Yesterday was the
Milestone Challenge Ride. This ride was a fundraiser for a local Team in Training Alumni, Skip Gleavey. Skip is a "triple crowner" meaning that he has completed at least one marathon, century ride and triathlon with Team in training.
Skip had a terrible accident earlier this year riding in a Century bike ride where he crashed around mile 32 and broke his back. There but for the grace of God, go I.
A group of his friends got together to organize a ride to help raise money to help meet this new challenge in his life.
Following is an article that was written in one of the local papers, the North County Times on Saturday November 22nd.
Rider doesn't let illness or injuries change his course
By JEFF FRANK - Staff Writer | Saturday, November 22, 2008 10:30 PM PST ∞
The bumps in Skip Gleavey's road are more like mountains. But the long-distance cyclist and triathlete keeps rolling over them.
To say that Gleavey has faced some challenges over the last five years is like saying the sun is bright in July. This guy's health chart reads like the first-year curriculum at Harvard Medical School.
A few details:
Summer 2003: Gleavey breaks an ankle training to run a marathon in Arizona. March 2004: He returns from a business trip feeling a little tightness in his chest. When he wakes up the next day feeling a bit sore, he goes out for a 5-mile run.
It didn't help. Two days later, Gleavey's wife, Denise, pushes him to go to the hospital. Blood work reveals he had suffered a massive heart attack, one that doctors were surprised hadn't killed him, Gleavey said. He quickly underwent surgery to have two stents inserted into cardiac arteries.
April 2004: Gleavey is diagnosed with stage 4 follicular lymphoma, a blood cancer that while slow-progressing, can't be cured. Doctors tell Gleavey he has about six years to live, even with treatment.
Gleavey's response? "It looks like we're going to have to elongate that curve. I have no plan of dying. I may have cancer, but cancer doesn't have me. I've got too much to do."
Then the Clairemont resident got busy doing it.
Already an experienced marathon runner, he decided to branch out. After leaving the cancer ward, he and his wife went to a bicycle shop, with an eye toward training for triathlons and long-distance bike rides.
Given his prognosis, Gleavey briefly considered buying inexpensive bicycles before his incessant determination kicked in. He opted instead for a pair of top-of-the-line carbon fiber bikes.
"I was not going to let cancer hold me hostage at all," he said.
Those bikes got plenty of use as he trained on the coastal and backcountry roads of North County. Gleavey mixed marathon runs with triathlons, with occasional 100-mile bike rides sprinkled in.
This summer was typical. Gleavey, 63, competed in the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in June. The following month, he took part in a half-Ironman Triathlon in his native Rhode Island. In August, he was riding in the Cool Breeze Century, a 100-mile ride in Ventura, when his next health adventure began.
At mile 38, riding downhill at about 35 mph, Gleavey estimated, he misjudged the sharpness of a curve and realized he could either lay down his bike, likely wiping out a number of other cyclists, or take his chances leaving the road.
Luck was not with him when he chose the latter course. He struck the edge of a ditch, flipping into the air. On the way down, his helmet caught the edge of something, snapping his neck back.
Gleavey came out of the crash with a broken neck and back and paralyzed from the rib cage down.
Besides the paralysis, his other injuries are healing nicely. And Gleavey already has his eyes on future athletic challenges.
"I've already been down to the (Challenged Athletes Foundation) event and met with people from Operation Rebound for (veterans). They can help with purchases of racing wheelchairs," said Gleavey, who served three years in the Marine Corps. "I plan to walk again. I haven't given that up. In the meantime, I'm not going to lay around. I can be a challenged athlete."
To that end, he is looking into swimming lessons and physical therapy to get him moving again. And he's getting a boost from friends he met while participating with the Team in Training events raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of San Diego.
Six of those friends, all North County residents, plan to pick up where Gleavey left off on his last ride, putting together the Milestone Challenge, a 62-mile round-trip ride from Solana Beach to San Clemente.
"We decided we would ride the 62 miles to complete the 100-mile ride he was on. He was on mile 38," said Greg Voisen, the ride organizer. "He's just an amazing inspiration for everybody."
Voisen is being assisted by his wife, Lisa, friends Alan and Helen Dalziel and sisters Carey and Marty Klinger in organizing the Dec. 6 fundraiser, which will include the 8 a.m. ride, which leaves from Solana Beach City Hall, followed by lunch and a silent auction from 2 to 6 p.m. at Chiefs Burgers and Brew, 124 Lomas Santa Fe Drive.
The group is aiming to attract 100 riders for the event while hoping to raise $30,000 to pay some of Gleavey's medical bills and the cost of making his home wheelchair accessible.
Call Voisen at (888) 337-6416 or Alan Dalziel at (760) 712-3130 or visit
www.milestonechallenge.com for information.
Typically, Gleavey hopes to lead the parade. While he can't pedal, he's trying to get a hand cycle or a racing wheelchair so he can pace the group for a quarter-mile or so.
"It's just who I am," Gleavey said of his can-do spirit. "I never look back. I never sit around wondering 'Why me?' ... I'm one who can never turn down a good challenge, and this here is a good challenge for me ---- just another challenge I have to go through."
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The ride was a very positive experience. I rode with several close friends that I have made with Team in Training. The ride itself was a simple out and back starting in Solano Beach up the coast through Camp Pendelton and back. It was another very beautiful day in the area and it was nice to be able to ride at a more leisurely pace and chat with friends after such an intense experience in Tucson. The ride went well with two exceptions.
1) I got a pretty bad twinge in my knee very early in the ride and rode in mild to moderate pain throughout the day. I don't know if it is a lingering after-effect of the twinge I felt towards the end of the Tucson ride. I had forgotten all about that and don't notice anything when I'm walking. I only feel pain when I'm riding in a big gear, cranking away or when I'm climbing. It is a serious enough feeling that I'm planning on seeing my doctor ASAP. Stay tuned.
2) Flatted. Nothing too dramatic but it happened seconds after I had complained that I was ready to be off my bike. Pssssssst. God works in mysterious ways.
The silent auction/raffle at Chief's Burgers afterwards was a blast. I won a bike light and a cool water bottle. I was sadly outbid on every auction I went after including, 1-hour massage, Bike Nutrition basket, 1-hour session with a personal trainer, very cool "speedplay" bike pedals. The bike ticket item was a new bicycle, valued at $1500 that sold for $900. Someone got a deal there. One of the items at auction was a personalize cycling outfit. You create your own design, motto, team name, whatever and the sponsor would custom make a jersey, bike shorts, socks, arm warmers, leg warmers and jacket with that design. An amazing prize, value at $1,000. The winning bid was $250! I was very very tempted with that one but just couldn't justify the purchase. I'm sure I'll be kicking myself later about the one that got away.
I think the fundrasier was highly successful. I understand that there were over 110 riders, and the amount of money raised was estimated to be over $20,000. All and all a very good day.
