LiveSTRONG 2012

Sunday was my 5th time to participate in one of Lance's rides--Ride for the Roses or the Livestrong Challenge.

1999

In 1999 I rode in my first charity bike ride, The Ride for the Roses. The Ride for the Roses first started out with Lance & his buddies racing through Central Texas on Valentine's day. The first one to finish was awarded roses to take home to his wife or girlfriend. 1999 was the first Ride for the Roses after Lance won the Tour de France that summer. It would be my first road bike "race' as so many like to call it, but in reality it's just a ride, no one is racing, but some are trying to get to the finish faster.

Ed, Marianne & I were doing the 50 mile route. I had been training, slowly worked my way up to 35 miles, so 50 would be my longest ride to date. I had just bought my road bike earlier that summer.

There's 4 things I fondly remember from the ride that day:

1. I learned  you weren't supposed to wear underwear w your bike shorts, I found this out from observation not from getting a sore in my hoo ha area. 
2. I killed a big hill at the end of the ride, and had to wait for Ed & Marianne (think this is when I fell in love w/ climbing hills) 
3. I was passed by some pros, the sound their bikes made when flying past me will forever be in my mind.
4. At the end of most rides, they serve cold BEER & it's usually free or very cheap.

2004

I can't remember if I rode in 2000-2003, but I know I rode the Ride for the Roses in 2004. That was the year Diane & I decided to ride 70 and the ride would not end. I flatted at mle 15, Yungie was SAG & he helped w the changing of the tube & more importantly the air. The hand pump broke while trying to add more air. We continued to ride w no issues except that the ride would never end. It ended up being 74 miles, only ride I can remember that went more than a mile over its intended mileage. I do remember Lance making a big presentation & lots of 'stars' being there--Will Ferrel, Robin Williams. I think you had to raise $250 to ride.

 Diane, the best work out buddy ever!

We ran across Lynne somewhere out east.

The Llama volunteering at a rest stop.

2005

Then in 2005 I rode w Yung & Pete. It was Yung's first big ride & he raised a lot of $ for LAF (Lance Armstrong Foundation as it was known for back then). Think you had to raise $250 to ride.

 Not sure why I don't remember much about this ride, I do remember Pete & I seeing Alex from Mix 94.7 on the 50 mile route way ahead of where he should have been (he was supposed to ride the 100) we argued for a bit about if it was him or not, I found out on Monday that he did bail on the 100, what a wuss.

2008

 In Aug of 2007 when Diane's  father in law died of melanoma, we decided that I would fly into Philly & we would do the LiveSTRONG challenge. Little did I know that when I made that promise that I'd have a stroke 3 months later. But in true Kim fashion I kept to my word. I 'trained' for the ride, the most I rode prior to it was 35 miles on a fairly flat road. I was using the 50% training plan, if you can ride 1/2 the ride day distance , then you can do the full distance on ride day. I did it, but it was painful!
Pennsylvania has hills! And the route was strategically set up so you would go up a hill, then on your way downhill you would turn right and go up another hill. I ended up walking 2-3 hills, D got a huge muscle spasm in her right quad, but that didn't stop her & neither did losing use of her back gears. We eventually finished and thankfully Brad & the kids were waiting for us w/ beer!

2012

Let's see about a month prior the USADA announced it was stripping Lance of all his wins at the TdF, But the UCI hadn't made its call what it would do, in the meantime, Lance resigned from the LiveSTRONG board.. While waiting we were debating if Lance would make an appearance.
Well he did appear and briefly spoke. Which I'm sure took a lot of guts.

 I'm personally still in shock over all of this. Not sure what to think. I just went to the TdF website and under history, there is nothing from 1999-2008.

 So, they just removed all those years? or is it temporary as they rewrite the info, only time will tell. Will Phil & Paul be able to mention his name during the broadcasts? Do I feel duped? Yes. Do I feel lied to, kinda. I always had a good feeling he was doping and they just didn't have the tests to detect it, but I also knew he trained more than the other cyclists and was pretty damn obsessed about the sport. Were other cyclists doping, I'm almost 100% sure of that. I'm not going to say anything profound here, just my pitally thoughts going thru my head.
Was the investigation wrong? I don't know, why do we even have the USADA, who funds that? If they really want to catch the cheaters, then maybe the $ should be spent on developing a better test...I'm sure $1,000,000 to some random scientist would be $ better spent. Do I care if athletes dope, not really. Should the gov't be wasting time & money on doping athletes? NO. Is the evidence worthy of eliminating his winds? I don't know. If they rely on the tests and those all are negative, then isn't that the evidence?  I mean if a friend testifies that I robbed a bank 13 years later, yet there's no other evidence, no one was injured, can I still face charges?
Since my t-shirts & cap declare him winners of 6 & 7 tours respectively, will those get destroyed, too? What do I do with them?I have a Team Discovery jersey signed by a bunch of guys who doped. Looks like you can get some cheap jerseys off ebay, but the ones w autographs are a bit pricier. One guy is selling his entire collection--magazines, jerseys, posters, hats, watches....bid is at $100. And then my best friend named her son after him...yikes, we haven't even scratched the surface on that topic.

Does Austin rename the Lance Armstrong Bikeway? If we do, then do we also rename Willie Nelson Blvd., he's been convicted of tax fraud & smoking dope? Will I continue to wear my LiveSTRONG bracelet, probably, I'm still 100% behind LiveSTRONG.

What it all comes down to too much is placed on athletes to win & apparently they will do anything in order to win.It is really sad. Is this the kinda pressure that is also placed on teachers & students to pass the standardized tests (I'm reaching here, but you know there is cheating going on) What if there were huge bonuses for teachers to get their kids to pass, would more cheating take place? Why is everything in the US so $ focused?

So, enough about that shit, what happened happened, it was a great story, but all the files have been deleted.

The 2012 LiveSTRONG challenge. I had wanted to do the century, I had never completed a LS century, always did the middle to longer distance.

But come game time we were riding into 15 mph winds and it wouldn't be letting up until mile 70.
Ran into Lisa B at the rest stop at mile 22, very cool rest stop put on by Dell, they were a Biker Bar theme.

At mile 36, the decision point,  my shoulder was already hurting, the wind was still blowing, and it less than 30 miles to beer, decision made!

 Though I would have loved to ride w the 3 doing their first century. Taking the easy way out seems to be a theme of mine w bike riding lately, stopped 11 miles short of doing all of the Katy, only riding 45 in the Mamma Jamma ride and didn't do the century for LiveSTRONG, am I getting old? smart? just taking the easy way out? Either way, I'm not going to dwell on it, maybe it will give me a goal for next year, but wouldn't it have been cool to say I rode 450+ miles in October. Oh well.
On the last stretch a SUV was pulled over & handing out cold Shiner beer, the unofficial rest stop was called "Not  dead yet"

At the finish, I ate while Kristen went to move her car. Then we found the beer tent. They weren't taking beer tickets. thus we could have more than one and we took advantage of it! SCORE!!

While on our fourth beer, Victor & Kellie rode in, while running out to meet them Leslie came in! I was so proud of them for finishing! It was a tough ride & definitely a memory making century that included riding into the wind, temperature hitting 90 & a 16% grade hill at mile 50!

*****************************************************
Total miles for this ride:66.02
Total miles for the month of October: 372.72
Total miles for 2012: 2707.23
Miles to go:  -695.23  miles til 2012!!
Odometer
Road: 13103