Wine Country CrossFit

What an AMAZING week Blair and I had.  I KNEW it would be hard, but really didn’t have a clue how challenging this journey would be.

The facts:  we bicycled every mile of the 545 miles from SF to LA TOGETHER; individually, Blair and I raised $6000 + and $3000+ toward the 13 Million dollars raised during this event;  we had only one flat between us and each took one of those stupid falls you do when you don’t clip out fast enough (mine came in the start line heading out of the Cow Palace on the first morning). We “princessed” one night (a term used when you overnight at a motel instead of camping out), but ended up doing laundry until 11 PM.

So, how did the week go?  Picture being one of 3,000 folks embedded in a moving city complete with chefs, physical therapists, chiropractors, sports medicine docs, roadies, bicycle repair gurus, cheerleaders, entertainment, full showers, a million porta potties, u-haul trailers and dome tents. Awake every morning b/w 5-5:30, on the bike by 7:30, riding between 40-109 miles each day, interspersed with rest stops, potty breaks and stretching or using a foam roller.  My cross fit buddies would be very impressed by the amount and variety of food choices, yoga offerings to warm up with each morning, and the impressive line up for the foam rollers. Back in camp by 6 or 7pm, pitch the tent, eat dinner, shower, then bed.  By day 3, it most definitely felt like we had starring roles in the movie Groundhog Day.

Worst Day:  Ride day 2 109 miles from Santa Cruz to King City.  Due to the billions of stop lights on the city streets of Santa Cruz and Soquel, we made 10 miles in the first two hours of our ride.  So, at 10 am, we had ridden 10 miles, with 100 miles in front of us.  Cruising in to rest stop 1, at 14 miles, I got a tire flat.  It took 40 full minutes to execute this change on my brand new wheels with a very short -stemmed tube replacement.  For the rest of the day, we were playing tag with rest stop closures, arriving within 5 minutes of the scheduled closing of the rest stop…staying longer would have cost us being sagged for the rest of the day’s ride, something we were not mentally prepared to do on day 2.  We literally closed down every rest stop and arrived at base camp at 7:30, totally spent and wondering if we were fit to make the rest of the week.  We somehow made it to dinner and back to our tents, but we didn’t talk to each other much for the rest of the night.  The next day we experienced the full effect of the adrenaline drain of the day before…only 68 miles to ride but exhausted!  Again, I seriously questioned my ability to make it another 4 days. But make it we DID! we developed a strategy to take one leg at a time, just ride to the next rest stop.  My mantra became, “I can do X miles”, and that, in a nutshell, is how I made it through the week.

The stories of the (primarily) men I was honored to meet will be with me forever.

A huge shout out of grateful thanks to my friends, trainers, therapists, and our personal roadies and biggest fans, Sophie, Michael and Michaela. Thank you for the multitude of prayers and thoughts you sent our way.  They were heard and honored.  My prayer for our girls is that they don’t ever witness the fear, stigmatization or hopelessness of a disease such as Aids and I share that prayer with you.