Day 48/19 – Up and down to Boulder, UT

Today

Was

Horrible!

For me….  the team is doing really well and people are helping each other out, which is really good to see.  Today consisted of a mostly slow and steady climb to the top of a mountain.   Starting at a little under 4000 feet elevation, we climbed to 9600 before dropping down to our camp for the night.  Slow and steady was only the beginning of the day.  From mile 30 to about 50 was pretty painful, so much climbing, even in the 10% grade area…. but there is nothing to do but keep climbing!   

There were many false summits, which is where you start celebrating making it to the top, only to realize you are not there yet. 

That happened about 5 times to me.  Maybe it was just hopefulness, but it started getting old!  Finally, we reached the summit – where, of course, we had a dance party.

And about a mile past the summit, there was yet another climb.  W T F.

But finally, the descent, was joyous…. and fast.  All of that work…. all day long…. and within mere minutes…. down i went.. down, down, down!

Tonight we are in Boulder, UT.  Another small town, in the middle of nowhere.  

Tomorrow….. 96 miles!

Day 47/18 – to Cainesville!

We woke up in Hite Recreation Area this morning…. Probably the best night of sleep so far!  There’s not much to Hite, but I slept in my tent, under the stars and it was lovely.  A nice warm breeze through out the night made for some “baller” sleeping.

The ride itself to Caineville was not bad.  Relatively flat, our biggest contender for the day was wind.  We were still dealing with lack of services for most of the day but since we roll with our own support team, everything worked out perfectly. 

Caineville itself is a tiny town.  Pretty much just the hotel we slept in and that is it.  Yes, I said hotel.  Thanks to the lack of services around, there is really no where else for us to stay, so we got hotel rooms.  As a bonus, the team ordered pizza for us.  So here we are, all sitting around the lobby eating pizza.   Dinner #2 for me….  I actually ate a pot pie earlier 🙂

Tomorrow, we climb!

Day 46/17 – Hite!

Today was all sorts of things….

Started out pretty well but we knew it was going to be a special day…. why?  Because we had a 76 mile bike ride with no services.   No houses, no stores and mostly, no people.

We had three rules today:

  1. Don’t leave late (to keep our group together)
  2. Don’t ride alone.
  3. Don’t get lost.  

I followed all the rules!  We only had one person that broke a rule, and unfortunately, he broke all three.  🙁

Anyways, everything turned out well.  The ride itself was long and hot.  We are in the Utah desert and the temp easily got over 100.  The scenery….. beautiful!  It’s really cool to see and experience this on a bike.

For our overnight, we are camping at the Hite recreation area right by Lake Powell.  There are no trees here.  No shade.  And it was over 100 degrees until the sun went down and even now it’s still not much cooler.  Let’s just say it was a long, hot evening.  We all huddled by the trailer that provided a small area of shade.  I love this team.  There are not many people in the world that I would tolerate being this close to.  It was a good day, even tho the last four miles I hated every second of.  It was a climb.  I was hot.  I was cranky.  And I was severely dehydrated.  Despite our three rest stops with food and water, I just couldn’t keep up with the heat….. the very dry heat.

Tomorrow we have a 72 mile ride to Caineville and a hotel!  There is some climbing but the exciting thing is that 50 miles into the ride we return to civilization and stores and people again!

Gotta get some sleep in the heat now… the next two days are gonna be rough.  But, we will make it!!!

-m

  

Day 45/16 – to Blanding, UTAH!

Look at us in Utah!

Today sucked but was awesome.  It’s Olivia’s birthday!   So, of course, at rest stop two we found ourselves at a bar and I bought my group a round of shots.   The shot was a creamy fireball:  cream soda, fireball and whipped cream..  delicious!

The bar itself was pretty awesome….

The ride?  Damn.  Long and lots of climbing….. in the heat.  Dry air and tired legs.  But, we keep pedaling and you know what?  Eventually we finish.   And right now I’m in my hammock writing in my blog.   🙂

Tomorrow we ride 74 miles in the Utah desert.  We won’t pass any towns, houses, restaurants…. nothing.  So, it will be a very long and tough day.  

But I have a new friend:  bunny rides on my trunk bag and is a tribute to a very sad day on the first leg of my tour.  I won’t tell the story here, but maybe in another blog post.  Say hello to bunny in Utah!

Day 44, actually 15..  to Dolores, CO

Well….. it’s day two of riding and I’m already one day behind in my blogging.

So let’s jump back in time.  Day 43 was awesome!   I rode with the fast ones for most of the day and they “pulled” my ass for most of it.  Not a bad ride, a little bit of climbing and a lot of wind.  60 miles for my first day back!

These are the ones that pulled me…. and saved my butt.

Top of the climb….. at over 10,000 feet!  Had a hard time breathing.

At the end of the day we made it to camp and four of us decided to hit the local brewery and bring some beer back.  A local business brought a pizza oven and made pizzas all night as we drank beer that we kept cold in my pannier bags that we filled up with beer and ice.  That’s my new favorite thing.  

Many beers later, I finally went to bed. 

Rest Day in Telluride

Well, I’m back on the Trans Am with Bike the US for MS.  Tomorrow is my first day of riding with the team, 60 miles to Dolores.  Feels weird to come back on a rest day, but I managed to fill it with some fun.  

Got my bike back from the shop with a new chain and some new bar tape!  Returned my rental car and rode my bike back to the church we are staying at.  Feels good, I forgot how much I like this bike!

After all of my stuff was ready for tomorrow, we took a nice ride up the mountain in the free goldola.  Telluride sure is pretty! 

So, since I’ll be riding most of the day tomorrow, here is some info about my riding days:

  • I turn all of the data off to save battery and can only receive phone calls and text messages
  • I ride with music or podcasts 
  • We stop every 20-30 miles
  • I eat a bunch of food

Tomorrow:  Dolores, CO !!!!!

Day 14….. going home

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This morning I am sad.  It’s my last morning with the team and I had to say goodbye to my TransAm family.

This trip has been absolutely amazing.   The people I’ve been riding with are wonderful, kind and supportive.  We’ve had some really tough rides but we’ve helped each other through them.   Ernie told me on several occasions as I was stressing over what was to come, “It’s okay, we’ll get through it, just like we did yesterday.”  and it’s true.  We did.  Rain, wind, mountains, dogs, heat….  we just roll through all of it like a pack of vagabonds.

We ride 20 or so miles to each rest stop, which add up to anywhere from 50-100 miles each day.  Even though we all have our own pace, we manage to arrive at the rest stops together, often overlapping by 15-30 minutes.  Since it’s not a race by any means, I often spend a little too much time at these rest stops.

I think a lot about my friends and family that live with MS, and about how difficult life must be for them on a daily basis.  When someone would complain about the ride or how hard a day was, I’d often hear Jeph say, “what?  we get to ride our bikes all day!”.  Seriously.  It’s a treat.  It’s a vacation.  Yes, it’s hard work.  Yes, I’ve missed my dog and my bed and my friends, but I really feel good about what we are doing.   We are raising a lot of money and bringing a lot of attention to this cause.  And when they find a cure, I’ll know that I was a part of something that helped make that happen.

I’m so excited to have this team roll through my part of the country.  Sacramento, Winters, down Pleasant Valley Rd and onto Fairfield, Suisun and Vallejo.  I CAN’T WAIT!!!

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This is where I slept last night.  Outside.  Under the stars and the moon….  on a soccer field.  It was great!!!!

I’ve spent a lot of time also thinking about where I am with my life.  I’ve been through a lot in the past year but so has most people on my team.  What I’ve learned:

I’m capable.  I can do anything.  I’m the most fit I’ve ever been, and I can handle any situation that comes my way.  Mentally and physically, I am in a good place.

I’m positive.  A ray of f*cking sunshine.  Even on the worst days, I spread goodness and hope to make other people feel happy.  Some people have been described as a dark cloud or are just really hard on themselves….  this is not me.

I’m grateful.  I have so many people in my life that have been supportive and offered encouragement in my toughest days.  They’ve pushed me and reminded me why I am doing this.  They donated a lot of money.  I have great leadership at work that has given me the opportunity to do this ride and coworkers to make sure the mission continues on.

So, today I’ll fly home and get to see my best friend, Toby.  Tomorrow I go to work and share stories of this amazing experience.   And in four weeks, I’ll get on another plane and meet my team in Telluride, CO.

Hang on, guys, I’ll be back as soon as I can!!

-mlg

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