Dedication to Sarah's Uncle Tim

Well yesterday morning we loaded up the vehicles, left Ely, NV and headed back to where we stopped pedaling the previous day. It was the coolest day yet, but not unbearable by any means. Every other morning was just warm that’s all. So as we start off here it is ANOTHER climb right off the bat, although I think my friends on this trip found out I love to climb.

This had to be, for me at least, my favorite moment in this journey with Jeff and the gang. On the top of the Sacramento Pass Summit (as I waited for Larry; sorry Larry I had to throw that in) we all carried on a tradition that they did previously on this ride. Jeff and some other wrote in the road, names of friends and family they had lost or are fighting cancer. Others like myself used rocks and spelled out the names of friend and family we lost through cancer. The most memorable moment for me was seeing Jason who is just a Clydesdale when it comes to pulling the group, and to see his soft side, not the star on his back side, was touching. For Jason the whole group held up names from head to toe of friends and family who are either fighting, fought and won or lost battles with cancer. This was very cool.

After that we had a strange long descent where Coleman and I were pedaling are guts out at 30 something miles an hour to catch up to the group when we looked at each other and said what’s wrong with this picture?

From that moment we as a group in sync rotating in and out all the way to Delta with a gnarly crosswind. I think at one point our bikes were all pointed 45 degrees to our left so we could hold on and at no point did anyone dare take a drink. The bonus was:WE MADE IT! as a group, as a team and friends with a bond that can’t be taken away.

Dedication to Aunt Pat

Well, sort of a rest day. At least for the afternoon. One has to do something to get ride of all the calories consumed at dinner last night! One of the things that happens after long days of hard work is the bodies demands for energy sky rockets, so it’s just not possible to say “body I’m not feeding you very much this evening as we are just going to lay around and not need it tomorrow. So it’s just not good, at least for me, to lay around all day and let those calories go to ‘waste’. A little recovery ride is just the ticket – say 50 miles or so. However, strong head winds and then Jason insisting on riding 25 MPH put an end to the notion of a recovery ride. I think it was Ravel who said he was going to need a recovery drink to recover from the recovery ride. Anyway, we did a big loop around Delta that included the IPP power plant north of town and lots of farm land. As we neared Delta Jason and Ravel took a short cut back to the motel while Scott and I continued with our loop around south of town through more farm land. We were pleased to find some hard packed clay based roads that were far smoother and easier to ride than the slurry coat and chip seal that had been put on many of the roads. Now Scott is after me to go do the loop again this afternoon as the wind has died down. Why, oh why was it not like this yesterday afternoon?? It must be the demons still pecking away at Jeff.

Day 5 a rest day in Delta.

Today we get to spend some time off the bikes. Of course having Larry as a buddy means we will still ride.

Scott, Ravell, Larry and I left the hotel at 8:30 for what is traditionally known as a “Recovery Ride”. Sounds like an Oxymoron. You would think a recovery nap, rest, movie, or hot tub would be the right thing to do. It goes in the bike world that a nice easy sort activity is better for you than sitting around, so we went for that fabled recovery ride. 38 miles at 19.6 MPH. So it was a nice easy pace with a group of great men.

Ravell and I lean toward the other type of recovery and turned off short of the planned 50 miles. Larry and Scott continued on the planned path and wound up with 48 miles.

Total miles ridden: 547.7

Total Vertical Ascent: 21215 feet

Gallons of Chamois cream used: Cyclists use a cream to reduce chaffing in the sit bone region, this is called chamois cream. My favorite type is Assos (pronounced Ace-ous and not Ass-ohs which to me would be more appropriate); it generates a cool tingly sensation upon application. The stuff is so good you may want to pick some up and just wear it around the house. Anyway no gallons of chamois cream were harmed in the completion of this ride but I did go through a tube of DZnuts and Chamois Butter (could not find any Assos at my favorite bike shop).  The DZNutts cream is similar in its tingliness and says (really I am not making this part up) right on the tube “proper MainTAINTanance of the perineal area”, good stuff.

The more you ride a bike the more likely it is to happen: When I started riding bikes it was mountain bikes and baggy pants, no sissy Lycra shorts for me.  Then with time, as said so well in Nacho Libre “Chancho. When you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants ”  Well I have completely flipped and as a reward for completing every mile and getting Jeff to Delta safely, Scott and I shaved our legs (not together in the shower or anything like that, just want to be clear). Of course I stopped in the mid thigh area and well with Scott who knows the stopping point. What is the right stopping point for leg shaving? I guess to each their own.

The remainder of the day will be spent with good friends and writing some additional thank you notes.

It is now 3:50 in the afternoon…..I am sure that “Recovery Ride” will kick in some time soon, aren’t you?

Day 4 East of Ely to Delta Utah.
Our day started a few miles on the Ely side of Sacramento pass. This pass is the traditional stopping place for the group to reflect on those who beat, lost, or are currently in the middle of this disease. During the somber occasion tears were shed as we reflected on individuals we know. I left Sacramento pass with a renewed commitment for this cause.
Jeff and Steve as cancer survivors have such a unique perspective for the emotional side of cancer, they have shared their stories during this ride. Larry and I have lost sisters to this disease; everyone in the group has a unique perspective. Ravell, Scott, Joe, Coleman, Jim, Sam, Holly, and Michael all have stories for how cancer has altered their life in one way or another. No one deserves this disease, it strikes the fit, fat, intelligent, lazy, children, grand parents, everyone. It is no respecter of person, income, citizenship, nationality. While you may have a genetic predisposition to cancer that does not guarantee you will ever have a personal bout with this assassin. Conversely while your family line may be yet untouched you may still dance with this devil. For Jeff and Steve the treatment options at Huntsman Cancer Institute literally saved not only their lives but also saved their quality of life. Steve was active military when he received his initial diagnosis. He was told that they would have to cut off his leg and he would most likely still die from the spread. At HCI he was able to meet with the staff and give them his life resume, he is an athlete, a pilot, and those are integral to him. HCI listened and were able to find a solution that fits his life needs. My sister Alison received her diagnosis while unconscious on the verge of a complete brain hemorrhage, the staff at HCI were able to remove her Gioblastoma and give her a little more than one year of quality life. The raging beast returned, one MRI nothing was detected, three months later at a follow up appointment it was the size of a golf ball and growing in an integrated pattern through her brain, the treatment options were limited, there was no respectable chance she could survive a second series of treatment, now she lives in our memories.
Our goal, our objective, is to assist with the research that brings about better more humane treatments. So many have helped us reach toward this goal. I thank you. Here are the names associated with many of you, I thank you for their inspiration and empathize with your struggle

Sacramento pass, The group helps me hold up the names of individuals affected by this disease.

The ride.
Today we crossed valley after valley. The wind was a bitter buffeting enemy. As a group for the final 30 miles we seldom were able to exceed 16 MPH on a reasonably level roadway. There was a 20+ MPH cross wind on our left, it was difficult.
112.9 miles, 17.1 MPH, 3712 feet of elevation gain.

It was a cool, crisp, absolutely spectacular morning to start a bike ride. The air was fresh and clean, visibility was unlimited with snow covered mountains in the distance with various shades of green and blue-green leading from the valley floor to kiss the flanks of the snow. Right off the bat it was a stiff climb to the top of Sacramento pass. There was a little cross wind and I spent my time early in the climb riding at Jeff’s side and missed the push to the summit with Scott. I was not able to catch up and he was the clear winner of the first summit for the day. The top of Sacramento Pass has now become the traditionally stopping place to honor those we ride for. We started this 4 years ago now when we stopped to honor Josh, Jeff’s son who was in the hospital having his appendix out. Some of us left names in rocks in the road cut, others used chalk on the highway and Jason had names of people on charts. Photos were taken of all. For me, this was a very emotional time.
From there is was a fast descent to the Utah boarder. Finally, as a group, we got this fast descent thing working and kept everyone together. It was inspiring to me to see this all come together as a result of increasing bike skills of individuals with different capabilities working as a group. After a seemingly endless ride across Snake valley we came to the final big climb of the ride. Again there was some conspiracy that sent Scott off up the road ahead of me, but thanks to a little help from Jason and Ravel (I do have some friends left) I was able to bridge the gap and join with Scott just as the real climbing started. It was a fast pace with each taking turns of the front up the first part of the climb and across the flat leading to the final assent. Now the cat and mouse games begin. How long should I stay on the front, when should I come off to maximize my efforts and just how deeply has Scott dug into his reserves. And yes, try to look fresh and not breath too hard those few seconds when eye to eye contact is made. Listen for when he is changing gears, how fast is he peddling, watch of any mistakes that you can take advantage off – all these things need to be taken into consideration. In the end it was an all out sprint that could have gone either way. I had burned all my matches and just as my last flame was about to flicker out I heard this “Oh shoot” from Scott. If he had held out for 2 more seconds those words would have come from my mouth and he would have won! This was the ‘bragging-rights’ win because Steve was unable to name a winner from the photo finish of the sprint to the summit of Connors yesterday. On the last little climb of the day we just paced each other to the top realizing there was yet lots of work to do for the group and left the score 1 to 1 with 1 tie. This will likely be my last ‘swan song’ as next year Scott will be back, stronger, smarter, and better prepared knowing the passes and I will just be another year older.
The other tradition for the Thursday ride is provided by Mother Nature – nasty winds going into Delta and she did not let us down this year. The first few miles the wind was not too bad, but it seemed like every couple of miles she would add another mile or to per hour to the wind speed until it was raging with gusts of over 30 MPH the last 15 miles or so. The bad part is for most of those miles we were buffeted from the side and keeping the bike upright and not crashing into some one required full attention all the time. This becomes very wearisome at the end of the day.
What a great group of guys to ride and bond with. A little joking fun here and there, but no cross words were spoke at anytime. Show me any other activity where you can put 8 guys and 4 support people together and not find some bees looking to sting someone. A ride like this would not make for good ‘reality TV’ but it is true reality when people work together for a common cause.

Today was a spectacular ride for two reasons.
The first being this great group of friends I’m riding with who are able to get up day after day and get on the saddle and do it again. Although what makes that part easy is that even though the sit bones may hurt, it’s nothing that someone like my good friends Steve and Jeff have gone through surviving cancer as they have. (And they’re on this ride pumping away like the warriors they are) The two of them have this unbelievable strength that most people could never dream of having and I admire that.
The second reason is the terrain was so beautiful today climbing all 5 passes, forgive me for not remembering all of he names, but I was too busy trying to get a strategy to pass Larry across the top of the pass signs. I know it’s not a race but Larry and I have really been having fun climbing the passes like a couple of mountain goats. They’re are time that we are literally flying up these grades at speeds I could only dream of and I want to thank Larry or pushing me to become better.
Tomorrow we start the long journey to Delta, UT and as Jeff, Jason, Coleman, Joe and Larry have stated who have all been on this ride before this, although the mileage will be shorter will be a loooong day. Today we stop on the top of, I believe Sacramento Pass and will continue a tradition with this ride.
I would like to thank our support vehicles because without them we would not be in the condition we are in each morning to ride. I feel so blessed to have a wife who doesn’t mind me taking a week to show my support for the Hunstman and cancer patients. I know the little pain I’m in each day on this ride is nothing that they feel each and every day.

Day 3

What a fabulous morning. The morning air was cool and calm as we started our first ascent. The sun was warming the guard rails and they were responding with pops and groans, birds singing their morning praises while we made our way to the summit knowing we get to climb five passes today.

It sounds quite daunting, five passes. As I look at the statistics the overall numbers are quite close to our previous day’s rides. Still there is a lingering pressure with the knowledge that five times we have to reach a new summit.  They are Pinto, Pancake, Antelope, Robinson, and finally Conner.  The first three were not too bad, then somewhere during the Robinson climb my body turned on me… it is really tough to climb while clenching. You just keep reminding yourself that this small setback is still better than receiving chemotherapy treatments. The rest of the guys were fantastic. They slowed the pace and Steve, among others, spent a lot of time blocking the wind so I could continue. These team mates really came through in the clench (sorry about the pun).  While I hated to slow the group there is tremendous satisfaction having the support of good friends.

Several nature walks and many miles later things settled down. I finished the day, beat, sore legs, and irritable but only with the help of these good men.

There were two highlights today. First, my good buddy Larry (67) has incredible talent on the bike. He can climb at a pace that stupefies many of us years his junior and to make matters more difficult he knows how to play the game.  Today Scott (38 ish) finally managed to reach a summit first. The task was to be the first to crest Pancake and after being thoroughly schooled on the previous climbs, Scott finally pulled out a win. I think the score is something like Larry 12, Scott 1. You just hate to love seeing your good buddy lose one. Scott is getting stronger all the time; he is also a gracious winner. The Second highlight, The Conner summit comes late in the day when there are only about 20 more miles to go. Departing the top of Conner for the next 9.8 miles I did not have to pedal a single time and still averaged 39.6 MPH, a rare occurrence and a shared reward for the group.

Here are the stats for the day:  Miles for the day: 122.3. Average Heart Rate: 128.  Average speed 18.2 MPH. Total vertical feet climbed: 5,835 feet. Hours from start to finish: 8 hours 52 Minutes (Again we could not have planned that).  Hours moving 6Hrs 43 Minutes. Number of times I turned my pedals: 28,280.

 I tried to add a photo of Larry and Scott racing off to the bottom of Pancake summit. If you can see a road heading into the hillside then I was successful.