Autumn Riding

Wednesday, October 27^th, I left work early to go ride my bike. Riding conditions: Sunny but winds at 12 mph (according to weather.com) from the South East. I knew that for this ride, wind was going to be a headwind at some point, and I decided to have it on my return trip, thinking that the route I was going to take would be a little sheltered. Heading out north, I rode a comfortable 19 mph (?!?!?! Usually, I’m riding a not so comfortable 15 mph when I’m by myself). I was amazed at the help that 12mph tailwind (at this point) was and how it pushed me along. I settled back to enjoy the ride. I came around a corner and saw some farm equipment move along the road in front of me. I soon realized I was about to catch that slow moving beast.I came up behind it, looked around to see if I could pass, saw an oncoming car and pulled back over to the right. (How ironic is that? I’m on my bicycle, thinking about passing a huge piece of farm equipment with a motor.) Car behind, farm equipment in front, stop sign coming up, oncoming car. I was hoping that the farm equipment would turn. No such luck. After the stop sign, the car behind me turned off. The next area of road was a bit curvy so I hung back a little bit, biding my time to pass. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself at the thought of passing this piece of machinery when I saw my chance and took it. I put my bike in a harder gear, stood up and “jogged” my way past. Just as I got to the driver, I sat down, waved without looking at him and kept on going.

My next thought was, what if he speeds up? YIKES! The anticipation of that big thing trying to pass me gave me motivation to leave him in the dust (as fast as I could on a bike). I pedaled and pedaled and pedaled. If I were to turn around, I could see that I was gaining ground and would see him rounding a corner far behind me. I heard him as he’d come around the corner, but then I’d go around one and wouldn’t be able to hear him.

Coming up in front of me I saw a second piece of farm equipment. I caught this one with a little more effort because he must have had a little more horsepower and was going a little faster. I got around him and kept going, and then pedaled for all I was worth. I never could gain the ground with this one as fast as I did with the first one. I came up to my turn around point, flipped around, rounded the first corner and there was the farm equipment. The driver was an older man with a full beard. We smiled and waved at each other as we passed. This time, I was only going about 9 mph because I was now riding into that 12mph (?) headwind (that wind sure felt stronger than that). I observed that my speed was fluctuating between 7-11mph the rest of the ride home. At one point, I realized that for some reason, I was riding in the middle of the road. I didn’t completely understand how that happened until I started paying assessing the situation. The head wind wasn’t exactly head on, it was a head on/cross wind mix, and I started to literally feel a slipping sensation as the wind pushed my tires over towards the center of this low traffic road. (A little more shelter, Ha!) With this discovery, I got very focused as I pedaled, wobbled and weaved down the road. Pretty soon, here came the other farm equipment that I had first passed. Again, the driver was an older man and we grinned and waived at each other as I passed.

I was about 2 miles away from home when I looked down at my bike computer. I had to stop and take a picture. You see, since I started riding in May, this day, I hit 1,000 miles on my bike.Well, at least what my bike computer registered as being 1,000 miles. I’m hoping to hit another 1,000 before my event the first week of June. I only have 980 more miles to go to reach that goal.

Now that the time change is taking place this weekend, I will be hitting the gym to do spin classes. Hopefully we’ll still have some nice weekends when I can get out on the real road, feeling the wind on my face and the road under my tires.

Molly

Since this blog has primarily been about my adventures with bicycling and raising funds for LLS through Team in Training, I thought I'd take a wee little break as I realized that my pooch has been pretty well neglected this summer due to riding. So, I thought I would take time to show her off…ok, so maybe she hasn’t been as neglected as I thought. We are now off for a walk.

Enjoy.

"Can I please have some of that food that you're eating? It smells so good!" (Don't look at the eyes! It's always the eyes that get you in trouble!)

"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful."

"Oh maaaaan! Do you HAVE to take another picture???"

"This is so degrading!"

"Oh-come rub my belly!"

"Squirrel!"

"Enough with the pictures, already."

The week after a century-Sawtooth?

Well, the date for the Sawtooth Cycle Challenge has come and gone. Saturday, several of us rode the route even though the event was cancelled. Due to the event being cancelled, and having ridden 100 grueling miles last Sunday, I initially did not have any intention of going up to do another 100 mile ride 7 days later. Monday morning, I checked my email and found one from A.J., a Team In Training teammate that I hadn’t met yet, stating that he really thought I should go up and ride with everyone on Saturday. At that time, I decided that I wouldn’t respond because I couldn’t tell if I was dead or alive yet. A little later in the morning, I got a 2-hour massage, which woke up every sore muscle in my body. After a good long soak, some wonderful ibuprofen, and a lot of food, I started feeling better, though, moving slowly.

Tuesday morning, I headed to work and was feeling really good, still moving a little slowly, but not bad. I received an email (after my going radio silent) from A.J. Subject line, “seriously…”. He went on to encourage me to come, mentioning that they weren’t a hard core fast group and it would be a no drop ride. And, when I felt like it, I could get in the car and be part of the SAG wagon cheering team. I stayed silent for a little while longer. By this time, my emotions were high and (silly me) had it in my mind that I might actually try riding another century on Saturday. I sent an email to A.J. and cc’d Anne, Joe, and Allison (all of whom I had ridden with Sunday) and thanked A.J for the encouragement and that I was actually starting to think about it. I hadn’t made up my mind yet, though, and to give me one more day. All of a sudden, I got a barrage of emails that were cracking me up-all encouraging me to come (Thanks guys!). So, on Thursday, I decided to go. I was able to stay with Allison and her parents (THANK YOU!).

Friday evening, we arrived in Ketchum where we stayed, and got settled, then Allison and I went to have a carb loaded dinner. We came back to the condo and boiled a pot of red potatoes for everyone for the ride and then I went to bed. At this point, I was still hesitating about the ride and kept reminding myself that I didn’t have to do the whole thing-that I had done the 100 miles a mere 7 days earlier.

Saturday morning, the usual butterflies in my stomach before a ride. We loaded our bikes and headed out to the meeting spot. Parked our cars and started the ride after meeting everyone. I struggled the first 5 miles like usual, and then started to settle some-what into the ride. During the next 5 miles, I already wanted to quit. (Not the best place for your mind to be one-tenth of the way into the ride.) I was noticing that my palms were still sore from Sundays ride, along with other parts of my body. I kept adjusting my seating position, to give my back, bum, shoulders and neck a break, but the relief wouldn’t last long. 24 miles into the ride, we got to the point where we started the climb up Galena. This is a 3,000-foot climb in 6 miles, and I stopped at the bottom to eat a Shot Block for some quick energy. Joe looked at me and asked if I was ready. I was a little intimidated and my response was that I supposed we weren’t getting any closer to the top by standing there, so off we went. The SAG wagon gave us about 20 minutes before they started up after us. They came up behind us and got around us, pulling into a turnout. We kept going. They came up behind us again, and pulled into another turnout a little ways ahead of us. By this time, we were about 2 miles from the top. We stopped to get a quick little break and energy boost and got started again. Pretty soon, A.J. showed up and rode up the rest of the way with Joe and me. A.J. mentioned that we had just one more corner to go around and that if I looked up, I could see the rest of the riders and the cars. They all started cheering when they saw us coming around the corner and Allison started heading down the hill to meet up with us. There was enough room, as we rounded the corner, for all of us to ride side-by-side, so side-by-side the four of us pedaled to the top. I was so encouraged by that!

As you know, the fun part comes next. Down the hill we rode. The wind was blowing so hard that there were times that, due to the noise of the wind in my ears, I thought I had to have been going at least 45mph, and I would look down and saw I was going 23. I did come to a point, though, that I was going 38 and decided that with the wind blowing the way it was, I didn’t need to be going that fast and slowed down. We got to the bottom and rounded a corner and the wind hit me so hard that I nearly was blown off the road. At that point, I had been waffling about getting in the car and cheering or going on. After slipping a bit on the white line and feeling like I was fish tailing, I decided that I was done. I pulled off at a turn out and the SAG vehicle picked me up. From that point on, I had a blast cheering on the riders. I was able to help offer food and drink to the riders who kept on going and had a good time on that side of the ride. Though I didn’t ride even a half-century, I am still happy with myself that I went up and over Galena Summit and know that I no longer have to be intimidated by that hill.

I plan to continue to ride into the next month or two, until the weather gets too bad to ride, and then take a break from road riding, at which time, I will take more spin classes. Hopefully I don’t loose what I’ve gained over the Summer and into the Fall. Then, January, the season for America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride starts, and we will start training in February again.

If you still haven’t donated, it’s not too late. My goal has nearly been reached and then after that, it is icing on the cake. Please consider donating to this great cause of finding a cure for Leukemia/Lymphoma.

Thank you all so much for your support!

Julie

37 miles, 3 hours 21 minutes. 11 mph Average Speed. 38 mph Max Speed Total Miles on my bike: 814.3.

This is a long posting. That was an even longer ride.

Sunday morning, we met at 7:30 in the parking lot of the Optimist Foot Ball Field. By 8:00 we were on our bikes and heading down the road. Brad, Joe, Allison, Anna and me. Julie was there as well with the Sag Wagon, all decorated and painted with all of our names on it. It looked SO cool!

We got good and warmed up and headed on our first of two loops. This is a link to the map that will show you what we did if you are interested: http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/id/garden%20city/278128409810917846

Julie played leapfrog with us by passing us in the van, then sitting and waiting. As we would get close by, she would cheer for and encourage us. We’d keep going and next thing we knew, she was passing us again, music playing and cheering us on, then she would find a place to sit and wait for us again. Warm Springs was a nice quiet road, and then we turned onto Hwy 21 towards Columbia Village. This hill wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. We got to the top and fueled up with red potatoes and salt, among other things and then kept going. We were making great time and headed down Federal Way. Those hills are really fun going down. We found our way through town back to Hill Road. Next stop would be the Chevron Station at Beacon Light and Hwy 55. By this time, I was ready to shed my leg and arm warmers. We fueled up again and headed North on Hwy 55. This is the part of the route that had me a little terrified. Knowing the road is a 7% grade was a little daunting, but we headed out anyway. Here I started remembering that a lot of cycling is mind games, and I was concerned that I was too late and had psyched myself out. We were going along the flat area before the first hill, Anne and I were talking, when I noticed a snake on the side of the road. We were riding side by side, and Anne was closest to the still laying creature, when, just as she got beside it, it started wriggling and squirming and was trying to make it’s way off the road. I think she scared it. Of course, as you’ve seen in my other postings, that I don’t like snakes, so it gave me a start, too, and of course, the heebie jeebies.

We arrived at “the hill” at last. I told Anne that I’m a slow climber so feel free to go on ahead of me if she wanted to. Pretty soon, she did pass me up. Then Brad passed me up. Julie was driving circles around us-going up the hill, finding a place to turn around and coming down the hill, finding a place to turn around and going up the hill. It was always encouraging to see her come, because I my speed was about 4 mph, and it made me remember that I wasn’t out there alone. At one point, I was by myself and I heard “GO TEAM” from an oncoming car. I don’t know who it was-maybe it was Julie? Maybe it was someone else, but that encouraged me. At some point on this hill a flash caught my eye. It was blue, so I looked around to see where the light came from. My first thought was that a police officer had pulled someone over. My second thought was that a police officer was pulling me over. Yeah-right, I thought to myself. Pulling me over for going a blazing speed of, what? 3.7mph? I looked around and didn’t see a police car, but found the flashing was on my bike. Curiously (and cautiously), as I kept pedaling, I leaned forward and looked at my right gears/breaks and saw another flash. This one was white. That’s weird. I didn’t know I had blinking lights on my bike. I kept pedaling and every once-in-awhile, the flashing caught my attention so I kept leaning over, trying to figure out what it was. (It also made me think of the song “Fireflies”.) It finally dawned on me that the sun was hitting a reflector on my bike and was causing this one area of my bike to reflect the light from the reflector. Well, it kept my mind off of pedaling up the hill for a little while anyway.

A little bit further up the hill, I was feeling my muscles burn and on the edge of cramping. I was also to a point in my mind where I was pretty well convinced that I wouldn’t make it up the hill without the help of the SAG wagon. I saw that Julie had pulled over and was waiting for me so I stopped for a break. As I pulled over, the realization hit me, too, that I had bonked and needed food and water. I gulped down half of a water bottle, and tried to eat a bit of sandwich. One bite and my throat tightened up so that I was having a hard time breathing, and I just about threw up. I stretched out a little bit and ate a shot block (energy booster), drank a little more and started feeling better. I was looking up the road thinking that I was “just about to the top-that HAD to be the top-and if it indeed WAS the top, I was going to make it,” when a familiar car showed up. It was my Mom and Dad (along with Molly-my pooch). I chatted with them for a minute and then started riding again. At this point, the shot block had kicked in and all of a sudden, I felt like the rest of the hill was a little easier. Amazing what happens when there is energy in the system. I had two corners to round, and just before the second one, I saw Allison heading back down looking for me. (THANK YOU ALLISON!) As soon as I got to her, she crossed the road and followed me the rest of the way to the turn off to Old Hwy 55. We all stood there while I did a little recovery and talked and cheered, and of course, we all posed for pictures.

Next is the fun part, though a little scary. We headed down-hill on Old Hwy 55, you know, where you can actually see bread loaf rock. We rounded a corner and came across a couple of “spectators” that nearly made me jump out of my skin. A huge bull on the very edge of the road on my left, and a huge bull a little ways off of the road on the right. The one on the left was watching us as we passed. As soon as I passed, the one on the left crossed the road behind me. Whew! No big deal. After that, we got to a part of the road that is not maintained, so we had to watch for and dodge potholes-some not easily seen. There was one area where we had to get off and walk-but only for about 20 feet. There were also a couple of tricky maneuver points where we had to pay attention. Then to chip sealed road that made every bone in my body reverberate by the time we got to where old and new Hwy 55’s intersect. We were to the bottom of the hill-nearly. We made it through Horseshoe Bend and up to the gas station at the head of Hwy 52 and took a break to fuel, use the restroom, etc.

The next portion of the trip was pretty uneventful. It was a nice part of the trip that followed a river on a gently curving road. A few mild climbs and a couple of steeper declines. People were playing volleyball by the river and having a picnic. We stopped at Black Canyon Park and rested in the shade. My feet were screaming at me-I think my shoes were too tight, so I took them off for a few minutes and sat in the grass. Then I decided to walk down to where Julie was so that I could re-fill my water bottle and eat. I decided to walk because I knew that my bum needed a break from the bike seat and couldn’t bear the thought of getting back on right then. When I got back to my bike, I started lifting up my leg to get on my bike and it just flopped back down to the ground. I had to laugh when I realized what I had done. Brad looked at me and laughed-then said, “Come on! Break over-let’s go.” I did it again, and finally got enough momentum to get back on the bike. By this time, we were at about 73 miles. We were about 7 miles outside of Emmett where we were going to stop at another gas station to use the facilities and re-fuel for the final climb of Old Freeze Out Rd.

Break over in Emmett-here we go. I was feeling really good at the end of this break, thinking, “I can conquer this hill!” I had that feeling until we started up a small incline that wasn’t even “THE HILL” yet. Then my legs started screaming at me, but I kept on pedaling. I made it to the top with Julie following close behind and everyone was waiting there for me. Once we got onto Hwy 16, Brad and Joe wanted to draft and asked if anyone else wanted to be a part of the pace line. I said yes, so I jumped in line at the back. Brad let me know that if they were going to fast to shout out. There came a point when I noticed that we were going a little over 19mph and I was starting to fall off of the pace line. I said that I thought 19 was tops for me right now. Joe and Brad slowed down a bit and we started descending a bit. I could feel that we were going pretty fast, and I was keeping up pretty easily. Going up hills, I was focused on keeping up, and then going down small declines, I still was keeping up pretty well. I heard Joe say something, but couldn’t make it out. Then I heard Brad say, “She lied”. Apparently, we were going about 25 mph and I was keeping up without any problem, so he was saying, jokingly, that I lied about 19 being tops for me.

As we were moving along, I heard a truck horn, looked up and it was my sister. She started driving circles around us, as did Julie. Before we got to Hwy 16 and Beacon Light, I told Brad and Joe, “It looks like a party on the corner.” Sure enough, everyone was standing there, waiting for us to cheer us on. We rounded the corner and kept on going with their cheers in our ears. By this point, we are at about 93 miles. Just keep pedaling. Just keep pedaling. At about 95 miles, I had to stop because my feet were screaming again. I loosened them up again and Julie pulled up, handed us some water and then went to the finish line to wait for us.

About mile 98 or 99, we had to stop for a stoplight. I came to a wobbly stop and just about didn’t get unclipped. I told Brad, “I’m getting dangerous.” So he asked if I wanted him behind me to watch me or in front of me to help pull me. I decided in front of me. Mile 100+, we made it to the finish line, everyone cheering. Mom came up to me and handed me a milkshake (just the perfect remedy), and we all sat and talked for a little while before going to dinner.

Today I slept in, walked around very slowly, had a 2-hour massage which woke up all of my aching muscles. I think they were in denial before the massage, but afterwards, reality kicked in. Epsom Salt baths and ibuprofen are fantastic cures for sore muscles. A little ice cream helps too.

100.63 miles, 7 hours 26 minutes. 13.8 mph Average Speed. 36 mph Max Speed Total Miles on my bike: 777.2.

Century Ride

Stiff Hair from hair product getting sweaty

Gritty skin from sweat

Sunburned skin from Sunscreen letting me down (or maybe I just forgot to re-apply)

Fatigued legs, but not so fatigued that I can’t walk

Sore bum-sore enough that it is tough to sit-but it is do-able

Getting re-hydrated

Getting re-fueled

Aah, sweet shower

Aah, sweet bed

This has been a good day!

More about the ride tomorrow…

Good night.

Feelin Good

For some reason, I’ve been having a difficult time writing about our 77 mile ride last week. So this one is going to be short, sweet and to the point. Please bear with me.

On Monday, Sept 6^th, (Labor Day) Brad, Allison and I did a 77 mile bike ride. We started at Fred Meyers in Nampa cycled out to the Boise Airport, past Birds of Prey entrance back to Nampa, around Lake Lowell, back to Fred Meyer. WOW! Amazing ride! This was the first time that I didn’t take a nap after a ride because I actually had energy left over. I’m not saying I didn’t hurt-just had energy.

We passed Roy and Sue’s house, Diana and Ken’s house, Dan and Julie’s house, and Mom and Dad’s house. At one of our stops to re-fill water bottles, Alicia was walking in to the convenience store, so she stopped and talked with us for a little while before heading off to slide down the Bruneau Sand Dunes with her kids.

I didn’t see any snakes, on this trip-could be that when we started, it was about 45°F and didn’t get any warmer than 69°F that day.

Well, I’m out the door for our 100 mile ride here shortly. More to come on that.

77.19 miles, 5 hours 28 minutes. 14.1 mph Average Speed. 91 (more like 36) mph Max Speed. Total Miles on my bike: 674.6.

Dump Loop for the 3rd time

Friday, Sept 3^rd. 94°F

Met Allison at Camel’s Back Park at 6:30.

Started riding.

Dropped my water bottle

Sprinklers

Shade

Cars

Sun

Climb

Heat

Head felt like it was on fire in the sun

Climb

Shade

Saw 4 deer

Climb

Rest at the top of a hill

Coast down

Neighborhood

Sun

Heat, but not as much

Climb

Climb

Coast

Climb

c-l-i-m-b

coast for a short distance-stop

climb

climb

climb

c-l-i-m-b

coast for a loooooong time-wheeeeeee!

Climb

Fox

Coast

Headlights

Ride faster

Street sweeper

Take detour

Safely back to Camel’s Back Park

Talked with friends until after dark

Milk Shake stop

Home

Idaho City

I am a few weeks late in posting about my last two rides, so I’ll do my best in capturing them in this blog and the next.

About 3 weeks ago, the plan was to ride out to Idaho City from Harris Ranch. That Saturday night, we had, what I heard later, to be upwards of 80 mile an hour winds. Sunday morning, the air was fresh, nice and cool. On my way to the meeting point at Harris Ranch, I was driving past a golf course and saw that huge tree branches, severed from their trees, were hanging on power pole wires. One power pole had fallen over and the wires were caught in a tree. Tree debris was all over the roads and I was wondering if our ride to Idaho City would be filled with avoiding fallen debris on the roads. Thankfully, we had very little to contend with. We had 5 miles from our starting point to the beginning of the Hill Top hill, which is just about perfect for a warm up for me. I still struggle to breathe and pedal for those first 5 miles, but after that, I get in my groove and am ready to roll.

I am finding that I am getting stronger with each ride. This one, I didn’t have to stop on the way up to the top of the hill to take a break. Once at the top, going down the other side is always a blast-unless you get the willies when you see snake carnage on the side of the road-like I do. Something would shimmer and glint in the sunlight and I’d realize what I was seeing and would swerve slightly to avoid running over the bodies. Some of the snakes that I saw looked like they could have been 2.5” in diameter. Hmmm-that sounded almost like the road was plastered with snake carnage. In reality, I think it was only 3 snakes on that downhill portion of the ride, but three snakes is 3 too many for me.

We came to a part of the road that was under construction. There was freshly paved road, but it was one lane and controlled by a traffic light. So we sat at the red light and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

FINALLY, it turned green and we let the cars go first. As soon as the last one went, the light was turning yellow and we took off. There is NOTHING like being on a freshly paved road on a road bicycle. WOW! So smooth-it’s like butter.

The rest of the way to Idaho City is a gradual climb. A climb so gradual, that a 15 mph speed is not difficult to achieve. Not difficult, that is, unless you have a hollow spot in your stomach. About 5 miles away from I.C., I asked if we could stop so that I could put a little somthin’ somethin’ in my tumbly to quench the rumbly. We stopped long enough to do that, but apparently that was too long. I had been keeping up with Joe and Brad really well, drafting behind them. Once we got going again, I absolutely could not keep up. It’s like an energy zapper was at that particular place in the road and stole all of mine.

When we got to Idaho City, we stopped at Trudy’s for breakfast. Joe said that it is tradition that we stop and eat there. We all sat down and figured out what we wanted to eat. I was concerned that if I ate anything, it would re-visit me on the side of the road on the way back. Especially on the back side of Hill Top. I asked Allison if she wanted to split something. She agreed, so we split a breakfast burrito. Oh man! It tasted good, and splitting was definitely the way to go. Three of the 5 riders that day had never ridden to Idaho City, so Joe offered to pay for breakfast and we all thanked him. His reply was, “Don’t thank me until the end of the ride.” This was said with a twinkle in his eye and a bit of an evil grin playing around the corner of his mouth. I’m thinking, “Uh oh. I think I’m in trouble.”

On the way back, we had a head wind. This particular section of the ride, I was thinking, “In order to survive, I have GOT to keep up with Joe and Brad.” So I tucked in right behind them and all the way through the canyon, I was able to do just that. Joe would “pull” us as we would draft behind him. Then Brad would take Joe’s place and Joe would fall behind me. Allison didn’t want to draft-which probably helped build her endurance and strength, and she didn’t fall far behind us. Mary was coming at her own pace and was behind Allison. (Mary amazes me-riding with a broken tail bone.) At one point, Brad asked if I wanted to try pulling to see what it was like or if I wanted to save my energy. I said both. So I pulled out in front. I looked down and saw that I was going about 24 mph. We rounded a curve and all of a sudden, within about 50 feet, I was down to 19 mph. Part of that was headwind, the other part, just not being used to pulling people behind me. I heard Joe in the back say that it was a nice easy ride back behind me. But as I slowed down a little more, Brad asked if I wanted to keep going or if I’d had enough. I told him I was getting tired, so Joe pulled up in front of me. This put Brad behind me. Pretty soon, Brad could see that I was struggling to keep up with Joe so he jumped in front of me so that I would have the advantage of two stronger riders pulling me. That helped a lot.

Finally, we got to the part of the ride where we started climbing again and then, we were each on our own at our own pace. Head winds coming at you when you are going up hill is NOT fun, but we all did it. My breakfast did not re-visit me, in fact, I think it really helped me finish. I was the last to the top of Hill Top (which, by now, does not surprise me), but I made it…without stopping. From there, it was mostly down hill all the way back to my car.

67.5miles, 4 hours 57 minutes. 13.6 mph Average Speed. 35.6 mph Max Speed Total Miles on my bike: 578.5.

Sawtooth Cycle Challenge Update

Once upon a time, there was a cyclist named Julie who was raising funds for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society through Team in Training. She was training for a Century Ride called the Sawtooth Cycle Challenge, happening in mid-September and had nearly reached her goal ($590 away from it) when...

I received news on Monday, August 16^th, that officially, the Sawtooth Cycle Challenge has been cancelled due to lack of interest. As of this day (one month before the event), there were 12 people signed up to participate). The small amount of interest has caused the coordinators of the event to re-consider having it and cancelled.

Team In Training (TNT) has given us three options. Considering what we’ve been training for, one option (Peach of a Century-in Salem, held in September) sounds like it will be too easy of an option-nice rolling hills and flat areas. The second option (Moab Century Tour) sounded too tough-first 35 miles of the ride are climbing miles. Within the first 20 miles is a section called “The Big Nasty” (a climb of 3,000 feet in 7 miles, some of the grade being 14-19%). This ride is considered a 9/10 for difficulty. (In addition, I’m not sure I want to face another “Big Nasty” this year. One was enough.) The third option sounds just right. (Does this sound like “The Three Little Bears”? Too Hot, too cold, just right. Too hard, too soft, just right…) This ride is called “Americas Most Beautiful Bike Ride” (AMBBR) and takes place in Tahoe. The bummer is that this event is 10 months out, taking place the first weekend of June. This year, in 2010, there were 1,500 TNT participants and a total of 3,000 cyclists riding (compare that to a total of 12 at the event…).

What does this mean regarding my fundraising goal? Yes, AMBBR is a more expensive ride and typically TNT has a higher fundraising goal for participants for this event. Due to the circumstances, TNT is going to honor the Sawtooth Cycle Challenge (SCC) fundraising goal for the TNT participants who were signed up for the SCC. However, being that the event is still 10 months out, I’d love to be able to raise more than my minimum goal. Currently, as mentioned above, I am $590 away from meeting the minimum. I would love to have this goal met before the end of the year so that when training for this event in January, any monies raised is just icing on the cake. If you have already donated, thank you so much! Your donations will be transferred-with me-to this new event.

With all of this in mind-we are continuing to train. I asked Coach Brad if he would put together a 100-mile ride in the valley for us. He agreed and so the weekend of September 11^th (I don’t know if it will be Saturday or Sunday yet), we will be riding 100 miles, partially because we have trained and will be ready for it by then, but mostly because we think it is important to not lose momentum in training that we have built up so far. The plan is to continue training and doing group rides through the rest of this year. Then, come January, training for AMBBR will begin. When it gets too cold to ride outside, we’ll take spin classes in the gym and possibly partake in some skiing.

I will continue to update my blog (http://pedalchik.blogspot.com) and my plan is to send out an update once a month. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let me know. And again, I ask you to consider donating to the cause. You can donate safely and securely by going to the following website:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/oswim/Sawtooth10/jkdowner

Or you can send your donations directly to me (please make checks payable to LLS) and I will make sure they get to LLS. My address is 11330 W. Tempe Lane, Star, ID 83669. All donations are tax deductible.

Thank you so much!

Julie

Swan Falls Dam

Sunday morning’s ride was, shall I say, uneventful. If you call head winds, tail winds, 54°- 90°F, going down a steep hill, zigzagging back up that steep hill, running over a snake with my bike, and heading back home uneventful. Hmmmm.

We headed out a little after 7:00, 54°F out. No leg or arm warmers because I knew that I would get warmed up shortly. But during that short amount of time, my teeth were nearly chattering. Within about 15 minutes, I realized that I felt warmer. Due to little traffic on a Sunday morning, we were able to ride in the smooth tire tracks in the middle of the road and not get so jittery by riding on the rough chip seal. The ride felt really great and we were keeping a good pace.

We turned south on Swan Falls Road and I don’t know what happened. We were either in some sort of head wind or the rolling hills were HUGE rolling hills. Possibly some of both? There was one hill that we went down and I told Allison, “I don’t think I want to come back up this one.” In hind-site, it was a short hill, just steep.

As we drew nearer to the canyon where we were to drop down towards the dam, I started feeling a little apprehensive for not only the decline, but mostly for the climb back up and out. Finally, we got to a hair pin curve and I looked up and saw the sign that has a truck pointed down hill (grade sign)-though it didn’t say what % grade. This is the first ride that we’ve been on where we had the grade warning sign. (Gulp) We stopped at the sign and Brad took pictures of our backs as we looked downhill. Then, we all turned around and put on frightened faces, and he took another picture. Then, down we went. This hill felt so steep that I didn’t feel as though I could relax and enjoy the descent. I kept riding my brakes, and at one point, came to a complete stop. Finally, once I did let the bike go a little, I got up to 33 MPH in a short moment and was still gaining speed, so I put on the brakes again. I learned that when going down a decline like this, it is best to be in the drops position so that I have a better grip on the brakes if needed-not to mention better control. When we made it to the bottom, we were greeted with a gorgeous view of the power plant and Snake River. We rested at the bottom, ate snacks, refilled our water bottles and started heading back to the bicycles. About this time, a guy got into his truck and as he was getting ready to pull away, he was watching us get ready to head back up the hill. I stuck out my thumb and asked, “Can I get a ride?” He just smiled and drove away. (Sigh) I tried.

Up we started. Three of the four of us had never done this ride before and we all made it to the top, no stopping. I zigzagged all the way, because that was the ONLY way for me to get up. I would look down at my speedometer every once-in-awhile and notice that I was going anywhere from a lightening pace of 3.7-4.2 mph. I started to think that I could walk the hill faster then I could ride it. Then I realized that I had bike shoes on and that wouldn’t be any fun. I would start thinking about stopping for a break, but then realized, if I stopped, there’d be no starting again because the grade was too steep. Then I started taking inventory of how I was feeling. I wasn’t breathing hard. I was tense. My legs felt like they were getting a work out, but didn’t feel like they’d give out, so I just kept pedaling. I rounded a corner and saw that Brad was there videotaping me coming up the hill. He was cheering me on (he and Cheri are fabulous encouragers), and I said as I was going past him, “3.7mph BABY!” as if that were something to be proud of. The speed may not have been, but the fact that I made it up the hill, without stopping-the first time? Yes, I’m amazed at what I can do today compared to 2.5 months ago. Whew!

Once we got back on flat ground and had a little break, we all took off and next thing we knew, we were maintaining an 18-20mph speed-and we weren’t drafting. What an amazing feeling! It was as if whatever was holding us back just disappeared and we were FREEEEE! I was watching the road in front of me when I saw something that looked like a rusty spring, sort of stretched out. I was coming onto it too quickly to swerve around it, so I went over it. Right about the time I got over it, I realized what it really was (shudder, shiver, willies up and down my spine and legs for about the next 5 minutes (and as I’m recalling this)). Allison was riding right beside me and asked, “What?” My response, “I just ran over a snaaaaaake!” (shudder) Ack! Eeeeeeew! YIKES! Blech! It was dead, thankfully, but now I have the heebie jeebies again.

When we turned north onto Swan Falls (the road that has the big rolling hills) we ended up with a wind that wasn’t a head wind, but all of a sudden, I was struggling to maintain 15mph. Then came the short but steep hill. This knocked me down to about 6 mph, and when I got to the top, I had a hard time bringing my speed up. I think at that point, I had “bonked” and needed some energy food. I stopped, ate and drank and felt the energy come back. Back on the bike and the rest of the way back to Brad’s house (where we started from). When we got back to the cars, Joe mentioned that we had just done a tough ride, one that a lot of cyclists won’t do. Then he proceeded to tell us that a lot of cyclists won’t do Bogus Basin, Hill Top, Old Freezeout Road, or Swan Falls Dam because they are difficult rides. Ok, so now I feel justified for feeling tired after this ride.

I finally found a website through Google that told me a grade for the road down to Swan Falls Dam. It said something like a minimum grade of 8%. So, I don’t know what the average grade was.

There has been talk that next week, we’ll see Idaho City on bicycle. I have just about wrapped my head around that one. It’s bound to be a gorgeous ride.

50 miles, 3 hours 43 minutes. 13.5 mph Average Speed. 33.9 mph Max Speed Total Miles on my bike: 511.

Bogus Basin

I have met this road under different circumstances in the past (in a car, usually with skis). Yesterday, I met it on my bike. Bogus Basin Road is 16 miles of 5% grade- climbing all the way to the top with very few breaks. I realized, about 2 miles in to our ride, I didn’t have my sunglasses on. I wasn’t warmed up yet, so I was breathing heavily and couldn’t imaging repeating the hill that we had just climbed up so I decided to not go back to get them. I’m not sorry that I didn’t go back, though I would have been more comfortable with them on, and hopefully, won’t forget them again.

Joe came with us on this ride, using his one speed bike. It wasn’t by choice, but he wanted to come with us and his spoke hadn’t been fixed from when we all rode to Arrow Rock Dam. So, the one speed it was. He would stop and wait for us as we would catch up to him, we would all get a little break and then off we would go, Joe taking the lead.

It truly was a beautiful ride. We went from brown, dry hillsides to the lush green ski hill. Just before we got to the tree line, I could smell the pine trees. When we got into the trees, it was so nice and cool. I don’t think we hit 75° until we got back to the bottom.

It took about 2.75 hours to get to the top. My speed was between 4 and 5.5 mph all the way up. At the top, we took a break, admired the view of the chair lift, re-filled water bottles and headed back down the hill. Getting to the bottom took about an hour. Yes, sore muscles in my bum today. Sit bones-just fine.

34.37 miles, 3 hours 45 minutes. 9.1 mph Average Speed. 34.3 mph Max Speed Total Miles on my bike: 461.

Coach Brad and Cheri had taken Monday through Friday last week to do a 255 mile ride in Oregon and didn’t know how they would be feeling for another ride on Saturday, so Sunday morning it was.

Saturday evening, we got the email just reminding us that we would meet at Camels Back Park at 7:00 am. Then, it said, we’ll ride about 50 miles with “a few good climbs”. My first thought was, “Mommy!” Then I thought, “Hmmmm, could be the dump loop, Bogus Basin Road, or Hill Top.” I got to thinking that the Dump Loop is about 25 miles, Bogus is a 16 mile climb, and Hill Top to the end of the pavement before Arrow Rock Dam is about 50 miles… but that’s “only” two climbs…I couldn’t make “two” into “a few”.

When we met on Sunday, I told Brad that I was thinking the ride might be one of the three. He let me know that we weren’t going to be doing anything that I hadn’t done before and then started pedaling…in the direction of the dump loop (sigh). So I began mentally preparing myself to conquer the two hills that conquered me last time we did this loop. One of Brad and Cheri’s friends, who is an insanely strong cyclist, was with us for this ride and was following me up the 2 mile climb past the dump. I didn’t hear a thing behind me except for the occasional shifting of gears. I got to the top and was gasping for breath and dripping sweat. I turned around and Daniel was just sitting on his bike, cool as a cucumber. Not breathing hard, not sweating, just sitting there as if a car had just dropped him off. After catching my breath, we headed down that hill into Hidden Springs. Then, after stopping to use the facilities at the Merc, we headed on around the loop.

When we arrived at the bottom of the first hill, my heart was already pounding hard with anticipation that THIS is the first hill that made me walk. I was hoping that I could make it, and did pretty well until the last little section. I made it past the point where I started walking the first time, but just about stopped and walked again, when Brad turned around and headed back down the steepest part of the hill to encourage me and keep me going. I started zig zagging across the road in the hope that would help, and it did. I finally made it to the top-without walking-and stopped. Once I caught my breath, I asked a couple of questions. How do I shift to a harder gear once I’m heading up the hill? Brad told me what he does, and then deferred to Daniel, who reminded me that pedaling is all about balance.

We got started again and headed up the next hill (the second one that conquered me last time). As we started up the hill, Daniel rode right next to me. He gave me a couple of tips about posture and then said something like slow, smooth, even pedal strokes, all the way around. I started that, forgetting about the first tips that he told me, and next thing I knew, I was at the top of that hill. This is the one that when going down, I made it up to 45 mph last time. (This time, it was 40.) As we headed up that third hill that took us to Bogus Basin Road, I kept in mind what Daniel had said and realized I was just cruising up the hill. Well, if 6 mph can be considered “cruising”, that is. I felt like there wasn’t any effort to make it up this hill and got to the top and felt great! At the top, Brad asked me if I knew what we would be doing next. He said I had mentioned three things, and we had only done one before, so all that was left was Hill Top. I thought, Ok, I’m going to do this. It may hurt, but I’m going to do it.

When we made it to Lucky Peak, we all started up the hill and, for the first time, no one stopped at the dam. I was bringing up the rear, and I was thinking that because I was feeling all right, I’d keep going. So, pedal I did. Somewhere along the way, it felt like I hit a wall of heat. The last time I had looked at my thermometer, it was 74°. This time, it was 92°. Pretty soon, I passed Cheri who was taking a break at a turn out. The next turn out, I took a break. Once that break was over, I went the rest of the way to the top without stopping. Every once-in-awhile, I would pray and say, God, can I please have a little tiny tailwind? Each time, I asked, I got one. I was hurting, so when we got to the top, we sat there outside of the restaurant in the shade for a few minutes until the pain subsided. Then, from that point, it was all-downhill. Of course, the tiny tailwind turned into a gusty headwind as we turned around, and it felt like it nearly stopped us as we were going downhill at different times.

The rest of the way, we just took it easy and finally made it back to the cars.

When I got back, I checked my text messages. I received one from a friend and it said, “Able to climb ginormous hills with tremendous strength…it’s SUPER Hulie!!...” This text made me laugh at first, but then I broke down, partly due to being tired and hungry, but mostly because I was humbled by her words. Part way through the ride, I was thinking, “What the h--- am I doing this for!?!?!?” It wasn’t too many pedal strokes after that, when I started remembering why I am doing this:

· I am doing this because my friend’s mom lost her battle with Leukemia.

· I am doing this because my friend’s 12-year-old son lost his battle with Leukemia.

· I am doing this because my friend is battling Leukemia.

· I am doing this because my family and other friends have both WON AND LOST the battle with different types of cancers.

· I am doing this because of all the people that I’ve met since I started training who have Leukemia, Lymphoma, or Melanoma.

· I am doing this so that maybe, just maybe, I can make a difference and help to find a cure so that these people who are currently battling cancers, will have hope for a cancer free life.

Will you join me in finding a cure? You can donate by clicking the “donate here” link at the upper right of this page.

Thank you!

53 miles, 4 hours 30 minutes. 12.2 mph Average Speed. 40.9 mph Max Speed Total Miles on my bike: 426.5.

First Golf Experience

(Disclaimer-having never golfed before, I may mess up the terms, but hopefully you’ll understand what I’m saying.)

Yesterday, our company had a golf scramble as a going away party for one of my colleagues who is moving across the country-still with our company, but relocating. Each team had 4 people who each got to tee off, then we would play off of the best ball. Having never played before, I had to ask someone to show me how to hold the clubs, in addition, asking which club I should use for each shot. The people on my team were fantastic in answering questions and giving encouragement. As I prepared for my first shot (tee off?), I thought about an episode of “Monk” that I had just seen. Sherona had to play Golf with someone to spend time with the suspect and Monk acted as her Caddie. She asked him for the club ‘3’ and Monk, being Monk, just couldn’t do it. He HAD to start with the first club and handed her the ‘1’. I just laughed to myself as I was looking at my clubs and one of my team mates said, use your number 1 club for this shot.

Along the way, there were competitions for guys farthest Tee Off, ladies furthest Tee Off, Guys closest to the pin, Ladies closest to the pin, etc. I ended up getting ladies closest to the pin-even with a water hazard involved. My ball ended up in the sand hazard, BUT I got it over the water. WOHOOOO! Of course, that was my best shot out of all 9 holes and it felt like it all went downhill from there. Regardless of that, my team won...by 1 point.

After the game during dinner, I was asked if I am now addicted to the game of golf or if I could take it or leave it? I said that I probably wouldn’t take it up on my own, but if someone asked if I wanted to join them for a game of golf, I’d do it. I was pleasantly surprised that I had fun and really did enjoy the experience.

Bald Eagles and Grasshoppers

Last week, I learned some things about myself that I applied this week. FREQUENT FOOD. I also started realizing that how training goes has a lot to do with what is going on in the mind. When I got tired and wanted to take a break coming up the backside of Hilltop, I started thinking about Phyllis and how Leukemia won in her situation. I immediately got angry was able to put that energy towards pedaling and being stubborn about making it up the hill without stopping.

This week, I had a different experience during my 55 mile ride…

It was a gorgeous ride from Eagle, through Middleton, down the old Emmett Highway, into Emmett, up the climb at Old Freeze Out Rd, onto Hwy 16 back to Eagle. Beautiful Fields, mostly flat (with the exception of Old Freeze Out and Hwy 16), low traffic areas, etc. When we got into Emmett, we took a side road that had a set of railroad tracks and a lot of trees. It felt nice and lush and cool. I heard a screech and started looking around, spotting a bird on top of a pole in a nest. As I watched a little longer, I noticed that it was a Bald Eagle. When I pointed it out, Cheri saw another Eagle sitting in a tree just a little way off, watching. It seemed as though they were talking to each other. AMAZING!

Another set of railroad tracks and we were ready for a break. We stopped at a gas station to top off our water bottles, and fuel up. Cheri started talking about eating and drinking anything that she could put into her mouth for the next part of the ride. Up to this point, we had a pretty flat ride, except for the fabulous decline that we got to go down. (Which reminds me, Cheri took off down this hill, Brad following and I brought up the rear. As I started down the hill, I heard a “POP!” I thought I had somehow dropped something or that maybe a tire had popped. I started looking around quickly and found that everything was all right. (Brad was thinking the same thing.) All of a sudden, we were passed by to motorcyclists, one of which was backfiring all the way down the hill.) Back to our rest break-as Cheri was talking about needing to fuel up for the climbing portion of our ride, I started to get a little nervous, and told her so. She looked at me and said that she was talking the hill down. Some comfort that was. We started out again and as we got closer to the hill (Old Freeze Out Road) Brad started telling me tricks about getting up this hill. I followed him very closely for awhile, and got the feel for it, then he took off. I kept going and saying to myself, “relax the shoulders, relax the arms, relax the hands, heels down.” Every time I would do that, I could feel energy and power for doing more of the hill. I thought about stopping, but then kept thinking, “I really don’t need to stop. Keep going. Yes, I’m tired, but I can do this.” All of a sudden, I see Brad heading back towards me and he said that I had one more corner and a small climb and I was at the top. WOHOOOO! Let me tell you, that was the longest small climb I’ve done so far. I got to the top and waited for Brad and Cheri to join me. When she got to the top, Cheri kept going. This next portion was on Hwy 16 for about 10 miles.

Going down Hwy 16, as we were being hit with grasshoppers, I realized that we were going to pass a friend’s house, a friend who I am riding in honor of. By this time I was getting tired, but we were maintaining about 15-18mph pace. I looked up and saw my friend out working in the yard and yelled “hi” to him. He looked up and took a minute, but saw us, waved and yelled “hi” back. The amazing experience about this was that one little interaction brought determination for the remainder of Saturday’s ride. It brought home, once again the reason that I have taken this whole endeavor on.

55 miles, 3 hours 55 minutes. 13.9 mph Average Speed. 31.5 mph Max Speed Total Miles on my bike: 374.2.

Arrow Rock Dam

Saturday we rode from Camel’s Back Park to Arrowrock Dam-quite the jaunt. It’s 50 miles round trip, up and over Hilltop (by Lucky Peak) to the end of the pavement before Arrowrock Dam and back. I guess the pavement ends about 100 yards from the dam, but you can’t see the dam from the end of the pavement. I’ll have to drive it sometime just to see it. It really was a pretty ride, and going up Hilltop, this time, wasn’t so labor intensive. I love that muscle memory! I also made a new friend that will be kept close on all rides from here on out. That friend? Sharkies! LOVE them! I kept popping a little sharkie in my mouth every time we stopped and didn’t feel the muscle fatigue that I felt the first time going up hilltop. Once we reached the top, we rested. Anna decided that she was done and headed back home. Cheri didn’t see Anna go back the way we came and thought she went on, so Cheri went chasing after her down the backside of the hill. I took off after Cheri, but when she’s headed down a hill, there’s no catching her. Then, I realized that since I had never been to Arrow Rock Dam, I didn’t know the exact way to go. By this time, Cheri was out of sight. I am very thankful for road signs! Allison followed after me, and then Joe brought up the rear. He didn’t want to go too fast due to breaking a spoke on the way up the front side of the hill. (I learned something about spokes on this ride. They really help keep the tire in balance. Joe’s back tire was wobbly the rest of the ride, but we all made it back safely.)

It’s a really weird sensation after working hard to go up the hill, then not working so hard to go down the hill. Once at the bottom, I felt like I was still going downhill. I turned around to Allison and said, “We’re still going down.” Later she repeated that to me. Finally we stopped to let Joe catch up to us which didn’t take long (still missing Cheri). When we mentioned that we were still going downhill, Joe said that we weren’t. The road was more flat and small rolling hills. Must have been an optical illusion, but he was right. Even coming back towards the turnoff felt easier.

Just before we got to the end of the road, Cheri passed us heading the other way. We smiled and said hi, thinking she would stop and wait for us, but she didn’t. I was guessing that she was going to start climbing the hill, thinking we would catch her partway up or at the top. Well, we made it to the end of the paved road and turned around (after taking a few photos). Then stopped at the marina to use the facilities and to refill/top off our water bottles. Finally, we were on our way, back up the 2-mile steeper incline that we had to climb in order to get back to the top of hilltop. Just before we started climbing, Allison called out that she had a flat tire. It was a perfect place to pull over (getting refreshed by sprinklers) and replaced the tube and we were on our way again. That hill is intimidating to ride up. There was one point where I wobbled over to a little pull out when Allison called, “We are almost there!!!” I wobbled back to the road and kept going. Allison thought we were closer to the top than we really were. I finally asked Joe to please tell me that what I was seeing was really the top. He did. In fact, just beyond the yellow sign was the top. We were nearly there, when all of a sudden, we spotted Cheri coming down the hill towards us. She crossed the road and got in line with us and when we made it to the top, she let us know that she had stopped and had lunch at the restaurant up there on hilltop while she waited for us, something she had wanted to do since she and Brad started riding. Then she got to thinking that perhaps we went on by her without seeing her and came to look for us. From there, it was all downhill.

Sunday morning, I took Molly for a walk and, as usual, stretched half way through. When I was done stretching, I took a few steps and noticed that there were muscles in my bum that hurt with every step. Then I noticed that the sore muscles were in my thighs and calves. The walk must have woken them up. Sunday was a day of stretching and resting.

50 miles, 4 hours 9 minutes. 12.3 mph Average Speed. 58 ??? mph Max Speed (I don’t think so-computer must be a little wacked). Total Miles on my bike: 320.4.