America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride
We did it!!!
- Saturday: Getting Lost Before Shaking Off the Jitters
- Sunday: Are we ready to ride?
- A Difficult Beginning
- A Perfect Day
- Other Fun Moments
- Special Thanks
Saturday: Getting Lost Before Shaking Off the Jitters
Unlike last year when I actually had time to go to the spa, my time was spent driving here, there, and everywhere. There was a total of 3900 cyclists in Tahoe that weekend ready to participate in the big event (total TNTers = 1900+; SVMB TNTers = 161). As a result of this influx of people, our chapter (Silicon Valley/Monterey Bay) was considered 'overflow' and had to stay at the Ridge Hotel, which was quite a distance away from the casinos in South Lake Tahoe.
Well, getting there was a bit of an adventure...I ended up driving up and over the mountains (really) because I missed the turnoff, and down into the flatlands of the Nevada valley on the outskirts of a city called Gardnerville. Despite this minor setback, I admit it was a beautiful day and the views of the valley between the mountain ranges were worth getting a bit lost. :)
Later that afternoon we had a 'shake-down' ride to shake the jitters out of our systems. It was short and sweet, but we were all surprised that we had some trouble breathing as we climbed a teeny, tiny hill at the end of the ride. I guess the higher altitudes were making it difficult to breathe as we exercised, which also caused us to feel dehydrated no matter how much we drank water or gatorade. Needless to say, I had trouble sleeping that night as I kept getting up to use the bathroom and to drink more water.
This year I was determined to prepare everything the night before the big ride, so that when I awoke I'd get ready without any hitches. So I got my bike, speedometer, and tires ready and layed out all my gear - helmet, shoes, shorts, jersey, base layer, arm warmers, leg warmers, sunglasses,..(lots of stuff, eh?)...sunscreen, foods, H2O, gatorade, reflective vest, tissues, etc. Of course, I couldn't forget the essentials...I had to tie my menacing shark fin on top of my helmet, and colorful, curly ribbons to the back so that we'd be easy to spot...and don't forget the shoe tag with emergency contact info.
Anyhow, despite all my efforts to be ready to go on Sunday, there always has to be something that goes wrong. After putting everything in the back of my car, I did one last check. I soon discovered I was missing one of my cycling shoes! How in the world did ONLY ONE shoe make it to my bag?!? Well, remember I said I had to put an emergency shoe tag on one of my shoes? I left that shoe sitting on a chair, in the kitchen, behind the counter...out of sight, out of mind. Anyway, back up to my room I went, and back down to the garage in the rickety old elevator that decides to take 10 times longer when someone is in a hurry.
At last I made it to the casinos, and met my fellow Hungry Sharks. There were so many cyclists milling around with bikes in hand, taking pictures, cheering each other on...you could feel the excitement in the air among the flurry of colors, and you couldn't help but get caught up in that wave. And from a window, way up high in Harrah's, my parents were amazed to see the mass of people on the main strip waiting to head out on their bikes...ready for the journey ahead.
Even though we could tell it would be a beautiful, warm day, it was still chilly in the morning. The cold air affected our breathing early on. Less than 15 miles out and not much of a warm-up before then, we came to our first and steepest climb at Emerald Bay. It was short, but not sweet. Each of us were struggling to get to the top. Riders were everywhere - some had to stop and catch their breaths before cycling on, others had to walk their bikes up, and still others cycled to the top at whatever speeds they could. I kept pedaling on in my lowest 'granny' gear, while my heart felt like it was going to pound its way out of my chest.
Never do I remember feeling that way last year on this same ride, on this same hill. And as I gasped for air at each pedal stroke wondering if I would make it to the top, a rider passed me with his right leg covered in blood. I have no idea how that happened and I couldn't recall seeing any accidents before this climb, but that sight made me feel soooo lucky that I was not feeling his pain. And it reminded me that we had trained on steeper climbs and had made it to the top, so we were capable of doing this.
So we all finally made it up and over to the first rest stop where we caught our breaths, patted each other on the backs, cheered ourselves and other teammates on, fueled up, and kept an eye out for each other as we rode among the sea of cyclists for the next ±85 miles.
The views were absolutely gorgeous with snow-capped mountains encircling that seemingly endless blue lake. Again, the dazzling colors in the waters of Lake Tahoe held true - blues, greens, emerald, aqua. The weather was perfect! Not too hot and not too cold...warm enough to peel off layers as the day went on, but still cool enough when the wind blew. Surprisingly, sometimes we were so focused on who or what was ahead of us on the road that our Coach Mary had to remind us to 'stop and smell the roses.' ;)
The ride itself was fantastic! The total time it took us to complete the ride was ~10 hours with an actual ride time of ~8 hours. And my fastest downhill on this ride was 40mph! :) My teammates and I helped each other a lot out there...when one of us fell back, the others slowed down so we could catch up...when we caught those nasty headwinds coming back from Truckee, we each took a turn to pull the team...if we got separated by other teams, we always found each other or met up somewhere just ahead. We stuck together 'til the very end, and it was an incredible, surreal feeling to ride together up that ramp to the finish line, winding through the cheering crowds, and seeing familiar smiling faces.
After our 'Hungry-Sharks-at-end-of-ride' photoshoot, we all headed back to the Ridge to get ready for the feeding frenzy at the Victory Party. Bennett, Yukari, and I hung out longer with his folks and my folks, so by the time we got back to the hotel, it was late. The ballroom at MontBleu was huge and we were late for the Ball, so Yukari and I wondered if we would be able to find our team at all. We finally found them on the dance floor...so off we went to join them with Bennett in tow and danced until the DJ had to shut down. So the party moved on to the Horizon, but instead of heading to the dance floor, we headed to the Pai Gow tables.
With all the crazy goings-on surrounding the event such as registration pick-up, shake-down rides, moving between hotels, going to parties here and there, the ride itself, barely seeing each other that weekend, the lights and 'cha-chings' of the casinos, and so on...Mom and Dad still managed to have a great time and still meet my dear friends and cycling buddies at the end. :)
- Checking out Bennett & Yukari's ultra "premier suite" for the first time - where the only words coming out of our mouths were, "Oh, my God!"
- Chasing down the waiters as they rolled the dessert table away at the end of the Pasta Party...I got my cookies!
- Seeing Andy riding backwards (at least, that's what it looked like to me) with a camera in his hand as we were going up Emerald Bay...how DOES he do that???
- Gladys' husband cheering us on from their van and waving signs out the windows as we climbed Spooner...we needed A LOT of encouragement on that looong hill.
- Eating pizza and ice cream even after the Victory Party, and watching Young Frankenstein at B&Y's luxurious accommodations.
- Breakfast with the boys at IHOP, and drinking oj after oj after oj.
- Believe it or not, Andy and the Asians running into more of "his people" in the casino lobby of Harrah's just before heading back home.
Thanks to my Honorees and their families...whenever I thought I couldn't make it, thoughts of them inspired me to keep on pedaling to the finish line:
- Gigi Quinol Greene (Ovarian Cancer)
- Bennett Chun (Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia)
- Ida Felsenfeld - for Herb Felsenfeld
- Mitch and Helen Brens - parents of Carole Grabiec
- Sally Payne (breast cancer, 1991) - mother of Jeff Payne
And of course, many thanks to the Hungry Sharks...
- Coach Mary for watching over her little lambs and keeping us together throughout the season; and especially for cheering us on from her SUV and playing 'hill-climbing' songs after her tire blew and couldn't ride with us.
- Kathy for being our sturdy ride support, knowing her roads inside out, and never leading us astray.
- Steve, Gladys, and Yukari...you guys are great! It was all about having a good time while we trained hard this season, and it was so easy to do that with you. :)
Thanks again everyone for a great season and the wonderful support...GO TEAM!!
Until next season...
:) Madelyn
