The People are Awesome series shows amazing physical stunts. Mind-boggling. Check out its website.
Archive for category cycling
His trick biking moves are always a delight to watch and admire. But the video above is truly extra-ordinary–for the danger and the scenery. Over 45 million youtube views.
I am especially appreciative having recently borrowed a 3-speed bike in Nantucket and struggled unhappily against the slight inclines and the brisk 17-mph winds. My puny 13-mile, 3-hour trip was a major effort that took all my fortitude NOT to hitch a ride back from friends in a car who offered. And I was really shamed by a buddy who received my whining texts and wrote back unsympathetically, “Gosh Ira, you just rode a bike, not trek to the North Pole.”
Here is another, more recent Macaskill video. I have more of them on this site.
What kind of humans take these risks? Check out this unicyclist (around 45 seconds in) riding inches from certain death. For what? Is it even a thrill to this kind of person? He can’t be too scared from the danger…or he wouldn’t do it. Does he simply think he is invincible? A superman who would never be in an accident?
This website has lots of other dare devils in action. Here is one of a parkour guy walking around the high parts of a building he managed to sneak into. No fear of heights or a slip to his death.
It certainly motivates me to test my limits…a little bit. But never to this extent. Is it purely genetic? These kids are alone…not trying to show off to buddies who are goading them. It really is insane!!! They definitely must love doing it…

starting the ride with grandchildren (my right and behind) and friends
On March 13th, I was spinning for the 6th time in the annual Cycle for Survival fundraiser. Another $30 million was raised for Memorial Sloan Kettering to study rare cancers and hopefully cure them…or at least make the illness less painful for patients. This year’s total was up from $25 million last year…bringing the total to $105 million, since these events started in 2007. This year over 27,000 riders in maybe 15 cities rode to raise funds.
I was again really tired after my 50-minute ride. I barely trained before the big day. And then I played tennis four days in the following week. I was exhausted…only playing tennis so much, because groups needed subs two of those days.
But I realized later that I was also mentally and emotionally drained this year. Too painful to be reminded so intensely that my son-in-law Evan was not there as in previous years to cheer on his friends and family like last year or to actually ride for four hours as he did almost all of the previous years. I really missed him. I again couldn’t help getting into the loud music and following the trainer’s “orders” to climb up the hill out of the saddle. I had practiced that technique 2-3 times an hour when I trained at home. We must have done it 15-20 times at the event for real. It hurt.
But knowing that Evan was gone since last July was just too upsetting. My enthusiasm was false.
I love to tell the story of how last year Evan couldn’t ride, because he had just had back surgery. So he stood and clapped and cheered for four hours to keep the rest of us riding eagerly and ignoring our weariness. I know that I couldn’t have been that strong. After the Event, there was no family snack in a nearby restaurant. I assumed Evan was just too tired and went home to recover. Later I learned he had gone right home…but only to pick up his suitcase and escort his University of Pennsylvania city-planning students from JFK to Brasilia, where they spent a couple of weeks working on an actual design project for the government. What a guy!
I love Danny’s amazing cycling talent. A friend suggested I should take up this startling sport. Not yet…maybe later.
Positively insane, terrifying, admirable! You cannot believe that people do this kind of downhill street cycling.
This happens on the streets of Valparaiso, Chile. The Valparaiso Cerro Abajo Race is a legendary urban bike race and is more extreme than skydiving out of an exploding F-18 piloted by Charlie Sheen. The rider must brave jumps, stray dogs, and flights of stairs along the steep downhill path. The first person perspective provided by the excellent helmet cam lets us take in every glorious and frightening detail. Do yourself a favor and watch this one in full screen mode.
Also, check out this still-photo roundup from the 2011 race, which was won by Filip Polc
Well I did it! Rode in this year’s Cycle for Survival event and helped raise $24,750,000. My Team Evan raised $54,000+ with the addition of our new California group. That’s $76 million since 2007, all for rare cancer research. And from 230 riders the first year to 20,000 in 2015.

riding next to my granddaughter Avery
The first 10 minutes were surprisingly hard for me, and I panicked that I wouldn’t be able to cycle for an hour. But then it gradually became easier and demanded less effort. Especially after the half hour mark. I got into the zone, spurred on by the loud music, cheerleaders, instructors’ urgings, and some younger riders around me who were pedaling at twice my speed. I was even howling passionately with the crowd

After the race with Evan and my grandson, Dylan
The hardest part is standing up out of the saddle to climb an imaginary hill. I’d practiced that for a minute here and there at home. But the boot camp, drill instructors had us going up and down every 20 seconds at times. It was exhausting at first…and painful. I could have just stayed seated and pedaled gently the whole time. But I didn’t want to cycle like that. I was determined. I survived my own mini-challenge.

crazy mad cheerleaders keep the riders pumped
Thank you all for your contributions and words of encouragement. They really helped motivate me. Now I can put away the bike for another year…
Unicycling In Caves
Oct 18
Once again I am awed by what people do to have fun. These guys go underground with head lights and their unicycles to make the adventure more difficult. Here are some sound bites:
There IS a level of challenge and risk. If you fall down and break your leg, there’s no way out. It’s an adrenaline rush…the achievements are that much more special, monumental…It’s very rhythmic, meditative…a way to express myself…easier than walking…
And when he is old, one cyclist wants to attach a self-balancing unicycle to himself and be a cyborg who can still ride…
Bike Trip Robbery Video
Sep 18
My daughter once went on a bike trip in England, and I have been to Buenos Aires a couple of times. But this innocent bike-trip vacationer had an experience no one in my family had: he was (almost?) robbed and recorded it all on his helmet GoPro. This may not be an athletic achievement, but it is certainly a rare video of an athletic incident.
Here is the Daily Beast story:
If you travel a fair bit, you’ve probably been there. You’re cycling through an exotic locale, laughing and talking with friends when suddenly a guy on a motorbike cuts you off and starts yelling at you in the native tongue. You can’t understand him but you’re sure he’s not inviting you over for dinner.
It was a bit of a special case here for Canadian tourist Alexander Hennessey. Riding through Buenos Aires, Argentina with some travel companions, he was cut off by a local who quickly pulled a revolver out of his jeans.
Luckily for us, Mr. Hennessey had been attempting to document his bike trip with a helmet-fastened GoPro camera. The first-person perspective is chilling.
Super Achievements!
Mar 6

Anne and Perry–super duo
I wrote in 2012 about Anne Zimmerman’s eight-hour, extreme ride at the Cycle for Survival event. This year I learned that of 16,000 riders, around 50 did it for four straight hours (with breaks at hourly changeovers), and only 3-5 rode for eight hours.
Just reconnected with Anne and learned that she did four hours on Saturday and then another eight hours on Sunday!!! This has to be a record achievement. I know she spins a lot during the year, but still…
Way to go Anne! Her many-cities teams raised $530,000, the most in the country. And best of all, her 12-year-old daughter Perry has apparently beaten all three of her cancers. Great news. They are both tremendously inspirational…

cycling away
For the fourth year I—and 16,000 other cyclists—made it through the Cycle for Survival annual fund raising event. Over $19.6 million was raised this year, up from $14 million last year. Over $50 million has been raised since 2009. And these funds go 100% for rare-cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Thanks to all of you for your cheers and caring and generous contributions to my particular ride. It was a bit difficult for me, because I couldn’t adjust the bike properly…and then I am never in shape for this challenge, given that I don’t cycle other times. My wind was fine, but my quads and butt and palms were hurting.
There is lots of cheering, people waving arms and towels and pom poms to pounding and eardrum-breaking music, the instructor urging cyclists to stand up to climb a pretend hill or sprint. It’s impossible to not respond enthusiastically. So you push and exert and make some pain. I really love it, but am welcoming some rest.

Evan with son Ryder (wearing headphones) held by my daughter Josslyn
Evan was one of just 50 who rode four hours. A real inspiration, and Team Evan raised over $43,000, up from $26,000 last year. We were the #1 team at our gym in the morning and #3 in dollars/bike for the entire day.
One woman in her 40’s did two hours just before me, and I was so impressed at her stamina. After my hour was done—and I had been watching the clock this year, hoping the time was passing swiftly—she informed me that she has been spinning 2-3 times a week for the last year! No wonder she floated through her two hours so enviably.
You gotta practice these things. But I made it. I had to. One friend said he would only donate if I completed the ride. And of course I felt responsible to everyone who gave to the cause without any conditions.
Thank you all for your faith in me and your willingness to help Evan survive, as well as the many other rare-cancer patients like him. You did a good deed…
BTW Evan wore his San Francisco Giants shirt, because he is such a devoted fan who lived there for years. I wore a Miami Dolphins cap, because my high school classmate Steve Ross owns the team and also the 17 Equinox gyms that host the Cycle for Survival event. Ahhh these little connective touches to make the cycling a tiny bit easier.
Getting in shape for a sport you haven’t done in a while can be a real challenge sometimes. Especially when there is lots of pressure to do things faster and harder.
On Monday the 17th in 10-degree weather, I went to the garage and brought my bike inside the house to start training in-place for the annual Cycle for Survival event (see February 18 post). It’s the only time I ride a bike all year. Knowing that the snow was going to soften from predicted warm weather, I went cross country skiing in the afternoon, my second time this season. We had 18-24 inches of snow. Tuesday I spent an hour shoveling snow off the roof. Wednesday morning I played tennis for two hours and then that afternoon had my first cycling session: two 13-minute rides separated by a five minute rest.
Uh oh…I could feel some strain just walking up the stairs afterward. The legs were rubbery. Next morning was tennis again, but I made it through all sets without a fall, and my game wasn’t that bad. The legs still worked ok.
Friday I biked 27 minutes nonstop, and Sunday was a 50-minute ride. So I am almost there.
How do people cycle for 4-8 hours with minimal breaks?
But this Sunday March 2nd, I will be pedaling beside them, trying to keep up. The hard part is when the spinning instructor yells that “We are going up a hill now, so out of the saddle and pump those legs ’til they burn,” as if that’s a desirable condition. I get so competitive that I do my best, in spite of the relatives who worry that I am going to pass out from exhaustion. However in the midst of all the young people around me, I can’t imagine staying seated and simply poking along as if I were on a quiet and level country road.
As my 23-year-old daughter chided me, “it’s only an hour Dad, so I don’t need to train for this.” And a friend who made a sizable donation wrote that she now “expected” me to do two hours. I hope she was joking, because that seems pretty daunting right now. Let’s see if I can cycle an hour without much more effort…and still be able to play tennis 8+ hours a week, ski and shovel snow without aching.
On March 2nd, I will again be riding with hundreds of others on stationary bicycles for one to four hours near Grand Central in Manhattan. All to help raise funds for rare cancer research that is poorly supported by major charities. Over the last seven years, the annual Cycle for Survival events have raised $43 million, and all of it goes for experiments and loving care at Sloan Kettering in New York.
You may know that I cycle to help keep my son-in-law Evan alive, because he has a cancer so rare that there are only 100 cases like his in all the literature. The great news is that the research and hospital support have been working. Evan’s total laryngectomy in 2012 was followed by a special prosthesis that allows him to talk softly, and just recently with no hands! And when his neck tumor was removed, some of it was grafted onto mice that were then given different medical cocktails to see what worked best. Amazingly one combination of meds has affected some of his current tumors positively, so that he is still able to work, ride, and enjoy raising his three-year-old son. All very good news. But the fight is not over.

Evan gives me a good luck kiss before I start my ride last year, while daughter Josslyn laughs at my nervousness
This year there will be 16,000 of us riding on eight days on 3950 bikes in 13 cities. We will all be cycling away to music, speed and terrain cues from the spinning instructor and the encouraging shouts of hundreds of friends and family members. It’s a very thrilling ride. Evan has again signed up for four hours, while I struggle to make it through for one hour.
If you would like to help support this event, a donation of any amount—no matter how small—would be greatly appreciated and help treat rare cancers (less than 200,000 cases in America), which include cervical, stomach, brain and all pediatric cancers. Most of the money raised through other programs goes for the common cancers, like lung, breast and prostate.
The people I contacted last year were very generous as a group, and my son-in-law and daughter were astonished by how many of you gave and sent good wishes. Evan wouldn’t be alive if he hadn’t had his laryngectomy, and your contributions really helped keep him going. Sloan Kettering is a very supportive community for its patients. Forgive me please for writing about this again, but this is the only non-profit I raise money for…and it’s for a great cause that I can relate to and then see direct results. So thank you with much gratitude.
BTW if you are in New York and want to actually cheer us on and experience the excitement of the event, or if you want to donate yourself, contact me at ira@irasabs.com for more details. We’d love to have you shouting along
Here I am strong in the beginning of the ride
Well the 2013 Cycle for Survival is over. What an extraordinary time we had. I made it through the hour, but it was really hard this year. My daughter Josslyn did two hours, Evan was able to do one, and over $13,500,000 was raised…bringing the seven-year total to $31 million! All of it for rare cancer research. Thanks again to all of you who supported this event, whether with silent prayers, encouragement or donations.

Evan gives me a good luck kiss at the start of the ride, while Joss looks on
Although I am in pretty good shape from tennis and squash, and had stationary-cycled at home for two weeks before the big day, I only did gentle spinning while watching TV and would then stand up out of the saddle for 60 seconds, 2-3 times each session. On the day of my New York ride, the female spinning instructor was like a marine drill sergeant who “loves hills.” Unlike the previous instructor who led seated, easy rides and occasionally had the cyclists stand up for “hills,” my fearless leader had us constantly standing up for FIVE-minute pretend hills, and then seated for only a minute. Then back up again, again and again. I was wiped out.
After 30 minutes, she decided to lead sprints–six of them for 2 minutes each, I think, with a slight break in between. I was pretty numb by then, so I could barely hear or notice anything. Of course I didn’t have to listen to her directions, and some family members told me to just ignore her, sit down and peddle comfortably. But the seat in the gym was hard and painful, and some of the members of my team would come over and make fun of me for pedaling so slowly or sitting down. To my right was a friend of Evan’s who is a very experienced mountain biker. He was churning furiously the whole time, to sort of challenge himself with a heavy workout. Yikes! I was tired just watching him whirring his legs like a robot, non-stop the whole hour. And at the same time, it was all completely exhilarating.
Anyway, it is called the Cycle for Survival, and I did. Proud once again, because I only use these cycling muscles two weeks a year. Support from friends and family helped push me to stay with it, not be wussy and slow, and as Josslyn said, “fight fight fight.” I broke through lots of barriers thanks to others’ caring, contributions and messages. Hopefully many cancer patients will survive much more than an hour in the gym as the result of everyone’s efforts.
Here is an overview of the gym I was at with hundreds of spinners and enthusiasm and sweat!

Guy Adami at work
Pretty impressive story about Guy Adami, a Wall Streeter and Fast Money panelist whose historic exercise routine “consisted mostly of walking from his parking space to the front door of the CNBC studios in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.” But friends challenged him to do the impossible, a trainer gives him advice, and there is a charity involved as well.

Guy completes his first triathalon in New Jersey—5/2012
In May he was able to run a triathalon that had legs one fifth or one tenth of an Ironman—a half mile swim instead of 2.4 miles, a 13 mile bike ride instead of a 112-mile ride, and a 3.2 mile run rather than a marathon of 26.2 miles. And he still has not reached any of these Ironman distances in training.
It’s all a work in progress. But his dedication is intense, he is approaching his goals each day. and the results will be determined on August 11th, when he joins 3000 others in New York’s first-ever Ironman. He has already lost 38 pounds (from 235) and six inches around his waist. You sure have to admire his effort…Can you believe that 140,000 people a year compete in an Ironman? Interesting that 20% of those who sign up miss race day due to an injury or fear the night before the race.

this is a special achievement that I imagine is somewhat painful—5/10/2012
Cops busted 45-year-old Joseph Glynn Farley for cycling naked, saying Farley was a distraction to drivers. He was also creating a hazard by falling off his unicycle and into lanes of traffic. For his part, Farley says he just likes the feeling of riding without his clothes on.