Way back in 2002, I flew to Austin, TX for my first Ride for the Roses weekend. It’s a century (100 mile) bike ride for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. I called in every favor I could to meet and get a photo with Lance, and I did. The photo didn’t last the weekend (new digital camera with too many buttons), but a long history with the LAF, now Livestrong, was born.
I’m now returning to Park City from Austin and my 13th Ride for the Roses. As always, I am recharged and exhausted. This time, that recharging comes at a critical time for me. And being someone who’s always on the alert for signs, I appreciate the timing of this weekend, including the serendipity of the actual ride falling on my birthday (29 again!). This time I went to Austin not only as a 12-year breast cancer survivor, but also as a two-time cancer patient in the middle of treatment. My family and friends are supportive and understanding, but here, I am truly among my peeps, folks who know where I’m coming from, what I’m feeling. No one flinches when I describe surgery. No one hesitates to ask specific questions about what’s next or offer contacts for another opinion (please, no!). Everyone here has been there, done that. It is comforting and reassuring. These people help me live fearlessly.
This is my favorite weekend of the year. I love Austin, riding my bike through its hills, and reconnecting with my Livestrong friends from all over the country. It’s always a whirlwind weekend, and this one was no different. My Tour of Hope teammate, Mona, came in from LA, and it was great fun to hang out with her all weekend. After getting all checked in with Livestrong and putting my bike together, it was off to Springdale Farm a very cool and hip urban farm (see why I love Austin? It’s so… Weird.), for the Ride for the Roses Appreciation Dinner. We heard from “Survivor” winner and two-time cancer survivor Ethan Zohn. He had a funny and heartfelt message about living with and through cancer. And Livestrong CEO Doug Ulman talked about challenges the Foundation has faced this year and promised exciting new ways it’ll move forward.
It’s no secret that Livestrong has had a tough year. The hits keep coming for Lance, and of course, they came for the foundation he created as well. Its incredible, hopeful, passionate staff has been battered, too. I knew this weekend would be different than it’s been in other years, which it was… But in some ways, it was better than ever. Doug Ulman said someone told him after Ride for the Roses 2012 (Lance’s last) to pay attention to who comes this year. The ones who are committed to the mission, not to the celebrity. The numbers were down, but the passion and FUN quotient were as high was always.
Saturday started with a chilly spin around our friend Will’s neighborhood before lunch at the South Congress Cafe. We always end up waiting for an hour here, but the food is terrific. I recommend the migas and carrot cake french toast. The afternoon brought the obligatory visit to Mellow Johnny’s to buy something I didn’t need and something I knew I would: Full finger gloves for what we knew was going to be a cold bike ride in the morning.
Saturday ended with a President’s Circle gathering at Qui (a new restaurant by a “Top Chef” winner.) But I was still too full of migas to eat anything. Aaaargh!) and the Livestrong celebration dinner. The President’s Circle is a group of folks who donated money to an unrestricted fund that Doug can use for out-of-the-box projects. It’s an innovative idea and a really cool bunch of people. And while last year’s Livestrong dinner was subdued and kind of strange (we had to walk through an international media gauntlet to get into the venue because of all the ruckus over Lance), this one was like it usually is, passionate and fun and funny and hopeful. Top fundraiser Jeff Mulder shared his failed ideas to raise money, which included sending Lance an email asking for $25,000, which was hilarious. (Lance declined.) Jeff still managed to raise $150,000. Incredible.
Ride morning dawned cold, as expected. 41 degrees or something like that. Mona and I got there as close to start time as we could. but in enough time for everybody to sing Happy Birthday TO ME! We chose to ride 65 instead of 100, so we could visit with friends after (ok, and get to the food early). Riding around Austin is challenging and fun; the terrain has short steeps and lots of rollers. The chip seal isn’t awesome, but it was only heinous once for a mile or so. We took our time and stopped at most of the rest stops which made for a great morning. And at the end, another birthday surprise:
My lovely Livestrong weekend ended at Uchi, which I’ve wanted to try for years but have always been lured away to Mexican restaurants instead. Uchi is All That. Everything from the hamachi to the Thai chili brussels sprouts to the chocolate and vanilla panna cotta was out of this world. Thanks, Mona and Joe!
In less than 24 hours, I’ll be back in a chemo chamber of horrors at Huntsman Cancer Institute. My oncology docs did come to consensus on the “fact” that the amount of chemo I’ll get won’t make me sick, but I won’t believe it til it doesn’t. The compromise in treatment I chose is the low-dose chemo to increase (hopefully), the effectiveness of the radiation. I’ll get the chemo once a week for as long as I’m getting radiation, about 5 weeks. I am not psyched about all this, but here I am again. I made what I believe is the right treatment choice for me: More aggressive than just the radiation, but not as aggressive as full-on chemo, which isn’t proven to help anyway. None of it’s really proven to help, but I won’t do nothing (technically a double negative, but it makes sense). I’m as comfortable with this decision as a patient whose doctors didn’t come to consensus can be. Did I mention that my third and expert thymic carcinoma opinion on tumor pathology called the margins not clear? That’s three differing reads. Sigh.
Every year at Ride for the Roses, I wear a little tag that says “Survivor” with my name on it during the ride. It was always a badge of strength and pride for having won the fight… but that is SO 12 years ago. I am in the fight AGAIN. So here is what I rode with yesterday. With this, I am off to storm the castle. Livestrong.
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