Yesterday was our final long ride.  I did 88 miles, and my body still is barking at me today.  That ride was 25 miles longer than any of my other rides this year.  In two weeks I'll extending my longest ride by 12 miles to make an even 100.  Although I may be sore, riding all those miles and climbing all the hills is still easier than having a blood cancer and enduring the tough treatments needed to beat it.

Here we're going up one of the gentler climbs we did yesterday.  That one was a piece of cake compared to the four mile climb we hit around the 45 mile mark.  However the descent that followed made it all worthwhile.  This has been a great group of people to train with.  We're ready for 100 miles!

GO TEAM!!!

I'm a little over 1/2 way to my personal fundraising goal of $6,000.  Won't you please join me and help in the fight against cancer.

Thank you!!

...but not to the end of our mission to find a cure. 

3 weeks from today I will have done America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride.  It's hard to believe it's coming up so soon.  We have one last group training ride this coming Saturday, and then on Wednesday we send our bikes out to California.

Yesterday we had the second of our three "upstate" rides leaving out of Patterson, New York.  We climb a lot of hills as we ride back and forth between New York and Connecticut.  Mother Nature tried messing with us at the start.  I drove up to Patterson in pouring rain, and I continually asked myself, "Are you nuts? You're going to ride in this stuff?"  My answer to myself was "No I'm not nuts.  Of course I'm going to ride in this stuff.  I'm on a mission, and rain is not stopping me."

Before each ride we have a "mission moment" where someone shares why they're doing this and the importance of it.  Last week Coach Anita share how that day was the first anniversary of her mother's passing from cancer.  The first anniversary of one's loved one's death is always very difficult, but Anita said there was nowhere else she'd rather be than with her Team in Training family riding in memory of her mom.

Yesterday, Coach John who lost his father to cancer talked about recently losing the fourth of one of his high school classmates to cancer. Both he and Anita are volunteer coaches for Team in Training who have been doing this for years.  As coaches and participants in Team in Tarining they're on a mission to help The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) continue their work to find a cure and support those who are fighting blood cancers.

I'm proud to be part of this team that is on this life saving mission.  Many therapies for blood cancers developed through research funded by LLS are being used to treat other cancers.  I've lost friends and family members to numerous cancers so it's important to me that we continue to help fund this valuable research.

Please join me in my mission to help find a cure for cancer. 

I thought it was very appropriate that the first flowers I saw this spring were purple.  Purple as in Team in Training purple.  It has not been the easiest winter to stay in cycling shape and prepare to build up the miles for my 100 mile ride around Lake Tahoe.   However complaining about the weather wasn't going to change anything.  I could have had it worse.  I could have spent the winter enduring chemo or having my immune system blown apart in order to receive a stem cell transplant.  I didn't, but I trained for those who did spend their winter in treatment.

Now my teammates and I are making up for lost time as our training intensifies.  We had a beautiful ride last weekend.  Lots of good climbs and the ever present headwind.  All of that makes us stronger.  At the end we did our "Dani selfie" faces as we posed for the last of many pictures taken that day.  Don't ask. It's a long story, going back last year's Sleepy Hollow Tri.

My biking mileage for the year is not where I'd like it to be.  That I have to resolve myself.  My fundraising total is not where I'd like that to be.  That's where you can help.  Please join my teammates and me in the quest to find a cure for all blood cancers.  Please make a donation.

Some of the members of The More Than a Mile High Club

Many of my Sleepy Hollow Sprint Triathlon, Westchester Triathlon teammates and I have joined up to form "The More Than a Mile High Club.  Our mission is to ride 100 to miles around Lake Tahoe.  Over the course of the 100 miles we will do more then a mile of climbing at altitude.  The views are breathtaking which is why they call it "America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride."  However more important then checking out the beautiful views of Lake Tahoe, is our team mission.  As a team we are looking to raise $100,000 by June 1st.  My personal goal to contribute to this effort is to raise at least $6,000.  I know with my friends help I can do this.  In 2014 over the course of the two triathlon events I raised over $7,000.

So why do I do this?  No one in my family has had a blood cancer, but my grandmother, mother, aunt and cousin all died from other cancers.  Blood cancer treatments such as Gleevec, Rituxan and Velcade are now being used to treat patients with stomach cancer, autoimmune disease and are being tested in lung, brain, breast and prostate cancers.  These are treatments were developed thanks to research funded by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  I can't bring back my family and friends who lost their battle with cancer, but I can help others who are dealing with cancer now or in the future.

Please help me reach and even exceed my personal fundraising goal of $6,000 by donating.

Tomorrow I'll be traveling upstate to join my sisters, brother in law, nieces and nephews for our annual Christmas celebration.  It will be a wonderful time to celebrate another Christmas together.  There will be lots of good food and drink.  We'll get together with both friends and family for a fabulous Christmas Eve dinner.  We'll indulge in a long running family tradition after dinner and then exchange a few gifts before retiring for the evening. Christmas Day we'll finish exchanging gifts, and later on have a traditional Christmas turkey dinner.

Sometimes it's easy to take these holiday gatherings for granted.  However for some families they may be spending time visiting a loved one who is spending the holiday in the hospital having chemo. For other families there may be an empty seat at the table as a loved one lost his/her battle against blood cancer. The first Christmas or Hanukkah celebration without a loved one is a sad one. 

As we celebrate the remaining days of Hanukkah or the 1st day of Christmas, let's be thankful for how far we've come in the fight against blood cancers.  However let's not forget that there is still a long way to go. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society still has a lot of work to do in helping find a cure.

Please help me celebrate Christmas by making a a donation. That would be a great Christmas present that would help others enjoy future holidays.

Have a wonderful time over the holidays, and let's make 2015 the year to find a cure.