Racing to Save Lives!

Welcome to my Team In Training home page. The pictures above show me with my brother, Eric, who I lost to leukemia in 1974 when he was only 11 years old. He still lives on in my heart. I dedicate my efforts in this endeavor to Eric, my Aunt Joyce, and Jim Delaney (my TNT honoree) who are the real heroes in this story.

June 10, 2009 America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride! And it is!

We did it! On Sunday, June 7, 2009 we rode 100 miles around Lake Tahoe. We trained and prepared for over four months and it all paid off for our whole team. . .the entire Silicon Valley Chapter, which includes my little team of six called the Gilligan Sharks. Our Silicon Valley team had about 150 riders, coaches, mentors, ride support people, and honorees. Turns out there were about 3500 cyclists participating in the event this year and over half of them were from Team in Training (TNT) raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Our chapter raised over $330,000 and the event total was over $6.8 million. Very impressive!

TNT does a great job with weekly rides of increasing distances, either Team events (these rides are supported with rest/water/food stops and or Buddy rides (we receive a route map for these rides, but each rider must be self-sufficient). Our first ride was about 15 miles and we worked our way up to our longest training ride of 83 miles. Actually, we had three 80+ mile weekends in a row! Each team ride started with instruction from our Head Coach Tom and then a talk from one of our patient honorees. This inspired us and made it clear that our pain going up a hill was nothing compared to the hurt of leukemia or chemotherapy.

During the second week, training teams were formed based upon riding speeds on a 15-mile route in Portola Valley. My team was called the Gilligan Sharks. We learned later on that the name Gilligan came from the many people who came through our ride team until the final group (left on the island) was formed. My team was a great group of six riders (Maryanne, Rob, Kevin, and yours truly) Gary our ride support mentor and James our coach. Gary and James combined to create a perfect mix of knowledge, skill, encouragement, distraction and occasional pushing that we all needed. Gary and James taught us how to pace-line where the rider in front "pulls" the line by taking the full headwind for rotations of a minute or so while the remaining riders draft off the rider ahead of them. Then the first rider drops out of the front, slowing their pedaling, until they are last in line. We pace-lined on most of the long, flat sections of the rides. This technique really helped us conserve energy when the winds were high; a cyclist uses 30% less energy when drafting.

The training rides were a time to learn how to eat and drink appropriately so that you had sustained energy for the demands of the ride, but didn't get an upset stomach from eating too much at one time. I got an upset stomach on the first ride that included a big climb up to Skyline and from then on I cut down on my breakfast! The other thing we tried to avoid is what endurance athletes call "bonking." Bonking is what happens when your muscles simply run out of fuel and electrolytes. . . it's an awful feeling and you can barely keep your pedals going. We learned to carry electrolyte chews and small packets of "gu" which is a gel mixture rich in fast burning carbohydrates. It's quite an art learning to eat and drink while riding without losing speed or falling out of the pace-line.

I have trained for endurance events before since I did a middle distance triathlon when I was around 25 years old, but this was much more organized and I appreciated all the information and tips to help avoid injuries. . . especially at my age now! To tell you the truth, I did have a day early on where I was driving to a training ride and I really had the feeling I had bitten off more than I could chew. I suddenly had a lot of fear about this whole thing and wondered if I could really get back into good enough shape to cycle 100 miles. I also worried that I would not be able to raise enough money. But, luckily, I didn't turn around and I kept going (thinking about Eric helped too)!

After all of the training rides and hours on the bike we were ready. I carpooled to Tahoe with my "buddy" Maryanne and we shared a room at the Embassy Suites. She has become a great friend through this entire experience. Maryanne is about my age, married with children, and lives in Palo Alto, so how perfect is that! We arrived in South Lake Tahoe to pouring rain and even though our spirits were dampened, seeing all of the other riders got my stomach churning and my adrenaline flowing. The event draws about 3,500 participants from all over the country. TNT brings around 2,000 of these riders from teams all over California, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, New England, Georgia, Texas, New Jersey, New York City, the Northeast and others. When we asked where the riders from New York City trained they said Central Park, of course! During the ride, I noticed the cyclists from Vermont had taken their sleeves off way before I did . . . I guess 40 degrees with wind chill is balmy for them!

One of the traditions of the ride is that people adorn their helmets with some sort of symbol that represents their region. Turns out it's pretty helpful when trying to identify teammates among all the cyclists. We wore fins on our helmets (for sharks) and our coaches decorated and named them beautifully. We had Maryanne (her real name), Gilligan and Skipper too (our coach), the Professor and Mr. Howell . . . I was Ginger! Others from around the country had peaches (Georgia), potatoes (Idaho), bowls of clam chowder (New England), crabs (Maryland), whirling things like tornados (Oklahoma) and cheese (Wisconsin) to name a few.

The night before the ride we had our Inspiration Dinner. It was so special for me because Jeff, Brandon and Lauren came to support me! And this day, June 6th, was Brandon's 19th birthday. So we had a great time. The event was held in a huge ballroom at Harrah's with great music and plentiful food -- lots of pasta as you might expect. There were speeches from various TNT people, the organizers and a very moving presentation by a patient from Seattle who found out he had cancer at age 29. He has a wife and three young boys. He's had a real battle for over five years, eventually had a bone marrow transplant with a compatible donor from New Zealand, and is now cancer free. Hearing these stories was so inspiring.

Finally the day of the event arrived. Maryanne and I planned to wake up at 5AM, but we both were awake by 4AM (I heard at least two neighboring wake-up calls and someone taking a shower!). The Embassy Suites was pretty much "taken over" by TNT that weekend, and they even let us keep our bikes in our rooms. Maryanne and I received a good tip the night before from a guy we met in the elevator who suggested that we take our bikes downstairs the minute we wake up, and then go back to our rooms or to the courtyard for breakfast. It turned out to be great advice because it was a zoo in the morning with bikes and riders everywhere, and long lines at the elevators.

Our team, the Gilligan Sharks, assembled around 6AM. We were ready. The skies were overcast and the weather forecast reported a 30% chance of rain until around 9AM so we had our fingers crossed; the roads had actually dried up overnight. After many pictures and words of encouragement, we were off. We rode from the parking lot of the Embassy Suites and headed out of South Lake Tahoe in a clockwise direction. The first 8 or so miles were flat and crowded with cyclists. Luckily, traffic was light at that hour of the morning. I felt sorry for a woman I saw changing a tire tube only 10 minutes into the ride! People were cheering along the route and spirits were high.

Our first climb to Emerald Bay was welcomed as we could get our muscles moving and warm up more. It was pretty cold to start, around 40 degrees, and we were dressed in layers on our arms and legs, and a rain jacket. I even had ski gloves over my fingerless riding gloves. The skies began to clear revealing the true beauty and majesty of Lake Tahoe. I heard many oooohs and aaaaahs from riders who had never seen the lake before. As I rounded one of the curves there was a stunning break in the clouds and I could see the sun's vivid rays shining down like golden rods to the lake surface. (Maybe someone was peeking down and wishing us well!) I have always loved this area of snowcapped mountains, smells of sugar pine and the sheer magnitude of the lake, affectionately named "Big Blue". I have done so much skiing in the Tahoe area and seen the lake so many times from a chair lift that it was particularly special to see this place from the saddle of a bicycle and often I would gaze off in awe. "Am I really doing this?"

The top of Inspiration Point is truly special, with Emerald Bay on one side and the Cascade Lakes on the other. The west shore is one of my favorite parts of Lake Tahoe with Meeks Bay, Sugar Pine Point, Tahoma, and Homewood. Our first rest stop was at Vikingsholm where we refilled our water bottles and snacked on fruit, trail bars, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (a staple at TNT rest stops). The lake itself is 72 miles around and to create a full century (100 miles) they added a 14-mile trip from Tahoe City to Truckee and back along the river. Much of this section was a narrow bike path that meant we had to stay single file and watch out for pedestrians. After the turnaround at Truckee, we finally got back to the lake and there were lots of supporters cheering and waving signs. Then we tackled a gradual climb out of Tahoe City and on to our lunch stop at King's Beach. The weather cleared to partially cloudy skies with lots of sun and perfect temperatures. Although I pulled my arm warmers down a few times, I actually wore my leg warmers for the whole ride. We really lucked out with the weather: not a drop of rain and a high of only 60 degrees.

The last part of the ride is up to Spooner Junction, a long climb of over 8 miles from around 6300 feet up to 7100 feet. It isn't that difficult of a climb except that it comes at around mile 80 when our legs are feeling pretty heavy. This climb definitely pushed me, but I felt good most of the way and I was happy I didn't "bonk." Even so, I was happy when we reached the summit. Once again, there were lots of cheering people and the best part for me was that Jeff, Brandon and Lauren were there to greet me. I got lots of hugs and high fives. Jeff took some pictures while we waited for our team to refill water and take potty breaks. Jeff, Brandon and Lauren headed back to Palo Alto from there (stopping to visit the UOP campus for Lauren!). We sailed downhill from Spooner for miles - really fun - but then there were a few more "rollers" and this was the toughest part of the ride for me. These little hills were really hard on such tired legs and just when I thought it was the last one, there was another one. Finally I could see the casinos and knew we were almost finished (I think it was a little like the horse smelling the barn). The finish line had a banner overhead and lots of people waving and cheering. It was an amazing feeling as we rode in knowing all we had accomplished. We each got a medal and a 100-mile pin as our prize. There were tents with drinks and snacks so we hung out for a while and just let it all sink in.

My original goal was to raise $5,000 and I am proud and pleased to say I reached 91% of that goal by raising $4,550. I can't thank all of you enough for contributing to this worthy cause and for all the good wishes and moral support. I could not have done it without you. I think the most important thing took away from this experience is how important community is. Support of other like-minded people can help us do amazing things. I don't think I could have stuck this out without my team and the support of my family, and this is an experience I'm going to remember for the rest of my life. People can be great on their own, but we really are better together. I'm learning every day to be better and better at asking for help instead of trying to do it all myself. And it's more fun! Thanks again.