Archive for the ‘Profiles’ Category

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Rider spotlight: Jodi from Mount Vernon won’t let cancer stop her #BikeSTP weekend

Friday, July 13th, 2012 by

Jodi Monroe, 47, currently spends five days out of the week at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance receiving radiation to treat “mean nasty breast cancer”.

“But the doctors are giving me the weekend off to ride the STP!” said Jodi, full of enthusiasm. “As long as I am back for radiation on Monday morning, I’ll be OK.”

Jodi was out on an Independence Day ride when she found the lump, and was diagnosed with invasive stage three breast cancer in October 2011. A mastectomy followed in November, and when chemotherapy started in December, she decided she wasn’t going to let it affect her day-to-day life.

Having completed two STPs in the past, Jodi decided to (literally) pedal through the five harsh months of chemo.

“I wasn’t going to let it change my ways,” said Jodi. “I decided just to be me and be real about what is happening to me. I don’t have time to have breast cancer because I’m too busy being a wife, mom, professional and a friend. Nonetheless, I decided to embrace my treatment so that I can hopefully be cured and help others. I am tackling my cancer like a business deal. I have a plan and am executing it with the best care and cure rates at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.”

Jodi said that a simple goal during chemo was to never miss her son or daughter’s high school basketball games. And she didn’t. She also never missed a business trip either.

“A few times, I’d spend the day at chemo and that night take a red eye to the city that I was doing business in,” she said.

All the while Jodi managed to stay fit.

“I am a CrossFitter. I train daily for life,” she said. “I’m always ready to take on physical activities.”

Beating cancer is one physical challenge Jodi is excelling in.

“My body is responding to treatment and I am blessed for that,” she said. “I haven’t gotten sick from all the treatments either.”

Jodi had to undergo an emergency surgery seven weeks ago and is currently halfway through daily rounds of radiation, which will end in August. Infusions of Herceptin will continue until February, 2013.

Jodi said she finds strength from within as well as from her family.

“Let’s just put it out there…cancer sucks! I’m not going to lie,” Jodi said. “One out of eight women will get breast cancer and I am one of the eight. I have no family history either and had years of mammos. But I am surrounded by loving family and friends and that’s where my strength comes from, and I must add [that my kids,] Julia, Jacqueline and Robert motivate me. They rode their first STP at ages 11, 12 and 13.”

Since she is still receiving radiation treatment, Jodi cannot be exposed to the sun and will be wearing a white long sleeve zip-up as well as the purple jersey. She was wearing the day she found the lump.

“It has a female angel on the front and back. It’s one of my favorites and I have worn it in one other STP ride. It’s sentimental to me,” she said.

So if you see her on the road, be sure to give her a shout-out and wish her well.

Posted in Profiles, STP | 3 Comments »

Rider spotlight: Rafael rides a new bike for this year’s #BikeSTP

Friday, July 13th, 2012 by

Seventeen-year-old Rafael will be one of the 38 Major Taylor kids riding this year’s Group Health Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic.

Rafael joined the Major Taylor program when he was a freshman in high school, and has been a committed member for the past three years.

Rafael has cerebral palsy and the STP seemed an impossible event for him but thanks to Outdoors for All, Rafael will be able to ride the event on a special tandem.

Volunteers AJ Campanelli and Phil Sanford will be riding with Rafael, who’s setting out to complete 15 miles each day.

Rafael will be wearing the orange-and-white Major Taylor jersey so give him a shout out when you see him!

Posted in Major Taylor Project, Profiles, STP | No Comments »

Rider spotlight: Bellingham couple to get married during #BikeSTP

Friday, July 13th, 2012 by

For Kim Thornadtsson and Don Ligocki, this year’s STP will be extra special. Not only will it be their tenth Group Health Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic in a row, they are also getting married!

Kim and Don have been bicycling together for 23 years, and have been a couple for 22 of those years. 

“Neither one of us had done any biking events back then, we just rode whenever and wherever we could,” said Kim, a long-time Cascade member.  “Some friends told us about STP and we did our first one in 2002, and have made this our annual weekend get-away ever since. It’s the highlight of the year.”

The 2012 STP may very well become the highlight of their lives as they are briefly stopping in Chehalis to be married by Pastor Randy Faro at St. John’s Church over lunch time.

Kim said they’ll be wearing the 2012 STP jersey to wear for the occasion.

“Yes, we are wearing spandex. Some people think I should wear a dress but biking is what we do!” said Kim.

“Barring any flat tires, we will be married by 1 p.m. Saturday, July 14, and back on our bikes headed for Portland,” added Don.

The STP wedding was Kim’s idea since neither of them wanted to host a big, fancy wedding.

“I was pleasantly surprised to have him ask me after 22 years of being together,” Kim said. “We are considered senior citizens at this stage of our lives, both being over 50, so the idea of something big and extravagant was not what we wanted to do.  So I thought, why not do this while doing something we both love?”

Don and Kim will be joined by two “biking friends” to serve as their witnesses.

Kim said the remaining ride, from Chehalis to Portland, will be the honeymoon so be sure to wish them well when you see them on the road!

Posted in Profiles, STP | No Comments »

Inspiring women: Kat Sweet hosts Northwest’s first two-day women-only freeride event

Thursday, July 5th, 2012 by

Around 50 women will be ripping through Duthie Hill Park this weekend at the Sugar Showdown, the Northwest’s first two-day women-only freeride event.

Hosted by Cascade’s very own Kat Sweet, the event aims to provide a venue for professional and amateur female freeriders to compete in a supportive environment while bringing awareness to the ever-growing women’s freeride movement, and to provide inspiration to women mountain bikers.

Sugar Showdown kicks off on Saturday, July 7, with a sold-out clinic taught by pro riders and renowned instructors for 42 participants from around the country and Canada.

“It’s fun to help other women reach their potential. Often times we don’t realize just how much we can do until we see someone else do it,” said Sweet, who has been mountain biking for 25 years.

On Sunday, a freeride competition for both pro and amateur participants will showcase some of the best women riders from across the country.

“I think [women] see men do these sports and think, ‘I can’t do that’. So to see these women do this, they might think, ‘If she can do it, maybe I can do it, too’,” Sweet said. “It’s inspiring to see women push themselves like that and see the potential of what we can do.”

Filmmaker Mark Brent is teaming up with Sweet to create an online movie titled “If She Can Do It, I Can Do It”, documenting the story of the Sugar Showdown.

“It’s amazing me how many women and men want to see what we are doing,” said Sweet. “We have received overwhelming support for the event, and a lot of it came from men. They want to see their daughters and wives out there.”

For the past decade, Sweet has been instrumental in bringing many new riders to the sport. She has coached kids programs for the last 10 years and women’s programs for six years, and continues to inspire future mountain biking champions as both an independent coach and Cascade’s Youth Program Manager.

“What makes me truly happy in life is getting others to compete,” Sweet said. “Yes, winning is fun but it is more fun to me to see my [students] excel.”

After years spent racing the pro circuit and skiing in California, Sweet decided to move to Seattle in  2002 and give back to the community by investing in young riders.  A friend asked her what she really wanted to do with her life and the answer came easily:  “to get kids on bikes”.

Sweet  started the local Trips for Kids chapter and has been doing kids bike programs ever since.

“It’s about giving kids something positive to focus on,” Sweet said. “I was kind of a social misfit growing up. I didn’t fit in with the normal sports. I think that if I had had mountain biking in my life, things would have been much better for me.”

Sweet soon set out to support another underserved demographic: women.

“Women have been neglected in alternative sports for years,” Sweet explained.

In 2011 she founded Sweetlines, a company that specializes in women-focused training with women instructors. Sweet aims to bring women riders together, push their skills, and empower better riders in a fun, challenging and safe environment.

“Learning to push yourself on the bike translates into life in any arena,” Sweet said. “It taught me to be courageous and to be an entrepreneur and take risks.”

Come out to support Kat and the women of freeride this Sunday, July 8, at Duthie Hill Park  in Issaquah, Wash, for the Sugar Showdown freeride competition.

You won’t be disappointed.  Sweet revealed that the high-speed pro course features berms, rollers, drops, and jumps which can send riders up to 20 feet in the air.

The pro competition kicks off at 11 a.m. and the amateur field will follow at 1 p.m.

Kat Sweet and Tammy Donahugh on Pinkbike

Posted in Events, Mountain biking, Profiles, Video | No Comments »

“Everybody has a cause, and I’m going to get behind others’ causes.”

Monday, July 2nd, 2012 by

This article first appeared as the Cyclist of the Month column in the July 2012 issue of the Cascade Courier, our membership newsletter.

Nominate a Cyclist of the Month!

Cyclist of the Month: TOM GIBBS
Age: 35
Wheels: 2003 Giant OCR3 road bike
Occupation: Manager, AT&T Mobility Network Reliability Center

About this photo, taken at the Bike Month Awards Party on June 7, Tom says, “From left to right you have Savannah (8 years old), Meredith (my amazing wife), my son Ben (5 years old), and our newest baby girl Vivienne (who is almost 3 months old). And then that really-lucky-to-have-such-a-wonderful-family guy on the far right is me."

If you had told Tom Gibbs six months ago that he would be standing onstage at this year’s Bike Month Awards and Recognition Celebration as the 2012 Group Health Commute Challenge Captain of the Year, he probably wouldn’t have believed you. After all, he’s so new to bike commuting that he doesn’t yet own a set of fenders.

Tom’s story begins several years back – on Valentine’s Day in 2004, to be exact. He was enjoying a celebratory dinner with his wife when he lost motor control of one of his arms. He made an appointment with a chiropractor, thinking he’d a pinched nerve in his back. But his symptoms only got worse. An MRI and spinal tap soon confirmed his fear: Tom had multiple sclerosis.

Grappling his diagnosis, Tom decided to ride the MS 150, a two-day, 150-mile fundraising ride put on by the Multiple Sclerosis Society. “I had no experience with that sort of thing, but I bought a bike, trained and raised a lot of money,” he says.

After the ride, he gave up bicycling for awhile. “The problem with me is I have a ‘been there, done that’ mentality. I proved to myself that I could do it, and my bike collected dust for a few years,” he says.

Then, on the day after Christmas last year, Tom relapsed again. He ended up in the hospital for three days getting steroid injections. “Having that happen instilled in me that I need to be proactive about my health,” he says.

During his annual physical shortly thereafter, his doctor told him that he needed to get more exercise. “I spend 10 hours a day sitting in a chair at work, and I go home to three kids. I don’t have time for the gym. I asked him, ‘When do I exercise?’”

“The doctor suggested that I try biking to work, and everything clicked,” he says. “It was a pivotal moment.”

(more…)

Posted in Bike Month, Commuting, Cyclist of the Month, Profiles | 2 Comments »

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