D-Day: Solvang Century Ride with TNT, Nov 14, 2009

Well, the day has arrived! I met the TNT crew down in Buellton (where the movie Sideways takes place) on Friday, Nov 13th for a quick 20 minute ride. That night, we had a pasta party, heard an honoree from the Silicon Valley TNT chapter talk about his journey with cancer and was given advice about the ride from one of the coaches. After dinner, my roommate and I called it an early night. In bed by 10pm only having to get up around 6am the next morning! I purposely laid out all of my gear the night before as not to forget anything!

I met the team down at the start at 6:45am. My parents met me at the start area to cheer me on! Man, I have the best parents in the world to drive down to cheer me on! At 7:00am my TNT group took off! It was a "brisk" 45 degrees at the start and it took nearly 15 miles to warm up. Lots of rolling hills were challenging to overcome in the cold weather. Along the way, there were wineries, ranches and randomly 4 longhorns!!! Sag stop #1 was at mile 30 where we filled up water bottles and had some nutrition. My thing was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and bananas.

After a few photo opps and about 20 minutes of rest, we were off again! The next 30 miles were challenging. The team of 10 of us constantly rotated the paceline to give everyone a chance to lead the group and take on the "lovely" headwinds. Mile 60 marked Sag Stop #2. We had to leave this one by 12:30pm and we beat that and left around 11-11:30am. More rest, hydration and of course some photo opps :)

We were off again! Soon we'd reach the first major hill of the day which was right before the 3rd Sag Stop at mile 72. This hill had switch backs and spanned about 4 miles of terrain. I'm not the strongest at climbing hills but I just cranked it out, passing a few folks along the way. At every switch back, I kept thinking "Is this the last one" and "Am I there yet...???" Finally, I made it to and was I relieved! My teammates joined me a few minutes later and we took some time to rest from the grueling climb!!! The heat was starting to get to me so I took a moment under the tent in the shade...

We re-grouped and we were off again! There was a fabulous decent down that major hill which, in my mind is the best part. I think I got up to 38 miles an hour :) The next 13 miles were a blur of country scenery, wineries I wish we could stop at and bumpy roads. At this point, the palms of my hands were in incredible pain. I constantly had to readjust my hand position on my handle bars in hopes of finding the "magic" position in which they wouldn't hurt. Unsuccessful. We were rolling at a comfortable 16-17MPH pace until we reached the 4th and final Sag Stop (mile 85). We took a few photos, ate some cliff bars and drank some water. My feet were starting to hurt and had to take off my shoes for a moment.

Getting back on my bike to start the 2nd and final, major hill was rough. The climb was about 2 1/2 miles long and was STEEP! I had 2 sports induced asthma attacks during this climb and had to stop a few times. My fabulous coach stuck with me through what seemed like eternity. I made it up the hill, knowing that this was the last major challenge of the ride. The last 11 miles or so would be "downhill." Well, after admiring our climb, we started back up again and made our way down the bumpiest, country road I've EVER ridden on. It made the roads of San Francisco look glorious and smooth!

We had the winds at our back and pace lined it back to the finish. We made our last couple of turns and then pulled into the fabulous Marriott Santa Ynez hotel parking lot. We heard the cheers of TNT teammates, coaches and supporters! The last excitement of the afternoon was when one of my teammates ran over 2 large nails JUST as she crossed the finish line!

Looking back at the entire experience, I would do it again, in a heartbeat! It was a fabulous fall season training and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. I have met some truly great people along the way and pushed myself in a way I had never done before.

Thank you all again for supporting me both emotionally and financially along this journey. I truly could not have done it without y'all!!!!

80 miles: My longest ride yet!!!!

Well, I had my LAST TNT ride this past Saturday of the fall season! We rode 80 miles around the north bay area. The team took off around 9am from San Rafael, heading out Lucas Valley Road to Marshall Wall (which is as horrible as it sounds!) towards Tomales, down Highway 1 to Point Reyes Station, around the reservoir to Nicasio and back up Big Rock! It's hard to describe the ride but it was challenging! Lots of hills and rolling hills throughout the day. TNT has fabulous volunteers which spoil you with delicious snacks and water. This ride had 3 SAG stops along the way! We rolled back in to the parking lot around 3:45pm on Saturday making it an all day adventure!

Now, the count down begins! I have 12 days left until my very first century ride! It has been a whirl wind the last couple of months. I have enjoyed every minute of it: biking to work and my TNT training rides. The people I have met along the way have made the experience.

I am sure this will be the first of a few century rides, well over the next couple of years :)

Up'ing the mileage!

Well, this past Saturday's ride was great! I was just glad to have a "local" ride that started in SF! I just hopped on my bike and met the team at the Presidio Sports Basement! We took off over the Golden Gate Bridge around 8:30am and headed toward Tiburon and did Paradise Loop (the reserve way than I'm used to so it was good to mix it up :) We stopped at the coffee shop next to Sam's. What a great day for a ride! The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold! From there, we continued our ride to Fairfax. On the way, we passed the Susan G Komen 3 Day walkers through Sausalito. Just so inspiring! I felt like I was dressed like one of them, just on a bike! You know me, always wearing some shade of pink! Anyway, we biked back from Fairfax and over the bridge. I usually have anxiety going over the bridge with the tourists who don't pay attention, stop in odd places to take pictures and of course the nasty winds! This ride actually wasn't too bad.

And, some of you may know, I had a scare 2 weeks ago. On the deathly hot ride in the E. bay, I had a couple of instances where I couldn't breathe. I had to get off my bike and catch my breathe, which took up to 10 minutes! My doc said I could have sports induced asthma so now I have to use an inhaler. Just trial and error as we're not really sure what it is. Joy :)

Well, I have ONE month, ONE week and TWO days left til my century ride! Until my next post, keep an eye out for my pink cervelo on the road! :)

If you'd like to donate toward the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, please visit my fundraising page HERE

72 mile race around Lake Tahoe - Tour de Tahoe 9/13/09

Well, I did it! I completed my first bike race! I got up to Lake Tahoe 2 days early to acclimate to the elevation. I stayed in S. Lake with a few friends Saturday night as our race started Sunday at 6:30am! I hadn't quite expected it to be 45degrees so I was a little under dressed... oops! It took about 12 miles to warm up. I felt pretty prepared as I'd ridden about 55 miles of the Lake in order to prepare. The trek up up Emerald Bay was just tough as I'd remembered it. I passed the first sag stop in order to keep moving. I decided to stop at the rest stop at Homewood as it had been about 25 miles and I needed a water refill! I definitely kept getting passed by lots of friendly cyclists! I guess I stood out with my pink biking outfit and bike. I figured if I can't win, I may as well be stylish! By the time I got to Tahoe City, I was cruising! The road out of Tahoe City was being worked on so we detoured onto the bike path which was actually hillier than the road. No fair! I flew down the hill after Dollar Point and slowly but surely made my way toward Kings Beach for the next water stop. I guess I wasn't paying very close attention and blew through it! Oops! We took the more scenic route through Incline Village and I realized where all of the ginormous houses were! At that point, I decided I needed to take my own stop in order to choak down some GU. I haven't found anything else I can unfortunately eat on the ride! The next couple of miles were gorgegous along the East Shore! Then, the next 7 miles were nearly the toughest: Spooner Summit! 7 miles of 1000 feet of climbing! I was thrilled when that leg was over and took off down hill getting up to about 39MPH! I spoke too soon! The last 6 miles of the race was the toughest! My legs were tired but I knew that I was almost through. All in all, I had a great ride: 4 hours and 35 minutes of riding with 2 rest stops adding about 10 minutes.

I think I was in decent shape for this race but will need to keep up my training so I can add on 28 more miles...totally 100! Eek!

This was a great training race for my full century ride in November, training with TNT. Please take a moment to donate HERE, any amount is great appreciated! I am SO close to my minimum goal (with the help of Google's matching!)

SF2G Ride (San Francisco 2 Google)

I am still holding true to my weekly bike to work goal. I even put it on my quarterly work goals! Today, I left my Marina apt around 5:50am and biked over to the usual meet-up spot at Ritual Roasters in the Mission. We left the coffee shop around 6:45am and hit the road. I knew it was going to be a warm morning as it wasn't the usual chilly SF weather. We took a slightly different route than I am used to, which added a decent 1 1/2 mile climb, a great view from the top and then a fabulous decent! I was, of course, the last one up the hill (no shame I've learned as I ride with some amazing cyclists!) but proceeded to reach about 39MPH down the hill! All was going well until about mile 30 when we ride over a bridge. I decided to be ambitious and follow the lead of others to make my way up the dirt path up toward the bridge and realized at the last minute, you have to hop over the ledge onto the bridge. I did my best but my best wasn't good enough! I made it onto the bridge but came crashing down onto my right knee. Ouch! I skinned my knee which reminded me of childhood and it's still just as painful now as it was then! I picked myself up, brushed off my knee and got back on my bike. I biked the remaining 20 miles to work! We got to work around 9:45am.

Lesson learned for today: sometimes it's OK not to follow the leader! :)

Until next time, watch out for my pink Cervello on the rode!

I hope you also take a moment and contribute toward my training efforts with TNT HERE

Training at Tahoe

Well, I was finally able to get up to Lake Tahoe! I had 4 solid days and 2 rides! My parents were completely supportive and was my sag car which was great, just in case I had an emergency :) My mom dropped me off at the "Y" in South Shore and I biked the 23 miles to Tahoe Pines (West Shore). I was really nervous about the climbing, fearing I wouldn't be able to make it. I got in low gear and made my way up the winding switch back hills. The only real fears I now have after knowing that I could make it up the hills were the semi trucks passing me on the narrow 2 lane road! It was scenic on my first ride day up at the lake and lots of fun flying down the hill around Emerald Bay!

On training day #2, I biked from my cabin in Tahoe Pines to Sand Harbor where my parents picked me up. That ride was gorgeous minus the smoke hanging over the lake from fires in Yosemite. It was, for the most part a pretty flat ride. The most challenging part was around Incline Village and just past. From there, my parents picked my bike and I up and we drove the remainder of the lake so I could get a visual. There is definitely a solid 7 mile climb up on the East Shore but after that, there is a great downhill ride! We ended the afternoon trip with a cold beer and a yummy hamburger :)

I hope you will take a moment in donating toward my training efforts with TNT!

First TNT Fall Cycle Team Ride!

I was finally able to make a TNT organized team ride this past Saturday. Before the ride, they taught us how to change a flat (which was a good refresher for me as there will probably be a time when someone won't be there to change it for me :) We then set off in our appropriate groups (based on speed) for our 23 mile Paradise loop ride. This ride, for those of y'all who may not know starts in Mill Valley and goes up in the hills of Tiburon and then loops around where downtown Tiburon is and then back to Mill Valley. The ride was great but next time, I'm going to step it up a notch and see if I can keep up with the fast group :)

We had our honoree picnic and I was able to hear the heart wrenching stories of people's struggle with cancer and how they overcame it. I am completely honored to raise money for the cause in hopes that I contribute toward finding the cure to Leukemia!

I hope you will take a moment in donating toward my training efforts with TNT!