Depite being back at my desk, or perhaps because of it I am more than ready to get back on the bike for a good cause. I am just back in from San Jose, CA. and another hot 100 miles, a few of which were spent trailing Lance Armstrong who can still ride a bike with some alacrity despite somewhat feeble declarations to the contrary. San Jose was the second stop of the superbly orchestrated Livestrong Challenge series whereby cyclists, runners and walkers participate in their respective disciplines to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. On another, also rather hot day a couple weeks ago, $1.0M dollars was raised in Portland, OR. This weekend past $1.5M was raised in San Jose, CA. Next it is onto Philadelphia, PA in August. I have no doubt it will be just as hot there and that the dollars raised will continue to climb right along with the mercury. We will wrap the Challenges up in a still (hopefully) balmy Austin, TX. in October.
San Jose was not merely as hot as a wood fired pizza oven, it was about as smoky as one, courtesy of the states current incendiary properties. The hills on either side of the valley being barely visible though only a mile or two away. Sunday morning dawns fairly cool and some thirty five hundred plus participants are unleashed by the national anthem as trumpeted by a young dentist from New Orleans who proceeds to cycle the battered instrument around various refreshment stops jazzing up the exhausted or those on their way to being so. Its always fun to hare out of town with a police escort and zip through major intersections that are momentarily blocked off for this peloton of amateurs, as it is equally so, tearing back into downtown after spending eighty or so miles out amongst the evergreen oaks and eucalyptus while wending a way past low water reservoirs and a few charred hillsides… all on rather lovely and very quiet roads.
The pace is good and last nights Appreciation Dinner at the Fairmont Hotel seems to be fueling a stronger and more rash effort from me than normal. Pasta followed by Creme Brulee apparently suits my level of athleticism nicely. The ballroom at The Fairmont is beautifully attired in yellows, as was The Tiger Woods Pavilion on Nike’s Portland campus a couple of weeks ago. The table center pieces in all venues are of course the Bicyclette Bouquets which can be found featured on Flowerbud.com through the end of The Challenge season. A lush golden bunch of roses, sunflowers and solidaster. Simply radiant! Lance is on his game in San Jose, seemingly fully engaged and enjoying the audience and the recipients of various fund raising awards, Here he obviously has fun, where for some reason he had less than, in Portland. I suppose we are all entitled to “off” nights. It is a great deal of fun to see individuals and teams having raised some startling sums of money enjoying a chance of photo opps with this legend of Alp D’huez and other rather large and steep alps.
It really is hot out on the course after only an hour or so and the pit stops are essential for topping up bottles. The volunteers actually “volunteer ” to do it for you which is a super friendly touch and speeds one on the way with a few cookies in a back pocket and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich clenched between the teeth, as juice from delicious nectarines still dribbles down your chin(s)…we don’t all look like LA you know… to mix with sweat on some expensive bicycle componentry. Hills come and go and pace lines form, fall apart on climbs and re form on the flats. At about mile 40 or so I fall into tempo with Adrian, sporting an Army jersey and a fancy Pinarello bike. Conversation reveals he is now in ATC at Hayward Field. He seems to have maintained his military level of fitness. Relatively new to cycling he rode a charity ride for a family member with MS and became hooked on the sport. At about mile 55 we have a good pace line going which just happens to contain an ex pat Oregonian familiar with a few of my training routes. We come upon a lone young woman battling a long boring straightaway. As we zip past I gesture to her to get on my wheel and hook into the draft. She does so very ably. It turns out Carolena only got a bike this December past and has never ridden more than 50 miles at one time in her cycling life. It turns out she is motivated, naturally gifted and a Minnesotan of a mere 22 years. She helps us to a very speedy 100 miles and the resultant grin on her face at the end indicates she will be riding for many years to come. She makes the whole thing look absurdly easy.
There is one rather brutal climb today, as there was also in Portland and it comes at mile 75. I thought Bald Peak in Portland was nasty but it is naught compared with this thing. It really is steep and it trails off up into the distant sky when viewed from the bottom. Its a low gear grunt for my little gang while others are forced to walk and one or two others require a little first aid in the shade. This climb comes in the full heat of the day and is very exposed. It is a blessed relief to gain the summit and understand that it is mostly a downhill pitch to San Jose. At the top of the climb a voice says “is that Flowerbud Mark” and I look around to see Diane, a fellow roulleur from days in France and several venues in California. She has a gang of family with her today and a streak of competitiveness means it is off to the races again!
People sit at lane ends, on front porches and along the sidewalks. They ring cowbells, they cheer us on and one or two have the garden hoses on mist to allow for a rapid cool down when passing by. There are signs of support in garden and pasture alike. Family members await with cameras to snap those that are riding. It is a remarkably fun and friendly atmosphere. People even cheer and wave from cars…such a pleasant change from the middle finger that so often greets me when riding in Oregon. Yeah, I know you have heard that Oregon is supposedly bicycle central and Portland is bicycle capital of the free and weird world, but that’s a load of rubbish. “Little Beirut” is what President George W. Bush called Portland and the current death rate of cyclists at the hands of unlicensed, uninsured and under the influence motorists, the physical assaults on cyclists by the likes of TriMet bus drivers and the potholed roads might easily make one think they are riding in the the real Beirut! Enough said.
The finish line comes up in an avenue of yellow balloon arches, water misters, sponsor banners and a very chatty public announcer…all under the shadow of Adobe’s corporate HQ….and then of course there are the food and beer tents. It is rather a grand setting. Sally Reed and Becky Johnson, aka Tex and Annie Oakley are standing out in the broiling sun while having their “Survivor Roses” at the ready for all those having survived cancer as well as this particular challenge. They stand on the finish line come hell or high water until every single survivor has made it back in. These two have countless heartwarming/rending stories to tell of those they meet and pass the yellow roses to on the finish line. They see courage and suffering and ultimately victories, however brief for some, in so many forms out there. I usually join them for a while after getting off the bike and have spent much time on an upturned bucket shredding rose petals from surplus buds so that Sally and Becky along with their volunteers can sprinkle the late coming survivors with showers of yellow rose petals. This simple act carries amazing emotive force and I now see these showers of rose petals in much of the LAF promotional material. Before I had the chance to stand on the San Jose finish line and pass out roses and while still admonishing Sally re getting sunburned she delivered me my comeuppance by my having me press ganged onto the stage to talk with the chatterbox about what exactly Flowerbud does for those participating in LAF events.
If the ride did not make me thirsty then stage fright surely does. The beer really hits the spot…I hope it is as good in Philly.