Santa Fe Century

100 miles by bicycle - beginning and ending in Santa Fe. Here's the map, with North to the left (sorry, it fits in the picture better that way). We started at 7:30am and finished just before 4:30pm. So 9 hours, although my bike computer claims I was rolling for just over 7 hours. Where did I spend those idle 2 hours? At the rest-stops which I've numbered along the route (first one in Madrid). There were 6 of them, which doesn't seem like too many but apparently I spent an average of 20 minutes at each one.

Starting out with the Team in Training group. Not only have we been training together since February, we also each raised thousands of dollars for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. All of my teammates will be doing a Century at Lake Tahoe in June, some of them (those pictured) also came to Santa Fe with me.

First stop: Madrid. Looking good after 26 miles of pure biking fun! That first stretch was mostly downhill, but right after this stop we had a lot of uphill work.

Heartbreak Hill: too bad the great view is behind the cyclists! I'm not in this picture, but I looked exactly like that as I walked up the hill. The best thing about this hill is that it's the last hill for 40 miles.

After Heartbreak Hill, there is a whole lot of flat-ish road through the plains. Unfortunately, in New Mexico it is always windy on the plains. We kept a pace line through most of this which makes the miles go by much faster. In Galisteo at mile 82, we had our last break before heading up the hills back into Santa Fe. Throughout the ride, I kept reminding myself to take it easy so that I wouldn't be burnt before that last 15-mile uphill push. Apparently, my pacing worked because I climbed up Lamy Hill without a problem and flew on through the last 10 miles back to the finish line. Maybe riding along the shoulder of I25 gave me the adrenaline rush I needed to push through those last miles.

Finished! 101 miles and 9 hours later.

Thank you!

Thanks to a successful bake sale at UNM yesterday and all of the generous friends and relatives who have been sending me donations for the past several weeks, I have raised $2255.49 so far for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I set out with a goal to raise $2010 by the end of March, and am very thankful for everybody who helped to make that happen!

Team in Training sets a fundraising minimum for me, which was $1850. That is 4 times the cost for them to train and send me to the bicycle race; so that no more than 25% of the money is used to sponsor me, while the remaining 75% goes directly to cancer research and patient support. This means that every dollar donated above $1850 goes 100% toward cancer research and patient support. If you have not donated yet, your donation would still be very much appreciated.

(If you are reading this on my actual blog site, you may notice that the "thermometer" on the sidebar does not show the $2255 amount. That's just because several checks are still being processed, but they should be on there by the end of next week.)

10 miles

This weekend I had the pleasure of meeting my Team in Training cycling team. It's an interesting mix of people who have hardly ridden a bike and others who regularly do distance rides, but all who support the mission of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. For me, road biking is a new sport so I was a bit nervous about riding in a big group. As it turned out, the 10-mile ride was very encouraging. It seemed so easy. I'm not too worried about doing 10 times that distance!

Now that I think of it, our marathon training started at 2 miles which also seemed too easy at the time. But doing more than 10 times that (26.2 miles) was quite a challenge!

Racing for a Cure

In Support of All Families Facing Cancer

Five years ago, I was visiting my cousin Carla (pictured above with her family in 2003) after her second bone marrow transplant. While her team of doctors were commiserating about the pain they'd endure that weekend running a cancer fundraising marathon, I marvelled at their dedication to eradicating the disease, both in their professional and personal lives. Carla responded that she'd like to run a marathon when she got out of the hospital. That sentiment stuck with me and I decided that I'd run that marathon with her.

Four years ago, I ran the 26.2 miles of the Austin Freescale Marathon and raised over $3000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Carla was with me every step of the way, if only in spirit. Sadly, Carla was never able to leave that hospital bed to do all of the things that she'd rather do. At the time of her diagnosis, she was given an 80% chance of survival, which was a great number compared to the near death-sentence it would have been a few decades earlier. However there clearly is not a cure until that number is 100%.

This year, I continue my fight against cancer with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training by bicycling the Santa Fe Century (that's 100 miles) in May. Along the way, I'll raise another couple of thousand dollars for cancer research and patient support.

Please donate! Go to my Team in Training page, or click the purple badge on the right side bar of this page. Updates on my training and fundraising will appear on this blog frequently, so keep checking back often or subscribe (find the subscription link on the right).