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.

Imagination and Peace

Gorgeous evening. Clear blue sky. 81° F. Burning muscles and lungs for the first 5 miles (as always). A little jittery on the chip sealed roads. Smell of hay, mint, farm, wet dirt, water, flowers. Butterfly fluttering around a bush-hanging over an irrigation canal-gurgling on it’s merry way down hill. Horses grazing. Birds singing. Robin with a sense of deadly(?) adventure as it swoops down in front of me leaving only about 3 feet to spare. Imagined a bird head in my mouth, tail sticking out, feathers flying everywhere. Reality-the bird wasn’t that high up in the air. I would have hit it with my tire if it hadn’t flown out of the way.

Turned left and-Pbt pfbtttttt pppppfffffbbbt! Little bugs hitting my face, glasses, arms, sticking to my chap stick. Trying not to inhale, but you can only go so long without breathing when your heart rate is at about 140. Envisioned smiling and seeing nothing but black due to teeth being covered with bugs. Whew! Through the bugs. Finished on that road, turned around and headed home. No traffic? Attempt to take a picture of myself while riding. Aaaaah! Home. Pooch was extremely happy to see me. Now she’s off snoring, which is where I am now headed.

In Memory Of...

This weekend, I came face to face (once again) with the reality of why I am training for this ride and raising funds to find a cure for LLS. My list of whom I am riding in honor of and in memory of has changed a little.

I am riding in memory of the following:

Phyllis Keeton (CLL) Isaiah Rodriguez (AML) Family Member (Lung Cancer)

I am riding in honor of the following:

Family members who have survived and remain cancer free from different types of cancers Friends who are currently fighting: Randy (Leukemia)

I am sad to announce that my riding in memory of list has lengthened. Dan (Lung, Liver and Brain Cancer) passed away on Friday, July 9^th at 3:30 in the afternoon. His daughter, my friend, with the blessing of her Dad and family went forward with her plans and had her wedding rehearsal at 6:00 that evening. I was honored to be present for her wedding on Saturday. Literally, by the grace of God, and only with His strength, this family was able to genuinely celebrate my friends wedding in the midst of mourning. I am so sorry for your loss. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

The Dump Loop

I’ve heard of the dump loop, was told that we were going to ride the dump loop at some point, but had not seen, or experienced, it until yesterday. It’s called “The Dump Loop” because you ride past the landfill, either at the first of the ride or at the middle to middle end, depending on where you start your ride.

The start of our ride was about 5 miles of warm-up. Then a 2-mile climb. It wasn’t too bad, but I remember saying, “oh my gosh” and then was told, “only about a tenth of a mile left to go and we are at the top.” So what do you do? Just keep pedaling, just keep pedaling, just keep pedaling. At the top, we had a one-mile decline to go down-WHEEEEEEEEE! A brief stop at the top, and getting to the bottom, was enough time to recover from the climb. We turned into a housing community where we stopped at the Merc to top off our water bottles and use the facilities if needed. Allison’s back tire was a little low, so while Michelle (our substitute coach for this ride) was topping off her water bottle, Allison borrowed Michelle’s tire pump. Turns out her pump works more like a deflator than an inflator. There were two guys sitting on the Merc’s porch watching and asked if we needed a tire pump because, in “helping” Allison, I had let ALL of the air out of her tire. Turns out these two men were getting ready to do the loop as well, but were just “fueling-up”. They had a pump and one of them came and pumped Allison’s tire up for her while we all laughed about the circumstance. They let us know that they were starting out after us so if we needed anything, they’d be around eventually. (They never did catch up with us.)

As we got started, we rode through the community and Michelle started telling us about the first hill. She said that it was long and the end of it was really steep. She said it makes her chest hurt by the time she gets to the top. I think this psyched me out. I did pretty well until we got to the steepest part. I made it up a little ways and then ended up walking up. I walking pace was a little slower than Allison and Michelle were riding, and by the time I got to the top, they were rested and ready to go again. Me? I was sucking wind so it took me a bit to recover. Then down a hill.

This hill was short and we had to go cautiously because there was a stop sign at the bottom of the hill and the cross traffic doesn’t stop. Then, up the next hill. Michelle said that we (Michelle and I) were going to talk me all the way up this next hill. It worked-almost. I got to a point, nearly at the top of this one, that I thought I needed a little extra umph to get me up to the top. I was feeling as though my easiest gear wasn’t easy enough and started to stand and pedal. I should have shifted into a harder gear, because as soon as I stood to pedal, it was too easy and I wobbled and realized I was going down if I didn’t get unclipped and catch myself. By that time, I was stopped and there was no getting started up that hill again. So-walking again. When we got to the top of this hill, we had a FABULOUS decline. I don’t know how long it was, but at one point, I did glance at my speed, and decided I needed to put the brakes on a little bit. I was going 45mph in a 30 or 35mph speed zone. YIKES! Then, up the third hill. This one, I conquered!

(And I thought the ride a couple of weeks ago had a “shoot me now” hill. I suspect that I will find a few more hills before this season is over that I will put on the “shoot me now” list.)

At the top of that third hill, Michelle said that the good thing about Galena is it isn’t as steep as those three hills. It’s just long. So, my goal, now, is to be able to conquer those two hills rather than them conquering me. It’s definitely a ride to do in the cool of the morning because there isn’t any shade until the “speedster” hill.

28.37 miles, 2 hours 20 minutes. 12.1 mph Average Speed. 45 mph Max Speed. Total Miles on my bike: 258.3.

Muscle Memory is Amazing

I am amazed at what one-week will do. Yesterday, we rode the same route that we rode last week, including the “Shoot Me Now” hill. I was amazed that I didn’t feel so much like saying that on the way up it this time. In fact, I was breathing, but nothing like the sucking in of wind that all of the leaves were pulled right off of the surrounding trees like last week. No, this felt quite different. Yes, it is still a challenge, but despair didn’t come over me half way up the hill. Our coach was gone this week, so Mary came along for the ride. She was fantastic and yelled and cheered all the way up that hill. Especially once she saw that we were struggling (again, not as badly as last week). I ended up leading because I was pretty sure I knew the route. The average speed went down from last week by 1.2 mph, and due to that, it took us a little longer to do 2.25 miles less. (We did a little backtracking last week that we didn’t do yesterday due to fresh chip seal.) During the ride, I also discovered some sore muscles from Thursday’s experience with “The Big Nasty”. One bruise has shown itself, so I must have hit a rock somewhere along the way, a couple of other places feel bruised, but aren’t showing it. Sore core muscles yesterday as well, but today, I’m feeling GREAT!

36.45 miles, 2 hours 48 minutes. 13.0 Average Speed. 38.4 Max Speed. Total Miles on my bike: 217.9. STARVING before we finished this ride.

Big Nasty

Business trip? On White Water? Cool!

My first clue should have been that in addition to our guide, Kent, we were getting a “swim coach”, “Pop Top”, who would be kayaking along with the raft as well. My second clue should have been that before we got into the raft they spent a LOT of time talking about what to do if you end up in the water.

We started out on the Middle Fork of the Payette (very short section), and made our way to the South Fork where we watched Pop Top paddle along in front of us. There were times when he was so still that I thought he was taking a short little catnap. He would point out wild life, surf in a rapid, and just hang out and talk with us. We went through what I would call the first major rapid, “Bronco Billy”, and all came out smiling and doing the paddle high five. After coasting along a little bit, Kent let us know that we were about to enter Staircase. He began telling us what kind of instruction we might hear from him in the middle of this run. He started saying things like be prepared for whatever instruction I give you and do it fast. We were going to have to paddle forward and then backwards, maybe do right or left turns, and then he proceeded to tell us that we were going to zigzag around a couple of rocks in the river. We started getting into the rapids and all of a sudden, Kent started barking orders. His voice was getting louder and more demanding and we dug in to do what he said to do. From my perspective, one minute I was in the boat, the next, I was on my back with my eyes open watching white frothy water shoot over my face. I don’t have any recollection of how I got out of the boat, all I know is I was exhaling, and not wanting to inhale due to being underwater. I finally broke the surface and I remember thinking, “there are several helmets all around me. I’m not the only one that fell out of the boat. Oh, there’s a paddle being held out for me.” I reached out to grab it, felt it, but couldn’t get a grip.

Under water

Through another bit of rapid

Mouthfuls of water swallowed

Popped back up, thinking, “Breathe! Get your feet down stream!” Then the river would make my body turn a different way and I would fight to get my feet downstream again. I remember looking up and seeing Pop Top going after another one of our party with his kayak. I thought, “He said that ‘you might think you are in a bad situation and I’ll paddle right past you. If I do that, it’s because someone else is in a worse state than you are.’ That person must be in a worse state than I am. Relax.” So I relaxed a little bit and noticed the river getting a little calmer. I started swimming to the shore and found a rock that I could rest against.

When I looked around to assess the situation, downriver, Pop Top had caught up with the other swimmer who was holding on to his kayak. Up stream, there was another swimmer who made it to the rocks. The raft had passed me up. I looked down at Pop Top after getting my breath and he pointed up towards the road. So I pointed up as well and he nodded his head. I looked upriver at the other swimmer, who was looking my direction and pointed up and we all started to climb out of the river. When I looked up, there was another person on the road from the raft company that met me down the hill a little bit and helped me up to the road, asking if I was ok. Still coughing and sputtering and trying to get water out of my nose, I said yes.

After walking down the road a bit, we saw our guide climbing up the hill coming to get us. We were shown where to go back down to the raft and Kent warned about poison oak in that area and shown what it looks like. In my head, I’m thinking, do I really want to do that? Get back in the raft?? But, I got back in. I lost my paddle, which was ok, because now I had an excuse to hold onto the “chicken line”. Pop Top headed down river to catch up with one of the lost paddles and while waiting for everyone to get re-settled, I got part of the rest of the story. It had to have been a somewhat funny/interesting sight.

We had been paddling, following Kent’s instructions and we were headed in the direction that we needed to go, but the river decided to send us in another direction at the last second. We went into a hole, made it through that, but then a wall of water came up and over us. Beginning with Mitch in the front of the raft, on the port side, I guess it was a domino effect and the entire port side passengers got washed out of the boat. Sharon was close enough to the boat that Kent was able to pull her right back in. It was Julie’s paddle that I saw, felt, but couldn’t get a grip on to pull me back in. We had just been coached that if anyone falls out of the raft, the folks still in the raft needed to get out of the rapids before they could help any swimmers. Both Julie and Steven said that the hardest thing to do was to keep paddling and watch as we bobbed down the river. At some point, after we were washed out of the raft, Kent yelled to the rest of the folks in the raft, “Would someone please get to the other side of the raft?” So Steven jumped to Port side to paddle help keep the paddling straight. I also found out that as Kris was holding on to Pop Tops kayak, he said to her that she needed to swim to shore and he needed to come help me. She then had the same thought as me where he would go to the person who needed him the most. So by the time I was headed to the rock, he was about to come and get me.

We got started again and picked up one stray paddle that didn’t belong to the rafting company, but since I had lost my paddle, I now had a replacement. Then we caught up to Pop Top, who had retrieved my paddle, and gave it back to me. Stowing the extra paddle, we continued on. Someone asked, “how much further before we get lunch?” The response (and I don’t remember whose response it was): “it depends on if anyone wants to take a swim between now and then.” Laughter. Kent praised us all for doing everything right. He said that he gave commands that we all did perfectly and in great timing, then proceeded to tell us that the next rapid was just as big. (Gulp.)

The next rapid was called Slalom. Kent started giving paddling direction, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I just held on to the “Chicken Line”. Everyone else was paddling and when we got to a little calmer area, Kent patted my back and asked if I was ok? I said yes, but I was shaking like crazy. That rapid wasn’t as bad as the one that we had just gone through, and it was enough to get me a little loosened back up for rafting, but I was still a little tense for the rest of the trip. A few minutes later, we got to shore for a yummy Dutch oven lunch with chicken, cheesy potatoes, salad, chips and drinks. Then back into the raft for the calmer part of the river. The rest of the trip was uneventful and fun and enjoyable.

We found out that a rapid is not necessarily classed by how big it is, but by the consequence of making a mistake while going through it.

The name of the hole that caused the trouble? “Big Nasty”. I’d say so.

(The picture at the top is of all of us who fell out of the raft. Mitch, thank you for the video.)