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!