In memory of Cooper

Well, after a long and tough battle with cancer, brave Cooper Proscia passed away on Saturday. The following is a quote from the CaringBridge website his family has set up:

Though many tears we are writing to share that our sweet little Cooper earned his angel wings this afternoon at 1:25 p.m.
He is already sorely missed.
Once we have made service arrangements we will post the information.
Thanks for checking.


Please see the Caring Bridge website for more information about Cooper and his fight:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/cooperproscia


Marin Buddy Ride

We had dedicated our Marin buddy ride on 4/30 to Cooper. It was a beautiful day - perfect riding weather. We started early, and since it was an informal ride, no ride groups - we were able to ride with teammates that we normally don't get a chance to ride with. We started in SF, went across the Golden Gate Bridge and climbed the Marin headlands (see first picture). It turned out that the Aids Lifecycle folks were training for their annual ride - on pretty much the same route! We spent much of the day sharing the road with more than 600 other cyclists, who were also raising money for a great cause.

The ride started out with some moderate climbs and about 40 miles into Pt. Reyes, close to the Pacific. I felt good, and what made it even better was that one of our teammates, Shelley, who had crashed earlier in the season, was back on her bike and riding with us! She hung in there and did a good ride. Welcome back!

At lunch I made a mistake - I got a panini, which tasted really good. However, it was loaded up with oil and did not sit well as the day warmed up and we got into the more serious climb - up Mt. Tamalpais via Bolinas-Fairfax Rd and Ridgecrest. I went from riding and feeling well to struggling. However, I stuck with it and didn't fall too far behind the mountain goats. That lousy feeling didn't really go away all day, though. Still, a beautiful day and a gorgeous area to ride in.




Taste of the Devil

Another tough ride (gee, we keep hearing that every week!). We rode 109 miles with slightly more than 9,000 feet of climbing yesterday. We rode the first half of one of the toughest double centuries around - the Devil Mountain Double. We rode up Mt. Diablo (yup, that pesky mountain just outside my front door), through Walnut Creek and Clayton, up Morgan Territory (a remote, rural single lane road that goes to the East of Mt. Diablo), got some flat riding in through North Livermore and then went up the Altamont and Patterson passes, part of the ridgeline that separates the Bay Area from the Central Valley. Whew - and that's just the first 70 miles! The remaining 40 miles were flat (or at least reasonably gradual climbs) and directly into a nasty headwind that sprung up in the afternoon. A long, hard ride. But it felt good - really good. The coaches had been, well, coaching me on a more appropriate pace - they felt I was going out too hard and needed to pace myself better. It worked - no back problems, no stomach problems. Some of the climbs left me gasping, but that's why we're doing them!






This first pic is of one of our honorees (ie a cancer survivor) summitting Mt. Diablo with a coach. Grace finished her chemo just a year ago, and she's already doing rides like this!











And here I am with some of my ride group climbing up that same mountain. It was early and not too hot yet.




















And her I am with teammate Michelle, cruising along after coming off of the mountain. Michelle's thermostat is set noticeably different than mine - note that she still has lots of layers on, while I'm down to my jersey.









Up at the top of Altamont Pass is a huge windmill farm - prevailing winds keep these things turning most of the time. Don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows! (with apologies to Bob Dylan). There is a racetrack up here, too - site of the infamous Rolling Stones Altamont concert - the one where the motorcycle gang members were the security.








This is the view that greets you after several miles of climbing on Patterson Pass - at the top of a false summit. Yuck. The corner is known locally as "Oh, my @#$" That little hill in the background hits a 17% grade, and had a few pros struggling during the '07 Tour of California.








And here I am struggling up to the summit. I actually felt pretty good, but it is steep!












After the hills, 40 miles or so of flats. Would have been a nice change - except for the 15mph headwind. yuck.











And here's our ride group getting organized into a decent paceline. I'm the 2nd rider. Our coach got us all organized into a good paceline, reducing the amount of work we had to do to fight that headwind!

Well, it was a great ride - and a relief to finish strong after a few tough weeks. Maybe those coaches do know what they're talking about! I felt good all ride, stayed within myself (even on the crazy steep stuff) and felt like I could have kept riding. Which is good - since the Death Ride is 20 miles longer, with another 6,000 feet of climbing!

Please remember that I'm doing this to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. You can help fight cancer by making a donation at my fund-raising website.