Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Huntsman 140: Our Acrazing Day
For now I'm just posting Laura's video. Later I'm going to write about training, and preparation, and life's lessons.
Also, I'll be writing more about this, and posting more photos, at Aunt Louise.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
25 Miles Today
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| Ellen, Neva, Laura, Louise, and Reo |
(Today being Thursday, June 19, 20140---the last day to reasonably do a training ride before the big one on Saturday)
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| I think I look like a bug with my helmet and glasses, don't you? |
We met at a hotel near the airport and rode from there to the marina at the Great Salt Lake, and back again. "We" were Sandra's five siblings, plus Jeff and Rachael (both of whom will be riding with us on Saturday) and Coralee (who will be volunteering at one of the rest stations and supporting us generally on the ride).
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
June 7: Riding 104+ Miles in Utah Desert
Neva and James and I joined the Huntsman Hometown Heroes on Saturday the 7th for a training ride. Here we are at the beginning, all full of smiles and energy. We kept the smiles throughout the day, but the energy diminished drastically during the second 50 miles.
Neva and James have ridden with the HHH group before; in fact, Neva is one of the team's coaches. But it was a first for me, and a chance to get used to the higher Utah altitude and heat before the Huntsman 140 on June 21.
Neva had brought a bike for me to ride, as well as energy drinks and an array of snack bars for us to share.
We rode on part of the same route we'll be taking for the Huntsman 140 on June 21. We started at a middle school just south of Salt Lake City to the town of Elberta and back, a total of about 104 miles.
Amazingly, James took these photos as we rode. He took his hands off the handlebars, pedaled up next to me and then Neva, said "Smile!" and snapped the photos of us, plus the view of the landscape we were riding through.
The HHH people call this section of the route, these long rolling hills through the desert just west of Utah Lake, "rollers," a good name for the rolling hills, and they say this is the most dispiriting. And we would agree with that.
BTW, James's photos are on our Team Sandra page on Facebook. Check it out! All of us are training really hard. For instance, Ellen rode 55 miles that same day, from her home in Salem to the middle school where we ended up---an amazing and courageous ride. And check out one of Laura's rides, with life lessons. And Ellen has posted on the Team Sandra page a story about one of Reo's training rides.
Anyway, I'm really glad I did that ride! The elevation at Elberta is about 4,500 feet above sea level (actually, depending on which Web site you read, it's somewhere between 4,300 and 4,700 feet). And the elevation at Saratoga Springs,* which we rode through, is always listed as 4,505 feet. So we weren't at the maximum elevation we'll be at during the June 21 ride, which is about 6,600 feet. But it's about 4,000 feet higher than where I've been training here at home.
Note: The Arctic Circle in Saratoga Springs was/is like an oasis, as we spent a few minutes there washing the sweat off our faces and eating a chicken sandwich (James) and Moose Tracks Sundaes (Neva and me). The staff there were exceptionally friendly and kind to us, too. Maybe I'll stop there again on June 21.
Neva and James have ridden with the HHH group before; in fact, Neva is one of the team's coaches. But it was a first for me, and a chance to get used to the higher Utah altitude and heat before the Huntsman 140 on June 21.
Neva had brought a bike for me to ride, as well as energy drinks and an array of snack bars for us to share.
We rode on part of the same route we'll be taking for the Huntsman 140 on June 21. We started at a middle school just south of Salt Lake City to the town of Elberta and back, a total of about 104 miles.
Amazingly, James took these photos as we rode. He took his hands off the handlebars, pedaled up next to me and then Neva, said "Smile!" and snapped the photos of us, plus the view of the landscape we were riding through.
The HHH people call this section of the route, these long rolling hills through the desert just west of Utah Lake, "rollers," a good name for the rolling hills, and they say this is the most dispiriting. And we would agree with that.
Anyway, I'm really glad I did that ride! The elevation at Elberta is about 4,500 feet above sea level (actually, depending on which Web site you read, it's somewhere between 4,300 and 4,700 feet). And the elevation at Saratoga Springs,* which we rode through, is always listed as 4,505 feet. So we weren't at the maximum elevation we'll be at during the June 21 ride, which is about 6,600 feet. But it's about 4,000 feet higher than where I've been training here at home.
Note: The Arctic Circle in Saratoga Springs was/is like an oasis, as we spent a few minutes there washing the sweat off our faces and eating a chicken sandwich (James) and Moose Tracks Sundaes (Neva and me). The staff there were exceptionally friendly and kind to us, too. Maybe I'll stop there again on June 21.
Monday, June 2, 2014
The Pregnant Cycling Teacher
Tell you what, it made my day to find that today's 9 am spin class was being taught by someone who is about 8 months pregnant. When I got there, she was talking to a class member, about 7-1/2 months pregnant.
Then, as she started the class, she announced that she'll be here for the next 4 Mondays, then gone for 3 weeks, then back again. Someone said, "You could take more, you know. They give you 7 weeks, don't they?" And she said, "I only need 3."
Then she pushed herself as hard as she was pushing us.
Like I said, it made my day.
Then, as she started the class, she announced that she'll be here for the next 4 Mondays, then gone for 3 weeks, then back again. Someone said, "You could take more, you know. They give you 7 weeks, don't they?" And she said, "I only need 3."
Then she pushed herself as hard as she was pushing us.
Like I said, it made my day.
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