Bike Against the Odds; ride to end Breast Cancer
Last year after the AIDS ride I rode Bike Against the Odds a benefit for the breast cancer fund. I thought to my self
"self? BATO is 1 day, you just rode 7 days. How hard can this be?"
So that day as I waited for the ride to start I overheard a member of Velogirls race team say "I'll just do the 30 mile".
My bike club has some of the top women racers in the country, I plan to do the 64 miles she's doing the 30.
"self?" I thought "Uh oh, this is gonna be hard."
Hard? It kicked my a** I was lucky to finish the 20 miles.
So this year I did better on ALC4 so here I go again.
Training: or...that which does not kill me makes my legs less flabby
Maybe it's the gas prices, or the last hint of summer, or training for BATO but I rode to work more often also do more walking, reliably get a spin class in. Also commuted on my mountain bike, much more of a challenge than on a road bike.
If I was training for the next AIDS ride at this time of year I'd be doing "base miles", lots of miles, less climbing. That hurt me last year. In honor of the struggles breast cancer patients go through in their fght of the disease, this ride has up to 6,000 feet of climbing.
The Lunachix, a local club have a series of training rides so Sunday I did 12 miles with them, I missed their next training ride so on Saturday 17th I rode with my bike club, the Velo Girls.
The one thing I don't like is starting waaaay too early in the morning. I got up at zero dark thirty, checked the bike, had coffee and toast (my goof, I do better on oatmeal) let Mae out and headed downtown.
We had perfect weather, clear, sunny, not too hot.
I pulled up and saw three gals from my "virtual bike club" the teamestrogen.com bulletin, Ellen, Ann and Cindy. More about Ellen later.
There were lots of Velo Girls jerseys.
After registration and a team photo (above) we headed out. Something felt wrong with my front tire and sure nuff it was low. I topped it off and we go. It was the only mechanical I had.
Thanks Chris and Tim or Robinson Wheelworks in San Leandro, my mechanics.
My motto; I'm slow but I WILL pass you when your bike breaks down (after asking if you need help). On the way we stopped for the blessing of the bikes, a European tradition, I'm not religious or even Christian but take any help I can get with traffic.
I needed it later.
It's a long hill to the first rest stop. After Lake Chabot the real pain begins, we did Old Tunnel Road, Skyline, Redwood Road.....
Any of you in the Bay Area know that gets you up there.
I did the 30 miles it's only 2,660 feet of climbing. When I say "only" to me that's not much. My normal club ride is about that and feels easy to me but has one big long not steep hill, the rest is relatively flat.
BATO has no flat anywhere......ever.....except the last mile, you are always climbing or descending even when it looks flat...it's not. Compared to what people with cancer go through, this is nothing, so it's fitting that we ride hard.
Somewhere there was a fork in the road and I could go right for the 47 or 64 miles, or left for the 30. I'd registered for the 64 miles, did 20 last year and vowed to do more at least. As I pondered a group I recognized from the AIDS ride arrived. They were doing the 30.
Based on how hard the 30 was I'm not sure I could have done the 47, a goal for next year.
Up to then I'd been alone except for all of you who passed me and yelled encouragement. I heard "on your left" so much I'm thinking of the legal name change and/or tattoo ;-)
Ann who I met up with at the start was way ahead, Ellen and the Velo girls were on the longer route.
I'd rather do a shorter route with people than a longer one alone so we rode off together. Another gal caught us "hey, you were on the AIDS ride" (it's the distinctive number on our helmets, that's how she knew) so now 5 ALC'ers climbing together.
Mostly I rode with Bobbie, one of our Poz peddlers.
More hills, endless, more climbing, one scare I heard a yelp ahead from a rider and a car ahead, I pulled closer than I normally do to the right (these are very narrow winding roads) and a black Prius took a turn heading toward me cutting it close and waaaaay over the double yellow line. Obviously to threaten the bikes. Too fast for me to get his plates. A Prius, hey, you're supposed to be green, what's up with that?
What goes up must come down. Finally, the well deserved downhill. Snake road is steep and winding, the most technical downhill I've ever done.
Finally into downtown Oakland, circle the lake and head in for a delicious lunch.
You DO know i only ride to eat?
Get out the Kleenex: happy ending follows
Ellen the rider I mentioned above is a breast cancer survivor, it's 3 years since her surgery. She rode the 64 mile, 6000 foot climb ride.
A mile from the end her friends were waiting with her 7 year old daughter and Ellen's tandem bike. They congratulated her, took her custom Serrota road bike home .... and handed her the tandem.
Ellen and daughter rode the last mile in together.
This ride has come to feel like the end of the season for me, the last organized ride in this area till the Cinderella in April. So it's a time to rest, take stock of what I've done, think about goals for next year.
It was a great ride for a great cause, I hope to do it again next year and next year I WILL do the century.
My next organised ride will be the Cinderella. The days are getting shorter, I plan to spend more time in the dojo from here on.
