I did it! I did it! I did it!

Guess what?

I did it!

There were times when I wasn't quite sure I was going to be able to pull this off. We left at 6:00AM in the rain with the knowledge that there was a chance that the race officials would close part of the planned route and reduce the ride to a 72 mile ride if the weather continued to get worse. The idea that we'd trained this hard for the last 5 months only to have the goal of 100 miles taken away was hard to swallow. However, we lucked out and Mother Nature gave us a few hours of sunshine just in the nick of time.

We were bundled up in layers of clothes fit for a day on the slopes as the temperatures when we left were hovering just above freezing. I"m an Angeleno for whom anything under 65 is long underwear weather. We had Hollywood signs on the top of our helmets to identify us from the 1600 other Team In Training riders out on the course. There were all kinds of clever helmet decorations: lobsters for the riders from Massachussets, Hershey's Kisses for the folks from Hershey Pennsylvania, baked potatoes with butter for Idaho, wedges of cheese for Wisconsin, and wine glasses for San Francisco.

The route was lined with Team in Training volunteers and the family and friends of riders chanting and shouting cheers as we passed by. They blew whistles, waved signs, rang cowbells and encouraged us up each of the daunting hills that surround the beautiful Lake Tahoe. They came in handy in those moments when I was pretty sure that getting off the bike and getting in a car and riding back to the hotel beat the climb ahead of me. There was one older couple that appeared on the side of the road, quiet and holding hands. It dawned on me that they had most likely lost a child to cancer at some point in their lives. There was no shouting or cheering, just a quiet but heartfelt "Thank you." That simple gesture put all my bitching and whining to myself in perspective and got my butt in gear and up the hill.

I rode as part of a larger team, but in a pace group dubbed "The Purple Team." With the guidance and cajoling of our coach Louis, and our different, but well suited senses of humour, we got through the weeks of training and whiled away the long hours spent in our saddles getting the necessary mileage behind us. I've found a great group of friends as a result.

However, as circumstances would have it, my teammate Jeff and I found ourselves slightly ahead of the rest of our group and on our own for much of the day. Together we got up the hills and through the long straights, alternatlely enjoying the beautiful scenery and wiping the mud off of our faces. Jeff was the best person to have with me on this ride. Even when he was cramping up from the wear and tear of the hours of riding, he was shouting encouragements at me and each of the riders we passed along the way. I'm pretty sure there are riders all over the country who have a Thank You! for Jeff for reminding them that this ride was something they could do.

So, again, my thanks to all of the friends, family, and relative strangers who have donated to this cause on my behalf and without whose support I would never have achieved this goal. I did it! And, with your generous donations you helped Team In Training raise $6.8 million dollars for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Oh, and for all y'all who wanted a photo of me in my fancy bike riding outfit...

So today marked the end of our training with the last practice ride as a team before we head off to Tahoe. I gotta say it's a little bittersweet. I'm looking forward to next week's ride, but I'll be sorry not to be riding with the team each Saturday. Oddly enough I've come to look forward to getting out of bed at 5:30AM on a Saturday morning, slathering up with anti-chaffing cream and donning really unflattering clothes. Whodathunk it?

Frankly, I didn't believe my coach, Charlie, when he said he'd get me from never having ridden more than 16 miles up to 100 miles in a day. He's a nice guy, but I could have sworn he was lying. However, last weekend I rode 80 miles in about 8 hours. Whodathunk it?

When I first started training no one mentioned that we'd be going up hills. They save this information until later, when they have you hooked, and you've started raising money and you pretty much can't back out without looking lame. At first the hills were nothing more than inclines, and slowly we worked up to climbing up hills I don't like driving up or down. Funnily enough, it turns out I'm actually pretty decent at climbing. I get in a groove, often signing 99 Bottle of Beer On The Wall to myself, and force myself up the hill - often times passing more experienced riders on my team. Whodathunk it?

Our team is divided up into different groups based largely upon our speed. I'm in the slowest group, well at least we were the slowest when we started this adventure. However today at the end of our ride my team mate Jenn and I sucked it up and put some power into our pedalling to catch, and I might add pass, the next fastest team. There was great satisfaction in waving at them as we sailed by. I've got a wee bit of a competitive streak in me it seems. Whodathunk it?

I've made some great friends over the last few months, many of whom I will continue to see as I intend to keep riding regularly and to stay part of the TNT Family. My pace group, "The Purple Team" as we are known, is going to be a big part of the reason that I will make it up that last 1000 foot climb at mile 80. All of you who have been so generous and helped me raise over $5000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society will be another big reason. Your support and encouragement has helped make a huge difference in my life, and your generosity is going to help make a huge difference in the fight against blood cancers. Together we done good. Whodathunkit?

Thank you!

So, we're 8 weeks into the training program, and I've broken one bike, bought a new one, and learned to climb mountains. With 12 weeks left to go, who knows what else I can accomplish!

Don't Try This At Home

I originally started my training on my hybrid bike, which is the love child of a road bike and a mountain bike. It's a great bike, but for a century ride it's a lot more work to accomplish the goal than a road bike. So, my sister Terese offered to loan me her fancy Italian road bike. I was so excited and road tripped up to San Francisco with my mother to pick the bike up. The next weekend I went out on my training ride with the team, and in the first 2 miles of the ride, I heard a horrible noise and came to a crashing halt halfway up an incline. My teammates gathered around me dusting me off, checking to make sure I was okay, and gawking in horror at what had become of my pretty turquoise bike. Basically, in the process of changing gears, with the sheer power of my thunder thighs, I bent the steel frame and killed the bike. I'm that powerful. Don't mess with me. So, after much apologizing to my sister, I purchased a new road bike that I'm trying to be very gentle with!

My past two weeks of rides with the new bike have gone great, and I'm starting to pick up a wee bit of speed. I'm still in the slow kids pack on my team, but I'm only in this to finish the ride, not win it, so I'm good with that. Two weeks ago we did our first ride that included any significant inclines. We did a 40 mile ride through Malibu, up hills that I've driven thousands of times in my life an never paid an ounce of never mind too... until I had to climb them without the aid of an engine. Let me tell ya, they are HUGE! However, they do nothing to compare to this last week's climb up Mandeville Canyon. For those of you familiar with the Los Angeles area, it's the equivalent of riding your bike up the Sepulveda Pass that runs along the 405 freeway. It's a long steady climb that seems to never end, and just when you get to the last stretch you see a steep incline that looks pretty much like a wall. It is. I nearly cried, but I still climbed it! We have a great Honoured Teammate, Laura, who is currently going through treatment but is also training to run a TNT marathon, many of her practice sessions are just after her treatments. For the last stretch of the climb I kept screaming "If Laura can run, I can do this!" and the chant helped me make the last few feet of the climb.

Everyone in my world has been incredibly supportive of my commitment to this ride and to raising funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. My boss, Amy, gives me flexibility in my schedule to allow me to take off to ride each day to keep my mileage up. My mom drove with me to San Francisco to pick up my sister's ill-fated bike. My husband, Dave, puts up with me parading around the house in some rather questionable Lycra outfits and has volunteered to do support runs for the team's practices. And, most recently Olive, our puppy, has taken to running along side me on my cruiser bike. Pretty soon, I'm sure she'll be the one on the bike and I'll be running along side her with a collar and leash.

In my family cancer is like a family heirloom. It is that ugly lamp that you inherit and cannot seem to give away for love or money. When I was very young, my paternal grandmother passed away from lung cancer. Later my maternal grandfather from renal cancer, my maternal grandmother from lymphoma, my uncle from skin cancer, and my sister from brain cancer. At family gatherings, everyone keeps a close eye to make sure they aren't somehow slipped the ugly heirloom on the way out of the door.

I am lucky enough to have my health, something I tend to take for granted, usually in the form of wine and Cheetos. However, every so often I remember that I can take advantage of the fact that I'm healthy and in good shape to someone else's benefit. I had one of these rare moments of clarity back in 2000 when I participated in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program to complete the Mayor's Midnight Run Marathon and raised over $3500 in the process.

More recently, I had another epiphany and signed myself up to do something most sensible people would consider unthinkable. On June 5th I'm going to participate in the America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride and complete a 100-mile circuit around Lake Tahoe in one day. Just as I did the marathon in my grandmother's honour, I will complete this ride in her memory and in the process raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives.

To get this done, I'm going to need your help. Oh yes I am. I'm going to need your encouragement and occasional guilt trip when I'm lazy about training (just don't touch my Cheetos), for you not to laugh if you see me in my fancy Lycra bike shorts with the padded crotch, regular massages from anyone I can sucker into it, a push up the last hill, and most of all donations to help me reach the fundraising goal of $5200. No donation is too small!

Grandma & Me

To find out more about the great services The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society provides check out their website. I also encourage you to take a few minutes to find out more about the Team in Training program. Ya never know... you might just want to try an endurance event yourself. Lookit! I might be an inspiration to you. Whodathunkit?