“There’s this kid named Ryan, who lives in Renton. Good-looking kid, nice smile, seems like he might be a little shy. Loves snowboarding, seen The Matrix a few times, watches The Simpsons regularly. Sounds pretty normal. Except for one thing…About this time a decade ago, Santa brought him a lump of coal. He was diagnosed with leukemia. He was all of 8 years old.Four years ago, Santa was a little kinder. Ryan received a bone marrow transplant and his disease went into remission.And two years ago, island insurance broker Andy Kosick looked like the sort of guy you’d consider asking to be Santa at your office Christmas party. No more. Kosick has lost 45 pounds as the result of cycling 6,500 miles since then and has had to re-stock his closet.Nowadays, he says, If I don’t do at least a Chilly Hilly when I go for a ride, I don’t feel like I’ve done anything.And on Nov. 18, Kosick did a lot more than a Chilly Hilly; he joined 77 other riders from the Puget Sound area, including islander Gloria Satur, and hundreds more nationwide who rode under the banner of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America. The day was the nation’s second-largest bike touring event, Arizona’s 111.5-mile El Tour de Tucson.Kosick finished in a respectable 7 hours and 12 minutes, making him 1,067th of the more than 5,000 riders.Of infinitely more importance to Kosick, however, is that the 78 local riders raised more than $280,000 for the society, which has broadened its precedent-setting Team in Training program to encompass bike touring in addition to its original focus on marathon running.The concept is simple: Participants pledge to raise a minimum of $3,500 for research, and the society provides round-trip transportation to the event, lodging and entry fees, and expert coaching for six months.The society also provides else: the name of a leukemia victim which the rider wears on a bracelet around his or her wrist.That’s how Kosick got hooked up with Ryan. When the riding starts getting too tough for me, he said, I just look at the bracelet and think of Ryan and how much tougher things are for him.Team BainbridgeThe experience was so inspirational for Kosick that he wants to put together a team of Bainbridge riders for next year’s Tour, and his enthusiasm for the project bubbles over to the extent that he’d love to get started right away.There are a lot of riders on Bainbridge, he said. A lot of them would probably enjoy doing something like this. It’s always more fun to ride with someone, because the miles just melt away. And the hills here make it a great place to train.Kosick stresses that Team in Training isn’t something that’s limited to experienced riders.Some of our team members had never ridden before, he said. The training begins six months before the event, and the progression is very gradual. Some of the groups start out with as little as five miles a couple of times a week. At the end of a month they’re up to 20 miles, and two weeks before the tour they do 85 miles.Nor is age a factor. The 20th-place finisher was 68 years old, Kosick said. And another guy who’s 82, named Gordy Shields, beat me by 10 minutes.And there are numerous benefits. The physical ones are obvious as Kosick bounces out from behind his desk to a side table and picks up what resembles a before photo for a Jenny Craig ad. Except that his after has a resting heart rate of 51 and isn’t dependent on a regimen that requires sticking to something out of a can. The coaching is invaluable. The local group works with Craig Undem, is affiliated with Carmichael Training Systems, whose owner Chris Carmichael is the personal coach of Lance Armstrong – himself no stranger to overcoming a life-threatening disease. The training makes you a better, more efficient rider, and you can ride longer, harder, and stay injury-free, he said. They even make sure that your bike fits you properly by making the proper adjustments. That means you can ride longer and more comfortably.And there are mental and spiritual benefits as well.I made a lot of new friends, he said. We had people from all walks of life – Microsoft, Boeing, Alaska Air, attorneys, engineers, and so on. We had a tremendous sense of camaraderie, that we’d accomplished something. If the research that we’re helping to fund helps just one person, then it’s worth it.It helps me give something back to society. And the more you give, the more you get back in return. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. The rewards are just phenomenal.One such reward was the realization of every parent’s secret dream: being in better shape than their kids. Kosick and his stepson John Petty went to San Juan Island with their bikes. John had just gotten out of the Marines and thought he was in pretty good shape. But within four miles, he was begging for mercy.Every time we got to a hill, I’d get to the top, get off my bike and wait for John. About 10 minutes later, he’d show up, red-faced and puffing, said Kosick, who wasn’t even breathing hard at day’s end. But I give him credit. He went 25 miles. I just can’t say enough about this program, Kosick said. It’s so great to be a part of something like this, which is a win-win-win situation: I do something I love to do, get professional coaching, and help a worthy cause. I’m having so much fun that I feel like I’m 30 again.It’s just a great story with a happy ending. “