MILE$ FOR MONEY

  One of the questions Scott has been frequently asked is how he is fueling for the long rides.   One thing he learned quickly is failure to fuel and hydrate dramatically affects the day's long ride, but moreover affects how well he feels for day two and day three and day four rides!  Lately Scott has been putting in up to 300 miles a week in cycling while also doing many other activities to get ready for our departure.  As we considered how he was going to fuel we also had to consider what we can get on the road, as we won't always be near a bike store nor a fed ex location, and USPS doesn't deliver to a moving camper.   We are also trying to stay on a budget as this ride is self- supporting with all funds raised going to the two 501(c)(3) charities we are supporting: zero prostate cancer and schizophrenia & psychosis action alliance.    The answer to Scott's fueling needs that also met our unique delivery constraints as well as our budget was learning of the endur

Just as we did research to find a prostate cancer non profit to support, we also looked for one to support for the Schizophrenia awareness and fundraising.  We chose Schizophrenia & Psychosis Action Alliance (S&PAA) for their mission and efforts to improve care, support and equity for those living with schizophrenia.   Schizophrenia is a neurobiological brain illness that often goes undiagnosed until later stages (much like prostate cancer.).  Also, the potential medications for treatment for schizophrenia have similar side effects to the "hormone therapy" treatments for prostate cancer.   Besides these two similarities, the main reason we have chosen to also raise awareness and funds for S&PAA  is because during treatment for aggressive prostate cancer Scott's son Benny died of suicide at the young age of 24 - due to Benny's schizophrenia that Scott knew nothing about until after Benny died.  We believe Benny didn't share his diagnosis due to the stig

 Why are we supporting zero prostate cancer with our efforts? Our mission is to raise awareness and funds for prostate cancer and schizophrenia. The process on who to partner with began two years ago as we started to research which non profits best matched our goals.  First, it was imperative the organization was a well recognized 501c3 so all donations are tax deductible.  Second, we wanted an organization that focused on both awareness and fund raising - which is what we found with Zero Prostate Cancer! www.zerocancer.org.  Zero does a great job educating all from the newly diagnosed, to outreach on getting screened for prostate cancer.  Screening means both getting your PSA tested and having a digital rectal exam, as both can lead to detection of prostate cancer. They also host a fantastic educational summit that Scott and I both participated in by zoom this year.  They provide emotional support, navigate insurance and other patient services, even financial assistance. They do much

 As you can imagine, planning a 11,000 mile plus route around all the exterior United States can be an overwhelming task.  Like any other big goal you have to take it one step at a time, and that is exactly what Scott did.  He started by researching what was available for cycle routes. He found many that went across the United States, but none that went around the United States.  Scott may be the first to do that...!  Next he found maps (to at least partially use) of established bike routes - in this instance Adventure Cycling Association had maps that Scott was able to purchase.   Scott spent over 300 hours over several months planning turn by turn directions for each and every day he will be out cycling.  He finished the route with two handwritten books of detailed turn by turn directions.  The next step we took together was to take the route, and plot it against a calendar to get a feel for an average of 300 miles per week, just over 60 plus miles a day, taking some days and weeks o

For today's Blog I asked Scott's coach Neil King to share a few words about Scott's training for the 11,000 mile cycle.    Scott came to me 2 years age wanting to know if he could ride around all the exterior states of our country if he worked hard at training for it.  Riding a bike for 5- 6 days a week for 300 miles week after week won’t be an easy task for anyone, let alone someone with stage 4 cancer.  However, we have spent the past 2 years remaking  a big strong hockey player into an endurance athlete and now Scott is ready for the journey. Scott trained throughout his ongoing treatment and never used that treatment for a reason to not train.   Scott and I have used all the tools available to get him ready for this huge endeavor.  The web site Training Peaks has given us the metrics to start, follow, and analyze his progress in training.  Using Time, Speed, Watts, Heart Rate along with a progressive approach to training we have slowly but surely given him the ability f