Riding For A Reason

yesterday was quite an experience! We climbed another mountain, literally! It was very challenging, with over 100 switchback turns, and an average grade of 6.5 for 7 miles...The views were incredible! The good news was that we got to defend after the peak.  The road was very twisty.  We reached speeds of around 40 MPH on the way down. It was terrifying and excillerating at the same time. We stopped in a great little town called Jerome and ate at the Haunted Hamburger. The food was great and the company better!  One of the riders got a nice surprise, her husband flew out to be here for the last day! After lunch we continued to defend into Cottonwood, where we stayed. One of the riders, whose father recently passed from Myeloma, held a lovely toast the celebrate his Dad’s birthday.  It is odd how you can be so excited about the accomplishment of the ride, and then very quickly be reminded of what this is really all about. Finding a cure so Fathers and sons can sh...

Today was CRAZY! 100 miles in 110 degree heat, and only 1 turn!  We passed into Arizona today, which was very satisfying.  It is really hard to ride in this heat. Nothing can prepare you for it.  The support team is going through 300 lbs of ice per day, trying to keep us safe. It is quite the experience riding a bike on the interstate with cars going by at 80 mph... I have been having saddle sore issues, which are NOT fun.  I had to wear two pairs of riding shorts just to get through the 100 miles...who knows what tomorrow will bring. At least we begin to move into the mountains, so we should get some relief from the heat...but that also means 6100 feet of climbing...my legs are threatening to go on strike!

Holy Hot Batman! The last three days have been the hardest combined thing I have ever done.  Today was a 110 degree day that started with a steep 12 mile climb. I began to show signs of heat exhaustion, so I was pulled off the course for a little bit, but as soon I was cleared to ride, I started again.  There are so many people who are inspiring me on this ride. I have no idea how the patients are making it through! This is not a “tour” this is a CHALLANGE! Mental, physical and emotional. Day 4 will be the hardest yet, with temps reaching over 100 again, and more climbing, and over 110 miles...I thought the desert was supposed to be flat!  I hope at some point I can stop to take a picture!

Hello! Sorry for no post or pics last night...I was too busy trying to keep focused on the task at hand.... We had a really rough start to the day.  We began with a 6 mile climb at a 7% grade.  It was the hardest climb I have ever done. The good news was, that was most of the climbing for the day; the bad news was that the wind started on the other side of the mountain.  Paul and I hung back with a bigger pack and tried to help pull them through the wind.  The group started to fall back, so the tour company put them in a van to catch them back up.  They gave Paul, me, and two others the option to try to catch up on our own... What came next was challenging and exillerating all at once.  We fell into a pace line where all of our wheels were inches from each other and maintained a 20mph pace into a still headwind for 13 miles.  We caught up on time, but we're really rushed at the rest stop. We would have never made it if Howard, a rider from Cr...

Today was the start of the actual riding...WOW! There was a lot of excitement at the beginning with a wheel dip in the Pacific and then a pretty impressive climb up a big hill.  The route took us through a TON of stop lights.  It was hard to get any kind of  rhythm going... My power meter battery died at mile 5, so I wasn't able to pace myself well...Paul and I were in the front group most of the day, but at mile 50 I started cramping pretty bad...I spent a little (or a lot) more time in the rest stop (SAG) than normal..I had to cool my core body temp down.  As we pulled out and started to climb, my legs seized up again...I really thought about calling it a day, but after slamming down a V8 and getting a new battery for my power meter, we moved on...plus, I couldn't let Paul steal all the glory... As long as I didn't push too hard, my legs behaved...we ended up finishing strong. After a much needed shower, we went next store and chowed on some great Medite...

Today was all about getting ready for tomorrow. We all met in the lobby at 7 AM and rode down to the ocean to do a dry run for tomorrow's wheel dip.  It was a nice 10 mile ride along the ocean to get there Paul and I had more pictures taken than either of us are used to... When we got back to the hotel, we had interviews  for the web site, and then we had some lunch.  This afternoon we will have our orientation by our tour company, CrossRoads, which should outline our daily routine over the next 7 days...tomorrow is 78.8 miles tomorrow and around 3000 feet climbed....here we go!

The journey begins! 6:00 AM came earlier than normal today…maybe because of My birthday celebration going a little long, or maybe because I knew I was getting on a plane in a couple of hours…I'm typing this as I fly across the country to LA.  Have been spending my time between watching movies and reading a book that I received for my birthday…the book is called “Tomorrow We Ride” and it is a true story about two brothers who were also professional cyclists….I have two hours before I land, so I’ll continue the post later. Reunited (and it feels so good....) is it odd that I had some separation anxiety while I shipped it?   Met up with Paul Avery at the airport and we headed to the hotel.  I lost my tail light somehow, so we had to go get another one....we had the stellar idea to walk 5 miles in the 90 degree heat to the nearest bike shop...at least I got the blood flowing! We are planning on heading down to the beach for dinner...will try to take pics