100 miles with a new found purpose
After a few days to clear my head and enough time to reflect on this past weekend, I felt the need to document a few of my thoughts. I imagine that training for an endurance event of any kind is quite rewarding, but this one in particular changed me. The whole season I was asked why I was doing it. Why would I put myself through the early mornings, the hills, the long hot rides and just the stress of it all? It finally dawned on me why.
I have known many people who have fought the fight against cancer. Sadly most I have known have not won that battle. Unfortunately, my personal experience has largely been watching people die. In my family alone I’ve lost 2 grandparents, 2 aunts, one uncle and my father-in-law to cancer. While their cancers have been varied, the impact has been the same. There are of course exceptions to this. I have had a few friends, and a sister-in-law who have beat the odds. But I know far too few of these stories.
So, the real reason I trained, and rode so hard, and got up early, was just to be around people who have kicked cancer’s ass. I have found inspiration and peace knowing these people. I found a purpose for riding well beyond getting in shape, doing it for me, or even raising money for a good cause. I did it for my new friends and teammates. Their stories are not ones just of survival but about thriving in the face of it all. They warm my heart and give me hope.
The ride itself was great, and horrible, inspirational and demoralizing. There were 5 of us who stuck together the whole day. We started the day with a heavy cold rain. The ride up to Emerald Bay included leg-busting switchbacks with a 15-18% grade and the rain did not stop for us. Then on the decent down to Sunnyside, the clouds began to lift. While it was still cold, the rain lightened up. We took the turn at the Truckee River and headed North away from the lake. The downhill ride out to Truckee was FAST and felt good. When we got to Truckee the sun came out in full. Finally, a chance to warm up! The stop there was longer than normal just so we could feel our feet and hands again.
Somewhere on the way back from Truckee, we passed the half way mark. I don’t remember it because the sun was shining and I was really enjoying the ride for the first time. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t last. As we were pulling into Kings Beach for lunch the clouds came back out, and the rain began again. It poured on us all the way through Incline Village up until the base of Spooner pass. Climbing Spooner was a long slow grind; 8 or so miles of 5-6% grades, with no rest. On a normal day it is a challenge, this day it just hurt. This was a “bucket full of suck” to borrow a phrase from one of my teammates.
Then we had a HUGE downhill. The last 15 miles flew by (mostly because I had no rear brakes left and very little on the front). As we rolled back toward South Lake Tahoe for the finish line, there were just a couple of more surprises. Those last 2 climbs hurt in the best kind of way. We knew how close we were, and there was nothing going to stop us. The 4 others I rode with all day regrouped and came across the finish together in a 2-up pace line. The 5 of us had done it, and for 3 of us it was our first time. What a feeling of accomplishment.
