Kavanagh-O'Connell
Occasionally up to date

Livestrong Challenge 2009 Philly Ride Report

or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Hills

It's customary to write a report after a ride or race -- here's mine
(update: pictures added)

The Goal Posts: How I Kept Score

I had 4 goals for the Livestrong Challenge:

1) Raise the money
2) Finish the 100 mile course
3) Stay upright
4) 5:45 riding time

The Monies: Thank You for That

The purpose of the Livestrong Challenge Ride/Run, and of Team Fat Cyclist, is to raise money to help people fight cancer and to commemorate those whose fight is over. To those of you who donated, thank you very much for contributing to my effort to be part of that. I know that there are a lot of good causes that compete for your time and money. I appreciate that you helped with this one. Raising money and awareness is the important part. The rides are just gravy. But who doesn't like delicious gravy?

My Small Part in a Big Effort
My original goal was to exceed the $250 minimum funds raised needed to participate in the Challenge ride. When it became clear (very early) that I would beat that goal, I upped it to $500. As a incentive (perverse, I freely admit) to family and friends, I promised to shave my legs if I hit the $500 goal. My college roommates, in a decades long effort to enable, and even promote, my self humiliation, put me over that threshold. With legs shaved (blood free, and oh so smooth), I raised the bar to $1,000 - and got pretty close to that, at $850.

The Big Effort
The nearly 200 Philly members of Team Fatty raised $275,000 (by far the biggest total of any team.) Fatty himself, the Team Captain, raised over $100,000. Team Fatty won every award that the Lance Armstrong Foundation has for the Challenges: most money raised by an individual, most by a team, greatest number of donors, most team members with more than $100 raised, and several more. We even won Best Team Jersey. Team Fatty is closing in on $700,000 combined total for the Seattle, San Jose, Philly and Austin Challenges, with one ride - Austin, in October - remaining.

The Story: Fatty, Team Fatty and Fighting Like Susan

Fatty
Fatty is Elden Nelson, a guy living near Salt Lake City, who a few years ago started a web site called Fat Cyclist (www.fatcyclist.com) in an effort to goad himself into losing some weight. Employing the tried and true strategy of humiliation, he posted his weight every day and wrote about cycling: his favorite rides, stories, jokes, and satire and carving a niche in the ultra competitive world of Cycling Humor blogs. For example, one of my favorite posts is about choosing your equipment.

Susan
He also started writing occasionally about his wife Susan's battle with breast cancer (he wrote about it with her blessing) that metastasized and moved to her bones and brain. Those posts are worth finding and reading. I'm unable to describe them in a way that does the story any justice, only to observe that he wrote about his wife, her gifts, her fight, cancer and the effects on his family with extreme grace.

Team Fat Cyclist
In late 2008, Fatty announced that he was forming a team to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation through the Livestrong Challenge events. The team would enter each of the four events, with the goal of raising $1 million. The team name was Team Fat Cyclist: Fighting for Susan. After Susan died, three weeks ago, Elden changed that to Fighting Like Susan.

Team Fatty in Philadelphia has nearly 200 members. We are a virtual team; we'd never seen each other prior to this weekend, and no one had met Elden. Jen Yuan ("Philly Jen") was the co-captain and local hero.

The Kickoff: Cake Before Dinner

On Saturday afternoon, Mary Ellen, my brother Kevin, and I joined other Team Fatty folks for a meet and greet and a bit of cake - a huge and delicious cake. Fatty was there, looking shorter in real life, and drawn, like a guy who's recently been through a lot. He's not fat at all. I chatted with him about the event, and how he felt after his crash last week

Fatty won the big award at the Livestrong Appreciation dinner that night, and gave a very moving talk about Susan and cancer. He invited the team (only about 30-40 could attend the dinner) on stage and Jen made some remarks, and we danced a little dance. Elden posted a video of the speech and our little dance (I'm safely in the back.)

The Ride: Are We There, Yet?

The rides and run would start and finish at the Montgomery County Community College campus, near Blue Bell, PA. The route was shaped like a lollipop, with the "stick" heading northwest for about 15 miles, and the "candy" being an elongated loop (the 70 and 40 mile coursed closed the loop at shorter distances). The course profile was gently rolling along the "stick" with sharper slopes in the loop, including two section of bigger climbs, the longer extending from about mile 25 to mile 35, and the steeper at mile 56 or so - the big hill up to a village called Landis Store. The only part of this ride I was really concerned about (apart from the mass start) was riding up the hills; I don't do that around here. Oh, and the twisting roads down the other side. I don't practice descending, either.

There were rest stops located every 10 miles or so, with water, Gatorade, PBJ sandwiches, fruit, ice - a few had massage available and mechanics for cranky bikes. My general plan was to make four stops, at miles 20, 45, 60 and 80.

Start Me Up
On Sunday, before 6:00 AM, I joined many teammates in front of the hotel, about 5 miles from the campus. Mary Ellen drove over to the campus to volunteer. When it was time to ride to the campus, our "pace car" (with Kevin hanging out the window shooting pictures) took off far too fast, and we had a comic scramble involving about 50 cyclists chasing the car through the office park and onto the main roads.

As the top fund raising team, we were directed to the first starting pen, and would lead out the 6,500 cyclists and runners. The scheduled start time was 7:30 AM, so we had more than an hour to wait, which turned more than 90 minutes. I updated my Facebooks status a couple of times, as I decided that was my ride update vehicle. When we finally moved to the starting line, I was positioned about 4 rows from the front (although "rows" implies more structure than was apparent.) I was a bit nervous that somebody would tip over at the start and take down about 20 cyclists. By chance, I was behind two guys wearing racing kit and in front of another racer - I assumed these guys wouldn't be a problem and I could focus on not being "that guy" myself. At 8:00 AM we started - without incident - and rolled out of the campus onto the roads with a police escort. I remembered to start my bike computer which tracks distance, speed and heart rate.

Run, Rabbit, Run.
I anticipated that I would head out too fast, too soon. And I was right. Given the long wait, the fresh legs, the adrenaline and the fact that guys were hammering past, it was not possible to moderate for the first dozen miles. It wasn't just me - I was surrounded by speed freaks. The fact that at every intersection, police had stopped traffic and to let cyclists shoot through at full speed just fed the high.

Feeling Groovy
I realized that I would be a cooked goose unless I got sensible, so I slowed to a more sustainable pace and ignored the folks passing me. I was really surprised by the number of times riders passing would call out "Way to go Team Fatty" or "Great job" or the like. And there were residents sitting on their lawns with signs and balloons, cheering as we rode by. That was cool.

I rode into the rest stop around mile 20. I didn't stay long - a trip to the restroom, a couple of bites of PBJ sandwich and a refill of water, quick Facebook status update. The first uphill sections started a mile or so up the road. The sharpness of the inclines was a bit surprising. At first my heart rate shot up (I confirmed my max heart rate on this ride) and I was gasping. But then I found a rhythm for pedaling and breathing, stayed in my seat and actually began passing some riders on the inclines. I started to suspect that if I could keep this up, I could do the hills. And the hills kept coming - some short and sharp, some more gradual. I was really pleased with myself that I was rarely passed, and when I was it usually by younger, faster riders.

The descents were wild - 30-40 MPH down roads that were narrow, curving and in many places wet from condensation. I managed to avoid crashing. I didn't care who passed me on the descents.

Waiting for the Big One
I stopped at the rest area at mile 45 for more PBJs, a couple of orange slices and water. The temperature was in the upper 80s, it was sunny and the humidity was high - not a bad day for a ride. I stayed a bit longer at this stop and hoped that the rest would prevent the twinges I felt in my legs from turning into full-blown muscle cramps. I remembered to updated my Facebook status before I rolled on.

More up and down, but I was starting to enjoy it. I was more worried that it would be cramping, not fatigue or lack hill-climbing ability, that would take me off the bike on the hill up to Landis Store. The pitch would be very steep, but it would only be a mile long. I felt like I could do anything for a mile as long as I didn't cramp up.

The climb up to Landis Store was very tough for the first two thirds. Certainly a steeper pitch for a longer distance than anything I've climbed around here. Near the top, I saw Mary Ellen and Kevin on the side of the road ahead, cheering. The slope eased a bit there, and I tried to put on a smile as Kevin was shooting pictures: it looks more like a grimace in the photos. I made it to the top on my bike, without cramping - so I was pleased about that.

The rest stop at Landis Store was crowded with other riders, friends and volunteers. There were more food options, including hot dogs (I couldn't imagine eating a hot dog then.) I updated Facebook again, and spent time talking with Mary Ellen and Kevin. I stayed there a long time, eating and drinking water.

Until We Meet Again
The most distinctive memory I have of the next twenty miles or so was going up a very sharp incline, slow but steady, passing a few riders (and several folks pushing their bikes up), and hearing a woosh woosh behind me. A woman who looked maybe 20, wearing racing team gear, flew by me up the hill. She wasn't even breathing hard.

As I neared the rest area around mile 80, the road flattened and I heard a car approaching from the back. I glanced back and saw that it was my car, with Kevin hanging most of the way out of the window shooting pictures. Mary Ellen drove alongside as I rolled into the rest area, prompting somebody to ask if I had a personal photographer. Why, yes - yes, I did.

I spent only a few minutes refilling water. I should have had more to eat at that stop, and I paid in the final miles for not doing so. I was getting tired and forgot to update Facebook.

It's All Over Now
The last 15 or so miles were back along the route we had ridden out in the morning. I skipped the last rest stop at 10 miles to go. Just around the sign announcing 5 miles to go, I was really losing steam. The slope was generally slightly uphill, and the last few miles dragged on – I should have had something to eat at mile 80. Seeing the campus sign perked me up, and I rolled across the finish line feeling instantly better. As I was walking though the chute, I spotted Elden approaching. We shook hands and the first thing I said to him was "Let's do this again next year." We talked for a bit about our rides and the event. I was really impressed that he stayed at the finish greeting fellow Fatties - he was still there later as Mary Ellen and Kevin and I chatted with him again and took pictures.

The Impressions: Images I've Been Thinking about Since the Weekend

Elden's speech at the Appreciation dinner. I think everyone in the room was crying and inspired at the same time.

The countryside west of Philly is beautiful scenic rolling farmland.

The residents who came out to cheer even though we were clogging their roads, sweating and wearing lyrca.

The sound of riders frantically dumping gears to start climbing.

Mental note: if I ever get a really expensive carbon bike, I'm going to make sure that I don't walk it up a hill.

There were a lot of riders cramping on the side of the road, especially on the uphill sections.

The fantastic volunteers: friendly, helpful and thanking us for coming out to the ride.

"Way to go Team Fatty" "Great job Team Fatty" from other riders, "Go Team Fatty" "Here comes another Fatty" from the spectators.

Mary Ellen and Kevin on the climb to Landis Store.

Elden at the finish line, greeting and talking with Fatties as they came in.

Our team co-captain Philly Jen pulling together a great Team Fatty weekend.

The Hills: What About Those Hills?

I now like hills. I realize those weren't the biggest or the baddest hills around. But, there were a lot of them, with some very steep sections. I realized vaguely during the ride, and very clearly after, that I really enjoyed climbing. I can't do it fast, and I probably can't do much more of it than what I just did. But I liked it.

The Scorecard: Pretty Good

Let's see...

1) Raise the money: I surpassed my first couple of targets, but not my final - but if I had hit that, I would have set another, higher goal.
2) Finish the 100 mile course: Check.
3) Stay upright: Check
4) 5:45 riding time: I finished the course with 6:00 riding time, so I just missed.

My brother Kevin uploaded hundreds of pictures from Saturday and Sunday in the "Team Fatty" gallery at www.kevkavpix.com

Thanks again for your support!