It's been an emotional couple of weeks

Wow! These last two weeks have been pretty intense as they've brought a lot of the events over the past year full circle, in some tragic and heartbreaking ways and in others more hopeful and encouraging. The emotional roller coaster ride really started almost two weeks ago when i read of the hit-and-run death of Brynn Barton who was killed while riding her bike near downtown SLC. It's been just about a year since Bunny was likewise killed while riding her bike with a group of friends on a beautiful summer morning. The news of Brynn's death hit hard, even though i had never met her or didn't know her. Friday night i attended a benefit bike ride and memorial for her and had the opportunity to talk to her mom for a few minutes. I know on some level how hard this is, though i can't possibly understand how her parents feel, or how my brother felt losing Bunny. Regardless, it's painful and tragic beyond words. Two incredible young women with a passion for life and serving other people, both taken within a year while riding their bikes in the streets of SLC. The encouraging and amazing aspect that i've seen again and again, however, is the support and strength of the communities who rally together to support the family members and make sure that some good comes out of these tragedies. I saw and witnessed this time and again after Bunny's death, and saw it again with the memorial ride for Brynn, as well as how her family and friends have chosen to remember and celebrate her and her zest for life. Nothing can compensate for these lost lives, but there's a lot to be said for how those who survive move forward.

This weekend i also had the opportunity to take part in the last leg of the Huntsman 140. By last leg, i mean, i only rode the last 40 miles, but many rode 140 miles, and a small, amazing group of eight rode all the way from Reno, NV to the Huntsman Cancer Institute (a ride of about 667 miles). this ride was started years ago by Jeff Warren who, after beating cancer, decided to ride from his hometown of Reno to the HCI to raise awareness for developing less toxic treatments for cancer. This was the tenth year he's done it. As they rolled towards Salt Lake City today, a group of 100+ riders and myself joined them for the last leg. Let me say first of all, over the past year i have had the opportunity to meet and interact with some really amazing people. Jeff Warren is certainly one of them, as is Cindy Yorgason, a breast cancer survivor, who always greets me with a hug and a smile. And another guy who i can't say enough good about is Steve Kelly. Talk about a heart of gold, I'm consistently impressed with the way Steve goes out of his way to include, support, and encourage others. Case in point, "Echo's Mile." You may remember Echo from a previous post about the rotationplasty surgery that Doc Jones has done for a couple of young cancer patients with sarcomas in their femur. Well, Steve arranged for Echo to meet us and ride on a tag-along attached to his bike for the last mile up to the HCI. Mind you, Steve was finishing up 667 miles, regardless, he attached that tag-along to his bike and he and Echo rode together up to the Huntsman Center across the "finish line." This was definitely the highlight of my day, seeing her pedal along with Steve with a big 'ol grin on her face, and thanks to Steve for making it happen and inviting me to ride along with them.




I was unexpectedly overcome with emotion as we rolled up to the HCI. It's just shy of a year ago now that i rode the very same road with my brothers, brother-in-law, and dear friend T-dub on the way to my own amputation as a result of cancer. As i rode that last quarter mile to Huntsman, this time surrounded by yellow jerseys and other cancer survivors, i started to cry just a tiny bit. It was an amazing experience to relive my ride a year ago with some of the people most dear to me, and to repeat it this weekend with a group of new friends.





I wrapped up the weekend at the Ray LaMontagne concert. Again, emotional for a host of reasons, i found myself up and down, crying and smiling with each new song, letting go and starting anew.


It's been a shitty year, i'm not gonna lie, but through it all, i'm still alive, i'm still able to do the things i love, and although i've lost some of the things that are most important and dear to me, i know i have so much to be grateful for. Sometimes life gives you lemons, so you do your best to make lemonade. Sometimes that lemonade is still bitter, but i'm extremely grateful for those around me who have been there to add a little sugar to make things just a tad bit sweeter. Thank You!!

What are you doing this saturday?

Don't have plans yet? Or you do have plans, gotta weed the yard, mow the lawn, or clean the garage, but looking for an excuse to get out of it? I've got the perfect excuse:

The Huntsman 140

This is a great excuse to get out on your bike, enjoy the great weather, and raise some money for the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI). Over the past year i have had quite a few interactions with the HCI, and met some incredible people, both doctors and nurses and other cancer patients. I have a great deal of respect for all.

If you're training for Lotoja, the Huntsman 140 is a great excuse to get some miles in. If you don't think you're up for 140 miles, don't despair, you can also ride the 40-mile version. In fact, this is the distance i'll be riding. And the 40-mile version doesn't start till noon, so you can still clean the garage in the morning, then load up the family and the bikes and come have a great ride for a great cause.

If you can't ride on saturday, but still want to contribute, click here to go to my personal donation page, but i hope to see you saturday!!

And if you'd like to follow Jeff Warren's 667-mile ride from Reno, NV to the Huntsman Cancer Institute, you can read his blog www.ikickedcancersbutt.org. Jeff has been doing this ride to raise awareness about cancer and raise funds for HCI for the past 9 years. Pretty amazing stuff.

graduation

Hard to believe that just over four years ago Marti invited me to have lunch on campus with some prospective students who were checking out the Honors College. At that lunch i had the privilege to meet the "Martinez Sisters," two incredible young women, who incidentally, despite having the same last name, are not sisters or even related at all, but who are the best of friends. Over the past four years i have watched these amazing women and many of their peers grow, learn, become great community activists and scholars, and now graduate. Well, Ms. Lilly, or more accurately Hermana Martinez is now serving a mission for the LDS church, but Ms. Yamila just recently graduated and is now moving on to start graduate school in the fall. I am so proud and honored to have been a part of Yami's education, as well as the educational journeys of Heidi, Lalo, Xris, and the many others who set fantastic examples of the value and benefits of higher education.



Last night we also got to celebrate the graduation of some of the high school youth who are part of the Mestizo Arts & Activism Collective. I'm excited to see them move on to college now, and especially excited for those who are coming to the University of Utah where hopefully they will get involved with the Honors College or LEAP and i can continue to work with them. I am so impressed by the mentoring and support that the the MAA university students provide for the high school students to help them with admissions and scholarship applications, getting signed up for orientation and other opportunities, and overall navigating and accessing higher ed. I love spring for a variety of reasons, one of them certainly being the opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments and success of graduating students.

Mentoring at it's best!

How to beat cancer and use your ankle for a knee all at once!

Just came across this story on KSL about some incredible young people beating cancer and the cool rotationplasty surgery my oncologist Doc Jones has been performing. I had the opportunity to meet Echo (the amazing little girl featured in this story) a few weeks back and have all the respect in the world for her and for Doc Jones.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

not the slowest

Photo: Steve Kelly

One of us in the picture above was the slowest at the Antelope Island Road Race last weekend, but i'll just leave it at that, and you can figure out who it was. I'll give you a hint, however, it wasn't the guy who only has one leg.


Saturday morning we woke up to 6" of new snow. After calling to confirm the race was still on, and then clearing the snow off his car and bikerack, the artist came and picked me up to head out for the race.


For the Cat 3 division, the Antelope Island RR consists of a start on the island from which we ride out the causeway to the mainland then back, then 8 laps on the island, after which we turn off to the Garff Ranch Road, ride out to the ranch, then back to a hilltop finish, about 64 miles total. Key here is being able to count your laps. It seems like every year there is a fiasco of some sort or another because riders can't count. This year was no different, but in this instance, it seems it was the moto official who couldn't count.

The weather turned out to be quite nice, besides the wind, but it's always windy out there. Despite the overnight storm, the sun came out and the temperature was great for bike racing. The race played out like this: out the causeway and back was fine because it's flat, but i was a bit worried about the punchy little climbs on the laps. I still don't have a whole of lot of "kick" so sudden accelerations and climbing as a whole are tough for me. First lap i made it over the climbs fine in good position in the group.

Photo: Steve Kelly

Second lap i made it over the climbs fine in good position in the group, but it hurt, and i knew i couldn't hold that effort for six more laps. Third lap, i was starting to feel my energy sapping out of me, so i started to eat, but i choose just the wrong moment to eat, right before one of the short climbs, because i ended up at the tail end of the group, and then just couldn't hold the gaps over the climb and got dropped. Alex K. also got dropped on the next climb, so i caught him and the two of us rode the next five laps together just trying to limit the damage since there was not way we were going to catch back on to the peloton. On about lap six the lead group of the Cat 1s caught and passed us. We were counting our laps, but we also knew that since we had been passed by them, when we saw them turn off onto the Garff Ranch road, we still had one lap to go.

Photo: Steve Kelly

We watched them turn, did our last lap, and about the same time caught the artist, who had been poppped on lap 5 or so. As the three of us were heading out towards the Garff Ranch, we saw the rest of the Cat 3 field riding back towards the finish, before we had seen the Cat 1s. This didn't make any sense because the Cat 1s had lapped us and should have been ahead of the Cat 3s. Then it all clicked, they had only done 7 laps.

By the time we made it out to the turnaround and back the finish line was cleared. Literally they were loading the last of the few things into the trailer when we crossed the line (though there wasn't really a line because they had pulled that up as well). We told them we were pretty sure we had done 8 laps and the rest of the field only did 7, they said that made sense because they couldn't figure out how the 3s had finished before the 1s, and told us to go back to the parking lot to talk to the officials. We made our way back to the parking lot to find that they had already awarded the Cat 3 winners, and then got lots of mixed up and contradictory stories about why the rest of the field rode 7 laps rather than 8, but from what i can boil down, the moto official did a bad lap count and went and told the field to turn, even though they all knew they still had a lap to go, but they decided not to complain, made the turn and did 7 laps (though there are some inconsistencies with this story as well). I just wish the dang official had come and told us he had shortened the race to 7 laps, i sure would have appreciated doing one lap less.

So i introduce the unofficial podium of the 8-lap Cat 3 Antelope Island Road Race:

Matt B.
Alex K.
the artist

The artist made a podium out of pillows and had his own little podium ceremony at his house. I just came home and took a nap because i was tired. So although the artist got beat by his one-legged brother, at least he can count. And he was only really last amongst the finishers because quite a few guys DNFed, so he's really not the very last, just the last of the guys who finished, but as my Dad always taught us, "Bradleys never quit!!"

On another note, it was great to see Steve Kelly at the race (thanks to Steve for the great race photos). I recently met Steve through my oncologist Dr. Jones because Steve also had a bone sarcoma in his hip, which Dr. Jones removed using an experimental surgery that basically saved his leg (you can see Doc Jones and Steve in this video for the Huntsman 140). It's been great over the last few months to get to know Steve and others in the cancer survivor community, and see the passion and dedication they have to fighting cancer and supporting others who face it. I also got to meet Jeff Warren who has been riding his bike from Wendover, NV to the Huntsman Cancer Center for the past ten years to celebrate his life and victory over cancer. His ride is the inspiration for the upcoming Huntsman 140. I've been concocting some ideas to raise money for Huntsman in tandem with the Huntsman 140, so stay tuned.

Someone you know

I've often heard the expression, someone you know and love will be affected by cancer. My sister was diagnosed with a brain tumor about ten years ago and an aunt and another good family friend were both taken by breast cancer, so i figured that took care of the quota for the Bradleys. Seems lately, however, like cancer keeps raising it's nefarious little head just about everywhere i look. Last night i attended the Honors College Annual Awards Banquet, where scholarship recipients and seniors who are graduating with Honors are recognized. As i left the banquet i walked out with one of the graduating seniors who had taken my writing class 3-4 years ago. We struck up a conversation, i congratulated him for graduating, and he mentioned it would have been a year earlier, but he had been diagnosed with cancer, and so had to take a year off for the chemo treatments. This young man is only 24 years old. I smiled, showed him my prosthetic leg, and we shared that moment of solidarity knowing for the time being, we had kicked cancer's ass!! I walked to my car and enjoyed the sunsetting over the great salt lake out over the west end of the valley.

Recently T-dub's step mom Cort was also diagnosed with ovarian cancer (on top of Tayler's mom who also had cancer; yea, the list just keeps going on and on). She had a hysterectomy this week, and fortunately there weren't any signs of other tumors beyond the cyst they had removed a month or so ago. They're waiting for biopsies to determine the best chemo regiment, but things are hopeful. So Congratulations Cort!! Like you told me the first time i saw you after your diagnosis, you're going to kick some cancer ass and be a survivor!! You're in my family's thoughts and prayers!

Suncrest

North side: 23:19
South side: 24:15