My Mission, My Goal

Well since this is my first blog for this adventure I guess it is best to introduce myself and explain what I plan to do and why I am doing it.My name is Frank and I am a 45 year old, husband of 27 years, proud father of 3 sons and 2 wonderful grandsons. I am an avid outdoorsman and love to ride my bicycle and paddle my kayak.I have been a kayak enthusiast since the late 1980s when I began kayaking in the Florida Keys. I am a self taught artist and somewhat of a writer.In my 45 years of life, I have lost a cousin to lung cancer. Her mother, my aunt, is a survivor of lung cancer as is my father-in-law. I have a very dear friend who has been dealing with cancer off and on for many years and know that in the years to come there will be others in my life who will be stricken with the horrible disease. I am sure at one point in time all of us will be directly affected by cancer, and many of us, like myself can't do much about it. This is where my little adventure comes into play.My wife and I have always been hard working individuals but have never made enough to do much more than keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. We are in no way financially capable of helping others, though we wish we could. But there is something I can do. I have always loved to ride a bicycle and been able to do so for long periods of time, and kayaking is now as much a part of me as eating and sleeping. For some reason the good lord blessed me with the ability to do both of these well and I don't believe it was just for my own personal fun. I can help out.I can fight for others.On Saturday, August 13, 2011 I will stand on the west coast of Michigan with my foot in Lake Michigan. I will then get on my bicycle and ride it just over 100 miles to the town of Grayling Michigan. Once I arrive in Grayling I will leave my bicycle and get into my kayak on the Ausable River. I will paddle my kayak from Grayling, 120 miles to the town of Oscoda, where I will step out of my kayak on the East coast of Michigan into Lake Huron. I will do this in the course of one weekend. Starting on Saturday, August 13, 2011 and finishing sometime on Sunday, August 14, 2011.I will soon have a website with all the information pertaining to sponsors,donations, and volunteering.My wife and son will be my major volunteers but there will be several more needed throughout the weekend to help with following me, getting me food and liqiud, bike or kayak maintainance, the possible emergency, or just encouragement. This is going to be a major task.I can do it but there is a lot of work ahead.Just to give you and idea of how much work I have cut out for me. Picture this. I had surgery just 8 weeks ago to repair a broken ankle. My cast has only been off for about 2 weeks. There is now permanently a metal plate and 7 screws in my ankle. I have not been on my bike since last fall and I put on a lot of extra weight being laid up.I am currently at 232 pounds, which is definitely to much for a guy of only 5feet 7inches, so the physical preperation is going to be quite rigorous. I did get back in the kayak last weekend and should be getting the all clear from the foot doctor next week to get back on the bike.Work outs officially begin tonight.I will regularly post here for those of you interested in keeping up with my progress.I hope everyone will at least take an interest in the fight against cancer and help in any way possible.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Ready for water.

Well the training in the gym is going great. Last night was my best round training so far with an hour on the various weight machines covering 15 stations with 3 sets of 15 reps on each. Looks like I am just about ready to up the weight pounds on a few of the stations. It really is amazing how quickly an old body can come around if trained properly. I am not looking for extra size or a lot more strength, endurance is the key right now, so I keep the weights to whatever is the max I can do with 15 reps 3 times. Really gets the heart beating and burns the calories. Then on to the stationary bike.
I have been averaging 20 - 23 miles on the bike each training session. I have been splitting it up into 2 30 minute sessions. Well it was time to step it up a bit so last night I set the timer at 90 minutes, put the difficulty on level 14 and took off. 90 minutes later I had covered just over 36 miles and burned well over 1000 calories. Definitely not overdoing it as I have yet to be sore. A little stiff from time to time but that's about it. All I really want is to get the real bike out and get some open water so I can start paddling.
As soon as the roads are dry I will begin riding my bike to the gym, 15 miles each way, a couple times a week. I will also ride my bike home from work, 47 miles at least once a week. I will also start paddling the kayak 5 or six times a week, which will be quite easy to do since I live on the lake. Easy enough to get home from work or the gym and jump in the kayak for a few hours. Will spend the first couple weeks of paddling just warming up and getting back into the swing of things after quite a bit of time away from it with all the ice. After a couple weeks I will then start a lot of distance/endurance paddling, doing at least one 3 20+ mile trips every week, with one of them being in the 40 mile range.
If all goes as I plan I will succed in August. I will cross the state in less than 48 hours on my bike and kayak. I will help.
You can help also by following me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/PEDLnPADL4aCURE
or at my fundraiser facebook page at: Pedal and Paddle to Fight Cancer
or at my fundraiser website at: www.michigancoast2coast4acure.webs.com
Helping with a donation can be done at the fundraiser website or blog using the donation button and Paypal.
Every little bit will help.
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Saturday, February 26, 2011

On the way.

Well my training has been very rigorous this week and it feels great. In the last 3 days I have put almost 6 hours in the gym. I logged 55 miles on the stationary bike. Last evening I did 15 miles in 40 minutes, burning the calories, and building the endurance. I also did 1/2 mile on the treadmill at a 3.2 mph pace with the incline varying between 7.5 and 15 for the entire distance. Prior to the bike and treadmill I spent an hour on the weight machines, doing 3 sets of 15 reps on 12 different stations. Man, if I keep it up, one of these days I might actually be in shape again,,hahaha.

Every day brings me one day closer to succeeding. Every turn of the pedal or pull of the weights makes it that much easier to believ that I am going to succeed. I will make it. I will help.
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Monday, February 14, 2011

Gym training

The gym training starts Tuesday night. Can't wait. And, it looks like it will not be long before I am able to ride my bicycle home from the gym and get in the kayak. I actually saw open water on one of the rivers not far from my house yesterday. Also, the warmer weather of the past couple days is helping make the roads a bit safer for the bicylce. Sure am looking forward to the upcoming days when I can workout at the gym, then ride my bicycle home from the gym and get in the kayak for a couple hours right after the ride. With just 7 months left until the big fundraiser, heavy cross training will be very important.
On another note, I am now seriously looking for a few sponsors. I will need help with the large amounts of liquids needed for the training all summer and the weekend of the event, as well as protein bars, food, etc for my journey. I will also need a couple 2 way radios and a gps. My bike is in serious need of a tune up before spring and will need new tires prior to the weekend of the event. If you, or anyone you know might be interested in sponsorship it would be greatly appreciated. For sponsorship or donation information, be sure to check out the sponsor page at my website.
www.michigancoast2coast4acure.webs.com
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