Editors Note: Rica Mendes is a dear friend of mine who has become an active member in Lance Armstrong's LIVESTRONG Foundation.
This is an organization founded by the world famous cyclist who survived a terrible bout with cancer and went on to win the Tour de France an astounding seven years in a row.
Lance's foundation is doing some amazing work to help people living with cancer by encouraging them to live life to it's fullest and to never give up the fight against this illness. I now give the floor to her as she shares her story on why she has become a dedicated member to this great cause. Please consider supporting Rica as she takes part in the LIVESTRONG CHALLENGE in Austin Texas. It's a great cause and every little bit helps!
Thanks guys, and now over to Rica.
The Ride for the Roses isn’t just about cancer…
Neither is LIVESTRONG.
That’s how it started, of course. When Lance Armstrong learned he had cancer, he realized that he had two choices – give in to despair, or fight and continue to live his life the way he always had. And then he took it a step further – to make that no one else, especially (but not exclusively) cancer survivors, took the easy road and didn’t life their lives to the fullest, pushing themselves beyond what they thought their capabilities were. To Live Strong.
I started cycling back in grade school. To impress a boy.His name was Noah. He and his friend, Sam, started biking to school. I’d had a crush on him for 6 years. I figured that if I, not exactly known for my athletic prowess, or smashing figure, could ride what was the longest distance from home and back to school, almost 8 miles, I’d catch his attention. I did.But it wasn’t enough to turn his head. But he was impressed. I did that ride on my 1987 Schwinn Woodland. (A bike I’m currently restoring so I can ride it again.)
I continued to ride that Woodland throughout high school. At first, every day when I got back from the train station for 30 minutes a day. I only went a couple of miles. And I walked up most hills. Then, every day for 40minutes. I looped the same miles everyday. In college, I left my Woodland behind, and rode my mother’s old Dunelt until it was stolen. But I was only biking to and from class – the whole town of Oberlin was all of about 1 mile wide.
That was the last I’d been on a bike.
Fast forward over 10 years later, and I reconnect with an old friend. A boy. Whom I wanted to impress. He did more than bike to and from school. He biked to and from work. And raced on mountains. And rode brevets. .I figured that if I, not exactly known for my athletic prowess, or smashing figure, could ride to and from work everyday, almost 12 miles, I’d catch his attention. And, if I started riding in club rides, like he did, he’d see my effort and the relationship we’d started a year ago would go smoothly. So, starting in March of 2009, I started biking to and from work – putting in 12-30 miles a day, 5-days a week. I rode in my first metric century in April. I wanted to ride his tandem bike with him, as, earlier in the year, (somewhat rudely, right in front of my face – and we were involved, at that point), he bemoaned to his friend that he’d know he found the “right one” if only he could find a girl that could ride his tandem with him. A couple of months later, I asked why he never took me on his tandem. He said I wasn’t strong enough a rider, and I was too heavy to carry my own weight. I asked him what I had to do to prove my worth on the bike. He said to ride 100 miles in one day at 15mph or better. I told him he was on.
So, riding my hybrid (only slightly lighter than an MTB),and taking a day off of work, I did it. Granted, about 20 miles in, I broke down into tears, in pain, tired, as I’d chosen a stupid route to start off with, and it had begun raining, and I questioned why the hell I was doing this?What good was going to come out of it? And that I should get paid or something for it. There was no guarantee that this ride would win him over. But, I rode100 miles in a day, at 14.98mph. (Considering the fact that I’d had a crash AND been hit by a car, I asked for some leniency on the mph, as with a bloody leg with two open wounds for the last 30 miles, I was hurting. He reluctantly conceded). When I asked him, “What’s next?” I was hoping he’d say that I should come up that weekend to ride tandem with him and into the sunset. Instead, I was told to, “Ride 200 miles in one day.”
I said, “OK. Works for me.” He said, “You can’t do it by yourself.” I said, “Well, do it with me!” He said, “Hell, no. But you can’t do it by yourself.”
I was going to do it. For a couple of weeks, I looked for stupidly long rides. The closest I came was the NYC Century Tour, but that was only 100 miles. The next best thing were the brevets in the series that he rode. But the next one was 600 miles. A bit out of my league.
At the same time, I learned my mentor from Mary Kay was diagnosed with cancer a second time. And, the Tour de France was on TV, and I was cheering on Lance.
And then it hit me. LIVESTRONG. I would dedicate the 200 mile bike ride to my mentor – the first 100 miles for her first victory, the second to her upcoming victory. So, now, there would bea purpose. It wouldn’t just be to impress a boy. And then the light bulb went off again, when I found out my friend was joining Team LIVESTRONG as a NYC Marathon runner. I’d register the ride as a LIVESTRONG grassroots event. I’d try and raise $360 to do the ride.
How? Well, I did the math. If I rode my bike from home to NYC for the start, that would be 50 miles. I’d do the 100 miles of the NYC Century – where I wouldn’t be by myself – and then ride back home. 200 miles.So, I rode down to NYC. I rode the NYC Century. Well, almost. Unfortunately, at some point in Queens, my knee blew up. I was benched and sent back to start.Something was horribly wrong. I wanted to keep riding, but I couldn’t. I rode a bit of the way back from the subway in Harlem, to the train station at 125th,and then from the train station home. I only put in 146 miles. When I reported back to my friend, I was brokenhearted to tell him I’d failed. He said I made a good effort. But, to this day, I’m still not sure if he was disappointed or not. Or even cared. Either way, unfortunately, it was enough to turn his head, but he kept walking anyway.
But I was bitten by a bug. And left more determined. You see, on the ride, I met a man who, also, was wearing LIVESTRONG gear. He was a former LIVESTRONG Challenge mentor, and we rode together for a few miles. He encouraged me to become a LIVESTRONG Leader, when he learned that, in less than 2 weeks, I’d raised over $1,000 for LIVESTRONG – far beyond my original$360 goal.
And, then he mentioned that, if you do a LIVESTRONG Challenge and raise a certain amount of money, you get free airfare, hotel and goodies. And you get to meetLance. And bring a guest.
The lightbulb went off in my head. I had to do it. I HAD to do it.
I have to prove to my friend that I’m good enough. I have to prove to myself that I’m strong enough. I have to prove to my kids that when you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything. And, as I’ve gotten more and more involved, I’ve come to realize how much cancer has touched my life. It took 2 grandparents, threatened to take an aunt, taken my grade-school friend’s brother, my son’s best friend’s father, is attacking friends who are near and dear… it’s a disease that has to stop.
I’m not an oncologist. Nor can I fund a medical trial. I’m a fat, 30-something, near-broke divorced mom with 2 kids. But I have legs that,despite being hit by cars 3 times this year, a damaged hamstring (that’s why the knee blew up), don’t want to stop.
My son has decided he doesn’t want to stop, either. And if Mom can do it, so can he.
So. We are both going for the Ride for the Roses at the LIVESTRONG Austin Challenge. We individually have to raise at least$25,000 by October 1, 2010. I’m trying to plan some big events, like a gala, an auction, etc. My son is trying to get some bracelet drives going, and has permissionto sell bracelets and take donations at the local store. But, let’s face it. It’s going to take a lot.
Ricardo has generously offered to let me speak through his blog. If you can spare anything – it doesn’t have to be much – over $800 was raised by my kids just by “selling” LIVESTRONG bracelets for $1 a piece during 1 weekend – it can help.
