Livestrong Challenge 2010

Completed.  Accomplished.  Challenged.  Great day.  Wet. Amazing peloton.

This weekend was the 2010 Livestrong Challenge Seattle.  What an amazing time! (and before I get too far, I apologize for the length - I thought to write a synopsis and a separate blog, but you can deal :-)). 

I dont know how to put all of it in words.  It was such an incredible time.  So I'll give a bit of the play by play and hopefully go from there.  Saturday morning myself, Sarah, and Claire went down to the Seattle Center to volunteer the Packet Pick-up table.  It was really neat to see some of what was all going on ahead of time, and really made us feel a greater "part" of the Challenge rather than just participant 131.  It was great to meet some of the other participants beforehand and even just the energy that everyone had.  We'd ring the cowbells when people raised larger amounts of money and it was just such a happy atmosphere.  Because (with all of your help) we raised $3,095 I qualified for various incentive awards.  When I registered I got the normal packet, participant t-shirt, and then also received a hat ($500), Team Livestrong backpack ($1000), Livestrong Challenge cycling jersey ($2500), and then we were also invited to an appreciation dinner for sponsors and participants who raised over $3,000 on Saturday evening. 

The dinner was really nice.  It was a great opportunity to speak to others about Livestrong, hear their stories, we were able to meet Doug Ulman (president of LAF), College (Lance's best friend who has been along side of him throughout his career and treatment), and other greats survivors and people touched by cancer in so many ways.  Evan Handler (Sex and the City) also was a guest speaker which was a very good talk.  I think the best part of it was after dinner when we introduced ourselves to College.  It was really cool to meet such an important person who I read about while going through treatment and, like many people do nowadays, he looked at Sarah and said "and wow..you're quite pregnant.  Congratulations!"  Throughout our conversation we told him about my diagnosis on Halloween and how we didn't want to save sperm and had exactly 1 week to try and get pregnant, and how incredibly blessed we are and excited for Pip to come along.  Jim was so impressed by our story that he said it was one of the best he's heard and he just had to tell Lance about what we've gone through and how everything has turned out.  So pretty cool... our story might be mentioned over dinner conversation with Lance :-)

Sunday morning was an early morning.  Especially since due to excitement and not wanting to oversleep I didn't sleep the best.  We got to the Seattle Center about 6:15 and Patrick had recommended getting in line with the 100-milers because then you are ahead of the big packs of people.  Unfortunately, Patrick and big John were in the first 2 rows and I was in the back third.  So I was bummed out since I wanted to ride with them.  As we started out through downtown Seattle it was awesome.  It was dry, the adrenaline was pumping, and between the police blocking the streets and being so early, no one was out so we just flew through downtown.  Into the I-90 Express Lane tunnels we went and that was really neat.  People were hootin' and hollerin' and that is when I first started seeing the benefits of a peloton.  Through downtown I started pushing myself on the downhills so that I could make my way to the front and find Patrick.  I was nervous what the I-90 floating bridge would be like with the wind, but I attached onto a section of the peloton that was going at a good speed, and we just pulled over the bridge.  In the first 16 miles I was averaging about 24 mph.  Even going up some of the hills on the eastside of the floating bridge span and on Mercer Island we were climbing at 21 mph.  You dont realize the benefit of riding like that until you are in one.  On Mercer I caught up with Patrick and big John and they were also going to stop at the first Power Stop to wait and meet up with Ron (also Patrick's top deraileur was jammed so he didn't have his small ring).

It was also cool at the Power Stops because you get a little bit more time to talk.  Not only did I have my number bib on but also one that said "I AM A SURVIVOR."  That was really neat because you see others with them too and automatically have a connection to them.  And then you get the participants that you go by (or sometimes they pass you), who make little comments like "Thanks for fighting the real fight" or "Thanks for riding with the reason."  It was most amazing to people when they found out that April 20th (2 months to the day) was the last time I had chemo and now, here I am out riding 70-miles.  I call it survival, but I also admit, it is a pretty damn cool story isn't it :-)

Through the second half of Mercer Island was such a beautiful ride.  Winding curves, tree covered, it was just gorgeous.  And it's so neat when you hear everyone calling out positions, working as a team, or even some of the teams that were riding harder - so when you are riding and you just hear a buzz coming behind you and then just pull their drafting tunnel into ours as they go by.  Such a powerful and awesome experience.

About 24 miles in the rain started coming down so we pulled into a driveway to put on our jackets.  I'll be honest, we could have done without the rain.  But that's part of cycling.  We kept pushing on, taking turns pulling (the guy in the front is considered pulling the peloton since he breaks the wind for you - but you also get the benefit of the rest of the tunnel so the guys behind push too), and just riding for the reason we were out there.  I think each one of us needs new brake pads from riding the brakes so much on some of the decents and also not being able to carve turns like we normally would since we had to take the turns slow with the wet pavement.

Then we were coming up on Village Park Drive.  I really wish I would have driven it first so I could have just seen what the route was like.  That climb is a BEAR.  I am very proud of myself for conquering it, but also that was my biggest disappointment because I stopped and took a break part way up.  Patrick kept trying to push me up and told me that it would level off after the hairpin but that hairpin was steep and fought me.  I stopped for a little break, got back at it, and when it flattened out, I said... I could have taken the burn for just a bit more.  It's not that I dont trust Patrick, but if I would have known what "not much farther" was - I would have kept the burn I think. 

What goes up must come down though right?  I wish there wasn't a stop sign at the bottom of the hill because we had a lot of speed going down there (and that's probably where my brakes went).  Back to Factoria and then down into Renton we went.  Shortly after the last stop we took in Renton, big John was getting tired of the day.  He was totally fine going the rest of the way, but that much time riding in the rain gets to you.  It's a balance between the drafting benefits, mental aspect of inner reflection, and getting hit the face with the rooster tail from the guy in front of you.  As we were all pushing along he said, "Can someone tell me why the hell we are in the rain doing this?"  The first thing that came to mind for me was to respond saying, "I can tell you why I'm out here.  This is hard and it sucks but it's nothing compared to my 6 months of treatment.  I'd rather ride in the rain than have poison pumped into me."  His response was simple, "thanks so much, that was just what I needed and let's keep going."

The last 10-15 miles were definitely a lot of inner reflection.  Especially with the rain, cold toes, pruned fingers, seeing some landmarks like the I-90 in the distance, you just want to get back.  And we kept going along.  The climb up from Seward Park was another nice climb, but it was really just one you had to grind up.  Getting into Seattle was actually the most irritating part.  I didn't feel the course was marked as well, traffic wasn't blocked off at that point, roads were wet (some oily from accidents), and we were getting every red light.  In fact we were coming up on one light, we could have pushed through, but then had to make a last minute stop - I slowed, tried to pull right, front tired slipped into a groove of the road, lost my balance, tried to regain, slow, unclip, and get my direction right all at once.  That didn't happen, I just missed a driveway and instead hit a curb, went over the handlebars, and had to just roll.  It sucked.  I did a quick inventory of myself but I was most worried about my bike (especially the front wheel) from how I hit the curb.  There was NO WAY I wasn't finishing that ride.  Come to find out I got really lucky - I've got a huge tear in my front tire - and who knows what else, I need to do a cleaning, maintenance, and inventory check tonight.  Hopefully there aren't many expenses other than the one tire.

Then, just .5 miles from the finish, psssshhhhhhhhh - Patrick got a flat.  I really wanted to just keep going, get to the finish, and not make Sarah and her family wait in the rain much longer, but we were a team.  You get the drafting benefits of the team, motivation of the team, but you also need to support and wait for your team.

Finally the Seattle Center was in view.  We pulled around the corner and I really wish the rain wasn't there at that point.  What is normally a "yellow mile" lined with fans cheering was empty.  And part of that, it made it confusing to know where to go, looking for Sarah, and seeing where I had to stop.  But still, I got my rose, which thinking of still gives me chills (the rain also contributed to the chills).  I heard Sarah's voice, she ran up to me told me how proud she was of me, that she loved me, and the tears just came from both of us.  Such an accomplishment.  2 months ago to the day of the ride, I was sitting at Group Health getting pumped with my last dose of poison.  2 months.  60 days.  And now I'm riding 70+ miles with elevation.  SUCK IT CANCER!!  YOU AREN'T WELCOME, YOU AREN'T LIKED, AND NEXT YEAR I'LL RIDE 100-MILES IN SPITE OF YOU!!

It was also really awesome because I wasn't sure how everything would turn out.  Based on my training I set a goal of 4:45:00 but not knowing about the elevation I said I'd be happy with under 5 hours and not made at myself if it was under 5:15:00 of ride time.  I looked at my computer shortly after returning - 4:31:34.  There is a number worth being proud of. 

We are still collecting pictures from Claire and Sarah's dad, and then LIVESTRONG will have some posted in about 2-3 weeks, but hopefully this link works in the meantime so you can see some of the pictures.

Livestrong Challenge Seattle

We are Cyclists Combatting Cancer and we Ride to Live!
We are Team Livestrong!

Happy Father's Day (a day late).  Sarah, thanks for being such, SUCH, SUCH an amazing and supportive wife.  Thanks for loving me, embracing my cycling with me, pushing me and letting me push myself.  Thanks for making me a daddy.  Pip, I love you.  You're daddy is a survivor and I'm so proud of you little one.  I can't wait to meet you.  You are my little miracle!  You are my little love, my growing life of hope.  You are proof that God always wins over any challenge that the devil places on our lives.  You are my son/daughter.  I am your daddy and together we will LIVESTRONG.  I love you Pip!!!