Reason No. 1 to Ride

First in a series of “Reasons to Ride”.  Reason No. 1 is the battle against breast cancer.

Factlet: 3.8 hours of exercise a week decreases your risk of breast cancer by 40%

This little factoid made its way into my knowledge base around the same time I heard of cycling with Team in Training to help raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I thought, “hey, I can do that” without realizing just how hard it would be to get to 100 miles or that I would fall completely in love with it.

There really is no I in TEAM

Quick recap of my Team In Training schedule since my my brother became ill in August: 1 ride. Yuppers, I dropped last season to be with Jack in Cancun and have only ridden one whole time with the new team on their first ride, 9 weeks ago.

These people have no idea who I am other than a name on the email list, and yet, when my brother passed away last week, they sent words of love, support and even attended the funeral.

I was tremendously touched but more importantly, I saw that there is truth in the old phrase, “no man is an island”. We need the support of each other, not just in times of loss but out on the road, working together.

Easing back in

Thursday was a great ride. 42 miles of beach ride and mist. Thank goodness for arm warmers. Those of you not in Los Angeles are most likely amused at our concept of cold.

Ramon and I decided we could take a little time off work if we headed back and caught up in the afternoon. Since I have not been on my bike on my usual TNT training schedule and he has been off since Honolulu (Sept 30th) we were in agreement that we both really needed this.

When we were discussing routes, he actually asked ME for an easy one! Of course, later when he put on his coaches hat, he told me I need to pick more challenging routes (the brat).

We left from the house and rode up Olympic, crossing over to Pico where it hits the beach, north to Will Rogers then turn around south to somewhere about 10 miles past the Marina and then back to Venice for lunch. All in, all, a very good way to get back in the swing of things. Left us each feeling that it was worth our time and that we could do more.

The beach path can force you to ride fairly slow in some places, which was good for us on that day and also give you opportunities to open up. I was pleased that I maintained 33KPM for a while, without passing out or wishing I would. Admittedly, there were very few places we could ride at that.

I think the best thing about having a riding partner is the ability to check in and see if we are working efficiently in terms of our pace and effort. What we work towards is being about to put effort into the biking and still be able to carry a conversation. If my words are coming in gasps and pants I may be working too hard and have to learn to tackle that particular challenge.

Our next ride together will most likely be the same route I did on the Tour de Foothills. Its got a good steady climb and will work us out fairly well without kicking my ass. After that, I’m going to have to force myself back to Encinal Cyn just to get my ass kicked. From what I understand, a lot of the rides I have yet to do will have bodacious climb.

The new TNT season begins

Saturday was our first training of the fall season. We met in the parking lot of Studebaker Park (Long Beach) at the more humane hour of 8 am. I was the tardy girl, due to waiting for Rachael to get up, then left without her.

We did our usual circle of team mates, each introducing ourselves. It felt odd to be there without Rae and not have the mother-daughter team going but I sucked Dave in by introducing him as the man who drives us to every training and patiently waits in the parking lot for hours on end.

The Westside Coach gives me a 3.5 In the judging

Last Saturday was the B I G Kick off for the new season of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training. We all poured into the Culver City Veteran’s Memorial Building to learn about TNT, meet the sponsor’s, get cool stuff and sign up.

Rachael still needed to sign up for the Solvang Century (March 2008) so we headed over to the Los Angeles Team In Training Cycling Team tables. After hugging everyone we knew over at the Eastside group, we took one step to the left to meet the Westside folks – our new team leaders. I introduced myself and explained that I had ridden with the team weekly right up to the Cool Breeze event but had to step back due to a family emergency.

Assistant Coach Bob took one look at me and asked how many miles I had ever ridden. SIGH. I explained again how I’ve been with TNT for most of the season and have done up to the 55 mile weekly ride and will be doing two metrics (100 kilometers) in the next two weeks. The response was a suggestion that I come out this next weekend and we’ll see how it goes. It seems to me that Bob has missed my previous post where I pointed out that I rock harder than lentils.

I had to call my previous coach (Ramon) about car bike racks (more on that in another post) and mentioned this to him. He wanted to talk to them about me. He reminded me that I am going into the season with more experience than most and seemed to really be worried about how I might be pigeon holed. You know, I really appreciate that, but I’m not too worried …. yet. I figure once they see me on a bike they can make up their minds. Of course, I am sure I will obsess about what they think directly after that, but that’s just me.

A word about the team mates; there were roughly ten of us, including Rae and I. Four had not been on a bike, and still needed to purchase their bikes. This is not the Tour de France and we are certainly not team Rabobank (don’t you just laugh and laugh at their name!?) but I think we are exactly what we set out to be – a group of individuals trying to work together to do a good thing.

Biking towards a cure

My fundraising and training took a hit by my detour to care for my brother, but not my commitment to the cause.

Jack is not only off life support now but we’re looking at moving him to the US where they have different quality of physical therapy and he can recover. This means that I will once again have my weekend’s in a country where people bike, or at least in a country where the rain doesn’t pour down every half hour and flood the streets. Just in time, too – the new training season for Solvang starts on Oct 16th.

My goal is still to raise $5018 (remember that extra eighteen for life!) and I know I can do it with your help. But since I lost $1200 due to the rsvp that TNT placed for me regarding plane and hotel bookings, we’re going to have to work just a little harder.

I promise to get my butt on that bike and cycle for the cure, and then some. Please help support me and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by donating today.