Well,  the first day on the road.  We got out of town one day later than expected, so we drove up to Yosemite yesterday and stayed at the Yosemite Riverside Inn.  Robin and Roland were kind enough to extend a discount as a contribution to the fund.  Thanks guys!  We got up this morning and I started riding at the entrance to the park.  It was an absolutely beautiful day, and it was pretty hard.  I was sick for the last two weeks, so today was the first real day of riding I have had in a while.  Well, it was basically 55 miles of climbing from the park entrance to the top of Tioga Pass.  It was completely worth it as the views were gorgeous and the descent to Lee Vining was off the hook.  I hit 63mph!  Babe got some great footage today, and has been a fantastic driver.  Anyway, we are staying with Brent and Anne Bregoff in Bishop tonight and will ride out in the morning.  They are really nice, and Brent is my roommate Rob's brother.  A lady was kind enough to donate $20 to me at lunch, which was really cool since I am just in street clothes with no real credentials.  I guess it was my honest face!  I did an interview for the paper here in Bishop, so that should come out in a couple of days.  Well, thanks so much for reading, and for your continued support.  Please be sure to pass this on so we can make a huge difference in Houston.  Take care,  Geoff

Tues, Sept 21

Hey Everybody,

Since the last update  I have ridden down the East side of the Sierras, across Death Valley, through Vegas to Kingman, AZ.  Death Valley was particularly grueling, with 105 deg temps and elevation from 5500 to 250 below sea level.  Vegas was great and Babe won a pretty big chunk of cash, and is donating a large part to M.D. Anderson.  What a guy.  I am going to keep this short since I have a ton of riding to do today, but I appreciate the continued support and all the help that I have received during this endeavor.  If you have been waiting to contribute, or to send the link or emails to your friends and contacts, it would be a huge help if you could go ahead and do that now.  Every bit helps, and I feel like we have just scratched the surface.  I know that there are plenty of causes going on right now, but if you can find it in yourself to give, you can help those hardest hit by the Hurricane, and by life in general.  Thanks a million!

Take care,

Geoff

Fri, Sept 24

Hello Everyone,

Hi from the beautiful town of Show Low, AZ!  It has been a great couple of days.  Since the last update I have ridden from Ash Fork, AZ to Show Low, AZ.  On Tues I rode from Cal Nev Ari to Kingman, through Laughlin.  The climb out of Laughlin was ridiculously long and steep, and it was pretty hot out.  I was glad for the rest day in Vegas.  I was probably the only person who would consider Vegas a rest stop!  We stayed the night in Kingman, and had the worst Chinese food disaster ever.  Ask me about it sometime.  The following day we drove over to Ash Fork due to time constraints, and I rode from there to Sedona, about 98 miles.  The ride was absolutely beautiful with an incredible climb matched by a descent into the Sedona valley that was stunning.  I was singing out loud all the way down.  We spent the night in Sedona and had breakfast there the next morning.  Thanks to Dave and Shopcat at Mountain Bike Heaven for hooking me up with a pump.  We waited around for an interview with the Red Rock News but had to leave before the reporter could break away.  I'll do the interview by phone in the next day or so.  Sedona has some incredible scenery if you have not been there.  Since we were out of Sedona late in the day, I rode to Payson from Camp Verde, about 40 miles.  Had my first flat with a nail through the side wall.  Payson was nice and Brad at Chili's is a great server and nice guy.  Today I rode from Payson to Show Low, about 85 miles.  It was a sweet ride across the top of the Mogollon Plateau.  I am having some achilles issues, but I think I can nurse it to Texas.  Everyone has been great on the road with hotels giving us discounts, plenty of interest in the ride and just a bunch of nice folks.  Tomorrow I will ride from Show Low to Quemado, NM.  It looks like it will be about 80 miles, but we may go a bit longer to get to Pie Town.  I want Pie for breakfast!  Thanks for reading and please pass this on to anyone that you know.  It is a long hot road and all help is greatly appreciated.  I keep reminding myself that this has nothing to do with me.  This is all about making a difference for the people at M.D. Anderson that have suffered so greatly.  I know that they will have things be better as the result of your caring and contributing. 

Monday September 26, Socorro, NM

Well, the pie was awesome in Pie Town!  I know you were all on the edge of your seats wondering.  I had New Mexican Apple which was pretty unbelieveable.  On Sat, I rode from Show Low to Quemado, about 99 miles and found that there is not too much happening in Quemado.  It is a tiny town and we stayed at a pretty old motel.  The ride was pretty nice with a tailwind the whole way and not too many steep climbs, which are taking their toll on my legs.  Yesterday morning I got up, had pankakes and rode to Socorro, about 105 miles.  I had another great tailwind and made it in a little over 5 hours.  Not bad.  The continental divide is now behind me, so it should be at least generally downhill from here.  Although today will finish in Capitan which is surrounded by a bunch of ski resorts, so I am anticipating some significant climbing today.  If my achilles holds, I'll do fine.  The El Defensor Cheiftan reporter Jason Brooks interviewed me for the paper this morning, so that should help drum up some support.  Please continue to pass this on to others so that they can have a chance to contribute.  I was thinking that so many people have been touched by cancer that you just never know who would love to have the opportunity to contribute to this cause.  My intention is to double the amount of money raised so far, and that won't taketoo much if everyone can give a little.  Please take just a moment to contribute, and if you have already done so, ask a friend if they are interested.  Thanks so much for the continued support! 

Tues Sept 27th,

Hello from Alienville, or Roswell, NM as it is more commonly known.  It has been a grueling couple of days on the road.  If there is a harder day than yesterday was, I'm not sure that I can do it.  After my last update, I left Socorro feeling fine and headed south down Hwy 1 to 380E.  I hit 380 and rode by the Trinity test site where the first nuclear, oh wait, it is nucular these days, bomb was detonated.  The only good thing I could get from that is that surely some of the technology trickled into the machines used for radiation therapy.  Anyway, I kept pedalling, which seems to be the thing, and a headwind slowly began to build.  Eventually I was crawling along in my lowest gear, hands in the drops, going about 10 mph on the flats.  I was going nuts.  My breaks became more and  more frequent, and at one point I realized that I had gotten off of my bike about 5 times in about 5 minutes.  This was around the 3 hr mark and I still had a very long day ahead.  I stopped and bought some water and asked about any hills.  I was told that I would have one large climb before Carizozo, so I steeled myself mentally for that.  Well, the wind picked up and I crawled up the climb.  Oh yeah, it was really hot.  As I was coming into Corizozo, I was as beat as I have ever been.  My right calf was getting very sunburned, so I stopped and put my spf 15 Lip Medex all over it, and on my face.  I stopped and drank a Rockstar, a Powerade and some water, ate some HammerGel and got back on my bike.  I had about 20 more miles to Capitan, and felt much better after my break, caffiene and Ibuprofen.  The wind just never let up, and there was one more big climb up to Capitan.  I passed Indian Divide at 7350 feet and breathed a sigh of relief since it had to be downhill from there.  After a few miles Babe pulled up.  He had come looking for me since it had been almost 8 hours.  He said it was 5.5 miles to the Smokey Bear Motel, so I knew I was home free.  98 miles total.  We had some dinner at the Smokey Bear restaurant and called it a day. 
     Got up this morning with only 70 miles to Roswell.  It is crazy how that seems so short after a few days of 100 miles!  It was prett y smooth sailing through Lincoln County, which is a beautiful historic district.  The road was generally donhill with a bunch of rollers, so it was never flat.  The temp was in the high 90's and I was on the road for about 4hrs.  Piece of cake.  We went to the UFO museum, and had some marginal Chinese for dinner.  Tomorrow I will ride to Hobbs, and it will be the longest day at 120 miles. 
     I will tell you that yesterday I truly went "Above and Beyond" all limits that I thought I had.  It is pretty amazing what I can push through when I am focused on my vision.  It made me think so much about the people that will benefit from this ride, and the challenges that they are confronting and pushing through.  They have a pretty simple vision right now - STAY ALIVE!  I am proud to be helping them by lessening some of the financial strain that they are facing.   Thanks so much for reading this, and for your support.  I would love to ramp it up over the next three days to Austin, and with your help I can.  If you have contributed, please pass this on so that others can have the chance.  If you have not had the chance yet, or are waiting for the right time, please declare now as the time to have it happen.  If you can put yourself in the shoes of someone moved from home to a strange city, with cancer, facing treatment that can't be paid for, I think you can see how important it is that we all pitch in.  If I am in that situation I hope that someone thinks of me.  Love to all!  Geoff

Wednesday Sept. 28,

Hello from Hobbs, NM!  A long day, I will say, but altogether not too bad.  I woke up this AM and had the incredible Best Western continental breakfast consisting of pancakes and cinnamon raisin toast.  I think that is the official breakfast of champions!  After leaving Roswell, I headed down the highway with a decent tail breeze.  Not quite a wind, but it made for a pretty steady speed of about 22mph.  The day was one long straight road after another.  I mean 40 miles straight.  Eastern New Mexico is like west Texas, there is not too much happening.  All was good for the first one hundred miles, but the last 15 had a vicious headwind and took almost an hour and a half to ride.  To make things worse, sorry to complain, it was a sandstorm due to all the gravel driveways, so it was a constant sandblasting into Hobbs.  I felt destroyed by the time I made it to the motel.  After a shower and a meal at the Cattle Baron I feel ready to rock again tomorrow.  It will be 91 miles to Odessa, and will be the last day of riding since we need to be in Austin by Saturday.  During the last 15 miles, I really wanted to give up, but I thought about all of you who have supported me and who believe in this cause, all of the people who will benefit as the result of your contributions and of Geoff  12 years ago sick in a hospital bed.  He would tell me that I am the luckiest guy in the world and that I can never give up on what I believe in.  He would say that if I have the chance to make a difference I owe it to him and everyone else who suffers.  I thank you all so much for the supportive emails and warm wishes.  They have helped me to push past some tough moments on this trip that seems like it will be over far too soon.  Once again, I'm in the final stretch, and I am asking you to help me finish strong.  Please contact anyone that you know to give them the chance to contribute and give of yourself to help make this great.  You can contribute at the website www.aboveandbeyondride.com on the "To Contribute" page.  Again, thank you all so much!  Love, Geoff

Over?  Not even close!

Monday, October 3

Hello from Houston!
Sorry for the gap in the emails, but it has been pretty busy.  Since I last left you, I took off from Hobbs, NM and had a short ride in the cold and wind ending in Odessa, TX.  We stayed the night at my cousin Mark Weaver’s house.  Shelly treated us to a nice dinner and we left the next morning.  It was a long drive to Austin, but we needed to arrive by Sat as I was meeting with some friends and contacts.   My good friend Vytis Vardys  and his wife Sally hosted us on Fri and Sat night, and we hung out at his bike shop, Ozone Bike Dept, way too much.  I cleaned my bike on Sat, and generally started winding down from the ride.  Castle Hill Fitness graciously extended a day pass, so I enjoyed the use of the fine facilities to aid in my recovery.  Babe flew back to OK on Sat after going above and beyond the call both in his dedication to this cause and his dedication as a friend.  You are the best, Babe!  On Sun, I went on a short ride with Vytis in the morning, had some lunch and then went to the LAF/Sheryl Crow concert at Auditorium Shores.  It was really nice.  I stayed the night with Jim and Nora Zarvos, had a great visit, good night’s sleep, and left this morning to come to Houston.  My mom and I arrived at M.D. Anderson around noon and watched the arrival of the Tour of Hope.  It was quite a celebration.  I spent some time visiting with patients in the Sarcoma department today.  I met a great young man, Jon Stewart and his parents Sue and Ken.  Jon is 17.  He was diagnosed with an Osteosarcoma (I think) on his left femur.  He had chemo which reduced the size of the tumor followed by the removal of the head of his femur which was replaced with cadaver bone.  He was so upbeat and courageous, his family so sweet and loving.  It was truly inspirational.  Check out his band’s webpage at http://www.myspace.com/takingnotice  . 

     I spoke with several people at M.D. Anderson about the presentation of the money, and I believe that I will come back in Nov/Dec so that my Oncologist Dr. Andy Burgess will be able to be there.  It just was not the same being there today without him.  Now that the trip is basically over, I have to say that this has been one of the most inspiring things that I have ever done.  There were times when I laughed, cried, gave up, dug deeper, reached out, shut down and just kept going.  Thinking of the support you gave and the people that will benefit fired me back up every time.  It is up to all of us to make the world a better place, and this was my way of doing that.  I thank all of you for supporting this effort, which would not have been possible without every one of you.  Next year is going to be even bigger, and I will keep you all posted as to the progress.  If you have not yet had a chance to contribute, I will be accepting contributions until I go back to Houston at the end of next month.  We don’t get today back, so make it great!  Love to all,  Geoff