Day One – The Ride to Conquer Cancer

Bleary eyed, I arrived at the exhibition centre, dropped off my gear, and got some breakfast. I learned right away that vegetarian means you get breads and grains. I can’t have that so I shrugged it off and ate what would keep me strong for the next two days, bacon and bananas – breakfast of the champions. I know that coffee dehydrates but I was worried about those migraines I get when I don’t have coffee so I had a cup and two extra cups of water to be safe.

They gave us all event cycling jerseys to wear on day one. To see over 2,500 people all in a sea of yellow was overwhelming for me. All those people working towards the same goal. I could not stop crying. The speeches got to me, as they were meant to, but when They brought out 6 people escorting the riderless bike, it hit home hard.

There were 3 ladies holding a hand lettered sign that said “Go Treehuggers”, I thanked them for looking out for us Californians and asked them to snap my very first photo where I was brave enough to let you all see me in full spandex. Oy. They weren’t cheering on the Californians, they had a team named Tree Huggers, go figure.

On the way to The Ride to Conquer Cancer

I signed up for this ride because I am firmly of the belief that cancer does not stop at the US/Canada border. The cause is near and dear to my heart, but this event more so because it does not focus on one exclusive form of cancer – it doesn’t single out the trendy cause or the plight of the moment. The Princess Margaret Hospital is an all cancer facility, with departments or whole floors that specialize in one type or another. Something like this may have helped my father-in-law, who in his 70s passed of a pediatric cancer because no one knew how to handle it. I don’t know, but I’d like to think so.

The extra benefit of the event is the one that has me very excited to be on the plane today. I will finally get to see parts of a country I love and am thinking of expanding my business to.Cycling from Toronto to Niagara will certainly allow me to see a beautiful place and maybe let me know a little more about Ontario.

I’ve hit some snags in the transportation from the city to the event and back again. I think things have been ironed out but we’ll see. It turned out to be a good diversion yesterday, allowing me to go into “Manager Mode” and not stress too much about the event. I had thought that I would be going to the event with Richard and tossing my gear into his truck. Not only am I not doing that but I should have wondered how I was going to get back because he is leaving Niagara earlier than I am and I knew that! No worries, but because I am cycling to the event from the hotel I’m limited on what I can carry as I ride. I’ll have my sleeping bag inside a back pack with whatever clothes may fit. I had to leave my blanket and ground mat at home – we’ll see how I fair the second day. I’m not too worried, it just may give me a few good stories to tell and a badge of honour to go with it.

A not too minor concern is the food/drink powder I’ve packed. As a diabetic who is so far staying off the insulin, I can not afford to reply on the SAG stops for my meals and as anyone knows, your food is your fuel. I’m hoping that all those little bags of powder, nuts and cliff bars will fit in the pack. I’ve done a ride without and walked 17 miles because I bonked. I will make it fit. Lawrd knows, I am NOT tossing the sleeping bag too!  Oh, and to top it off, it’s “that time” – I’m thinking of stuffing the pads into my bra for storage. Who knows, I might make a few friends 😉

Oh Canada! Or how I prepared for The Ride to Conquer Cancer.

I often travel to Canada for my business, but this time I went to enjoy a BNI Conference (scored a copy of Dr. Ivan Misner’s yet-to-hit-the-stands book, 29% Solution, thank you very much) in Toronto, and ride with Richard, my Canadian riding partner for the upcoming event.

Richard suggested I leave the downtown hotel once the conference was over and bring myself and the bike over to his side of town. I really didn’t want to move all my stuff but it seemed like a better place to be in terms of smooth operations and such. And you know me, I’m all about the schedule.

Tottenham turned out to be the cutest place in the world with great roads to cycle. On day one we pulled my bike (Trek WSD 1.2) out of the B I G iron case and popped it all together. It was easier than I thought it would be, but I am sure that is because Richard did it for me. After a bit of that, we left the drive and started on our way…. as did the rain drops.

We rode a little less than 2 miles up the road and hit our first hill. It wasn’t Encinal Canyon but it took a little effort. I have to say, hitting a hill with a 2 mile warm up isn’t my favorite thing to do. I used to hear people say “It takes me about 8 miles to really warm up” and I thought, “gee, after 8 miles, I’d rather be in the car” but things are a little different now. The next hill was a bit more difficult which I stormed at a whopping 4 miles an hour. Richard told me those were the hardest hills of the route and I was a little stunned that was all and maybe relieved.

The silly thing is the bike I brought to Canada has a cyclometer set in miles but the one in Los Angeles, is in kilometers. I actually like it that way, because doing the math conversion keeps me busy and I don’t notice other things like being tired on the climbs so much (I still notice).

At this point, the rain was coming down pretty hard and it was getting hard to see. I had already ridden into the dirt shoulder twice and had to stop. It didn’t seem like I would be able to make my way through much more without cycling into a building or off the road. We decided to return and did an honourable 10 miles, knowing that the next day would have better weather.

Day two was planned for 60 km (37 miles). Richard seemed worried about a distance like that for me. I told him he might be right to worry but if I don’t get off my butt for 60 km then I won’t be able to handle next week’s Crusin’ the Conejo at 68 miles (109.5 km). This lazy girl needs to get in gear. Speaking of gears, the chain on this bike is <I>still</I> giving me trouble.

So if you thought I was unhappy about Saturday’s hills with little or no warm up at less than 2 miles, you should have seen me on Sunday when we clipped in and went right to a hill! This day was a group ride with just a hand full of people – 5 including myself – who would be doing the June Toronto to Niagara event with me.

We tackled one hill after another, no flats between but some low grade false flats. Richard and another rider took off like jack rabbits and I was pacing with the other two. One woman had only had her bike out last week since the summer and the man there hadn’t ridden since he was 14, but his father died of lung cancer this past January and he was determined to be a part of this – really touched my heart.

By the time we were about 4 miles in of these hills – oh, did I mention the winds? – I stopped to fumble with something and noticed they were stopping to walk a hill. On the next downhill the winds were so fierce that I could not ride straight into them and was forced into a zigzag. I could not believe that I was doing 7 mph downhill! I told my two riding partners that this was silly and I would ride another mile with them and then turn back to the cars where the hills were more rollers with lesser winds and I could get my miles in.

Not only did they agree, but Richard and his partner had come back, listened to my game plan and did the same. We rode down the road, it was quite an ego boost to the other two who had thought they bit off more than they could chew.  They were able to look back, see what they did and continue on for a bit more cycling. However,  I am not sure what happened after that. We didn’t do much more and then Richard pulled us back to the cars. I am guessing all told, we did about 15 miles that day.

I am flying back today, out of two for two more days without my bike then in meetings aaaallllll of Thursday. Friday is a half day then I leave for the Saturday event. My only hope is that the next hotel has a gym with an indoor trainer. Otherwise I am just a wee bit worried about Crusin’ the Conejo. But you know me, I love a good stress filled week!

Oy, timing is everything.

Last year I had the pleasure of my first Team In Training season by training for 4 months with coaches, mentors and other cyclists working towards what would have been my first Century Ride in Honolulu. The day before our warm up event (Cool Breeze Century), I had to fly to Mexico for the start of 6 months of being all things to all people. I not only missed Cool Breeze but Honolulu as well. Some of you have already heard the sad saga.

My daughter also had a disappointment at Honolulu. She got about 16 miles in and went “endo”, in addition to bounce, slide and roll, taking her and a few layers of skin out of the event.

We consoled ourselves by saying we would tackle Honolulu in 2008. We took on another TNT season and did Solvang 2008 to make sure we stayed focused on our training and signed up for other events along the way. Sign up time for Honolulu is around the bend. *drumroll*

I was floored to find that we would still be on the plane as the sun set and Erev Rosh Hashannah would be starting. There would be no way that I could have family together and start the holiday that begins our year together. We’ve spent a lot of time as a family working on our goals to make a difference to others. It is not just the fund raising but the hours that Dave has spent driving Rachael and I to training and standing in parking lots with Josh until we returned. The days he has run SAG or that Josh could not play with his friends because it would mean that there would be no one to pick him up because Rae and Mommy are cat 5s and generally in later then others, plus other sacrifices that we willingly made. But to give up Rosh Hashannah and perhaps one of the final ones that my parents may be able to join us for.. I just wasn’t ready for that.

So I’m bummed. Add that to next year’s plans, the year of The Great Bar Mitzvah and I’ve come to the realization that I won’t be doing the Honolulu Century until 2010. I had hoped to be a TNT mentor by that year but I don’t think I’ll have enough time with them under my belt. I’ve already learned it is what they see that makes the difference, so being away may really hurt me there.

None of this means I am giving up my other events. I’ll still be in Toronto for the 200 Km event to benefit the Princess Margaret Hospital, among others.