I still haven’t decided on a route for 100 MoN. I’ve been looking at repeating out-and-back on a 14-mile strip of straight, flat, country gravel nearby. What do you all think? Would that be subverting the spirit of the thing? Will Fatty come out to TX and confiscate my jersey and drum me out of the corps?

http://tinyurl.com/qhxkddy

I’m thinking that I might do my 100 MoN the weekend my husband and several friends take off for Southern California to celebrate of our best friend’s 40th birthdays (Oct 25 or 26). I had a couple really great ideas and was going to do some fundraising, but my mom went into the hospital on August 16th and they discovered a suspicious lump in her upper right lung (she was in originally for sepsis, UTI and pneumonia – she was really, really sick). Yep, that mass is small cell lung cancer – an aggressive SOB of a cancer. However, in an amazing twist, it hasn’t seemed to have spread beyond the mass in her lung which is pretty big. You can’t operate on it because that triggers a fight response causing it to spread. Interestingly, Small cell responds REALLY well to chemo and radiation so catching it early is key. Which is the case with my mom. It doesn’t look like it has invaded her lymph nodes, but since there could be microscopic cancer cells, they are going to radiate them. She isn’t supposed to lose her hair and side effects should hopefully be minimal. Treatment is 3 days chemo every three weeks and then SIX weeks, FIVE days a week of radiation. Ugh. However, with treatment, she should have several more years under her belt. Also, no more smoking. This cancer is directly caused by smoking for over 50 years. I wasn’t surprised by the cancer, but I was by the prognosis. I have been around cancer long enough to know there are not promises though and we aren’t clear until then end of treatment and the tumor has shrunk or the cancer is completely eliminated (a possibility).

Unfortunately, the same day I received the amazing news about my mom, I received devastating news from my sister My young brother-in-law (he’s 31) decided to forgo chemo for alternative treatments and clinical trials. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer at 28. He didn’t want to compromise what time he had left by undergoing treatment and being tired and suffering from nausea and the various other fun side effects from chemo. However, that has meant that the cancer has grown and spread. He has been having kidney problems and spinal problems. The pain finally got so bad (my brother-in-law is superman tough) he had to go to the ER. My sister and he went to see his doctor the next day and she asked based on all the facts at this moment, how long they were looking at. The answer is 2-3 months. Ugh.

So I have been wracking my brains over what I want to do for my 2014 100 MoN. I have some ideas. I still think I’m going to ride all four of my bikes mountain, cross, fat tire and spin bike (my sweet new carbon bike won’t be here until Dec/Jan). Since my spin bike is hooked to Google Maps, I can actually map the just over three mile course in our neighborhood. I’m not sure what the weather is likely to do – we are having a pretty mild fall so it might be sunny and 45 or it could be cloudy, cold and in the 30’s. I’ll be ready no matter what. And this year is going to be very special as I’ll be riding for my mom and my brother-in-law and in memory of my dad as well as in honor and memory of too many others I’ve come in contact with over the years. I expect it will probably be just a tad bit emotional too.

Let me know on the jersey swap (unused, please!) if you’re interested.