In 2003, after years of living a sedentary lifestyle, I went to REI and purchased a women’s road bike and a bike trailer for my youngest son to ride in. From the time I first learned how to balance on two wheels through college I loved biking. I allowed life, pregnancy and babies to come between me and biking, but I was ready for a change.
I spent two years riding that bike up and down the American River Parkway, usually about 12 miles per hour because I was towing a toddler in a bike trailer. As I slowly toiled away, I would tell myself that the extra weight would make me a stronger rider. I would daydream about the day I was free of the bike trailer, imagining how fast I would ride.
In 2005 I completed my first century, the Tour of Napa Valley. It was a beautiful ride, but I struggled with the two moderate climbs on the route and ended up pushing my bike in places. That ride was a major milestone for me, and as a reward for my efforts I got a new, real bike.
Shortly after that first century ride, I decided I wanted to do a triathlon, another activity I had enjoyed when I was younger. Early in 2006 I began training for the TBF Racing Tri for Fun in June of that year. I enjoyed it so much that I did two more sprint distance triathlons that year and joined the Sacramento Triathlon Club.
Soon I was seeing that there were endless events and opportunities available in endurance sports. I tackled the Davis Bike Club’s Foxy’s Fall Century complaining the whole way up hill about how bad I was at climbing. I continued racing triathlons picking longer distances and started doing trail runs, open water swims, and even bought a mountain bike.
I was a new woman, 50 pounds lighter and so much happier. I had traded the play dates at McDonalds for rides on the bike trail with my boys. I found new friends who had a similar outlook to me. Through all those changes I was unable to get rid of one monkey on my back; I was positive I could not ride my bike up any real climbs. I had the worst mental block about climbing.
In early 2009 while training for my first double century I tried to ride from Sacramento to Auburn. I stopped and turned around a couple miles from the top because I was afraid I wouldn’t make it all the way. I wasn’t concerned about riding my bike 200 miles, but I was still positive I couldn’t make it up any significant climb.
My only climbing success was in events with only a moderate amount of climbing, nothing too extreme, I relied on race adrenaline to get me uphill. Last summer I finally tackled that fear in a significant way by joining a Sac Tri Club group ride around Folsom Lake. A ride featuring not just one, but two difficult, “real” climbs. Completing that ride was liberating and gave me the confidence to try something even more daring.
Last Saturday I participated in my first Death Ride or Tour of the California Alps. The Death Ride features 5 mountain passes with riders choosing to tackle as many or as few of the passes as they want with special 5 pass finisher kudos going to those who complete the entire tour. I set a goal for myself of completing two passes. I knew I could train for that amount of climbing while still racing other events and without facing the overwhelming goal of attempting all 5 passes in my first Death Ride.
Saturday morning Kevin and I hit the road in Markleeville a little before 6:00am. I planned to do my two passes and then see how I felt and decide whether or not I wanted to continue. I was prepared to wait after I was finished riding for Kevin to complete all five passes, as he has done a couple times before.
As soon as we were riding I was a nervous wreck, scared of the task ahead of me and facing the fact that all those old insecurities I had shoved away were just waiting to rear their ugly heads. About 8 miles in we hit the base of the first climb, highway 89 over Monitor Pass. I quickly settled down to the business at hand, casting my fears aside. I found a good rhythm and was riding at an easily maintainable heart rate. The ride was beautiful, the road was closed to traffic and the wildflowers were blooming in abundance.
Starting behind the majority of the approximately 3000 riders gave us the benefit of having clear sailing down the mountain on the backside to highway 395. What a thrill! I rode slow and steady for the 9 miles back up Monitor Pass, a little bothered by the realization that the climb would take nearly two hours at the speed I was going. I was calm and consistent the entire way and the views were amazing.
After completing my two passes, I decided I was done. I was surprised but happy that Kevin decided to stop with me instead of continuing on. We rode to the lunch stop along highway 4 towards Ebbett’s Pass before returning to the start in Markleeville. 57 miles and over 7000 feet of climbing, I think it’s safe to say I can ride my bike uphill. I definitely plan to tackle all five passes in the future.