a much anticipated race...

i competed in the race for which i have been training all summer. 72 miles and 4000 feet of climbing around take tahoe.

before i verbally drag you through the play by play, let me give you the cliff notes. we met friends from high school here for the weekend. we competed in the race saturday morning and i made it to the finish line in 3 hours 5 minutes and 46 seconds. this time was much better than i anticipated and surpassed the goal we created for ourselves of under four hours at the start of the summer. some perspective on the course from the official website:

1. You will receive handsome achievement awards for riding under 4 hours and 3:30.
2. Our current record is 3:01 held by Jeff Schalk of San Francisco.
3. Legend has it that Greg Lemond did it in 3:15 as a high school student while growing up in Reno.
4. The first 9 miles is through about 25 stop lights with a police escort for the lead Peloton.
5. Last year's winner was Jeff Angerman with a time of 3:06:31.23

so there you have the low-down. if you want to read on i will regale you with the weekend's fesitivities..:)

these first four pictures show our family on the beach the night we drove in from yosemite (another post to follow on that camping trip...)

the kiddos were ecstatic to be out of the car and you can see the joy etched in bekah's face as she skips her way around the playground on the beach.

ella has been the consummate traveler and amy is showing her the love right here.



michael quietly enjoyed his sisters, the sunset and throwing rocks and sand into the water.

the next morning we scouted out the first climb of the race in the car and did some site-seeing from the cliff-top lookout at emerald bay. absolutely beautiful.



we then drove to the cabin we went in on jointly with joseph, amy (their kids), brent, lyndi (their girl), joseph's mom and siblings. we got our bearings in this sweet three-story hillside cabin before heading again to the beach with the whole clan. our group made quite the stir on the playground equipment and in the water. it was a great respite before the race the next day and it was really nice catching up with everyone.

the race was a riot. the profile has two major climbs at mile 17 and 57. we figured if we could stay with the leading group on the first climb and then draft together in a group around the lake we could finish fairly close to the top.

the first 10 miles were all about the police escort through town. the peleton was a bit jumpy to start with one girl going down immediately as she was pummeled by a large cone set up to keep the riders to the right of the road at the start of the race. there were errant water bottles skittering about beneath our tires and riders jockeying for position. we slowly made our way towards the front of the group while the police motorcade and roared past us between lights to hold up traffic as we passed...

i met a 'cat 3' rider during this early stage in the race. he had the surefooted signs of someone who knows their way around a peleton and i was able to follow him up to the front 5-10 riders at the start of the first big climb. i hung closely for most of the climb, but as the % grade reached 12 percent in the waning yards of the climb my lungs felt like they were going to explode and my legs were screaming for me to stop. i didn't want to bonk out of the race with no energy remaining for the 52 miles to come, so i dropped back with a shadow group just behind the leaders for the second-half of the first climb.

from there joseph (who bridged two heroic gaps to get back with the trailing peleton) and i drafted and pushed our way around the lake amidst gorgeous views of the lake at sunrise, high-speed water bottle hand-offs, huge pot holes emerging unsuspectingly to jar and tug at our hands and arms, and lots of adrenaline as we worked to bridge any gaps when the group would break up on smaller climbs and descents. the pace was unrelenting at 23-27 mph during this interlude before the final 10 mile 800-900 vertical foot climb.

this final climb was unfamiliar for both joseph and me. i began the climb with the leaders of the 'chase-group'. however, i dropped the ball just before the first leveling in the climb and they drafted their way out of my reach before making the final push to the summit. this left me to make the big-time descent and final undulating 5 miles to the finish-line on my own.

in the end, we all surpassed our time-goal.

those final 5 miles became a test of my will and endurance. a 5 miles where i thought a lot about the 1500+ miles i put in on the bike this summer. i thought of the sacrifices amy made all summer and the good times i'd had training. i prayed for no final flat for the ride and pushed till the end.

the race was extremely rewarding. my time was four minutes off the course record for 5 years running, and better than last year's winning time. this race weekend was a memorable one. with memories i will carry for a lifetime. playing over the key moments of the race in my mind has left me with thoughts of 'what if' and with anticipation for races to come...

most importantly was the cheering section who showed up in all their pastel glory to cheer us on. celebrating with family at the finish completed the experience in a beautiful way:)

all that being said...i return to the true hero of the summer and my favorite person. thank you amy for the sacrifices you made to allow me this experience...