Jim's Guts

Getting MY Guts In Gear…

On August 1st of this year I will again be riding 210 miles throughout the Pacific Northwest for Get Your Guts In Gear – The Ride for Crohn's & Colitis. I'm currently seeking donations with a goal of raising $2,500 for this year's Ride, and you can help.

In June I went to New York to volunteer at the 5th annual NYC Ride and one of the other volunteers asked a question that was both simple and immensely complicated – "Why?" When I asked if she meant fly to NYC or train to ride 210 miles, she informed me that no, she wasn't looking for specifics but for the larger "Why." Why spend the time, the money, the effort, the energy? I'll admit that at first I was a little taken aback by the question, but then I realized that it was being asked out of genuine curiosity. Why do I do this?

It's easy to be altruistic and say that I'm hoping for a cure, or that I'm working so that others won't have to go through this, and while that's certainly true the answer is much simpler – Because I can. I came to the realization last month that it's been 15 years since I first got sick. I work on this Ride because 15 years ago I couldn't do anything. 15 years ago my life consisted of my bedroom, the bathroom, and if I was feeling adventurous the living room. It's been a long road, and there have been and will continue to be plenty of obstacles, but for now I can, so I do.

Hopefully others will see the work that Get Your Guts In Gear and its Riders and Crew do and realize that there is hope for them too. Please help make that happen by donating.

http://www.ibdride.org/donate.asp?p=involved&ridername=Jim%20Smith&riderid=S-1

PS – Lots of companies offer matching, please see if your company does as well!

DDW Day 4…

The show has finally wrapped, and I think it was pretty successful. We have one really good lead, made some other good contacts, and enjoyed visiting with our current sponsors (including a nice wine and cheese reception one night). Putting the bike on a trainer and spinning wasn’t my idea, but it was a brilliant one, besides drawing people into booth, we were easily recognized around the show as “the bike people” which was pretty cool.

Here are the final totals from the 4 days – 1hr (9hrs 10mins) / 16.75 miles (131.51) / 90rpm / 147bpm. Obviously the totals for Day 4 were down significantly, this was due to lack of traffic, reduced show hours, and most unfortunately a very sore Achilles tendon. I’m hoping it mostly because I was on the trainer too much, but I’ll be trying to take it easy on it this weekend just to be safe.

While I wait for the booth pictures from Jay here are a couple random shots from the show (click on the image to see a full size image);

Here's a booth selling used endoscopy scopes, you know because you might want to be a colorectal surgeon but without all the overhead. The best part, though you can't see it well (my camera phone isn't that good and I was trying not to be too obvious) is the sign on the table that says "cheap scopes".

Most of the big pharmacology companies have huge booths, usually 100' square feet or bigger, and all of them have themes. Here's one with an aloha / surf theme. All of the sales folk wore aloha shirts (alas, no grass skirts), sand,beach umbrellas, and this surfboard.

And finally, what show would be complete with a costumed mascot? That's right, it's the Fleet Enema Man. I couldn't make this stuff up...

DDW Day 3…

Do you remember when you were back in school what it was like the day before school was let out for summer vacation? It's not the last day, so there's not quite that giddy feeling, but you can sort of see the last day from there? That's what the next to last day at a conference is like. Attendees have already done the exhibit hall and are just going back to follow-up on stuff or get more schwag (known by the derogatory term "schwag-whores" because all they want is the goodies, they don't care what it is or who you are, just give them the stuff), so it's mostly standing around an counting the time till the conference is over.

Of course, I'm not just standing around, I'm on the bike – Here are the updated totals – 2hrs 4mins (8hrs 10mins) / 31.01 miles (114.76) / 91rpm / 143bpm.

DDW Day 2…

DDW places all of the not-for-profit booths in "Foundation Row", which sounds like a good idea. Reality is slightly different however because we're tucked back in a far corner of the exhibit hall and consequently haven't had a lot of traffic. The event has been a great opportunity for us to meet with current and potential sponsors, which has been excellent, but the walk-up traffic has been sparse.

That's not to say that there hasn't been any excitement. At about 2pm there was a very loud bang that shook the convention center pretty good. I thought it might be someone hitting the building (we're near the loading dock), but it turns out that I was very wrong. The Hilton is directly across the street from our booth, but we were never in any danger. Fortunately no one was killed, though there were several workers seriously injured, our thoughts and prayers go out to them.

On a happier note GYGIG has some fantastic sponsors and one of our Presenting Sponsors, the great folks at UCB were kind enough to invite us to a wine and cheese reception they were having tonight. It was an excellent opportunity for us to network a little bit and get to know some of their team members a little better. It was a lot of fun (and pretty excellent wine and food too).

Pictures were taken today so as soon as we get them loaded on to a machine I'll get some posted, till then here are the updated totals – 3hrs 4mins (6hrs 6mins) / 43.71 miles (83.75) / 81rpm / 131bpm.

DDW Day 1…

Greetings from beautiful San Diego, CA (and I do mean beautiful, the weather has been fantastic these last two days). For those not aware, I'm in SD working for Get Your Guts In Gear in our booth at Digestive Disease Week ("(T)he world's largest gathering of physicians and researchers in the field of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy, and gastrointestinal surgery"). Yep, I'm a "booth babe". Actually what I am doing is spinning with my bike on a trainer (lent to us by Eric at Zumwalt's here in SD). Having the bike in the booth is a good conversation starter, and gets people that might not otherwise stop into the booth which is great. It's not the best training as I'm basically staying in zone 1 while spinning, but saddle time is saddle time, so it's hard to complain too much.

I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow, but the totals from Day 1 are – 3hrs 2mins / 40.04 miles / 84rpm / 130bpm

The evening was capped by dinner with our Ride Director (Jay), and Seattle (Karen) and Texas (Diana) Logistics coordinators at a little Mexi-Cali place called Gringo's in Pacific Beach. Diana is leaving us tomorrow afternoon, so we followed dinner with quick stops at Mission Beach and then Sunset Cliffs just so she could get some local flavor.

The L&T joins me down here in 3 days, I can't wait!! More tomorrow…

GYGIG Day 2

This might possibly be the longest period of time it's every taken for someone to write a three day travelogue, it's like the Harry Potter series, about two years between episodes…

Anyway, I decided at the finish of day 1 that my best chance for riding Sunday was to take Saturday off the bike. I didn't like it but honestly my hip wasn't too thrilled with the idea of getting back on the bike, so I told JP (the Ride director) that I'd jump to crew for Saturday's leg. I was fortunate enough to crew in Texas this year, so I had a bit of an idea what goes on, but it's worth relating here. The crew works so hard on this event. They're usually the first ones up, several are already on the road before we riders have even finished breakfast, lunch can be late or on the fly, they stay after dinner to have a meeting. In other words, they do everything so all we have to do is pedal.

A quick aside (it's my blog) for the last two years my wife (The L&T) and my mother-in-law (Mom) have crewed the Pacific Northwest Ride, and while I hope I remember to thank them, I wanted to do it here publicly. Besides being great women, their warmth and generosity to support not just me but all the riders, is something I am eternally grateful for and will always treasure.

The problem with moving to crew is the stress that it puts on the Ride staff (JP, Tex, A-Train, & Julia). The 3 days of GYGIG is well scripted from a volunteer standpoint, and while they can always use the help, trying to figure out something for someone to do that's a single day and on incredibly short notice isn't easy. After some discussion it was decided that I'd do some traffic control. There's a pretty hairy crossing on Day 2 so they wanted me to help get folks across safely.

I did get to spend some time at Rest Stop 5 with M & R who were an absolute hoot! I've never spent much time at rest stops, preferring usually to stop quick, refuel, and get back on the road, and while I know there's a lot of work, I had no idea how much! Setting up the canopy, chairs, food prep, and a ton of other little things to do, I've always appreciated them, now I understand them a little bit better.

After finishing at my stop we SAG'd back to Camp 2 where I caught up with Mom and the L&T and we had dinner (Mmmmm…Pasta…) and while I wasn't too tired, I called it a night early because I knew day three would be busy…

GYGIG Day 1

If asked to simplify day one into a short description I'd have to say "rain & pain" but that would belie the beauty of the thing. First things first – I don't like riding in the rain. It's cold, it's uncomfortable, it's hurts to go fast, and maybe most important for an old guy like me, it's hard to get warmed up. With that in mind, imagine my displeasure when I awoke to find wet skies and pavement on day one of the 2^nd Pacific Northwest Get Your Guts In Gear. I got up with the L&T and her mum, but had the luxury of not having to be at the start till around 6:45 for opening ceremonies, and spent the time hoping against hope that the sky would clear and we'd be able to ride in the morning sun.

Alas, that wasn't to be so I put on layer after layer of gear and rolled to the start. In addition to being uncomfortable, the rain also thwarted a plan hatched several months ago… Last year the team from Elan had one of the sharpest "kits" (a cycling term for shorts and jersey) in the peloton, and by luck a former employee of GYGIG who didn't cycle but had still managed to score a kit, was willing to trade it to me. He and I were close enough in size that it fit and has in fact become one of my favorites. The plan was to roll up to the start in my Elan kit on Friday morning and see if I could blend in with the team. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be as I was pretty much covered in various warmers and jackets that the only thing that you could see was the shorts. In the end it wouldn't have mattered anyway as they had new kits this year. D'oh!

The opening ceremony was nice, with the mayor of Edmonds on hand to help us kick off the event. Representatives from 3 of GYGIG major benefactors thanked everyone for their fundraising efforts, and folks from the UOAA and The Colon Club not only spoke but actually volunteered to work the ride. A representative for the CCFA talked up their new "Team Challenge" as an alternative to riding, but I managed not to accidentally unplug her mic anyway. Still if it wasn't sunny out, at least our dispositions where, and after a bit of confusion on my part we were sent on our way to the dulcet tones of Cake's (one of the coolest bands on the planet by the way) "Mahna, Mahna". What it should have been was The Wise Guys – "Start a Commotion", my brother Buckethead had made a disc for opening ceremonies but I misread the playlist, so we got Cake instead. D'oh! (do you notice a pattern forming?)

Leg 1 to Mukilteo – After riding out of the opening we finally we got on the open road and I started to notice that hip I had injured five days ago (see my post "CRASH" for more details) I was a little uncomfortable. Nothing horrible, but still not getting to ride with the cadence / power that I was expecting. About half of the way to the first Rest Stop (RS) I came upon Tom & Caroline from Elan who had been stopped because Caroline had a flat, I hung out with them and helped as much as I could. In reality I couldn't help much because Tom had it well in hand, but I think I provided some comic relief. We remounted and headed down to the ferry terminal and RS1, a great stop and place to refuel. Then we boarded the ferry for the crossing, and while riding a ferry is a pretty regular thing for us locals, the out of town riders and crew love it, and it really is a cool way to start the Ride.

Leg 2 to Langley – Whidbey Island is a beautiful place, even in the wind and rain, but the climb out of the Clinton ferry terminal is a bit of a challenge. There's a very short 14% climb, but even after you crest that it continues to go up at a decent clip, and that's when I knew I had a problem. In bicycle climbing there are grinders (those who use a lower gear and muscle up a hill) and spinners (those who use a high gear and cadence to climb), and I will probably always be a spinner, except I couldn't spin. My hip hurt when I tried to get my cadence up and hurt when I tried to muscle up. Not good. Still the south part of the island and the tour through Langley was beautiful with very little traffic. RS2 at the Baby Island Club (I have no idea) had a nautical them

Leg 3 to Whidbey State Park (Lunch) – It took me a while to get through the rollers that dominate the south part of the island, but lunch was worth it. Besides having a great view, the food was fantastic, sandwiches, Tim's Cascade Chips, and Great Harvest cookies, unfortunately also on the menu for me were a couple of anti-inflammatory tablets, but I really wanted to ride the 4^th leg…

Leg 4 to Ebey's Landing – Kirsten and I go up to Whidbey about 3 or 4 times a year and stay at an amazing bed & breakfast called The Compass Rose (a place that needs its own post at some point and the location from which I'm typing the bulk this post), and when I bring the bike there's a great training loop that includes one of the prettiest descents on the Island, down Hill Road. So when I heard that a change to the route on Whidbey was being considered, I started lobbying to include that descent! When the pictures are in I'll try to include some, but it's an amazing quarter mile drop (at around 8-9% grade) down to the beach at Ebey's Landing and RS4 which was located right on the beach. The sky was clearing, but that was it for me. By the time I got there my hip hurt enough that I was worried about completing the ride so I abandoned and sagged into camp.

Abandoning was definitely not high on my list of things to do, but it seemed better to give up a section of the Island I've ridden numerous times to ensure that I'd be able to continue on later…

Still to come… Day 2 "Return to the Crew"!

Fundraising

I'm not an especially good fundraiser, but it's an important part of the deal when you do charity rides. In any event, what follows bellow is this year's letter:

It's happened to almost everyone. Maybe it's even happened to you. You're at the movies, or maybe you're out to dinner with friends and family, or even worse in a meeting with your boss and co-workers. Suddenly you feel the need to get to the bathroom. You need to get to the bathroom right now!

Remember what that felt like? That sense of urgency, that little bit of panic, maybe even a little embarrassment?

Now imagine living every day like that. Imagine having to choose the routes you drive based on the number and accessibility of restrooms along the way. Imagine having to avoid events where there are large crowds because you're afraid the line to the toilet might be too long and you won't be able to make it in time. Imagine avoiding any event that doesn't have easy access to a bathroom because it causes so much anxiety that you just don't risk going.

What I've described above is the daily reality for over 1.4 million people. And it's also the reality for me. Since 1993 I have lived with Ulcerative Colitis, which along with Crohn's disease is commonly referred to as Inflammatory Bowel Disease or IBD. The individual symptoms we have vary from patient to patient and even by diagnosis. There is, however, one commonality, but bathroom talk isn't typically included in polite conversation.

Unfortunately, not talking about it doesn't make it go away, but "Get Your Guts In Gear – The Ride for Crohn's and Colitis" is working to change that in a couple of ways. First, by raising necessary funds that support several different research and advocacy groups.  And second, by raising awareness of this disease and its effect on not just the afflicted, but their family, friends, and co-workers.

On August 3^rd, I along with over 70 other cyclists from across the country, will leave Edmonds on a 3 day, 210 mile trek around northwest Washington, and in doing so I hope to raise awareness and $2,500 to help spread that message.  If you'd like to help in that effort just click on this link – http://www.ibdride.org/donate.asp?p=involved&ridername=Jim%20Smith&riderid=S-3

Thank you for helping me, but mostly thank you for helping those just learning to live with this disease! As bad as it can be, it's important for those people to know that there is hope. I'm proof of that.

One of the reasons I do GYGIG…

It was the Thursday before the ride officially started, and we were all scrambling around trying to get last minute things done before the riders started to arrive. As this was happening, a quiet kid in a Texas A&M hat came in with his mom. His name was Craig and he needed a senior service project to graduate from high school, so his mom being the helpful sort (like all mothers) signed him up to work the ride. GYGIG runs pretty lean, so he was quickly put to work, and I’m sure at first he had to be thinking to himself “holy #@*!, what did I get signed up for”. As the afternoon wore on, we found out that he had been diagnosed with Crohn’s the previous year (17 years old), and he seemed to get into the swing of things.

He worked on the “camp crew” so I didn’t have much chance to talk with him, but all the reports are that he did a fantastic job and was a great help. At dinner on Friday, I had a chance to eat with him and a couple of riders, and we asked him how it was going. He opened up a bit, and we all joked around but it was the end of the conversation that got attention. He said he had never realized that there were so many people like him with Crohn’s.

If you ever wonder why I work the rides, raise the money, train, push the body by working or riding, and donate my time, read that last sentence again and you’ll have your answer. This isn't just about fun or a good workout, or even a good cause - This is about making sure that people know IBD isn't the end of the world!

The post-script on this is that as he was leaving, he talked about coming back next year, and maybe even try to ride it.

Texas

Texas is a weird and wonderful place, and I got to see a lot of it last week. My absence from blogging has been a combination of things, but most of them revolve around working on the crew of the 1st annual Get Your Guts In Gear Texas ride! Between the work getting ready for the ride and trip, and after getting home trying to catch up on life (and work) my time has been pretty much used up. I did take this last weekend to rest up and not do much, so I feel like I’m finally catching up (still a bunch of stuff on TiVo though).

I’ll try to post more details (and some pictures) in the upcoming days, but for now let me say that it was a fantastic experience. Crewing provides its own challenges, but it gave me a great opportunity to meet more cyclists then when I was riding.