I am re-posting LiveStrong, Baby! to share a little bit of how cancer has touched my life.
Yesterday, my husband and I had our own little Tour de France game goin’ on. I even donned my “yellow jersey” for the occasion. It was a day filled with sprints, climbs, hammers and cracks and it was awesome.
In 2006, my husband was diagnosed with testicular cancer. We were fortunate to have caught it early, but its effects were life altering. We suddenly became acutely aware of what is important to us as a couple and to our family. It is a hard thing to go through even if the prognosis is good. The shock of the news, surgery, treatment- whatever form that may be- (in our case radiation) and the years of follow-up, always with the pit in your stomach waiting to hear that “it’s good!” and you can exhale with the small sigh of relief.
We admired Lance Armstrong and his riding abilities since his first return to the cycling scene, but became true fans in 2006. His foundation LAF helped us in our search for as much information as possible and I believe gave us hope that we could pull thorough this challenge in our lives. What is most amazing is that it gave my husband encouragement to get back on his bike.
When my husband and I first met, he was a cyclist and I was not. He had a beautiful blue Trek bike and I had a red Puch. The Trek was light and fast, the Puch, heavy and slow. I used my bike to get to my job as a lifeguard during the summers of college. He commuted on his as well, but also trained. We started riding together and I worked my ass off trying to keep up with him, which of course never happened unless he was kind enough to slow down. As the years passed, we upgraded bikes, however he was always ahead on our rides and I was always working.
My husband is a very gentle soul, very evenly tempered and not extremely competitive; however, something happens to him when he is on a bike. He doesn’t want to catch and pass the person he sees in front of him, he wants to catch pass and crush the person ahead of him, especially if it is on a hill; and can he climb! He does not compete, but if he did, he would definitely be successful! One thing that I have noticed over the past year or two is that he has become very lean yet has not lost any of his power on the bike. Hmm, sound familiar? I think with certain folks, cancer and the outcome of it, does change the structure of one’s body. For him it only made him stronger on the bike!
Recent rides for us have been the same old, same old- he’s ahead and I’m working hard. That is, until yesterday.
I have been working very hard this summer to get back into shape for speed skating season. Last year was basically a hiatus for me as I had no time to commit to training, so I decided to lay it on the line this year and go for it. I’ve been cycling as much as I can but he has definitely been on more rides than I this summer. Last week we did a fairly hard ride and he crushed me. I knew I was holding him back and apologized the whole way home. I just couldn’t hang.
Yesterday, we started our day watching the Tour de France and the mountain top finish. It was so exciting. We talked about the ride and how the riders finished and our thoughts on the team’s game plans. We decided for our ride we would do a fairly flat ride that has a snotty hill to it and a few rollers, but great for interval training with long flat stages. We got our stuff together and were off.
The first hill is short, a little steep but hard for me because it is right at the beginning of the ride. He was up and around the bend before I was half way up. I caught up to his wheel and then the game began. He started with his usual high cadence and took off, only this time I stuck to his wheel. A little peek over his shoulder and the hammer came down. I matched it. Another peek and this time surprise. He slowed and we rode side by side for a little while chatting and quizzing to see how each felt. He knew I had been riding over the weekend and already had a hard ride under my belt. But I answered with “I feel pretty good.”
We hit the first long flat stage and I could see him revving up and clicking his gears. I thought “Stay here. Stay here for as long as you can.” And I did! I thought “Yes! TODAY is the DAY!” Another accel and I was still the yellow shadow. I saw a road sign up ahead and decided to sprint for it- I broke off and threw down my own hammer and broke away for a few, but soon he was on my wheel and I brought him past the sign. We did this cat and mouse up to the snotty hill, which he blew up to the top, but this time he was not waiting as long as usual. It’s a small path up this hill and the overgrown brush reminded me of the crazy fans on the mountain stage we watched earlier. We eased through the rollers and were soon on our way back.
On our last decent, I was ready. So ready in fact, that when we got to the bottom and the flat I was the one yelling “Faster! GO!GO!GO!” He picked it up, but I passed and down came the hammer again. Another hill…down…up…and at the top, my foot came unclipped from my pedal. The stinker! He heard that and took off! One thing that is to my advantage- you make me mad and I will go after you with everything I have. I gritted my teeth and all I could hear in my head was Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen commentary. “Oh, my! The maillot jaune (yellow jersey) has been put in a spot of trouble! Will she be able to claw her way back to the wheel of the break-a-way rider? I don’t believe it, the gap has been bridged and we have a race back on our hands.” A peek over the shoulder and a shake of the head and click-click, he’s off again. We got to the next flat stage and the jersey cracked. Paul and Phil in my head “Paul, I think the yellow jersey has cracked. Yes, Phil, I believe you are right. A gallant effort has been put on this afternoon, but I believe it is all over now and the yellow jersey must ride their own pace just to stay alive.”
It took a while, but I eventually caught up. An easy spin and one last effort. This time, the yellow stuck to the wheel and lost no time across the finish.
It was the first time that I was able to hang and actually push my husband to ride harder. It was great and we both had so much fun!
Lance is inspiring those on the roads in France, but also those on the roads at home.
Livestrong!
I want your blog to have a "like" button b/c I would push that right now. :) Thanks for the reminder and healthy vibes to Vic, you and your family!
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