Comedy Night Fundraiser

Hi, everyone,

On June 19, I will be co-hosting a comedy night fund raiser to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The location is the new Bunjo’s Comedy Club in Dublin, which shares space with the Willow Tree restaurant on Regional Street. Our headliner is Robin Cee, a very funny and well known SF comedian. The cost is $15 per person, half of which benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. More information is can be found at and tickets can be ordered at
http://www.bunjoscomedy.com/index.html

This fund raiser is capping off my fund-raising with Team in Training for the 2009 Death Ride. Once again, I will take on a 129 mile ride with more than 15,000 feet of climbing (kind of like climbing Mt. Diablo 5 times, but at altitude!), with the goal of raising funds to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I have had the pleasure of training for and riding this event with several cancer survivors, and it always amazes me just how much joy they find in every day life, and how they can take an event that’s downright painful to most rational people and turn it into a celebration. This event may be called the Death Ride, but it really is a celebration of life for those of us privileged enough to know and ride with these very special people!

This year’s fund raising has taken on an even more personal meaning for me. In January, a close friend and someone that I’ve done a lot of work with in the past was diagnosed with CML – Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy with a drug called Gleevec. This drug is very effective for many CML patients, and was developed under a grant from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society – a grant that in large part was possible because of all the donations made over the years to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society via Team in Training! We are making a difference – and you can too by participating in this event.

So far, her treatment is progressing well and she has not suffered serious side effects. We are keeping our fingers crossed that she will be one of the lucky ones. However, with continued support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society will achieve it’s goal of wiping out blood cancers, so there won’t need to be lucky ones. I’m honored to be in a position to help the society make progress towards that goal.

My friend’s experience has also highlighted another, equally important role the LLS plays. They provide a stipend to patients who are undergoing treatment, and are unable to work, or to those who have used up all of their insurance benefits (those multi-million dollar lifetime maximums really don’t go far when you consider the cost of some of these treatments!). They provide counseling and other forms of support. In short, they are a lifeline, a ray of hope, while these patients are undergoing some of the most trying and painful experiences a person can go through. Knowing how strong each of these patients has to be helps keep me going when I’m suffering on those long, steep hills (and I always suffer on those long, steep hills!).

So please, come out and help us celebrate another successful season – great training with a great group of teammates, and lots of fun while raising funds for a great cause. I look forward to seeing you on Friday the 19th!

Best regards,

Jon Buckley
--
Find out how I’m helping to fight cancer one mile at a time! http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/TourAlps09/jbuckley

If you are not able to join us at the comedy night, please consider making a donation using the link above. Thank you so much for all the support over the years!

Death Ride training

Well, after reading my friend Steve's latest blog post (it's not about the back!) I realized that I've been horribly lax in updating my own cycling blog. So here's the latest and greatest:

TnT team

This season we are training in a combined team with the Redwood/Wine Country TnT team. This has been a fantastic experience, as we've met new folks, trained with some new coaches and done some rides in an area I don't get to visit anywhere near often enough. We've spent some time on some familiar training hills (Mt. Diablo, the Oakland Hills, Mt. Hamilton, Sierra Road) and we got to ride in the Wine Country Double Metric Century (124 miles for those of you keeping track).

The season has been a lot of fun, and for the first time I've felt prepared for each of the team rides (more on that below). Of course, it can't all be fun and games - after a few days of unusual stiffness, my back went out on Sierra Road - one of the most difficult Bay Area climbs. The 100 degree weather wasn't helping, but my back has been a source of ongoing concern in my riding, so this was a step backwards. It feels better today, so hopefully I'll be back on my bike for an easy week in a few days.

Coach Kim

As some of you know, I've hired Coach Kim Collier to help me get in better cycling shape and lose some weight. The weight loss has been slow but steady (I think she's more frustrated by my progress in this area than I am), and I've definitely gotten to be a noticeably stronger rider on the climbs. Yesterday, on the back of Mt. Hamilton (a notoriously tough local climb, and rated HC for the pros in the Tour of California) I was able to climb it almost entirely in heartrate zone 3, but still going faster and stronger than I did last time I tried it. For those of you who are old fashioned, heart rate zone 3 meant I was still in my aerobic training zone (ie, I didn't go anaerobic). While I wouldn't want to ride at that level of effort for a full century, it is a sustainable pace for me on these long, tough climbs. My coach likes to call it a tempo climb. I'm more realistic - it's still a darned slow tempo climb.

Margie and leukemia

Early in the year, a good friend told me that she had just been diagnosed with CML, a form of leukemia. She is responding well so far to the chemo, which has consisted of a drug developed under grants from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This has taken the fund raising that I've been doing with Team in Training to a far more personal level.

I met Margie through some volunteer work I was doing. She is an energetic, vital and driven woman - and someone making a huge difference for our kids. I've always admired the passion and energy she brings to her work - now I also admire how she's taken on this new challenge head on.

Fund Raising

That brings me to one of the big reasons I got involved with Team in Training in the first place - a chance to make a difference. The money raised is donated directly to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and helps to fund the development of new treatments while also helping to directly ease the financial burden of patients. Please consider supporting me and the Leukemia & Lympoma Society for this year's season: http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/TourAlps09/jbuckley

Special thanks to Joy and Alan Brooks, who were able to take care of my kids during yesterday's unbelievably long training ride!

JB

2009 Plans and Aspirations

After sitting down for a while, I quickly realized that my original goal of doing one or more double centuries this spring were probably unrealistic - I hadn't been riding consistently, much less the kind of disciplined training it would take to do a distance I'd never done before.

So, I needed some structure and some accountability to get my butt on my bike when the weather isn't perfect. I hired Kim Collier, a local cycling coach and nutritionist. She looked at my eating log for a week, highlighting anything that was just plain bad in pink. It probably would have been easier to print the damn thing on pink paper to begin with. However, she then took me through Whole Foods and showed me how to replace all that (What do you mean, no pizza or bagels? I'm from New York, damn it!) with healthy, but still good tasting alternatives that I'll have a fighting chance of getting my kids to eat.

She also introduced me to the joys of SFR's. I have no idea what the initials stand for, but these are hill repeats - not looking to go at lung busting speeds, but rather to build strength. Climb a hill for 5 minutes, at a slow cadence in a big gear that you'd normally use on flat roads. The goal is to keep your heart rate low (I failed miserably at that the first time, but I'm getting better!), and really work the muscles in your legs. Repeat 5 times, then spin easy for 30 minutes. For the last two years I'd worked really hard at learning how to spin up hills, using small gears and a high cadence. This training will build strength while giving me much more flexibility on how I attack a hill.

So, with all this going on, I also signed up for the Death Ride again. No, I'm not bored with it yet. I'm going to do it with Team in Training again, although this season will be quite different. Over the last two years there'd been lots of continuity on the Death Ride teams - same coaches, lots of participants and mentors did it both years, etc. It will seem strange, especially without some of the close friends I've made (and without coaches Jacqui and Mike, who showed me how I could get off the couch and get in shape to do this in 6 months). However, the new coaches are all great, and I'm going to be a mentor - I'll provide kind of a point person that team members can use to answer questions about administrative stuff and fund raising, while I'll also be asked to provide ride support - something I've never done before. All in all, this should be a fun and exciting season.

Further on in the year, I'll revisit that double century goal. I suspect it won't be a problem if I can stick with Kim's plan (especially combined with the TnT Death Ride training). Kim even mentioned as a possible the Everest Challenge, a 2 day race in Southern California that got it's name because over the 2 days you climb as much as if you'd ridden your bike up that mountain with the same name. Aspirational? You bet. But it's fun to think that I could still get in that kind of shape.....

So, stay tuned - I'll be riding a bunch again this year!

JB

Enough, already!

Ok, kids - I guess some folks really are reading this blog! I've gotten a surprising number of requests (as in more than one) to actually update this more frequently than once every 4 months, so here goes:

Crater Lake Century

This was fun! A small group of Death Ride alumni got together and rode this ride in south-eastern Oregon at the beginning of August. It goes around the crater in Crater Lake National Park, and features some good (but not Death Ride-ish) climbs. The one up to the crater itself really isn't bad - long but gradual. The ride around the rim is another story - I figured it would all be easy-ish rollers. Nope - these were pretty steep, and there's quite a few of them. My legs definitely knew I'd been on a bike ride after this one! There's almost 30 miles of flat easy riding at the very beginning, and another 20+ plus of descent and flat to end the ride, meaning there's more than 7,000 feet of climbing crammed into the middle 45 miles or so of the ride. Beautiful scenery, and fun camping with some old friends. Of course, I've got some pictures:































Bunny Ears!
































































Laziness sets in

So, now that you've done the Death Ride, what's next? Well, it wasn't Disneyland, and it wasn't a whole lot more bike riding either. Sure, I did a few rides with friends - around the Livermore hills, up Mt. Hamilton (where it became very clear I was rapidly loosing my base fitness), messing around on some flat rides. However, on the weekends I spent most of my time involved with my kids' soccer teams and hardly rode at all.

Lighthouse Century

This ride is billed as a tour of the lighthouses near San Luis Obispo at the end of September. The weather is pretty unpredictable (with all due apologies to my fave meteorologist) on the coast this time of year. Well, the fog rolled in, and as a result the only lighthouse I saw was this one at lunch:



























The ride itself is pretty nice - we did the hilly option, which gave us a nice climb up about 2,000 feet, before dropping us back down to the coast and then the rolling hills along Rte. 1. Some parts were clear, but we were fog-bound for quite a bit of the ride. I did ok, but my lack of fitness started to show as we headed for home, and I got consistently dropped over the last 25 miles.

Here we are on the morning climb (I'm in the blue jersey):




























So, what now?

Interesting question! I've ridden exactly 6 times now since the beginning of October - all that hard won fitness is out the window! I went on a 60 mile ride yesterday, part of it with some friends, and I felt ok - but I was taking it very easy. Time to get back on the horse (er, bike) and start riding again! I'm trying to figure out next year's goals - I'd like to do one or more double centuries (there - it's in print (blogged?) so now I have to do it!). I'd also like to do the Death Ride again, minus the back pain (and hail!). Plus there's a whole lot of Spring and Summer centuries in Nor Cal that I haven't even thought of doing. Plus dropping a whole bunch of weight, so I don't get dropped so much on those BF rides! I guess I'll turn this list into my New Year resolutions, although I better get started on the riding now!

Success!

Well, it's over - the Death Ride for 2008 is in the books - and I finished all 5 passes. Thanks to everyone who has supported me for the last 18 months as I decided to get back into cycling with a bang - by training for the '07 Death Ride.

Special thanks to everyone who donated to one or more of my TnT fundraising campaigns. This not only supported my training, but helped raise funds to fight blood cancers. I've personally helped raise over $10,000 now, and the teams I've been involved with have raised more than $600,000!!!!! This money not only supports research into new treatments, but also helps support the patients financially while they are being treated.

Extra special thanks also to Brian and Kevin, my 2 sons who were very understanding as my training caused me to miss more baseball games, soccer games and swim meets than I care to admit. And special thanks to Karen, Valerie and Michael, and Anne and Kris, who all helped watch the boys for so many of those Saturday training rides that all seemed to start at 6 am and go all day.

And of course I have to mention the coaches, who showed me that I could go from couch potato to being able to do this ride in 6 short months, then kept me motivated to do it again after last year's ride got derailed by, well, a broken dérailleur.

So, how'd that ride go?


Starting out in the dark was both surreal and interesting. The sky soon started showing signs of light.










I figured I might have a shot at doing this ride leaving at the "official" start time of 5:30, but it would be a close thing and everything would have to go right. After the fiasco of last year, I wasn't counting on that! A whole group of us started riding at 4:00 am. Early. Dark. But really not that cold - not like last year. A vest, arm warmers and knee warmers on top of my regular jersey and shorts were sufficient, and I took most of the extra layer off once we started climbing. I started out with a large group of TnT cyclists, but it became pretty clear that there were a few of us going about the same pace, and we ended up riding more or less together all day. K. Sue in particular was inspirational several times when I was struggling, and Sue agreed to ride with me when conditions were worst.


Climbing up Monitor Pass to the sunrise - getting closer!












Starting out, I felt pretty good - considering I'd waken up at 2:30 and tried to convince myself it was just a normal morning ride..... We finished the first climb right on schedule, at about 6:00 am and just as the sun came over the crest of the pass. The Death Ride puts stickers on the number for each rider for each pass, to keep track of which ones you've done. First one down, 4 more to go!


One pass done - the summit of Monitor at sunrise!
















Teammate Kimberly is all grins after the fast and fun descent down Monitor towards Nevada.







The descent down Monitor Pass was fast and fun. There weren't that many other riders out there yet, and we were able to go as fast as we wanted. The road is really good, wide and was closed to auto traffic - perfect conditions to have some fun. The only spoiler was that nagging thought that when we got to the bottom, we'd have to turn around and go right back up (the Death Ride does the front side and back side of 2 passes - Monitor and Ebbets. The last climb, Carson, just goes up one side). Anytime you can go that fast on a descent you just know the climb will be steep.



Climbing up the backside of Monitor Pass - steep and long.









Sure enough, it was steep and long (the climb up the back took 2 hours), but our training was paying off. It was hard, but do-able. I ran into a friend who goes by the handle "BenRidin" on a couple of internet cycling forums. I was doing well, but he went by effortlessly.



The 2nd summit of Monitor - haven't we been here before?









By 8:00 or so, we'd gotten to the top of Monitor again. 4 hours of riding time, 2 passes down and most of the civilized world hadn't even had their 2nd cup of coffee yet. We were doing well.

The descent down the front side of Monitor is also a good, fast one. It was getting more crowded now, so we all took it kind of easy, but it is always a good fast descent on Monitor. At the bottom, we regrouped, took a left and rolled over to Ebbets, the next pass. It was while we were doing the gentle part of the climb (for about 4 miles or so) that I realized I didn't feel as good as I might. My legs felt dead, my back was tight and kind of painful and my heart rate was much higher than I'd expect it to be - we were going up, but it wasn't steep or hard.



A Death Ride tradition - just past the last rest stop before the Ebbets climb gets serious, a group of women get all dressed up and cheer on the riders.










Climbing Ebbets - long and steep, many consider this the hardest climb of the day.









At the last rest stop before the climb to Ebbets got serious, we all stopped to refuel a bit and fill our water bottles. Then we started the climb. Having done this a couple of times in our training, I knew what to expect - except this was my first time after having already done 2 hard climbs. It was hard. It was long. Some of it was steep. My back hurt. A lot. Coach Jacqui and Coach Kim both had words of encouragement that helped keep me going (I'd long since lost touch with K. Sue, Sue and the rest of the crew I'd been riding with). And I made it to the top. I was mildly disappointed that the sticker crew at the top was not wearing angels wings like in years past (Ebbets is the highest elevation of the day).

Descending on Ebbets is challenging at the best of times. With hundreds of other riders both descending and climbing at the same time, it was kind of crazy. Ebbets is really a single lane road for the most part, so if riders are 3 abreast, they end up taking more than half the road. Given different climbing abilities, that was bound to happen. We all took the descent carefully, and made it safely.




At the Hermit Valley rest stop, we saw the Death Ride mascot (complete with helmet, beer and bra) being towed by the "Rolling Bones" cycling team.






I took my time at the rest stop. I didn't feel good, but I was able to eat. I ate some oranges, a banana and a PBJ. After a while, I started to feel better and I saw Sue and K. Sue grab their bikes, so I got on mine and started climbing, hoping to catch them. I never quite did (I got close to K. Sue just as a back spasm forced me to stop and stretch - the first time I'd stopped on a climb in a long time). Turns out I was only a half mile from the top (at this point, we were climbing the backside of Ebbets, for our 4th pass). I got to the top and spent a good 15 - 20 minutes stretching. Kaya, who also had been riding with us, rolled up - she was struggling also. We quickly decided to ride back to our cars together for lunch (we'd all decided to skip the official lunch stop, and the lines that go with it, and had lunch in coolers waiting in our cars). Another long, fast descent (most of the climbers had cleared the front side of Ebbets by this point, so the descent wasn't quite as hair-raising as going down the back side), and then we regrouped at the official lunch stop.

The ride back to Turtle Rock Park (the official start/finish and where our cars were) is an interesting one. The first 5 miles or so are mostly downhill, and it is very tempting to go fast and hard. Not on Saturday, not after 4 passes of pain. We took our time, hooked up with one gentleman who pulled us for a while. Eventually, we rolled into Markleeville, where I think all 600 residents were out on the main street cheering us on. A really nice feeling.





Teammate Kaya soaking her feet - it got hot enough in the early afternoon to make hot spots a real problem.






So we got back to our cars, and Kaya immediately starts soaking her feet. At this point I really couldn't eat much, but knew I had to try. It was already a tough day - if I didn't keep eating I'd really be in trouble. So I forced down half a turkey and cheese sandwich, drank a Coke (not something I normally do, but sugar and caffeine can help you do remarkable things sometimes), and we rolled out of there. Kaya decided to rest some more, so I left with K. Sue and Sue. At Woodford (a little town at the base of the final climb to Carson Pass), a volunteer at the rest stop was hosing down cyclists. It was hot enough that I couldn't resist that - Sue and K. Sue kept going. Ironically, it wouldn't be long before I was wishing I was warmer and drier.

I caught up to Sue and K. Sue just as Sue got a flat. I stopped to help, and it started to rain (we'd been hearing distant thunder for a while). Sherry, our SAG captain all season, happened to be driving by (looking for her husband) and stopped to let us use here pump. Little did we know that she'd parked in quick sand and would need help later to get her car out.....

By the time we were back on our bikes, it was raining pretty hard. We were soaked through and through by the time we got to Picketts Junction. The rest stop there had a large canopy setup, and we joined the throng underneath. Unfortunately, I'd left my wind vest and jacket in my car, since at lunch it was all blue skies and 85 degrees. I was wet and cold - it finally got to a point where I told Sue and K. Sue that I wanted to go on. At that point, it started hailing. K. Sue thought it was too dangerous, so Sue and I started to head to the top (I really wanted to finish this ride this time, and I was only going to get colder sitting around).



The Summit of Carsons Pass - a very welcome sight! 5 passes done, just a fun, fast descent to go! Now, where's my ice cream?!!








It turned out to be a good choice. I warmed up while we were pedalling, and after a couple of miles the rain stopped. For a while. We had intermittent rain and hail all the way up, but it was better than sitting around waiting for it to end. My back was really bothering me by now, so I stopped and stretched a couple of times, but once again we made it. It was clearing at the top, so we were able to dry out a bit. While we were waiting, K. Sue rolled up - no way was she going to let us finish without her! Then another ride group came in - one we were worried might not make it. So it was fun at the top, even if it was still a little too cold and wet to be comfortable.





Teammate Kaya and her boyfriend Josh showing off freshly shaved legs and TnT tattoos. Notice that there's still snow on those mountains in the background!














We got to do the descent on dry roads - many of the earlier riders were trying to descend in the same lousy weather we'd climbed in. After a nice, relaxing descent (ok, it was pretty fast), we then had our last couple of climbs to Turtle Rock Park. Not hard in and of themselves, by this point they just hurt. We got up them and rolled into a great reception at the TnT tent.

It was a great finish to a tough ride and a great season.

I'm not sure what my next cycling adventures will be, but there will be plenty more!

JB


Wet and kind of cold, celebrating at the top of Carsons Pass.

Let's get Vertical!

I think this is the hardest thing I've ever tried to do!

Yesterday's ride was called the Vertical Challenge, and for good reason - it incorporated the 2 toughest climbs from the Tour of California into a long, hard 110 mile ride with around 11,000 feet of climbing! However, as challenging as that ride was (read more about it below), that wasn't the hardest thing - nope, that was today's recovery ride. I started thinking about how hard it was going to be as I swung a tired, stiff, sore leg over my bike - ouch. Actually, after about 5 miles of easy spinning, the legs kind of relaxed and started feeling better. This recovery ride stuff really works! Even knowing that, it's hard to convince yourself to get on the bike when everything hurts the day after a tough ride.

The Vertical Challenge

So, yesterdays ride (you know, the one that created all the pain in my legs today) was a tough one - probably the toughest ride of the season. On the way to the ride, several of us hear a weather advisory on the radio - unseasonably HOT, with a strong recommendation to stay inside and avoid strenuous outside activity. Oops.

So, we started riding at 6:30, with a goal of summitting Mt. Hamilton (the toughest climb from the Tour of California this year) by Noon. We started with Mines Rd - a beautiful ride up a canyon heading south from Livermore. At this time of the morning, no traffic (or maybe that's just because the road doesn't actually go anywhere?), and the climbs were taken at an easy-going pace. I felt good all day. Starting easy turned out to be a great idea (thanks, coach).

The Mt. Hamilton climb was both tough and hot. The avg. grade on Mt. Hamilton is variously reported as 7.5% to 8.6%, but in any case it is much steeper than Mt. Diablo, and the climb is almost 6 miles long. The coach kept telling me to slow down and take it easy, but I really didn't have much choice - there was no way I was riding up that hill fast! Not in that heat. I was very happy to see the first observatory at the top of the climb. As we descended the other side, we started seeing a good old fashioned thunderstorm - but much bigger than I'm used to. Lots of lightning in the distance.

All that lightning had me thinking of Wayne and Garth singing along with Bohemian Rhapsody for some reason (Thunderbolts and Lightning, Very Very Frightening!) - it really is amazing what goes through your mind on these rides when you're kind of tired.


The other highlight was Sierra Road - another famous Bay Area climb. This one is not as long at just under 4 miles, but is even steeper - 10.5% grade on average! This goes up more than 1,800 feet in 3.7 miles. It's also not very subtle - you turn a corner, and there it is. Once again I felt fine the entire climb - a nice change. I kept expecting my back to protest, but it never did. During the climb, some clouds from that thunderstorm blew over and made it feel cooler - thank goodness. Still lots of lightning to the south (I found out later it started a couple of fires), but not close to us.

At the top we took a ride-group picture. Richard had decided to ride with a faster group, so I was left alone with the girls. Cooties!

At this point we still had something like 40 miles to go - no more enormous climbs, but it wasn't flat either (I don't think there are a lot of flat rides around here). I still felt really strong, and finished the day feeling as good as I ever have after such a tough ride. The training is working - and I'm starting feel good about the Death Ride itself.

Fund-raising - the end is near!

OK, Thursday the 26th is the end of the fundraising for this season. I'm still well short of my goal. This is for a great cause - please consider donating to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society via my fund-raising website.

The Countdown!




Well here it is, less than a month from the Death Ride (and more than a month since my last post!) Time to start getting a little nervous. So, what have I been doing? Uhhh, riding my bike! Oh, you want to know where?!! We've done some great rides. We spent a day down on the peninsula, riding in and out of Big Basin, with some of the steepest climbs around. I've been up Mt. Diablo a few times (try 12, with 3 of those in one day this week). I've ridden around Morgan Territory again, and we went camping up near Markleeville so we could ride the actual passes. Of course, I have some pics and more descriptions below!

Big Basin 5/17

This is a great ride - one I didn't get to do last year. We were riding some truly remarkable roads out on the Pensinsula south of SF, getting all the way down close to Santa Cruz. Sadly, some of the area we rode is on fire right now - last I heard, they hadn't contained any of the fire near Bonny Doon, and had evacuated hundreds of people. It's a shame - some really beautiful coastal woodlands are there, with some magnificent redwoods.

This was one tough ride - especially since this was right after the Tour of the Unknown Coast. There are two notoriously tough climbs pretty early in the ride - Redwood Gulch and Jamison Creek. Both are steep - over 10%, with sections up to 20%. Both lead into another section of more climbing (but thankfully not as steep). Redwood Gulch comes first, soon after leaving the urban area around Silicon Valley. Steep, but since it's not that long and your legs are fresh, ultimately not too bad. This is followed by a several mile climb up Rte. 9, and then a super-fun descent into Big Basin, a beautiful state park with lots of spectacular scenery and redwoods.

Big Basin is a very descriptive name - and now we were down in the bottom of that basin. That's right - we had to climb out. That's where Jamison Creek comes in. The infamous "Billy Goat List" rates this as one of the hardest climbs in the Bay Area, with 1,500 feet of climbing in just 3 miles. Yup, it's steep. And 3 miles is a long time to be climbing something that steep. However, I took my time and actually felt pretty good at this point. After that was a rolling section along Empire Grade and another wonderful descent, this one through Bonny Doon all the way to the ocean. Spectacular, fast and fun.

Riding along the ocean we got the rather predictable headwind for about 10 miles. It was strong enough to slow us down, but not as bad as it has been on other rides. Then we rolled into the beautiful and wacky little town of Pescadero for lunch. At this point we were around 70 miles, and still had 2 climbs to go. The first, Pescadero, isn't that long and isn't that steep - but with tired legs, it sure felt tougher than I think any of us expected. After that was Alpine. This one is both long (more than 7 miles) and has some pretty steep sections - nothing like Redwood Gulch or Jamison Creek, but still steep enough to make you notice. At this point of a ride, there's nothing for it but to grind your way up that hill. After that was a final fast descent to our starting point - fun, and we were all pretty happy the climbing was over. 110 miles, 10,600 feet of climbing.

Weekends off - 5/24 and 5/31

I was suffering from a cold that had me coughing and dealing with a sinus infection. No team rides planned, so I took the weekend off and rode SAG for the Tahoe and Seattle to Portland Team in Training teams instead. The rest helped - I was mostly off the bike for more than a week, and it was what I needed.

I actually rode Mt. Diablo and Morgan Territory the following weekend, but it was a miserable day - I was slow and suffering all day long. A break from riding for a few more days got me over the worst of it.


Altitude Camp! 6/6 - 6/8

Camping is fun! Especially when you're camping with close to 30 friends all there for the same reason - to get some experience riding the passes from the Death Ride! Of course, I'm not a big camper - this was the 2nd time camping in my life! Still, tents are simple to pitch now, there are all kinds of mattress pads that make sleeping more comfortable, and we had the wonderful TnT SAG team providing dinner. My car was thoroughly over-packed - 3 of us, each with a bike (all fit on the roof rack) plus bags, coolers, spare wheels, etc. etc. etc.




We also had a potluck happy hour and the coaches walked us through strategy for maximizing our chance of finishing the event. Notice the spread to the left - who says you have to rough it when you are camping?!!









The riding was spectacular. There's nothing like the Sierras - and there was still snow along the sides of the road at the summits of the passes! The riding temps. were around 75 degrees, so I don't think it will be there much longer.







Ebbets is very scenic, with lots of tall pines and a beautiful lake 1 mile from the summit.











































Monitor feels entirely different (just 10 miles away), with almost no trees (none at all on the East side), and a much more wide open feel.











Riding in altitude is a bit different, but I think the difference is often overstated. It is dry, so we have to drink more. I didn't notice a huge difference with my heart rate and breathing, but some others who were complaining about it were pushing harder (probably because of sleeping on the ground, my back was bothering me all weekend - built in excuse!).



This was a great experience, especially since now we'll know the roads on event day. So what does that ride day look like? It looks like 129 miles with more than 15,000 feet of climbing.

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D-Peats

This is our nickname for when we do Mt. Diablo repeats. It's a sure sign that I'm much stronger than last year that I've been doing D-Peats for several weeks, although the most I'd done up to now was 2 1/2. Remember, this is a 10.5 mile, 3,200 foot climb - not so easy to go up, back down and then convince yourself to turn around and go right back up! Well, on Weds. our coaches figured we should do at least 3, with some aiming for 4 or even 5. I couldn't start first thing - I had a morning meeting I couldn't get out of. So, I started right after noon, and was very happy that I did 3 by 7pm. That meant that I'm getting faster (even though I really don't feel like I am) and have built the endurance to keep going at a healthy pace without blowing up. Big improvement from last year!

Don't forget the fund-raising!

OK, folks, the fund-raising deadline is upon us. June 26th is it. We've raised just under $2,500 so far, which is great! However, my goal was $5,000 - plus I've already ridden almost 4,000 miles. Remember you all were going to make sure I rode more than I wanted to, since I'd pledged to ride a mile for every $ donated? You've got some work to do!

Seriously, thanks for all the support - we're raising money for a great cause. And of course my fund-raising website is here.

JB