Above: Lynn Smythe at the 2011 St. Anthony's Triathlon

ANOTHER CENTURY RIDE

I'm at it again! I will be participating in the 2012 America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride (AMBBR). AMBBR is a 100 mile road bike ride that takes place on June 3rd. The ride circumnavigates Lake Tahoe while traveling through the mountains of Nevada and California.

I did the Tahoe century ride back in 2009, and am looking forward to riding in the hills again. I blogged about the 2009 AMBBR on my Bike Diva blog: Bike Diva Survives Tahoe Century Ride. How do flat-land Floridians train for a bike ride in the mountains? Wind and drawbridges; south Florida is notorious for the amount of wind we get in the winter time. Nothing like training in a 15-20 MPH headwind and doing lots of drawbridge repeats to get you prepared for hill climbing. :)

GET INVOLVED WITH TEAM IN TRAINING

AMBBR will be my 9th event with the Team in Training program. Here is a history of the events I've done with Team in Training since 2006, while helping to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society:

• 2006 - Intracoastal Waterway Century Ride - century bike ride - Cocoa Village, FL
• 2007 - El Tour de Tucson - century bike ride - Tucson, AZ
• 2008 - Intracoastal Waterway Century Ride - century bike ride - Cocoa Village, FL
• 2009 - America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride - century bike ride - Lake Tahoe, NV
• 2010 - Intracoastal Waterway Century Ride - century bike ride - Cocoa Village, FL
• 2011 - FAU Wellness Triathlon - sprint triathlon - Boca Raton, FL
• 2011 - St. Anthony's Triathlon - Olympic triathlon - St. Petersburg, FL
• 2012 - Disney Marathon - half marathon - Orlando, FL
• 2012 - America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride - century bike ride - Lake Tahoe, NV

LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a non-profit charity that conducts research towards cures, and helps ease the burden of those battling blood cancers such as leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease, lymphoma and myeloma.

Please consider making a donation to support my participation in Team in Training, and help advance the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s mission. You may make a donation by visiting my fundraising website which is located at: http://pages.teamintraining.org/pb/ambbr12/lsmythe Or you may send me a check, made out to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, to my home address listed below.

Above: 2009 Team in Training bike team at America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride.

CANCER EFFECTS EVERYONE

My husband Rob has been going through his own battle to fight cancer for the past two years. In October of 2010, he went to his urologist for a routine check up, and was hoping to be diagnosed as one year cancer free. Unfortunately the cancer was back and he had to undergo a second surgery on December 15, 2010.

Rob began what we thought was going to be a year's worth of immunotherapy and interferon treatments starting the end of January 2011. Around the beginning of April 2011, he was given the all clear! His cancer is currently in remission and he only has to go through a few maintenance treatments in 2012. We both enjoy being part of the Team in Training program and staying active, even while we are going through our own personal crisis, is the key to keeping a positive outlook on life. GO TEAM!

SPORTS DIVA

Check my Bike Diva and Run Diva blogs for updates on my training progress throughout the season.

Lynn Smythe

516 Olive Tree Circle

Greenacres, FL 33413