San Jose LiveStrong Ride Part 2 - the Ride

I have to say that it is REALLY nice to stay at a hotel 1 block from the start of an early and long ride. When I did my first 100-mile LiveStrong Ride in Southern California I think I stayed about 5 - 10 miles away, which wasn't bad at all. Last year in Austin we stayed about 40 miles away.

That really couldn't be avoided since the ride was out in the hill country west of Austin (not much around). It just meant an hour less sleep and more variability in your arrival time.

Everything the day of the ride went well, unlike yesterday! The only thing that was off was the fact that the hotel kitchen was out of bananas, so we didn't get one with breakfast. Out of bananas! Come on! I knew it wouldn't be a problem since the Power Stops (the refueling stations) typically have bananas, oranges, PB&Js, PowerBars, Gatorade...

We started the ride around 7:30am. I was in the front of the corral that held all the 100-mile riders. They played the National Anthem and Lance spoke at the beginning.

I have to record the ride on my computer as 2 separate rides. I knew it was going to take me over 4.5 hours and that is the most my Garmin 705 will record for a single ride (not ideal for people recreational cyclists who sometimes ride centuries).

The first pic below is the first 56 miles of the ride as viewed on www.garminconnect.com after being downloaded from my bike computer. The second pic is the last 39 miles of the ride.


The below pic is a view of my ride up Metcalf Road (zoomed in on garminconnect). It was the toughest climb I've done. It was around mile 70 of the ride. The gradient averaged 12% for about 2 miles. The highest gradient I saw on my computer was 14%. Overall it was pretty steady, but it did ease up to 9% in a few spots.

I never thought I would use 9% gradients to sit down and recover. I think I averaged between 5-6 mph up the climb. Nothing to write home about, but (patting myself on the back as I write this) nobody passed me and I passed riders and a bunch of people walking their bikes.

There was only one scary part of the ride and it was towards the beginning. I was riding right behind Lance's group and it was really cool to see him and get a police escort for the first 20 miles (understatement). A by-product of riding behind Lance is that you want to keep up with Lance. Put together a large group of riders, most of them eager to follow Lance, but with probably 1/3 of his bike handling skills (me definitely included), and combine that with a very steep and short wooded descent with a >90 degree turn, and you get scary!

In the middle of the pic below is the tight turn.
Here is a close-up of the turn. I guess the GPS was off, because the red line is not exactly how I rode it, but that's what it felt like at the time. I got pushed towards the center double line (complete with the bumpy reflectors, which are fun), the tightest part of the turn and it felt like I couldn't pull hard enough on my brakes. I thought I was going to hit the guy in front of me. I locked up my rear wheel for a second or two and luckily came out without hitting anyone or wrecking. Whew!


There were some short steep climbs over the first part of the course. The below pic is the profile of the first 56 miles. It wasn't flat... I don't know which climb it was on, but one of those 2 big spikes is where my heart rate went up to 187 bpm to stay with Lance's group.

I told myself to start off slow this year, so I could finish strong, but when you're riding 3 riders behind Lance Armstrong, all bets are off, including my plan to stop at the 2nd refueling station, and the 3rd... Man I had to pee, but you know, it was Lance!

Here is the profile of the last 39 miles. The Metcalf Rd climb is the HUGE, STEEP climb below. There weren't as many climbs in the second part, but they were tougher, and I had more miles in my legs, so they were even tougher. What I didn't expect was that second climb after Metcalf you can see in the profile. It got steeper as it went up. It's no coincidence that the profile below looks like the devil's horns.


A little out of order now, but that's how it goes. Below is the pic of me setting up my jersey.

Here is me hunched over displaying my 147!

Here is the start. Lance's group was lined up under the LiveStrong sign straight ahead.


Lance gave a little speech at the beginning. There were 3,000 participants and we raised over $1.5 Million for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.


I think the coolest part of this next pic are my shoes and socks, but it was meant to show that I created the LiveStrong course online and downloaded it to my Garmin 705 (and is showing turn by turn directions).

Unfortunately, as is typically the case, it didn't work so hot. It kept telling me to turn in the wrong places and when I didn't it would have to "recalculate" to route and then tell me another wrong turn after about 3 minutes of re-computing.

It works best when you can follow a route that you've previously ridden and still have on your Garmin. When working correctly, it gives you alerts (audible) for your next turn, tells you how far and the time until the next turn. Pretty cool.

The coolest part of the ride was when I got enough nerve to ride up next to Lance and start talking to him. I started out telling him I just wanted to say hi and let him know I was a Testicular Cancer survivor. The guy riding next to him said, "well get on in here!" He moved back and I moved over right next to Lance and there we went!

I can't tell you how surreal the experience still is to me, to be bumping elbows and chatting with Lance Armstrong for ten minutes. He was really nice. We talked about cancer, IVF, NIH/NCI cancer studies, the route of last year's LiveStrong Ride in Austin, Lance visiting the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq (and being "sanded" in), this year's Tour de France and other stuff that I can't remember right now.

I stopped chatting with him when his group turned off onto the 65-mile route. I still can't believe how cool it was. I was tempted to just follow him on the 65-mile route, but I had someone special waiting for me along the 100-mile route...

Cezanne ran the 5k (3.1 miles) after all the riders left. She did really well and had a lot of fun. We picked out 2 Power Stops before hand where she would meet me. After the run she got everything set at the hotel, checked out and then headed off to meet me.

She has become a pro at meeting me during these long LiveStrong Rides. She was tested on the backroads of the hill country of Texas last year and she nailed it, so this must have been simple for her.

I was in the first group to get to the Power Stop #5 and there was my baby, waving her "fan" sign. It worked out perfectly. This was when I ended ride 1 and started ride 2 on my Garmin.

If I look a little pale and pink it's because of the new sunscreen I'm using. I became allergic to "normal" sunscreen (I think the oxybenzone in it), so I have to use sunscreens with only zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. They have the fun side effect of making you look like you are on the verge of death. But, I don't itch for weeks after using it, so I'll take it!

This is Cezanne's "fan" sign! She totally tried to copy the picture I took of myself when I was in France for the 2005 Tour.

Man, I can't believe that was 3 years and a couple of weeks ago! Facial hair!!!!!!

This is the Power Stop on top of the climb up Metcalf Road, where Cezanne was waiting for me again.

There was a nice little downhill to the Power Stop after the steep climb up Metcalf. It's July in California, so the hills are brown. Come Feb/Mar they should be nice and green.


My "I conquered" (or limped up at 5.5 mph) Metcalf Road pose.

And then boom, I'm done and getting handed a "survivor" rose!


After the finish line! It was such an unbelievable ride. One because I got to chat with Lance and two because I felt really strong and did my best century to date.

I posted the general ride info on my last post, but here it is again: 94.71 miles, 5 hours 4 minutes 11 seconds of riding time, average speed of 18.8mph, 5,350ft of climbing, average heart rate of 155bpm.