LiveSTRONG Challenge San Jose CA -James' Pre-ride report

So as I posted on the Blog a few months ago I'd signed up for the LiveSTRONG Challenge in San Jose CA.  The team I'd joined was called Team Fatty, it's named after the Fat Cyclist, which is a blog a guy named Elden started to try and use public humiliation to help him loose weight.  He figured if he posted his weight on-line for the whole world to see it might help him cut a few pounds...  Well back in like 03 his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer.  They thought they got rid of it, but discovered a couple of years ago that it'd metastasized and was now bone cancer.  Because they are battling cancer the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) had been helping them through this ordeal.  Late last year Elden decided that he wanted to give something back to the LAF and the best way to do that would be to start a fund raising team for each of the four cities where the LAF does the LiveSTRONG challenge -their annual fund raising event.  The way the challenge works is that to participate in it you sign up and then start fund raising, if you want to do the 100 mile ride (like I did) you need to raise at least 250 dollars.  Well as some of you may know I've lost aunts on both sides of my family to cancer and just last summer lost a good friend and brother-in-law Arlie to cancer.  One of my own brothers is currently in remission and I have an uncle who is also going through treatment.  So needless to say cancer is high on my gotta get rid of this disease list.

Anyway I harassed most everybody I knew and had Andrea, Arlie's widow post a link to the fund raising page on a motorcycle message board that Arlie had belonged to.  The response was overwhelming, I raised nearly 1000 dollars for the LAF!

So Sunday the 12th was "the ride".  Now as I'd never done a 100 mile ride before, in fact until about a month and a half ago I didn't even own a road bike.  You may ask what the difference between the type of bike I own (mountain bikes) and a road bike and I could spend days discussing the differences.  At any rate the length of the ride and the amount of climbing -actually I think I miss-read the ride profile back in like April and I thought it had like 6000 ft of climbing.  It turns out that there was only like 3000 ft.  Anyway the ride was omnipresent in my head, I really, REALLY didn't want to be a DNF (did not finish) so I started training hard. 30 plus miles at 5am Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. With a 2.5 hour hammer fest mountain bike ride on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  On at least three weekdays a week in May and June I'd ride with Dean, Jerry and Paul (some REAL road cyclists) from work at lunch time.  We'd crank out a 20 mile loop in about an hour.  So even though the ride was TOTALLY in my head and I was kind of scared I think I may have trained enough... maybe...

On Friday the 10th of July I loaded my bike and a weekend bag in the mini-van and headed for San Jose. Carmen and the boys were going to meet me there with my parents, after driving down from Portland OR.  Saturday we hung out and did a few things around town, Sunnyvale is a little different after 2 years of not living there but the weather is still much cooler than here in Phoenix so it's nice to be outside all day.

Sunday morning at 7:30 the ride started.  We WERE early then just as we got off the freeway I realized that I'd left BOTH of my water bottles in the hotel refrigerator (we were staying at a Marriott Residence Inn).  So Carmen hot footed the car back to the hotel, I grabbed my water bottles and we were back to the same spot on the off ramp in less than 15 mins.  There was a line to get into the parking garage and it was moving slow.  We couldn't figure out why though as it was one of those auto ticket dispensing things.  Well it turned out that they weren't using that there was a lady standing there and it was 7 dollars for the day or for however long you stayed, up to all day.  So a little price gouging for those of us not planning on staying there all day.  But as it was now pushing 7:20 we weren't in a good argument position.  The nice thing was that because our fundraising team (team Fatty) had raised the most money we had pole position on the starting grid.  So I knew EXACTLY where I was supposed to go.  I got there with a few minutes to spare but missed the team photo op by seconds... oh well.  Here's a snapshot Carmen took of me in the starting grid.

In case you don't recognize me I'm the one in the blue shirt.