My century ride in Tahoe!

OK, Danny, hold onto your shorts. Here comes my story:

So, we arrive in Tahoe on Friday. It's 39 degrees and spitting. But spitting, I mean what you picture happening in Seattle all the time. Rainy enough so that you don't want to be outside. But, to brighten our day, we hijacked our bus and made the driver stop at In-N-Out. DE-licious. I had two burgers (one animal style, the other cheese, mustard and pickles only), an order of fries and a strawberry shake. Quit judging. In two days I was to ride 100 miles around Lake Tahoe. Seemed like I should start "carbing" up. That night, we went to bed pretty early after eating delicious pizza.

Early the next morning, it's still raining and freezing. We went for an early morning warm-up ride. It was disgusting. All we could think was "please God, don't let this be the weather for Sunday."

My parents arrived in Tahoe that morning, so I met up with them after my ride. We hung out and watched Bond movies all day. It was really relaxing. That night was the inspiration dinner. Here we are enjoying the huge pasta dinner:


Another early night for the team, as the ride started at 6 a.m. the next morning. The team met at 5:45 a.m. outside of the hotel. We were ready to ride (I'm bundled up in the blue jacket towards the front):


Now, for the 6-mile, 800-foot climb about 15 miles into the ride. I looked up at the switchbacks and thought I would die. But, after falling once on the ascent, I made it to the top so I could enjoy the stunning view. Here I am with my cycling coach, Prescott (pronounced Press-kit):


Here I am about 35 miles in. I was so proud that I have made it this far in pretty great time:


Then, the bike problems come into play. So, let's go into weirdo bike talk for a minute. The tire on a bike should sit well in a rim. If you look carefully around the rim, you can see small beading around the whole way. However, on my back wheel, the beading had fallen below the rim in one part. That is super dangerous. So, when I noticed that my bike was bumpy, I knew I needed to fix the issue. Here's Matt trying to fix the wheel. He did, because he is a master:


So, I make it 70 miles. This is the lunch stop. My parents and David and his father met me there. It was great to see them there. I am ABSOLUTELY exhausted at this point. My dad called me delirious and it was pretty accurate.


I get about 2/3 up "Spooner." Spooner is a 1000-foot, 8-mile climb. I thought I was about to die. I'm looking out into the trees and contemplating throwing myself down the hill. In my mind, I think "This fall has GOT to be faster than me riding down the hill." Here was my view out into the trees:


But, my mom surprised me at the top of the hill and told me to quit whining and get up that hill. So, I did. :) Here's me at the top of the hill:


And I finished. I FLEW down the hill after Spooner, getting up to about 35 mph, which was awesome! I crossed the finish line and the whole team was cheering "B- double E- double R - U - N, BEERRUN!" And, it was done. I got my first beer in six months and it was delicious.


And the trip was over. I actually wasn't too sore, which is awesome. My coach pushed me up one hill, but besides that, I think I did pretty well. Now, I'm addicted and I plan to do more bike rides and hopefully more Team In Training events.

Thanks to all of you who rocked and supported me. :)