The Journey

After months of training, we shipped our bikes, packed our bags, boarded our planes, and relaxed for the journey!

I arrived on Thursday evening thinking that having an extra day might be nice to explore the area. It is very nice in Tahoe - temperatures in the 70s. The rest of the team arrived on Friday. We got together as a team for dinner. Since the ride didn’t take place until Sunday, we were able to partake in our training beverages – margaritas, wine and beer. Lest you think I have an iron stomach – these drinks were not mixed – they were shared by the team. I shared a couple pitchers of margaritas with other team members. Hey – the pitcher is economical. I am all about economics. Besides, they were damn good. We ate at this funky creative restaurant that grilled our food in front of us (think Shogun with cuter chefs). They had a beer guzzling contest that our coach gladly entered at our coaxing. Turns out, he is from Buffalo. He won in record time. No photo of this. Remember the margaritas?

We had to retrieve our bikes and take them to our rooms this evening also. Screwing pedals onto a bike after drinking is not recommended. I ended up with grease on my hands and arms. Even my face, I think. Not pretty.

Saturday we woke to amazing weather! Sun shining on the lake – it was beautiful!

We tested our bikes to get our altitude legs. We decided to do a short ride - 20 miles. If you look in the distance, you can see our hotels. We rode along the lake for a portion of our warm up ride. Breathtaking. Can you see the snow covered mountains in the background?

This is our team (I am taking the picture): Tricia, Meir (oncologist at Roswell), Brian (Rochester coach), Tom (our coach) and Terry (Rochester rider). The WNY/Finger Lakes Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society includes Rochester. We had been training with our Buffalo group and then met up with our Rochester group in Tahoe. This is our first ride together as a team.

It was also during the 20 mile ride that I discovered the altitude doesn't agree with me. I had trouble breathing and my chest burned. I admit it didn't look good. Brian, our Rochester coach is a doctor, so I figured if anything happened, I would be well taken care of.

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society can sure feed you! If you like to eat, you may consider signing up next year. The 100 mile ride is just a technicality. Saturday night we had the pasta dinner – carb loading – in preparation for our ride the next day. This was damn yummy! You could eat as much as you want! For those of you who really know me, yes, I did save some food for others.

The dinner is also the opportunity the Society takes to further motivate us for the ride. After letting us know who the top fundraisers were (I was not one of them), we were told they were going to wear numbers 1 through 10 on their jerseys. I was number 1826 so I wondered if that was my fundraising ranking. Turns out it doesn’t matter beyond 10. The top fundraiser raised over $90,000. Let’s be fair – he’s the CEO of his company and his company donates $50,000. I also suspect that he tells his employees that they have to pony up or be fired. That’s a joke – I am quite sure that doesn’t happen. But it did make me feel better for a split second.

Our motivational speaker was one of the cycling coaches from the Silicon Valley chapter. He spoke about his battle with a blood cancer and how cancer has affected his family. If memory serves, he lost his father and a sister to cancer. He is a survivor. He spoke about how he has ridden several century rides and what each means to him. I was moved almost to tears. At our table we have two survivors. It was a heartwrenching speech but it did motivate. I couldn’t wait to get up to ride on Sunday.

He did mention that he believes there are several kinds of cancer patients. There are victims – those who pass; there are survivors with hope – those who are progressing with treatment and have a high survival rate; and survivors with no hope – those who have tried all treatment modalities and have a certain amount of time to live.

I argue there are only survivors (I hate the term victim). You have either survived physically or spiritually. You have survived in some form to help those of us still here physically in our endeavors. Physical survivors constantly remind us of how far we have come and how powerful the human spirit is. The most powerful survivors, however, are those who are with us spiritually. They remind us of how far we have yet to go in stopping this incidiousness that is cancer. They exemplify the human spirit in its ethereal form.

To go from deep, moving and emotional to lighthearted……

I learned several things about this ride at our team meeting on Saturday night after our pasta dinner. First of all, it is customary for teams to decorate their helmets with something representative of their chapter. Since we were from Buffalo, we decided to stick foam Buffalo’s on our helmets.

OK, so I knew this ahead of time, but we actually stuck the Buffalo’s on our helmets at the team meeting. This is our herd of helmets.

Because we are from Buffalo and needed more training food, we celebrated a birthday! Tricia celebrated her birthday with a yummy cake!

Since I went to Tahoe without someone to share my room with, I was assigned a roommate. She was amazing. Her mother passed in December of a blood cancer. Her entire family turned out to root her on! I was moved by her fortitude and was thrilled she was my roommate.

In keeping with the helmet tradition (she is from Oklahoma), her team decorated with little pipe cleaner tornadoes and assorted “debris” (cow, fence).

Sunday finally came and at 6 a.m. we were ready to go! See how happy we look? See our Buffalo helmets? (Brian, Meir, me, Tom Tricia, Terry).

The ride started out well. We were on our way. I was determined to take my time since I had trouble the day before with the altitude.

Turns out Tahoe has hills! Lots of them. Some steep, some not. Some of them are long (8 miles). Some of them had puke on top (not mine). Tahoe is also beautiful!

At about the 9 mile mark, we hit our first hill. This is the steepest. Just before we hit the steep incline, however, we have a smaller incline.

This is the view of the sun rising on the lake – also note how high I am getting from the lake (look down). Remember that I was afraid of heights up until I went through hypnotherapy last year. I highly recommend it for phobias, but I digress.

My coach, Tom, stayed with me offering me advice and words of encouragement as we climbed up Emerald Bay. I had to stop once because I couldn’t catch my breath – but I DID NOT WALK! I was determined to make it up each and every hill. If I had to take a break, so be it, but I was not going to walk. Nor was I going to SAG (this is when you are taken in a support van to a point further ahead on the course). At the top of Emerald Bay, they take your photo. You can’t breath, your thighs are on fire and you are sweating your ass off. Smile!

Then turn around. It makes it all worth it. And it allows you to breathe.

Also remember – what goes up . . . must come down.

The backside of Emerald Bay is loads of fun. Tom told me we reached speeds of 30 mph or so. I was thrilled. What an exhilarating ride! At our first rest area I was able to document a bit of what we just did.

This is the downhill I had just ridden. It doesn’t seem so daunting in the picture. Take a look – there are some drops or potential for drops. It could have been precarious and dangerous. You are also tempted to look to the right because it is so beautiful, but you really should keep your eyes on the road.

As we were leaving the rest stop, I tried to capture the riders coming up the hill to the rest stop that we had just done, as well as the hill that was ahead of us just outside the rest stop.
 

Just before the lunch stop is a little known bathroom that Tom stops at each year. It is on a beach that is quite stunning. This beach is approximately across the lake from our starting point so you can see the two sides of Tahoe. It was quite windy and chilly here. The waves were kicking up on the lake, but people were still sunning themselves on the beach (and we’re the crazy ones).

We kept riding along and I forgot to take pictures because the ride was going so smoothly and it was amazing. We stopped at a couple other rest areas and then had to jump off the path around Tahoe to jut up to Truckee, CA. The road around Tahoe is only about 72 miles or so. To make the 100 miles, we have to ride to Truckee and back.

I was told this was boring, but it was quite beautiful. We had to ride on a portion of the bike path. This was dangerous. Single file. I almost wiped out a line of cyclists behind me, but things turned out ok.

We finally got back on the road. After a mile or so we see a biker down. I see Brian there so I assume he is tending to the hurt rider as a doctor (Hippocratic oath and everything). Turns out it was one of our riders! Terry had ridden over another rider in some strange set of circumstances and had scraped himself up and hurt his left arm. We bandaged him up (thank you Tricia – she is an elementary school reading teacher, and as such, has all manner of antibiotic ointment, bandages, etc.). As the trooper he is (crazy), Terry got back on his bike and away we went.

We made it to the Truckee stop. Tricia had trouble with her gears (an ongoing problem this day) so the mechanic fixed things up for her. They have mechanics at each rest stop and they have rest stops spaced about 15 miles apart.

Just after we left the rest stop, at about the 45 mile mark, one of the links on my chain stiffened up so every fourth pedal stroke or so it would skip. Of course, I did this on the stretch that didn’t have a mechanic for 30 miles – but also hosts lunch. I had to ride like this for about 30 miles until lunch and until we found another mechanic. Needless to say this did a number on my knee because every time it skipped, it jarred by left knee.

Tom stuck with me throughout the entire ordeal – which is what I called it at this point. I was tired (exhausted really), in pain from the jarring, annoyed from the jarring, and starving!

This was one of the views (I remembered that I had a camera and could use it). Note how high we are and how gorgeous it is!

We made it to lunch with much fanfare. I was cranky! I got in the food line and pretty much said, give me everything you have! Brian took my bike to the mechanic while I ate. I was not happy and I think my teammates tried to console me. Although, many of them probably had no idea what to say to me.

After lunch we encounter the 8 mile hill (That means the hill is 8 miles long. That means I climbed for 8 miles uphill. Can you picture that? Didn't think so.). The coach was worried that I wouldn't make it so he was making arrangements to have me catch a SAG vehicle to get me to the top. My knee hurt, we weren’t sure if we could fix my bike and I was cranky (did I mention the cranky part already?). I have to admit that I started to cry. I had ridden 70 or so miles and they were talking about having to stick my bike in a truck and drive me to the top of the hill. I did not come to Tahoe, bike 70 miles to be carted up a hill – no matter how long the hill.

Amanda came over to give me a pep talk because she could tell that I was upset. I kept my sunglasses on so people couldn’t see me starting to cry. She told me not to be a hero. It wasn’t that important. I had come all this way and had gone this far. That’s an accomplishment in and of itself.

But I was undaunted! My bike was fixed and I said I would play it by ear and see what happened. Also, when I eat, things look rosier. I feel better and I regain energy.

I also thought about Jeremy and Amanda – she is a cancer survivor. Also, Brian’s wife is a survivor. Then I thought about my dad following me along and said, screw this, I'm finishing this 100 mile ride if it kills me.

Call it force of will, determination, ambition, insanity, gumption, pride, whatever – I made it to the top of that damn hill! It started at about mile 81 and continued for 8 miles. Granted, we had lulls in the hill and it wasn’t at steep as Emerald Bay, but at 80 miles, it may as well have been Mt. Everest in a snowstorm. Now, I did stop along the way (Tom needed to use nature’s restroom).

At the top, the team regrouped and took some pictures. The rest was downhill! Well, except a couple small hills.

I was reluctant to ask Tom – who stuck with me the entire length of that hill – how far we had to go to the top. He is notorious for stretching the truth several miles to make you feel better. Usually things are just around the corner (translation – around this corner and 10 others – about 5 miles), or almost there (translation – almost there = 5 miles).

One of the cancer survivors stops at points along the route to cheer people on. To distinguish himself, he wears a Santa hat. He already has the white beard and mustache. He was near the top of Spooner cheering people on. (Spooner is the name of the hill from hell. Come to think of it, the letters in Santa also spell Satan – coincidence, I think not!). I thought, I have been so good this year, Santa. I have never been so happy to see Jolly Old St. Nick in my life! I would have sat on his lap if he wanted. I hugged everyone I saw.

Here is our group happy to be finished. I wanted a shower, clean clothes and to never see my bike again! Oh, I also wanted the wine. But I drank water instead. Hey, hydrate before you get lit up like a roman candle.

We had a 3 mile downhill – remember, what goes up, must come down! At this point we were about 7500 feet above sea level and about 1000 feet above the lake. I was worried because of my - former - fear of heights. This was my first real test. Many of the roads around Tahoe are a bit scary. There are many precarious precipices (say that 3 times fast). There are many places that if you aren't careful, you could be hurled off a cliff. It didn't seem to matter to me! So that fear is conquered! Woo hoo! I contemplated SAGing down the hill – I would probably have been the first cyclist in history to get SAGed down rather than up, but I like to bunk convention. They convinced me to go so on I went.

The wind was pretty intense on the ride down so even those fond of speed and heights didn’t get going too fast. We reached a whopping 17 mph. Tom said he goes uphill faster than that. Oh well. I enjoyed it! We went through the mousehole (small tunnel that is damn cold and damn windy and thankfully, damn short). We did have a couple other hills to the end but with only about 5 miles to go – really – I wanted to finish NOW!

We miss the turn for the finish line thinking we need to enter the parking lot from a different entrance so we turn around.

Note to ride organizers – don’t put the finish at the top of an incline! Not that the incline was huge – it was a driveway, after all. But at 100 miles, Damn!

What happened at the finish? I got off the bike and walked over to get my medal and pin! I had earned it! I was also given a beer which I don’t drink. Amanda was kind enough to get my bottle of wine, but I forgot to put the corkscrew in the bag so I had to look at the bottle longingly. Tease.

Victory party: Amanda and Nick and Andrew and Tricia.
Meir and his wife and son.
The team before heading up to take our pedals off and go to bed!
The coaches.
 

We finished the 100 mile ride in about 11 hours. Normally it doesn’t take that long but we had the rider down, Tricia’s gears and my chain. We did it and we did a great job!

Back at the ranch (Harvey’s Casino Hotel) we prepared for the Victory party. I was moving a bit slowly and didn’t want to put pants on (I think you know where I’m going with that one) so I donned a dress. My knee hurt so I iced it. Dinner was amazing again.

This is something you will get a chuckle out of. It’s a buffet (one of my favorite words). I filled my plate the first time and was too tired to get up to fill it again. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Suffice to say I did get up for dessert. I also had a corkscrew and was able to drink my wine. Which I did.

Once again, not recommended that you drink and do bike maintenance/repairs. Not pretty. Grease all over me again!

The quick recap/rundown for the team and the ride:
-I had trouble with my bike as I mentioned so that slowed us down.
-Another teammate had trouble with her gears so that slowed us down.
-Another teammate ran over a rider, skinned his knee and hurt his forearm - but he finished! That slowed us down a bit.

Something that didn't slow us down but that did sound tragic. Toward the beginning of the ride, a girl was going down one of the hills (I went down the very same hill at about 32 miles per hour and I think she was going faster). I think someone clipped her bike or she clipped something. She spun around and hit a trail or guardrail. She's ok but has a huge gash in her knee. By ok, I mean she's alive. If you wipe out at 30+ mph, you could die.

Something else very touching. All along the route people are cheering us on. Some of them are family and friends of riders, some are cancer survivors, etc. At one point - about halfway - there was this woman with her son. He couldn't have been more than 5 or 6. She was screaming, Johnny (I confess, I can't remember the son's name so I'll call him Johnny) thanks you. Here is little Johnny jumping up and down and blowing on a little horn cheering us on. I think I cried again.

But I am back and my nether regions were in need of a good icing (and I don't mean cake frosting)!

Thank you again for all your support!

I may be crazy enough to try this again next year.

Pauline