4/28/13

              Well it has been an event filled month since my last post. I have been out on the bike a few times and found a new “hill” training route that I feel will do me some good. For those that know where I live the Steele Hill Resort is close to my house and “hill” is not to be underestimated. It is a 8.9 mile loop that is a long slow uphill battle with a short but very steep downside at the end of the loop, it is all uphill 85% of the way on the front side and then a 45-50 mph scared shitless free fall down the last 15% of it. That and the 23.8 mile loop around the lake have been keeping me on the better side of in shape so far.

           My brother Mike and I had our 2^nd annual PMC fundraiser at the Crazy Gringo restaurant April 13^th and it could not have gone better. Dave Christmas, Scott Apgar and about 7-8 members of Team Lick Cancer came up in the team bus. They sold some Team Lick t-shirts and temporary tattoos; I think everyone had a great time. A note about my friends:  “My friends are the best friends a person could have, having friends like mine is the reason that I live in the lakes region of NH. I could not be prouder to be associated with all of these people.”   We had some great silent auction items, a 50/50 raffle and all the tips that my brother and I got from bartending went to the PMC. My great friends Sean and Jane Monahan’s daughter Ellie wanted to do something for the fundraiser so she donated her hair for the “Locks of Love” foundation. She got up on the bar in front of 150 people and had her hair cut off and smiled the whole time! I am so very proud of her and her parents for raising such an amazing daughter!!

              That was Saturday,… Sunday my brother, his wife Kelly and their great friend Walker left for home in Ohio and on Monday 4/15/2013 Myself, My friend Gary, Sean Monahan, and Dennis went down to Boston for the Bruins game and whilst there a couple of troubled, lost, foreign dickheads decided to kill and maim a few fellow citizens at the Boston Marathon. A very sad and anger filled afternoon that made me wish I had chosen a different profession. But.. as of today it is finally over and life as usual is moving forward as it will always do, hopefully without any further media anti anything bullshit that the meek and feeble seem to feed on.

              Fast forward to Wednesday 4/24/13  …My mothers birthday. She turned the BIG 69 today which after talking to her on the phone, next year’s birthday is going to be tougher on her than I had previously thought. She has survived the last 3 years without my father very proudly but I think it is starting to take  its toll on her a little bit. The thought of turning 70 is starting to sink in somewhat with her. But, as many have told me, this is a part of life that I, given good health, will have to face someday!

      Let’s fast forward a couple more days shall we… Saturday 4/27/13 Michelle and I, hers sisters Katie, Kim, her husband John, Michelle's brother Mike and his wife Nicole and friends Katie and Dan  hiked up Tuckerman’s Ravine for some headwall skiing and people watching. there are some people that try things on ski’s that are way out of their ability. One such person tried to ski between the right side of the headwall rocks from the top of the bowl and fell right of the bat. He smashed his melon and face on the rocks and tumbled all the way down to the bottom ending in a life flight out because of blood loss. Don’t get me wrong there was some great skiing going on all day and the weather could not have been better. All in all it was a great day and I can now check Tuckerman’s off my bucket list.

 

            

 So, in a final note I will continue my training, fundraising and more importantly the Rogue Chocolate Stout that I have been drinking. I  will continue this blog more often as the weather is much warmer and I am now on the Team Lick email list and can now plan to catch a few training rides with the team. For now I am done …

Rich……….

 

3/31/2013

            Today, I would have to say was a really good day ! Finally the cold weather is breaking and the warm weather is starting to filter into northern new england. I guess if you can consider 55 degrees warm weather, hell there is still snow on the ground and the lakes have a long way to go till ice out.
             I went on the first ride of the year, it felt great to be out of the gym and on the new bike. The Felt Z6 rode awesome, Its the first full carbon bike I have ever owned. Michelle came with me to get some exercise and since it was going to be a casual shakedown cruise so to speak I thought it would be fun. We rode a loop around Lake Winnisquam, the lake that our road is on. 23.8 miles doesnt sound like much especially when you map it out with your truck and tell yourself that the hills dont look that bad until you try and pedal up them! Riding NH is going to be a NON flat, NON speed training schedule, but I believe it will benefit me greatly in the long run !
           I guess I am in a love / hate relationship with the weather in NH. I love the spring, summer, and especially fall but the length of the winter is very trying. We sold our snowmobiles a few winters back and have had few activities to keep us busy in the winter. So, Michelle and I are getting back into skiing. we will buy season passes at gunstock and some new equipment this summer to keep us somewhat in shape over the winter months as well as outdoors. Hell, Gunstock is only 14 minutes from the house and it sounds like a no brainer, right ??
           So after the ride I hopped onto Facebook and caught up on what what was going on socially and I posted a request for donations with a link to the PMC website. I got 3 online donations within an hour and also got 2 checks in the mail from saturday that I had not opened yet,... AWESOME... It is very hard for me to fathom the generosity of my friends. I have always been kind of a cynic having seen the shitty downside of life of what people can do to each other. But I think this PMC jouney I am on is showing me a sunnier side, the good side so to speak. I find myself being more tolerant of idiots, I guess deep down  I know that when I wake up in the morning and look in the mirror I see a person in change for the good and they will still be staring at the same old idiot. Maybe I still need to work on this a little more ...  ha ha ha... If you can please help, Click the link below...

http://www2.pmc.org/profile/RD0176

2/21/2013

      Not much new is happening but I thought I would jog down a few thoughts since I have a few minutes. Michelle and I just got back from Ohio visiting with Mike, Kelly and the kids. Great trip, had lots of fun including a Saturday night brewery / pub crawl in downtown Cleveland. We had a blast with all the friends from his neighborhood. His new house is beautiful, I don't think he ever envisioned himself in a house of that caliber.
    Mike showed me all the things he got from being a "heavy hitter" with the PMC and it has motivated me beyond belief to raise as much money as possible for cancer research. A heavy hitter is someone who has raised $6,700 or more, well above the $4,300 required by the PMC. When I say "required" each rider is responsible to raise that amount each year or they are on the hook for the remainder. A great motivator but scary none the less !

        I tried on Mike's Team Lick Cancer rider jersey just to make sure of the size I should get and Mike took a picture of it and posted it on Facebook. I was very happy by the positive comments, Steve Gaebel wrote " Best post of the month".... that made me feel great.
    We are expecting another nor' easter storm this Saturday into Sunday dumping another foot of snow. Great for the ski bums but terrible for me. Working outside 50% of the time the weather tends to get on your nerves. Not to mention delaying the start of this years first ride.
 So for now its off to the gym... again ... for some more cardio and whatever I'm in the mood for when I get there. then maybe work on the house a little bit. I'm sure Michelle would appreciate that !!
If you can.. Please Help..
                    http://www2.pmc.org/profile/RD0176

January 28, 2013

          This week is starting out with bad weather. Not that I care that much because my workouts are going to be inside for a little while longer. Last week’s workouts were on the medium intense side, 45 min leg spin episodes to get my bike muscles used to the grind ahead. I’m going to pick up the time a little bit but not the intensity, targeting an 85 to 95 rpm cycle for an hour. Today’s workout will probably be bordering on the harder side. You see today would have been my father’s 70^th birthday. Usually I would get a call the day before from my brother that dads birthday was tomorrow because I always forgot things like that, hell I even forget my own birthday is coming up until I am reminded. I haven’t received that call in 2 years and the only way I realized the date was a Facebook post by both my brother and my mother. My mother today is dropping off 10 new teddy bear chairs to the Marine Corps base, her Facebook post is as follows:

Rosemary Dow

“Today, on what would have been Dick's 70th birthday I am delivering 10 new Teddy Bear chairs to the Marine Corps base at Cherry Point. These chairs go to the children of deployed Marines. The ministry that Dick started lives on and he would be proud of what we are still doing in his name. I am also very proud of both Rich and Mike and their efforts to raise money to fight cancer.”

   So today’s drive home from work was normal for this time in NH, snow turning to freezing rain making tonight commute for Michelle a big pain in the ass ! All the while in the back of my head my dad’s birthday and I imagine the smiles on the faces of the kids that will receive those chairs. Yes, I think today’s workout will border on the harder side….

 

Jan 22, 2013

Hit the gym today and road for 45 minutes, including a 5 min cool down. I’ve been off a bike competitively for about 20 years. I did a few biathlons (running and riding, no swimming) back in the day before the Olympic committee made them change the name and ultimately killed the sport. I can’t explain how great it felt. I have always been semi in shape my whole life, my type of work requires it.  I have to say, being back in the saddle just felt natural….  Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself.

       My name is Rich Dow. I grew up in Acton Massachusetts and living in Sanbornton NH.  I am riding in the Pan Mass Challenge to help fight cancer. I had a very normal, safe, upbringing.  My parents were teachers in the ABRHS school system, we lived in Maynard, Ma for a few years until my parents bought a house in Acton just before my first year in school. I went to Merriam School 1-6, and in my 47^th year of life I recall it was a great time.  Junior high was a blur, it was the late 70’s and I had no idea what was going on! Not to mention my mother was a teacher in the junior high which added to my stress, everybody knew who she was and the students made the connection between us.

               High school SUCKED for me. My father was a teacher in the high school system at ABRHS. He was an industrial arts teacher, (construction, tech drawing, auto-cad, and finally robotics). His students loved him. To this day I meet his former students from as far back as 1970 that tell me how my father had an impact on them. He was an “athletic coach/teacher”; if you had good grades and played a sport he would always cut you a break, in the halls, in his class, or just helping out. The pointed words being “played a sport”…. For some reason we butted heads in high school. I did the sports that were not in the top 4 (track, football, Basketball, Baseball), though I did try out for several of those sports and made the teams, my father’s incentives were clearly in the thoughts of the current coach’s. I was into skiing, totally off my father’s radar. Enjoyed by hippies and slackers, (he grew up in Boston an Irish catholic). After that, I distanced myself from my father in what I did for exercise. From there it was easy, he didn’t ask and I didn’t say. My brother on the other hand had a great relationship with my dad and I think that is AWESOME. !!! I love my brother and my father we just had different, let’s say, characters. In hind sight  I think that is what brought my brother  Mike and I together later in life, enough background and venting.

       This year I am back in the saddle and getting back into shape, real athletic shape anyway. I am riding in the Pan Mass Challenge, a 200 mile two day bike ride to benefit the Jimmy Fund and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. You see, my father past away in 2010 from prostate cancer, after a long 15 year battle. After his initial surgery the doctors gave him 10 years. With money, technology, and advanced treatments he made it an extra 5 years.

The last 5 years were, I would say, the most comfortable, normal days of our relationship. I am married to a great woman, the love of my life whom my parents adore, my brother is married to the love of his life whom my parents also adore and they have 2 great kids that Michelle and I will dedicate our lives to. I believe my father finally got to a point that he did not have to worry about us anymore and relaxed. 

                     The last 15 months of his life consisted of several trips from my wife and I down to New Bern NC where they retired to, a beautiful coastal town where Black beard made his final port. There, as a 44 year old adult I saw the full spectrum of my father’s influence. As a woodworking teacher with countless hours teaching students to build things, he saw a need in the neglected kids at the NC coastal women’s shelter that was just down the street. A simple Idea, a teddy bear chair. It was brilliant, so simple yet awesome to the kids who needed a little relief. With help from a few guys from his church they organized free materials, a place to build them, and a network of people to distribute these toys to kids in need. Man did it take off; today my father’s rocking chairs are featured at the New Bern airport in all of the terminals for the incoming and outgoing kids to use while waiting for flights. They are also given freely to families in need at the Cherry point Marine Corp air station to children needing something extra while there parent(S) are overseas. I am still awestruck, my father thought his life’s work was at ABRHS but in reality he got more from life in his last 5 years than he did in 36 years of teaching. He loved his athletes but I think he love the smiles on those kids faces more. Sadly my father passed away October 28^th 2010 at 4:30 am, Twelve hours before the school he dedicated his coaching and teaching life to was to dedicate the track in his honor. My brother and I were not by his side in the end, he insisted we were at the track to accept this award in his place. ……

     This is where I come back in. Since that day in 2010 I have been slightly lost again you could say, but only slightly. They say, as a man, you never really become a man until you lose your father. You have no security anymore; you are really on your own.  Last year my brother Mike joined the Pan Mass Challenge with many of my old high school friends and several people from the old home town. This year I am privileged to be able to join them riding for Team Lick Cancer, and I have never been more rejuvenated. I guess I needed something to focus on, a cause, a … purpose, that I can use to give back and I think I have found it.

So please, follow me thru this year’s journey and beyond with the Pan Mass Challenge.

More to come

Sincerely

Rich Dow

To donate to my ride please clickn on the link or copy and paste this link. Your help will be greatly appreciated !!...

www2.pmc.org/profile/RD0176