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!!!!