Day - 14, Last day and Lance Armstron Challenge day

I skipped Day 13, Saturday as it was just an R&R day for me. Today was the Lance Armstrong Live Strong Challenge. The young 14 year old Peter Gatti and his family we flew down got to meet Lance yesterday on a private ride and he rode the 45 mile loop today. My friend an neighbor Peter McCormick was responsible for arranging all this. Young Peter is fighting cancer and lost one of his best friends just a few weeks ago, as you can see he is dedicating this ride to his lost friend. I managed to walk down to Mellow Johnney's Bike Shop which is owned by Lance, it is amazing! My bike is all packed up and ready for my shuttle tomorrow morning to the airport. We are having a wrap up dinner reception tonight at Lance's restaurant. Really looking forward to getting home since leaving October 8.

Day 12 - Final Day, Arrival in Austin

We were up at 0500 and off to our departure point. To break up the routine of our team riding the whole distance, we decided to make the last 95kms into a time trial. It was just luck of the draw who got climbs on their 13km leg (full speed). Just my luck I got 3 climbs which slowed me down but still had an average of 36kms/

km. Everyone had fun with this as broke the daily routine of riding our leg with the entire team and we finished way faster than with a group. We arrived at a Church just out of Austin to a very nice reception. After all the teams arrived we departed for where the Lance Armstrong event will be held over the weekend in a full group ride of about 40 riders, escourted by police. I am tired and now looking forward to getting home. I had an incredible experience and met so many people who just came to our van with the lettering and gave their story or how cancer has affected their lives. I will check out Austin over the weekend as my flight home is not until 1430 Monday.

Day - 11, Rode into Texas, final day tomorrow

So, tomorrow we ride into Austin with an escort to the reception from Lance Amstrong Foundation. It has been a long journey but I have learned more about myself and more about cancer and how affects people. I have had many very emotional times hearing from team members and how they have been affected. We have a daily team hand shake before setting out on our days ride which gave us purpose for the days task. I am looking forward to a rest and getting home to my family and my dog Flag.

Today's ride was across windy ranch desert terrain with not much to look at except the rear wheel of the bike in front when drafting to cut the wind. We have a group meeting at 0530 tomorrow to review how all teams will make it to the meeting point to ride into Austin as a complete group of GiveToLive riders.

I will continue to post updates until I get home Monday night. Also check the www.givetolive.ca web site for new photos and videos. Our webmaster will be fine tuning the site once home and he has the time and a faster computer to render videos and photos. Next post tomorrow from Austin!

Day 10, New Mexico from Arizona

We left the hotel at 0630 and headed for our start point which was a 4 hour drive. We unloaded bikes and equipment and it was only about 5C and windy. We were on a plateau about 7500ft. My bike had a flat rear tire and a damaged front tire, so trying to change out in the cold then service all the bikes was quite a chore. We finally headed out with a tail wind and rode on a straight rode for about 5 hours, very boring riding and scenery. The altitude was up and down and reached about 8500ft before a long down to our stop point in a small New Mexico hunting village where we had dinner, then drove to our hotel in Socorro NM.

When we were driving this morning we got an email from Team 1 who were dedicating today's ride to Meghan Ferguson's Dad. As she mentioned she couldn't say this but put it in writing:

-----Original Message-----

From: team1@givetolive.ca

Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:25:16

To: Team 2; Team 3; Team 4; Team 5; Team Halfway; Patti Currie; Todd McDonald; Ashley Ward

Subject: Today we ride for children no matter what age

I decided to write this because I knew I wouldn't be able to say my message outloud.  But it is a message that I wanted to share.

We have all been affected by cancer but I write this through the eyes of a child who has lost a parent, a daughter who has lost a father.

What is a father to his daughter?  He is her rock.  He is her protector.  He is her knight in shining armor.  He is the one who never forgets a kiss and a hug goodnight.  He keeps her safe.  In 2005 my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer - a terminal diagnosis.  Instantly my life as I knew it was taken away.

The next 7 months were filled with trips back home, trips to the docter, sitting in the chemo unit.  We knew that my dad's battle was never one of survival - it was a battle to maybe give us an extra week or maybe even a extra month.  As Christmas came that year, I knew we were "getting ready" for our last Christmas - how do you do that? How do you enjoy it?  We just tried to pretend it was any other Christmas. We laughed as we enjoyed our usual traditions.

In may 2006 my dad passed away.  Just 2 weeks before he and I were talking and he told me he knew he was ready to go.  As calmly as he told me, I understood. It was the most surreal conversation - like a bad dream almost. I spent every hour with my dad in the last few days before he died - I didn't want him to be alone when he left.  Quietly he left late one night.

During my dads illness and In the next few months after his death,  I lost my memories of a daughter.  When I closed my eyes I re-lived the sights and sounds of what cancer did to us.  I soon learned that families and especially caretakers can be affected by a form of PTSD in the form of the inability to see anything but the tragedy.

What has this ride given me?  I am a fairly private person and telling my story has helped me heal.  I have climbed mountains like no other for my dad.  Teammates with me, driving beside me and embracing me at the end of it all. 

My father gave me resilience and I made it to the other side. My memories of a daughter have returned.  This ride has truly let me live in my fathers afterglow.

Today team 1 rides for children who have lost a parent to cancer and children whose parent is still battling and those whose parent won their battle.

Meg

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Day 9 - Route 66 to Camp Verde Arizona

Today was a reletively easy day with the tail winds. We had 3 flats from road debris. We finished our ride before a serious climb, then a 15 mile down hill through Jerome National Park, glad it was not our Team that had to ride that down hill (It is largest elevation change in North America)! There was lots of desert rain squals but we never hit one. At our lunch stop a traveller said they were so heavy all traffic had to pull off the highway. Morning was very cool so had to use cold weather clothes but got into mid teens around noon. Tomorrow's forecast is cold again from here but a hurricane is moving into New Mexico that could be in our path? Last two days are hard with lots of elevation and long legs. We are all feeling the toll of 9 days of continuous hard riding but determined to continue to the end!

Day - 8, Dedicated to my daughter Janet

When I made mention of people in yesterday’s post I forgot one of the most important persons in my life and my biggest supporter, my daughter JANET who lives in LA. I felt so bad forgetting to mention her. I love her so much, she is an amazing person. She helped me fund raise and always encouraged me that I could accomplish this. So I rode today for my daughter Janet.

We left Vegas and started somewhere in the desert into a very strong headwind, took us about an hour to travel the first 20kms in close formation drafting. We then went through a city and took a left turn putting the strong wind at our back. I was coasting at 40kms/hr hardly pedaling for about 25kms. So another day and we are now driving to our destination for the night near the Grand Canyon but we will not get there!

Day - 7, Bishop CA to Vegas

Leaving Bishop CA very early, we were the last leg into Vegas. I must say the drive through Death Valley was a highlight of this trip. Our leg started at the end of Death Valley and the temps were forecast to reach 130F behind us which another team had to ride through! Our ride started great whith our 6 man team but as we turned towards Vegas the wind picked up very harshly making our progress slow and extremely demanding in the desert heat. We decided to split up the ride for safety and the three pro riders did about 40kms of straight highway with our support van stopping evey five miles. I jumped out towards the end with Dave Currie and we blasted into Vegas with average speeds of over 35kms. Our destination tomorrrow with be Grand Canyon.

Day - 6, Climbed Mt. Rose out of Reno NV

First out so we were up before 0600 from the gym floor where we slept. It was not too bad as we were so tired. Last team came in about 2300 so it was a bit noisy then. Breakfast at Denny’s then I had to install a new chain and true wheels as I am looking after the mechanical for my team. I was really tired from the climbing the day before so thinking about climbing Mt. Rose, 8900ft to the summit out of Reno seemed impossible to me. On the way to the base I started thinking, why I am doing this, not for me but for the names on the back of my jersey, for all the people who donated, for my wife Romy, my daughter Alina and all the people fighting the battle. Thinking about this made me realize that my two hours of pain is nothing compared what these courageous people have to deal with. By the time I reached the base this made me determined to achieve this for them and I did it, all 8900 ft into the snow. The ride down was great, 10 miles of steep downhill to Lake Tahoe. It was amazing to see such a large deep lake at an elevation of 6200 ft. And the water was clearer than any water I have seen anywhere. We finished our leg in Tahoe South village that reminds me so much of Lake George NY. We then had a 4hr drive to our destination for the night which was another shelter in a church in Bishop CA. We are last team on the road tomorrow into Vegas. (Just for laughs, I was climbing along Lake Tahoe, chatting with Jamie on my left rear when he yelled out my name just as I collided with a parked pickup truck in the bike lane. I was only travelling about 10kms so tossed me onto the pavement locked into pedals embarrased but bike was OK:)

Day - 5, California Sun and pain

It was so nice to see the clear sky when day started to break. It was chilly but we just used arm and leg warmers until it warmed up. When leaving the city we were getting lots of honks as I think people know about the event in Austin and recognize we are headed there also. Since the rain has stopped the markings on our vans are now visible to traffic.

Our Team 5 was first out so we were up at 0500 to get breakfast at MacDonald’s, get the bikes out of the van and serviced and ready to go for first light. We headed inland on highway 299 and within 45mins were into a serious climb up the first mountain to a 2500 ft. summit, then a fast steep downhill where you could easily reach speeds of 60+ kms but too dangerous with the mountain switchbacks. After reaching the base we were right into the second mountain climb up to a 32 ft. Summit. This almost finished me, took the support of team mate Jamie Dunnett who is an incredible athlete to talk me through the 45 min steep climb, I would have paid anything for a granny gear rather than the 2 rings up front. I quickly learned on Day – 2 that I needed to eat constantly in order to keep riding for a whole day. A large breakfast a power bar around 0900 and a big sandwich around 1100 and a large lunch with more power bars throughout the day. I have been eating about 5 power bars a day to keep my energy going. With all this said the scenery through the mountains was incredible! At 115 kms the van and the day’s ride was a very welcome site. Our routine is to get out of riding gear ASAP use baby wipes to wash up and put casual clothes on for ride to destination in the van. Our destination for tonight is Reno NV and a cot in a gym floor with our entire group, including volunteers. So it will be get in late around 2200, find a cot and sleep till we get up at 0500 because we are first out again tomorrow!

Day - 4, Finally saw the sun!

Day 4 From Aberdeen OR to McKinleyville CA was a great day! We ran into light rain for about an hour but it was warm and no wind. After lunch it cleared and we were going along the Oregon Coast, climbing up and down the coastal mountains with the most spectacular vistas you could imagine. It was quite warm and a great experience. I will post more pics late to my Sky Drive account soon as I don't have much time each day as we get in quite late.