Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Livestrong! Honoring loved ones in your TDF Spinning classes and fighting LIKE Susan.

On Pedal-On, Fitmama (Jessica) posted a video of the Livestrong manifesto, and said she is using it as the warmup to her TDF rides, asking her class to ride in honor of someone they know whose life has been affected by cancer. This is a BRILLIANT idea! I am going to ask my class to do the same thing this Friday when we ride Stage 7. If we all do that, think about the energy we can put into the universe! Watch this video...



I have promised you some posts with French music and TDF profiles, but I am at the moment overwhelmed with trying to finalize my self-guided tours for my clients leaving soon to go to the Tour de France. I've promised them their tour packets very soon (and for that I get paid, so it trumps my other obligations and hobbies, like blogging and even cycling). I am grateful that I got two more last-minute clients in the past week, two people going solo, mind you, to the Tour de France. (That would be me, in a second, if I didn't already know how to do this stuff)! So even more work is crammed into these same few days leading up to this weekend when we are planning an Open House to try to sell our house in this crazy market - and there's lots more work to do to get it cleaned up and ready.

I'm dying to give you all my Spinning profiles for the Tour de France - I did a fun one this morning for Stage 5 and will do Stage 7 into the Pyrenees on Friday. Plus I have a planned post on some great French music - you'll need that soon if you want to add some new exciting French music to your playlists for this TDF. (In the meantime, sign up for eMusic by clicking on the emusic icon on the left of this blog so you can get the freebie downloads, and do a search for In-Grid, then download all her extended mixes. Many of you have Tu es Foutu already - but her others are also fun, Her regular albums are good too, but the extended mixes rock).

It's all coming...soon. Bear with me.

Oh, and I must add that while doing all the above, I'm trying to watch the Tour as much as possible, because it is truly one of the most exciting Tours I've seen in years (and I'm not there - argh)! The Tour de France, if it wasn't already pretty darned evident, is one of my biggest passions.

As a procrastination tactic, I just read the Fat Cyclist's blog post for today and feel compelled to write about it right now, setting everything else I have to do aside. Please, every single one of you needs to read this and send Susan your healing energy - and Elden needs it to. As the caretaker, he is a true hero. So few of us can even comprehend the pain and sadness of what this family is going through - it makes all my issues and problems seem like absolutely nothing.

This has everything to do with running your Tour de France programs in your Spinning classes. Lance Armstrong has his team from Livestrong parading all over France following the Tour, spreading the word on cancer awareness. It is truly amazing the outreach and effort - how can anyone not admire Lance Armstrong, succeeding both in his efforts to raise awareness that we are far, far from where we need to be in cancer research, as well as in his physical efforts at the Tour de France - he's tied for first place for crying out loud!

Did you know that all sales of Livestrong yellow bands at the Tour are going to the French cancer league to help their cause?

And it's all for people like Susan. Read this and send them your prayers.

Let's all follow Jessica's suggestion in our indoor cycling classes and ride this week for someone who has been affected by cancer! If you are doing so, please leave a comment below so we can see the impact we're having around the world with our Spinning classes!

Livestrong!

2 comments:

Carly said...

This is a wonderful idea!

I will definitely do it when I teach my stage 9 ride on Sunday morning.

My amazing 45 year old aunt (cyclist/triathlete/admirer of Lance) is battling metaplastic breast cancer that has very quickly spread to her lungs liver and soft tissue. She was diagnosed just 5 short months ago and the cancer is unbelievably aggressive. Through it all, she has stayed so strong and positive and has devoted every ounce of her precious energy to Livestrong.

After her mastectomy at the end of February she painted her entire apartment Livestrong yellow. The wall opposite her bed is covered in a huge Lance collage and she has several other framed pictures and posters of him around her place to remind her that hope rides again.

I hope and pray every day that she can get back on her bike... in the mean time I am going to get on mine and ride every moment for her.
Hope and prayers for Marg-Rheta
Livestrong.

Jennifer Sage said...

thank you for sharing your story Carly! I'll include Marg in the people I am riding for! Anyone else out there want to share who they are riding for?