up on the pedal. Probably the most valuable advice I got all weekend was to pull up as you climb. It takes a lot of pressure off the ball of your foot and also uses different muscles so your quads aren't screaming on every climb. They broke us up into four groups based on experience and at first I thought I was going to have to go with the slowest group from how they described the group. But, I was in the group just under the most experienced riders, and I was able to keep up just fine. The coaches actually got on me several times when I was leading the paceline for keeping too quick of a pace. Oops. I thought maybe I should have gone with the top group. So it was reassuring to know that I can consider myself in the more experienced half of the group, or at least able to keep up with the more experienced riders, especially since I've only been riding a road bike for less than a month now.

Alas, I have run out of time and motivation. Stay tuned...

Little Red Corvette...

I realize it has been a while since I last posted... So, if anyone reads this, I apologize for not updating. I suppose with this synced with Facebook, people will read it there. I'm not sure anyone knows this blogger site exists though... Oh well, maybe someone will stumble upon it one day. Things kinda died there for a little while, so I didn't have much to write, and we haven't been able to login to our website for almost two months now, awaiting the completion of a completely awesome facelift to the entire site, thanks to our webmaster. Unfortunately, his progress was a bit hindered by the infamous bird flu. Ack. By the way, I got my first ever flu shot last week, and didn't pass out! that makes I think three consecutive shots, plus a blood test that I have successfully endured without passing out! Yay me! Yeah, I'm a wimp, whatever.

Speaking of blogs, if you want to see a really cool article on Texas 4000, pick up a copy of the Alcalde, the Texas Exes magazine. You can find it at the alumni center on campus. It has a bunch of excerpts from Patrick Caldwell's Texas 4000 journal for the 2006 ride. He was a member of the Sierra (better) team last year, and a journalism major here at UT. His journal entries were quite impressive and gave great insight to the life of a T4k rider. I remember reading his blog last summer when I was starting to seriously consider applying for the team and just being amazed at the stuff he talked about. But anyway, the Alcalde put together a nice compilation of his articles with some good pictures to compliment them, and it's something like 8 or 10 pages long I believe. And the cover itself is just a beautiful photo. So, if you're interested, you can pick one up, or if you're not in Austin, or just lazy, let me know and I can get one for you.

But enough about the team and last year, let's talk about me. Where do I stand since you last heard from me? Well, I'm over $2,000 in fundraising. Yay! I've passed the halfway mark early, when two months ago the $1,000 deadline was looking like it would be the bane of my summer plans. (My high school English teacher would be so proud of me for using one of my vocab words. I just hoped I used it correctly. I am an engineering major after all, so I should get some credit for trying, and not just typing in binary, right?) But back to the fundraising, or FUN-draising as some like to call it. I cannot tell you how thankful I am for all the amazing donations I have received. I never thought it would be quite so easy. I am so impressed by the generosity people have shown in helping me raise the money. I just sent out another batch of letters too, so hopefully the response to those will be similar to the first batch of letters. Almost everyone who has donated $50 or more has received their shirts by now. Those who haven’t should be receiving them soon (sorry Alison). Hopefully my mom won’t find out that it’s been almost two weeks since Alison donated and she still hasn’t received a shirt. Gasp! Haha

Ah yes, and in case you were wondering about the title of this entry, I saved the most exciting news for last. So for those who stopped reading before now, you’re missing out. But, I got my bike this past Friday! She's a red, Trek 1500. Mmmm, yeah. I named her Vanessa. I’m not sure why, it just seemed a fitting name for her. Ok, so maybe this isn’t news to everyone, most know this already, but it is still extremely exciting! She is sooo beautiful and all shiny and red and fast. Every time I see her, I think of the Prince song “Little Red Corvette”.

“Little red corvette, Baby you’re much too fast…”

I found it pretty cool that I got my bike Friday, and then two days later, Prince performed for the Super Bowl halftime show. I did not even know Prince would be performing until the day of the game. I digress for a moment…

We had a Super Bowl party at our apartment (might I say it was super?), and I made chicken wings for the first time. I didn’t make just a few though, it was 10 pounds of wings! 5 pounds were teriyaki, 2.5 pounds were hot wings, and the other 2.5 pounds were a different variation on hot wings, which I think turned out the best. But anyway, if I may toot my own horn momentarily, they turned out surprisingly well. I was very impressed, and will have to make those again. Digressing further, I made chili for the first time ever this past Thursday. All from scratch, mind you, no canned ingredients or mixes. Cooking is almost therapeutic in a way. I enjoy it, and it gives me time to think and just relax for the most part. Yeesh, I'm getting in touch with my feminine side...don't judge me... But now back to the real topic at hand...

Was anyone else in a fabulous mood today due to the amazing weather? And yesterday as well for that matter! I love this weather, I wish there were more days in the year like it. I woke up grumpy after getting only four hours of sleep last night. But, as soon as I walked out the door, my mood was completely changed. I did not even read the paper this morning because I did not want news of the war and other depressing issues to put a damper on my day. In fact, after my second class got out at noon, I decided to return to my apartment, skipping my last class, and take a spin with Vanessa. It was like joyriding in a car, without the guilt of wasting gas. I officially have the most fuel efficient, green little red corvette ever.

I was in such a good mood, in fact, that I rode all the way down to campus and back to my apartment. I was enjoying the ride so much that I missed where I was supposed to turn to return to my apartment and ended up biking about eight blocks further north than needed. It only took me about 35 minutes each way, including stopping and trying to figure out the bike routes since it was my first time. Austin has done an excellent job at being bike friendly. There are many bike routes to take you just about anywhere you want to go in this beautiful city. It kind of makes me wonder why you would even want to drive and put up with the hassle of traffic.

When I got back to my apartment, I used a nifty Google pedestrian map and found that the route I had just ridden was about 6 miles and some change, to make just over 12 miles for the day. I was pretty excited. I plan on riding to campus Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays beginning Wednesday, and hopefully every day of the week once I get the new job I should be getting soon. That will put me at around 60miles per week, just commuting. When you factor in waiting at the bus stop and sitting in traffic, biking to campus takes about as much time as riding the bus, and it is much more enjoyable, less stressful, and refreshing way to start the day. This is very exciting! I can kill two, wait, three birds with one stone. Er, scratch that, I don’t want to kill any birds, they’re pretty. Except maybe that Canadian goose who bit me when I was like three. Son of a bitch. Come to think of it, I would not even kill him. So, I will be compiling three tasks into one. There we go, a much more peaceful, nature friendly, nerdy statement.

With all this new excitement Vanessa has created, I had to sit down and have a long talk with my baby (My Specialized mountain bike) and assure her that she would not get neglected, and I would do my best not to play favourites, but that it will be difficult as I will be required to spend much time with Vanessa in these coming months, and I will do my best to still ride the trails when possible. I think she understood, but there were a few tears shed, and we had a touching moment. But, I think things will continue to go well between us. She will always be my baby, she was the first, and a parent never lets go of their first, as I have found out from my mom. Although, I think she wants a name now, with Vanessa around. So, I am in the process of thinking up a proper name for her, and if you have any ideas, please let me know!

So, here comes my conclusion. I was always terrible at these when writing essays. We shall see if I can wrap this all up somehow. I suppose the easiest way would be to hit the main points. As far as fundraising and training for the ride are concerned, everything is starting to fall into place quite nicely and those two factors of the ride should become easier and easier with time, so long as I keep up my current pace. I think the hardest part about this semester will be focusing on my studies and keeping my grades up and fighting the urge to go biking whenever I have a spare moment. Grades, they aren’t really that important, are they? Hopefully my dad has not discovered this site yet, or he would kill me for that statement... I have been thinking about the future too much lately, it just causes way too much stress. So, I'm determined not to think about anything that comes later than August 10 of this year. That ought to ease the stress and heartburn. Yeah right... Again, my dad would be all over me for that one too.

"You know, I'm sick of following my dreams, man. I'm just going to find out where they're going and hook up with 'em later."
-Words to live by if I ever heard them...

Peace, Love, and Bike Friendly Driving,
Trek Tito

Why I Ride

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"

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

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

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