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.