Atlas Ride 2010!

Ride with the Texas 4000 team on our first day from Austin to Lampasas! Riders of all skill levels are welcome and non-riding spectators can also come out for BBQ, live music, and entertainment! I'd love to see you there! Register here.

**Early registration ends on February 28th, 2010** 

Please visit http://www.texas4000.org/give/give to find out how you can help.

Thank You!

I wanted to write a special entry tonight to thank those who have made financial contributions to support this ride and this cause. Tonight at meeting, I was honored as the “Star Fundraiser of the Week” and am now the leading overall fundraiser on the 2010 team. I am so touched by everyone’s contributions.

Also, thank you to everyone who reads and follows this blog—and especially those who have sent my blog out to friends and family. This blog started as a way of updating those interested in my journey and as a kind of outlet for me that has also turned into a hobby. But more than anything, I am surprised almost daily at the reach and impact this blog has allowed. I knew the World Wide Web was a powerful tool, but I never imagined anyone other than my immediate family would be reading this page. I have found encouragement in the most unexpected places and this blog allows me to bring all of my followers along for the ride.  

I also want to share with you a tradition of Texas 4000 for Cancer. Before every meeting and before every ride, at least one—often several—dedications are made to friends and family members who have been affected by cancer. We keep those names with us throughout the summer. They are the ones we ride for. If any readers of this blog have any names/stories they would like to share, I will be sure to dedicate my next ride to them. Feel free to leave a comment on this post, or send me an email anytime.

Thank you again for everyone’s support! 

Please visit http://www.texas4000.org/give/give to find out how you can help.

Tweet!

Texas 4000 for Cancer is now tweeting! Click here to read frequent updates from team members and see what people are saying about T4K...

Please visit http://www.texas4000.org/give/give to find out how you can help.

Back to Blog...

I am back in Austin after a fun (and cold) weekend in Denver, Colorado. I interviewed with two graduate programs in the area and managed to squeeze in a visit to my favorite bookstore, the Tattered Cover. Now that interviews are over, I wanted to write an update about some fun rides I did last week:

On Monday morning, Daniel and I decided we would attempt Loop 360-the Capital of Texas Highway. The ride is supposed to be very scenic... and with that comes hills. 360 makes a loop around Austin; the portion that the Texas 4000 team rides runs through hill country territory in West Austin. Though it receives a good amount of traffic, the shoulders are wide the majority of the way...and it's beautiful.

Since this was going to be a step up in difficulty for me and Daniel and there would be no experienced 360-goers accompanying us, we decided to drive the route the night before to check it out. All was well until about 3/4 of the way, then on the final stretch we quickly realized that cycling this route would be crossing that fine line between tough and stupid.

Our map told us to turn off of 360 onto Westlake Drive to head back towards campus. The problem is Westlake Drive is a two-lane curvy road with absolutely no shoulder. We even had difficulty taking some turns in our car and figured if a vehicle came around a bend going any faster than 20 MPH, there would be no hope of spotting a cyclist. There is definitely a safer route home than the one we mapped online, so we are hoping to try 360 again sometime this week with some other team members.

So instead of completing the entire 30 mile loop as we had planned, we ended up riding out to 360, getting breakfast tacos at Rudy's BBQ, and then turned around to head home. We also stopped in Daniel's parents' neighborhood and practiced going up some hills that had given me trouble the first time around. It ended up being a really fun trip and a total of about 20 miles.

Knowing that I would be out of town for a good portion of the week, I tried to get my 65 miles logged early. So on Tuesday, I rode with 5 other teammates on the route scheduled for the team Saturday morning ride. It was 45 miles long- we rode out to Buda, Texas again but this time we did a loop around some farm roads in the area and then rode home. It was great practice for hills because there was very little traffic. On one particular road, we even passed an Alpaca farm! Which reminds me, I am going to go on a little tangent about wildlife...

Last week at meeting, two alumni Texas 4000 riders from 2006 came to talk to the team about First Aid. They taught us how to make a sling and swathe for a broken collar bone out of a shirt and a spare tire tube. They also gave us tips on how to avoid heat exhaustion, how to choose a campsite that won't flood, etc. Then came the topic of bears- which for us Texans is super exciting. We couldn't get off the topic. Apparently, the average Texas 4000 rider will encounter about 4 bears over the course of the summer...yikes! So not only did they teach us how to bear-proof our campsite and how helpful bear spray is (it's not), we learned what to do if we see a bear on the road and, my favorite, when to stand your ground and when to keep pedaling!

I'm somewhat of a city girl (my parents are probably thinking "somewhat?"), so seeing wildlife on the rides still blows my mind. I remember at training camp in Fayettville, Texas we saw a lot of cows. But at one particular farm, there was a cow outside his pen running along the highway next to the cyclers. He was really cute until he decided to cross the road right in front of me. I had to stop and wait for this cow to cross and the whole time I'm thinking, "is this actually happening? A cow? Really? Where am I?"  So grizzly bears? No thanks. Luckily, we learned the best protection comes in numbers. There have been no reported attacks on groups larger than 3. So in bear country, no wandering off alone!

But back to training... the 45 mile ride ended well. It was the furthest I'd ridden in one ride. This Saturday, the team will be riding 50 miles. Improving slowly but surely...

Please visit http://www.texas4000.org/give/give to find out how you can help.

Jersey Design

As promised, here is the design for the 2010 team jersey. I ordered 3- two to rotate through this summer and one to keep clean at home to have as a sort of keepsake when the ride is over. Past riders have also gotten teammates to sign a jersey in Alaska, so that might be fun to have also!

I had some trouble with the format of this image, but you should be able to click on it for a larger version where you can see more details. They look like they are going to be really neat!

I have some fun rides to blog about soon! I am busy preparing for graduate school interviews this weekend and even though I could spend hours editing this page, I should be devoting my free time to those preparations. More soon...

P.S. Thank you very much to all who have donated/are supporting this ride. You keep me encouraged and I love hearing from all of you. Thank you for your help!

Please visit http://www.texas4000.org/give/give to find out how you can help.

MapMyRide.com | View Buda Taco Route in Austin, Texas

The weather is finally nice again—sunny and in the 60’s! Even though I think I finally have all the necessary apparel to keep warm, I can’t wait to shed some layers in the spring. On the coldest mornings, I have on all of the following: arm warmers, jersey, fleece, wind-proof jacket, leg warmers, shorts, wool socks, shoe covers, gloves, headband over the ears, helmet, and sunglasses- and my toes are usually numb  regardless.

My favorite accessory is my pair of rain/winter long-fingered gloves. My teammates might make jokes about my hands looking like llama hooves, but they secretly wish their hands were as warm as mine! If it is below 60 degrees outside, I wear these:

Yesterday morning was our first team 40-mile ride. We headed south out of Austin and rode to Buda (about 20 miles), ate breakfast tacos, and then rode home. Here is the link to our route:

MapMyRide.com | View Buda Taco Route in Austin, Texas

Posted using ShareThis

We had a great time! The ride home was especially nice because it had warmed up quite a bit and heading north on 1st street and through downtown we had a really cool view of the Austin skyline. It was also much flatter terrain than some of our East and North Austin adventures.

And tomorrow, we place the order for the 2010 team jersey!! I will post the design in my next update!

Happy Valentine's Day!  

"What's a little incline on the bike path of life?"

Well, just from reading my last blog it is clear to me now how drastically different some days on the road might be. Though I am still very much enjoying my bike, today was hard. This morning, I rode with Jack & Adam’s triathlon shop’s Sunday morning ride. It was only 20 miles, which I expected would be a breeze by now. It wasn’t necessarily an easy route—nothing like the Shoal Creek loop that we log miles on throughout the week—but it was shorter and less difficult than our Saturday morning team rides. I was sure I could handle it with ease. This was NOT the case. My legs burned on the very first hill. But I pushed on because I’ve realized that, for me, the first 5 miles can be the hardest. Runners often describe their first few miles in similar terms—it takes that “runner’s high” to kick in before your breathing is steady and those endorphins take away the pain. But then there was the next hill. And the one after that.

I was frustrated with myself because these hills weren’t as big or steep as several we have trained on. But 20 miles never went by so slow. Granted, I was also sore from yesterday and the day before. Yesterday morning the team rode 30 miles in under 3 hrs for our first benchmark test. It was a new route—hillier than the last—and we pushed ourselves to ride as fast as we could to make it in under the time requirement. And on Friday afternoon, I rode with Daniel and some teammates to Shoal Creek and Far West on a 25 mile ride. I saw one of the steepest hills in Austin (that I think over the years has become a T4K treasure) but a few of us on the ride Friday opted instead to watch the two more experienced riders climb it. All I could think about was how fun it looked to go down, but how hard it would be to come back up. It turns out the downhill slope is much more dangerous—unfortunately one of my team members was hurt recently from a fall on this hill. But by April, we will have climbed this hill as a team.

Tour das Hugel, photo credit: Daniel Norton

I don’t want to make it sound like I didn’t finish the ride—we definitely made it and weren’t even the last ones. We did 20 miles in about 1.5 hrs, which was a faster pace than the day before. But it wasn’t my best and my attitude wasn’t right.

This past week, Daniel and I started Bikram Yoga—26 postures in a 105 degree room for 90 minutes. The first class was brutal, but I had been warned. The second class was great. After a 30 mile ride, 90 minutes of stretching felt incredibly purifying. One of the things I love is Bikram’s objective towards wellness and balance in life. At first, it came across a little cheesy. But when the instructor tells you to leave all of your stress from the outside world on your mat, it makes a lot of sense. Not only are you cleansing your body of toxins and improving lung capacity and circulation, it’s a time to face yourself in the mirror and spend an hour and a half perfecting what you can with focus and discipline.

Recently, I have also been able to make a connection between life and cycling. Already, training has been one of the hardest things I’ve faced in my 21 years—which I realize makes me a very lucky person. But lately, I feel like I let so many more of the little things go. Whether it’s not getting ticked off at other drivers on the road or sitting in an insanely hot, humid room for 90 minutes (ha after this summer, I even think giving birth will be a cinch), I’ve noticed more patience and appreciation for the smaller things in life—because anything feels easier than pushing up one of those hills. But, interestingly, this is slightly different than our perspective at T4K. We ride for those who can’t. We compare our difficult journey to a patient’s battle with cancer, because they too keep going when they feel like giving up most. So for us, cycling is the least we can do—climbing hills is easier than a day in the life of a cancer patient, because at the end of the day, we can get off of our bikes and rest. Our thoughts can go elsewhere, and we have our health. So, with this in mind, I can continue to train and prepare myself as much as possible for the journey ahead. This experience has been very humbling and I know that by the end of the summer, this trip will have changed my life for the better.

Please visit http://www.texas4000.org/give/give to find out how you can help.