I DID IT!!! 100 Miles…and a BIG surprise! June 7, 2010

This great adventure has come to an end…one even better than I could have ever imagined.

This Sunday, I crossed the finish line of America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride after riding 100 miles around Lake Tahoe.  What an incredible ride it was!

Our team met at 5:15 am for a ride start time of 6:05 am.  This meant, waking up at 3:30 am (which I think may have been harder than riding 100 miles).  To my surprise, I was hardly nervous.  The temperature was a brisk 48 degrees, although this was considered “warm” compared to earlier days in the week in Lake Tahoe.  We began the ride leaving from Horizons Casino and slowly weaved through the large clumps of other riders.  At around mile 11 we hit our first climb at Emerald Bay.  At any other time and at a lower elevation, this climb might have seemed fairly simple, but at 6,225 feet elevation, I couldn’t catch my breath and worried the next 89 miles would be a struggle.  Fortunately, that was not the case at all.  After making it to the first SAG stop at mile 26, I felt amazing.  Same thing once we hit the SAG stop at mile 46.  I grabbed a few fig newtons, filled up my water, and we were on our way again.  This truly was the most beautiful bike ride.

As we rode around the lake, I made sure to take in the view, the smells (the trees smelled like Christmas), and the fact that I was doing something I had set out to do in February.

We approached the lunch stop at mile 72 and it became real to me.  I was well over half way done.  We grabbed a sandwich, snapped some pictures, filled up our water, and headed out for the big climb up Spooner at mile 80.  Spooner is an 8 mile climb, which at mile 80, I expected to feel like a 20 mile climb.  I was conservative with my gears, making sure I had a few to spare in case of emergency.  Before I knew it, I was at the top and the end of the ride was only 12 miles away.

Those last 12 miles were tough.  My legs were sore, and the “rollers” felt like giant mountains.  The wind picked up a bit; mother nature making sure I didn’t think this was an easy ride to the finish.  And then…there it was…the FINISH LINE!  Our team rolled through together, while our families cheered us on.  My dad and Sandy were there, as were Tim’s parents.  What an unbelievable feeling it was to accomplish a goal I set months ago. 

And the big surprise?  Tim and I went up to Silver Lake (which is right next to June Lake) last Wednesday.  On Thursday, Tim proposed!  So now, not only have I done a century, I’m engaged!  I’m pretty sure this was the best week of my life.

P.S. I still have a little bit of time left to fundraise, so in my last attempt to help raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, here is a link to my fundraising website:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/ambbr10/lriddlekwf

34 Miles: Rose Bowl, Altadena, Sierra Madre May 29, 2010

Well, it’s 8 days away!  Today was a quick 35 miler.  It’s amazing that I now think 35 miles is easy.  I forgot my camera today too!  Boo   We met at the Rose Bowl at 8am and spent a lot of time talking about what to expect when we get to Tahoe.  Our team is heading up on Friday, but Tim and I are driving up to the Mammoth area (Silver Lake) this Wednesday to get acclimated.  We’ll do a couple short rides on Wednesday and Thursday and then we’ll head up to Tahoe.  I am SO excited!  We’ve ridden over 1,000 miles since February and the big day is just around the corner.

I’ll be sure to take a lot of pictures and post them after the ride next Sunday.  Oh and I raised almost $6,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society because of all of you!  Thank you all SO much!

GO TEAM!

80 Miles: Tour de Westside May 23, 2010

I’m almost there!  Only two more weeks until the big Tahoe ride.  It’s really hard to believe that what I’ve been training for is right around the corner.

This week’s practice was the longest training ride we’ll do before the Tahoe ride on June 6th.  We rode 80 miles from Playa del Rey to Palos Verdes, then Playa del Rey to Brentwood and back.  This was a loooong ride.  And, my favorite part, there was a lot of wind.  Man!  Wind really is a killer on a bike.

We started in Playa del Rey and headed towards Palos Verdes.  We combined Tim’s group and my group this week because there were only 5 of us.  It was a lot of fun to ride with the fast group again and to get to spend the whole day with Tim.  As we headed out, we went 4 miles and I got a flat tire.  What a great way to start the day!  Louis, one of our mentors, quickly changed the tire for me, making sure I was paying close attention so that I could do it myself one day.

After changing my flat, we were on the road again.  I kept thinking about the Tour de California I’ve been watching the last few days.  The professionals make cycling look easy.  They climb huge hills with such ease.  I am not a professional.  And that was painfully obvious for me this Saturday.  Mentally,  I tried to stay very focused and very positive.  Around mile 43 I was pretty beat.  The wind had taken a lot out of me, and our pace was a little faster than I like.  Of course, I still had 37 miles to go and a nice 5.2 mile climb up Mandeville.  I find that there’s usually a 15 mile window of self doubt during my long rides.  But, once those 15 miles are done, I get my second wind and feel great.  As we headed towards Mandeville Canyon, I was slightly nervous because I had never done this climb before.  My team had all told me what a gnarly climb it was.  Ignorance was bliss for me though.  If you don’t know what you’re up against, it’s hard to feel too worried.

My first impression of Mandeville was great!  The homes along the road are absolutely gorgeous.  They were a nice distraction for me.  At this point my bike computer had stopped working (darn bike computer), so I had no idea how far I had gone or how much more climbing I had left to do.  Again…ignorance was bliss.  In fact, I wouldn’t let Tim or my teammate Megan tell me how much further I had to go.  They eventually told me I was almost to the top and I started charging a little harder.  Mandeville ends with a seriously steep incline (a wall).  For a second I thought I might have to get off my bike and walk to the top.  But then I saw some of my teammates who had already made it to the top and they were cheering me on.  I had to keep going.  And I did.  I made it to the top!  What a great feeling that was.  Closely followed by the joy I felt as I got to fly back down the hill.  I’m getting more comfortable riding downhill.

The last 14 miles were uneventful, except for the scary trip down Ocean in Santa Monica.  Lots of tourists in rental cars who don’t know where there going and don’t seem to notice cyclists at all. 

As we came back towards where we had parked our cars at 7:15 in the morning, we were all equally excited to be finished.  We did 80 stinkin miles!  Next week we drop back to 35 miles to give our bodies a break before the big ride.  Almost there!

75 Miles: Malibu to Camarillo May 15, 2010

Once again…a radical ride with my Team in Training cohorts!  We met in Malibu for our longest ride yet: 75 miles.

I was really excited because we added a new group this week so we could pick up the pace a bit.  There were only three of us this time.  Me, Scott and Guido.

We got on the road around 8:15am and began our quest to conquer all 75 miles.  I have to admit, I was a little nervous.  Once we were rolling though, I decided to just enjoy myself and not worry about how I would get the miles done.  I felt great for the first 40 miles.  We stopped at mile 42 to help a rider change a flat and then headed to our SAG stop at mile 56.  Our coach had warned us about some head winds along a certain road, but I kept thinking he must have been wrong, since I hadn’t noticed any.  And then we took a corner and man!  I felt like I couldn’t get over 15mph.  Prior to turning that corner, we were holding 19 to 20 mph.  At mile 50 I got worried.  I thought, man, if this were the century, I would only be half way finished!  How am I going to do this?  That lasted about 5 minutes.  It’s easy to get in your head when you’re on the bike.  Everyone’s pushing hard, not talking, and there’s not much to distract you.  I decided I’d start singing to myself to keep the bad thoughts away.  It worked.  The weird thing?  I was singing Eminem’s new song “I’m not afraid.”  I guess that suited the situation well.  Hopefully my fellow teammates couldn’t hear me.

Once we reached the SAG stop at mile 56, I had a pb&j, drank some water, and was ready for the last 20 miles.  I was rejuvenated.  There are a few good rollers along those last 20 miles, but they didn’t phase us.  We were kicking butt!  Scott had a slow leak in his tire so we stopped quit a bit on our way back, but they were welcomed breaks.  We eventually stopped to change the tire with only 4 miles to go.  The CO2 refills just weren’t cutting it.

Four hours and forty minutes later, we were back where we started.  It felt great!  Sure my legs were tired, but I’m feeling confident that we’ll dominate in Tahoe.  GO TEAM!!!

For the bulldog lovers…here’s what Guinness was doing while I was riding:

Cruisin the Conejo: 68 Miles May 10, 2010

We did our first organized ride this Saturday!  Our team participated in Cruisin the Conejo in Thousand Oaks.  There were a few distance options, and we did the 68 mile ride.  It was really cool to do a ride with 1,000 or so other cyclists.  It definitely was a change of pace from our regular Saturday morning team rides.  The weather couldn’t have been better!  And the views?  If you would have told me these places existed in the LA area, I wouldn’t have believed you.  Most of where we rode was technically Ventura County, but still.  There were ranches, farms, lakes, horses, bulls…you name it…we saw it.

I enjoyed myself for the most part this week.  Our group really struggled with having to stop a lot.  There were two flat tires, bathroom breaks, LOOOONG SAG stops, cramps and lots of “GAP” calls.  It was a true test of my patience.  But, I realize it’s not all about me.  When I had bad days, my team stood beside me and dealt with my issues, so it was my duty to do the same for them.

The ride itself was beautiful, challenging, and scary.  We rode through Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Moorpark and Santa Rosa.  We passed strawberry fields and cabbage patches and smelled both of them equally.  There were some pretty good climbs, which I didn’t mind.  I love climbing!  It’s weird!  But the other side of a climb is almost always a descent…that I don’t like so much.  There was a pretty hairy downhill which I think was on Potrero Road.  As we reached the top of the hill there were kids with signs warning us to slow down.  One of our mentors told me there are a lot of accidents on this road.  Great.  Here I am about to go down a winding hill and now you’re telling me there are a lot of accidents on this road?  We told eachother we’d meet at the bottom.  OH.  MY.  GOSH!!!  I literally thought I was going to fly over my handlebars it was so steep.  My bike computer wasn’t working at this point (surprise), so I don’t know how fast I went, but I held my brakes almost the entire way down.  So much so that my hand hurt pretty badly Sunday morning.  I felt like if I let go of my brakes, I would immediately be out of control.  The good news?  I made it down!  The bad news?  If I ever do that route again, I’ll know what to expect and that might make it even scarier.  I won’t worry about that right now.

Overall, it was another great day riding with my Team in Training group.  68 miles!  Who would have thought I could do that?  I sure didn’t.  Next up…75 miles in Malibu (at least I think that’s what we’re doing).  I’ll keep you posted!

To donate, click here!

Palos Verdes to Hermosa Beach: 48 Miles May 3, 2010

I say this every week, but what a great ride!  Our coaches shortened the mileage to only 48 miles because of the amount of climbing we’d be doing.  We were scheduled to ride 70 miles, but I was okay with a little break.

These week’s ride was the most beautiful yet.  You can see the incredible view in the pictures we took.  We had a sag stop around mile 30 which was a nice opportunity for us to take a good look at our surroundings.  Sometimes when I ride, I forget to look around and enjoy the scenery; not this week.

I decided to stick with the middle pace group again.  The speed is comfortable for me and I have a lot of fun with the people.  We did about 3500 feet of climbing during our ride and I felt great the whole time.  Being little, it’s easy for me to climb hills on my bike.  Of course, that same trait makes it harder for me to get down the hills.  I’m okay with that.  In fact it works great, being that I just don’t like going fast.

Perhaps the most eventful part of my ride was the flat tire I got in the middle of a climb.  This was my first time getting one since we started training in February.  I guess I’m pretty lucky!  As we were heading up this hill, I pulled out in front of the group for a second and ppppphhhhhhhssssssss!  The air started shooting out of my back tire.  Man!  Fortunately, one of the mentors stayed back with me and changed it for me.  I paid close attention though in the event I need to change it myself someday

Besides the flat tire, this was a fairly uneventful ride…which is a good thing.  We all had a great time and got to embrace the beauty of another Saturday morning!

Shameless plug here:  Click here to help me raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!

Sierra Madre to Claremont: 65 miles April 28, 2010

Better late than never?  I hope so.  Posting today about Saturday’s ride is less than newsworthy…but I don’t want you all to think I quit!

Saturday we rode 65 miles from Sierra Madre to Claremont and back.  We split in to two groups, as the fast group only had three people.  It was a slow start.  There were some mechanical issues and a lot of bathroom stops.  After about 10 miles, four of us decided to split off into a fast group.  I thought it would be a good chance for me to try the faster pace I was used to prior to my surgery.

It was NOT easy!  I suppose it’s not meant to be easy, but it was a real challenge trying to keep up at that pace.  We were averaging about 17-22 miles per hour with a lot of stop lights and stop signs.  I kept telling the group I was having a hard time keeping up, but they just kept encouraging me…not letting me give up.

I did something this week that I hadn’t done before.  I let my brain take over for about 10 miles and I convinced myself I could not keep up.  This was a VERY BAD IDEA.  At around mile 33, I gave up mentally.  I told the group I would have to sag back to the middle pace group.  Tim hung back with me while we waited for the middle group and I was not a happy camper (I don’t think he was real thrilled with me either).  After about two minutes of waiting, we decided to go ahead and ride the next 9 miles together to the sag stop and then I could wait for the middle group there.

What’s interesting, (and what proved to me that it was all in my head), is that for those 9 miles, I kept the pace we were going initially without any problems.  Of course, there were a lot of downhills, but we only arrived at the sag stop a few minutes behind the people we split off from 9 miles before.  Still, I decided to wait for the middle group at the sag stop so I could finish the ride without holding the fast group up.

Once I joined the middle group, I had a blast!  The pace was much more comfortable and I had a chance to look around every now and then and enjoy the scenery.  I really like everyone on our team and I’ve gotten a chance to get to know them all a lot better as I’ve moved around the different pace groups since my surgery.

We finished 65 miles with no problems.  65 miles!  Man…that’s a lot of miles.  I was really pleased with myself once it was over, but was also a little disappointed about my behavior around mile 33.  This coming Saturday I may try riding with the fast group again to see if I can do it for the entire distance.  We’ll be riding 70 miles in Palos Verdes.  Fun fun!

I didn’t take any pictures this week, but I posted two pictures that our sag person took from the Malibu ride.  This was about a mile and a half up Encinal Canyon in Malibu.  I was really hot and she caught me right as I was taking my jacket off

Until next time…GO TEAM!

Oh and I’ve raised almost $5,000 to date!  It’s not too late to donate either.  Even if it’s only a few dollars.  Every little bit counts.  You can donate here via my fundraising page by clicking here. I’m only $25 away from $5,000.  You could be the one who helps me reach the $5,000 milestone!

60 Miles, Malibu, Encinal Canyon April 18, 2010

Well, it was another beautiful day in Los Angeles and I had the opportunity to take full advantage of it!  This week’s ride was in Malibu, with a five mile climb up Encinal Canyon.  I was really curious how my body would perform this week, as I hadn’t done any real climbing since the surgery.

I chose to ride with the slow group (I don’t know what else to call it) as a precaution, in case I struggled with the hills.  The big climb would come after riding 11 miles.

As we reached the base of Encinal Canyon, I began to pace myself, letting one of the guys in my group get up in front of me.  I don’t like to see people pass me, but I wasn’t willing to risk having to take a break on the hill.  I wanted to get up it without stopping.  I kept a pace of about 7.5mph.  It was comfortable.  As I got into my rhythm, I thought I can do this…no problem.  Slowly but strongly, I passed the guy in my group who had passed me at the base of the canyon.  We chatted a bit, but I had to pass him.  My pace felt good and I didn’t want to slow down.  I continued to climb.  About 2 miles up the hill, I began seeing teammates from the medium speed group.  I was surprised to see them, but also secretly happy inside.  As I passed two, three, six members of the medium speed group, I was feeling strong.  I reached the top of the canyon and the rest of their group was just as surprised to see me as I was to see them.  I had moved up a whole pace group on that climb!  I decided to ride with their group for the rest of the day.

The fun/scary part came when we had to descend Mullholland.  I can honestly say that I would rather climb any day than descend.  Going downhill scares the you-know-what out of me.  I went up to 30mph going downhill which is the fastest I’ve gone yet.  That was a conservative speed compared to the rest of my group.  I’m okay with that.  It’s not a competition.  It’s my own race.  Me and the road.  I have no one to impress.

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful, yet challenging.  There are some pretty good rollers along PCH.  We rode a total of 60 miles; the longest I’ve ridden to date.  My legs got tired at mile 33, but I kept reminding myself that I was riding to raise money to help find a cure for cancer.  Riding a bike has nothing on cancer.

Next week is 65 miles in Palos Verdes/Hermosa Beach–undoubtedly, another beautiful ride.  Stay tuned!

Haven’t visited my fundraising page?  It’s not too late!  Click the link http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/ambbr10/lriddlekwf

Guess What? I rode 55 miles yesterday!!! April 11, 2010

I was off the bike for two weeks after my hernia surgery, and was feeling a little uneasy about getting back into my training.  Last week if you would have asked me when I thought I’d be back on the bike, I would have told you it would be a couple of weeks.

After taking two spinning classes last week, I decided to give my bike a try Friday afternoon.  Tim and I drove over to Griffith Park to see how I felt, and to see if I was ready to ride with my Team in Training group the following day.  We rode maybe 12 miles, and things were really comfortable!  I was surprised I didn’t feel much pressure where my hernia was.  The next morning would be a 55 mile ride in Long Beach.  Coach had said it was mostly flat, so I thought I would try to ride half way and then hang out at my parent’s house in Newport until everyone finished.  It was risky, but I figured I didn’t have a very good alternative, as next weekend’s ride would be 60 in Malibu.

When Tim and I showed up to El Dorado Park Saturday morning to meet the team, everyone was surprised to see me.  I was mostly welcomed warmly, although Coach Charlie didn’t seem all too thrilled.  He mentioned an extra week of recovery would have been good for me.  Well, I’m not a very good listener.  I told him my plan of riding only 28 or so miles, and that I would stop in Newport and wait for Tim to finish and then come pick me up.  He thought that was a good plan.  I also chose to ride with the slowest of the three groups.  I didn’t want to push myself too much too fast.

And we were off!  At about 9 miles I started getting worried.  I began focusing on the area where my hernia was, and began wondering if I had made a mistake getting back on the bike so soon.  I kept telling myself I only had 19 miles to go.  I kept pedaling.

Our route was from El Dorado Park, up to PCH through Seal Beach, Sunset Beach, Huntington Beach, then to Newport Beach.  From there we planned on heading around UC Irvine, the Back Bay, and then back over to PCH and eventually back to El Dorado Park.

We had a sag stop at mile 17 and I was feeling great.  I decided to keep going.

At the half way mark, I still felt great!  At that point, I knew I was going to go for all 55 miles.  And I did!  The last 10 were a challenge (particularly the last 5).  Being away from hours and hours of continuous training began to catch up with me.  I kept on though and was so proud of myself as I pedaled back into El Dorado Park.  I rode 55 miles 15 days after hernia surgery!  Unreal.

Oops! Is that a hernia? March 29, 2010

I learned something new.  Hernias are not just something men get!  That’s right.  I am a 26 year old GIRL/young woman with a hernia.  I won’t go into the long story of how I discovered it; instead I’ll get right to the point.  A week ago last Tuesday, Dr. Acosta at Verdugo Hills Hospital, explained to me that I have an inguinal hernia.  He gave me two options: 1) keep riding my bike and just hope that the pain doesn’t become so great that I can’t ride anymore…then have hernia repair surgery OR 2) hurry up and have the hernia repair surgery so I could be good to go for the century ride in June.  This may seem like a no brainer to some, but it took me a few days to decide.  The following Thursday I scheduled my surgery for Friday, March 26th.  It is now Monday, March 29th and I’m all fixed up! (Here’s a picture of me post-surgery, enjoying graham crackers and Sprite).

The doc called my situation a “factory defect,” in that my abdominal wall must have not fully developed as a baby and therefore left a small opening.  But, have no fear!  He said I can get back on the bike in a week to three weeks!  Three sounds a little more reasonable to me at this point, as I can hardly get up off the couch.  You never realize how much I you use your ab muscles until you can’t use them.  Coughing, laughing, hiccuping, sneezing…all out of the question.  And if you know me at all, you know laughing is one of my favorite past times.  So here I sit, on the couch, with the bulldog anxiously staring at me…just hoping I’ll throw his toy for him.

No bike riding for me for a couple of weeks, but once I’m back, I’ll be in better shape than before!  I can’t wait.

And let me thank everyone who has so generously donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in my name!  I have raised almost $4,000 so far!  Thank you thank you thank you!  And if you haven’t had a chance to donate, it’s not too late!  Click here to go to my fundraising website