I actually started my upper body
training back in October. I was ready to change it up already and then a good
opportunity came along. People on social media started the “Push-Ups for
Veteran's Suicide Awareness Challenge.” This challenge involved the person
doing 22 push-ups a day for 22 straight days. Why 22? That’s the number of
veterans that commit suicide each day. That number is hard to fathom. I am a
huge supporter of our military and veterans, so it seemed like a good challenge
to take up to support them and help me get started with my upper body routine at the same time. You are supposed
to video your push-ups each day and post them to social media to get awareness
out to the masses about the high suicide rate. Each day you are to nominate a new person to join the challenge. Cayce Tiesler nominated me on
October 5 and I began that day and have been going ever since. He probably
thinks I ignored him because I didn’t video mine or post about it. I just did
them every day and thought about the veterans. Not posting on social media
didn’t do much for raising awareness, but I’m talking about it on the blog now
so I got it out there. I’ve been through four full rounds off 22 days now and have started round 5. Each
round I have changed it up. I started with regular push-ups. They were a
challenge to do without stopping for the first 10 days, then it got easy. Next
round I did them in a decline position with my feet propped up. Third round was
with one-leg off the floor to get the core more involved. Fourth round was
narrow push-ups and now I'm on to clap, which is pretty tough. It’s amazing how quick the body responds. When you start a new
phase they are a little challenging the first two or three days, then they get
difficult as you get sore for about five days, then things gradually get
easier. I am much stronger now and have gained some muscle in my chest,
shoulders and arms. For the first time in my life, I can hold up my arm warmers!
As for the news part of this post, the year started off with some
sad news from my friend, Shawn James. His daughter, Kendall, had some stomach
pain over the Christmas period. It progressed to the point that they had to
take her to the hospital. A scan of her abdomen revealed a mass. The next thing
they know she has been diagnosed with cancer. It happened so fast. One day you
are having Christmas dinner with your family and everything looks so great and
then a week later your five-year-old daughter has cancer and a 40-week plan of
chemo and radiation has been laid out for her. Happy New Year.
Thankfully, the cancer is only
in the mass, which is about the size of a softball in the lower part of her
abdomen. The doctors are afraid to remove the mass because of its size and the
amount of fluid around it. They want to wait until they are sure they can get it
all and can keep it from spreading to other parts of her body. She has been a tough
little thing so far and has shown no fear in her early testing. Her chemo will
begin in the middle of January. I’ve always hated cancer and felt for those
having to go through it, but it has become much more real recently since it has
hit a little closer to home. Kendall is the fourth person in my life that has been diagnosed in the past seven years. My grandmother had cancer briefly thanks to early detection and a successful removal surgery. She has now been cancer-free for seven years. Two friends, Tracy Pierce and Pam Tanner, also had cancer and have managed to beat it into remission. I pray Kendall can do the same.
The James family lives in Kentucky, near Paducah, so it’s
really going to be tough on them with doing their treatments in
Nashville at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. They are going to need a lot of help with medical bills, travel expenses and also help with things at home and with their other two daughters. Many people have already stepped in to help them with meals and caring for their daughters, as well as set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for their expenses. Please check it out and donate if you can. They are going to need a lot of help over the next year or so. There is also a Facebook page called Prayers for Kendall James that contains updates on her treatment and info on fundraisers her local community has planned over the coming months.
Kendall James
Now for some my bike plans for 2017. My focus for the season is 100% on mountain biking, with my main goals being the DINO Series in Indiana and GSC Series in Georgia. I would love to do SERC again, but there has been a big cutback in payout this season, like half for the Pro Men as compared to last year. The women have been lobbying for equal payout, wanting their purse bumped up to equal the men. I am all for that, but things worked out a little different than everyone anticipated. We now have equal payout, but it was the men getting reduced down to the same amount as the women. To win the Pro Men at a SERC event is now $115. There is no event on the schedule I can do for $115 so I am guaranteed to lose money at every event even if I win. I understand that sponsorship is hard and I don't fault the promoters as they are doing what they have to do to stay afloat, but the reality is that I can't do the full series now with the level of support I have.
I won the SERC Series last year. I want to spend my money on doing something different, so I am aiming for the DINO Series and GSC. I picked DINO because I had fun at the two races I did in the series last year. There was good competition, great payout and new venues to me. I will do GSC because I want redemption for losing by a point last year. I would also like to step it up this year and do some Pro XCT events, so I will have to conserve everywhere I can with other races. I have been working extra to save up money so I can make those expensive trips across the country. I'm hoping to catch at least two of the Pro XCT races and hopefully National Championships since they will be on the east coast this year in Snowshoe, WV. The privateer life can be tough, but totally worth it when you love riding and racing bikes.
I am focusing on the mountain bike, but that does't mean I am done with road racing. You will still see me racing crits because they are fun and great training. I just won't be building my training program around them. The first focus of the year is on the Montgomery Bell Winter MTB Time Trials Series. I want to win it this year and use the fitness I gain from the series to jumpstart my season as it looks like a lot of mountain bike racing will take place in March, April and May this season. I'm going to have to be ready for battle earlier than in past years, so it's time to get on it!
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