One week from today, I’ll be at Lake Tahoe with my Team in Training Coach Rob Leonard to participate in America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride!  After such a rainy training season, Tahoe will be a wonderful treat.  We will be riding in honor and memory of Kaye Kriz, who rode Tahoe with me two years [...]

One week from today, I'll be at Lake Tahoe with my Team in Training Coach Rob Leonard to participate in America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride!  After such a rainy training season, Tahoe will be a wonderful treat.  We will be riding in honor and memory of Kaye Kriz, who rode Tahoe with me two years ago.  She was so jubilant!  Kaye died on May 3.  I miss her so much.  Her family and friends will gather tomorrow, May 30 to celebrate her life at  Blacksburg Presbyterian Church.  Many have offered their helping hands for a memorial reception following the service.  Great thanks to everyone for taking part.  There is still time to make a donation on-line for Tahoe.  So far, I've raised over $12,000 for this event.  I'm really pleased, and it's all thanks to you...all who care so much about supporting research, education, and family services provided by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Well, all for now.  Tally ho!

John Harshbarger of Richmond, Virginia is the winner of the Titus Mountain Bike!  Thanks to everyone who participated in the raffle!  Your contributions added significantly to my fundraising efforts!  John is a big fan of mountain biking and he loves this fun form of exercise.

John Harshbarger of Richmond, Virginia is the winner of the Titus Mountain Bike!  Thanks to everyone who participated in the raffle!  Your contributions added significantly to my fundraising efforts!  John is a big fan of mountain biking and he loves this fun form of exercise.

Mountains of Misery Day!  What an experience… Mountains of Misery is a very challenging century ride featuring 10,000′ of climbing in 102 miles here in SW Virginia.  It lives up to its name!  It took 10,000′ of climbing in 102 miles to be called a “finisher.”   It was a perfect day for this ride [...]

Mountains of Misery Day!  What an experience... Mountains of Misery is a very challenging century ride featuring 10,000' of climbing in 102 miles here in SW Virginia.  It lives up to its name!  It took 10,000' of climbing in 102 miles to be called a "finisher."   It was a perfect day for this ride - starting out drizzly, staying overcast for a few hours before the sun broke through.   I can say with some confidence that I'm ready to take on America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride at Lake Tahoe in less than two weeks.   Mountains of Misery (or MoM as we call it around here) was a day filled with memories of riding it last year for the first time with Mike Houston, a fellow team mate for Team in Training, and our coach, Rob Leonard.  Mike was showing signs of leukemia once again, and we were concerned.  He completed 60 miles of MoM, and Rob and I went on to finish.  Soon after, Mike was in treatment again (for the 4th time), and he passed away in July.  This year, our church sponsored one of the rest stops, and it was dedicated to Kaye Kriz, who rode Tahoe with me two years ago.  This Saturday, we will celebrate Kaye's life...she wasn't defined by her cancer, but she was determined to fight it.   So many of you have been generous with your donations to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society - thank you from the bottom of my heart.  Later today, will draw the lucky winner of the Titus Mountain Bike.  Hooray!  All for now.  I'm still hungry two days after MoM!  Cheers!  Jan

The weather forecast was ominous – thunderstorms all weekend – not what folks want to hear when they’re closing in on the final days and weeks of training for a major cycle event.  Just in case, I prepared to ride 63 miles in the Tour de Floyd, a friendly, fun, challenging ride in beautiful SW [...]

[caption id="attachment_231" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Tour de Floyd"][/caption] The weather forecast was ominous - thunderstorms all weekend - not what folks want to hear when they're closing in on the final days and weeks of training for a major cycle event.  Just in case, I prepared to ride 63 miles in the Tour de Floyd, a friendly, fun, challenging ride in beautiful SW Virginia.  I was beaming when I saw that it was dry outside early in the morning, so I loaded Ben the Bike and headed for Floyd.  This is the friendliest town and ride ever!  We were warmly welcomed as we checked in, set off with police and rescue squad escort...a very colorful beginning!  We were cared for all day long by enthusiastic volunteers at rest stops, a cool guy on a motorcycle checking on us and photographing the event, a SAG vehicle...hospitality everywhere and very happy cyclists.  A good Samaritan named Doug from Galax made sure I saw one of the turns he had missed, and we finished out the ride together.  A local blogger interviewed and photographed me about Team in Training, so the Floyd Free Press may feature me along w/many other great cyclists.   The ride was challenging - 30 miles of it on the Blue Ridge Parkway featuring flame azaleas in every color, Mountain Laurel about to pop open, streams and birds, historic stone churches, and Mabry Mill all adding to the experience.  For the first time, I felt Kaye's heart for sports and her energy infusing me with renewed zest to prepare for the upcoming cycle events.  This Sunday, I will ride in our local Mountains of Misery, featuring 10,000' of climbing in 100 miles.  It's tough - but it will be my final long ride before Lake Tahoe for Team in Training.  I'm involved in planning Kaye's memorial service and reception on May 30, where friends and family will gather to celebrate her vibrant life.  Within a week of Kaye's death, another friend was diagnosed with lymphoma.  Please keep Jane Marie Thibault in your prayers as she adjusts to this new reality and treatment.  I ask for yourprayers as I continue this journey.  If you haven't made a donation or purchased a raffle ticket for the mountain bike, please do so this week - you won't regret it!

This morning, there must have been a shooting star somewhere lighting up the sky to mark the life of a remarkable woman named Kaye.  She was crazy funny, an accomplished athlete, quick wit, courageous and positive, encouraging, daring, always up for an adventure.  She was a loving wife and mom whose eyes lit up at [...]

This morning, there must have been a shooting star somewhere lighting up the sky to mark the life of a remarkable woman named Kaye.  She was crazy funny, an accomplished athlete, quick wit, courageous and positive, encouraging, daring, always up for an adventure.  She was a loving wife and mom whose eyes lit up at the very mention of her family.  She was such a friend!  I swam laps beside Kaye for years without ever being introduced.  Mutual friend Anne knitted us together in the web of life - Kaye battling myeloma and me raising money for a cure.  While Kaye was in remission, we trained, raised buckets of money, and rode the century ride around Lake Tahoe for Team in Training.  Our families supported our efforts and came to cheer us on, then celebrated with us at the victory party.  That was two years ago.  Many, many challenges later, Kaye has come to the end of the earthly journey and has graduated to that place of wholeness and peace, of oneness.  My heart is aching this day, but I give thanks for the time I was privileged to know her.  To know Kaye was to love her, to laugh with her, to work toward some great goal.  She has reached the goal.  Her suffering is over, and for that I am grateful.  Now it is up to us to carry on that legacy of making a difference in the lives of those who struggle just to live.   Team in Training Coach Rob Leonard and I will ride in Kaye's memory around Lake Tahoe this year.   I hope you will make this journey with me.  Help me to make a difference.  Blessings, Jan