July 12, 2009Today was a scheduled absence from the Scott & BR Cycling Team. I was not being lazy, though! Today I participated in my 5th Livestrong Challenge and my second time on this course in San Jose. Today was the capstone on my celebration of 5 years cancer free. All of the miles of this year, my fundraising, my 5 day RIDE-FOR-CANCER.COM from the Golden Gate bridge to the Cancer Survivors park in San Diego was for this day, this ride. I was excited and emotional. I was joined by my good friend Bob White for the ride and my girlfriend Panhia. You would think that Bob and I would be tired of riding together after 620 miles down the coast but he us fun to ride with, always good for a laugh and unfortunately often the recepient of bad luck. We drove up to San Jose on Saturday morning checked into the hotel and walked over for packet pickup. I scored some good free gear for my fundraising efforts. This year it's a cool travel bag, tshirt and a runners cap, all of I with the new Team Livestrong logo. My Tshirt was also in a contest so we checked that out too. Unfortunately, I stood no chance to win, even with the best design. I was up against a team of 70+ and Amgen's team, it was a donation voting program and my small team of 3 could not compete. It was an honor to be selected, though. We watched the TdF in the hotel bar, had dinner and went on to bed.
Up and ready to go at 6:30...too bad it did not start until 7:30. I had a chance to chat with a few other riders and talk about my unique jersey. I was wearing my Scott & BR jersey and receiving a lot of compliments. Everyone at the was educated on the QMDC, the CAF, and the vote for immunity by joining Team 1090. It was a big turnout. 3200 riders, runners, and walkers. We had a good spot at the front of the chute to hopefully stay out of trouble's way. We rode the first 10 miles behind a police escort and were out of town in no time at all. It was a very smooth ride mostly. We helped a new rider change a flat. He had jus started riding his road bike 4 weeks prior and was tackling one of the tougher century rides in California. He did not know that you should carry tubes, CO2, etc...I was happy to help. The first 70 miles of the course are pretty uneventful. Rolling hills as you go south and always a nasty headwind coming back north. We paced ourselves well for the monster at mile 70. Metcalf road is a little monster that does it's best to hurt you. 1.8 miles with 1000' of elevation gain. It's pretty much 15 minutes of pure heart-redlining hell. I passed quite a few riders on the way up offering words of encouragement trying to motivate and get people to conquer the beast without unclipping and pushing the bike. I paused at the top to wait for Bob. He was having issues with a phantom flat tire issue. I rode on solo per his request. I was riding strong, having a great day in the saddle.
The miles quickly disappeared and I found myself back in San Jose just minutes from the finish. I was overcome with emotions. I was happy, excited, and simply overwhelmed as I reflected on the events 5 years ago and since then that brought me to this moment right then on my bike in the 'Survivors' finish chute. I pulled a survivor tag from the pack pocket of my jersey and let the wind hold it up against my right hand. My left hand had all fingers stretched out as I proudly was shouting 5 years cancer free! I grabbed my yellow rose and pulled to the side, this year's ride was done. 
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