Race Report, Part II

Sorry it has taken me so long to post Part II.  It still don't know why these pics are so small.

Some boring shots to show that it is 4:30 in the morning!
Why did we wake up so early? To get in line of course!
When you have 11,000+ riders in line, it's best to get in front otherwise you will be waiting for hours just to get started. So even though the second day did not start until 7 am, we were in line at 5:30. The MS Society has a pancake breakfast, but I did not have this as I did not want to eat something unfamiliar to my stomach.

See, we are all crazy. It is dark and thousands of us are waiting together with our bikes.

Waiting with thousands of my closest friends. Hey, at least the sun rose! Suprisingly, I was not too sore from the day before. Also, I felt I had lost several pounds of weight.

There are 2 paths one may choose. One is the "Bechtel Challenge Route" and the other is the "Pfizer Lunch Express Route." The main difference is that the challenge route goes through Bastrop State Park. For weeks prior I kept hearing "are you going through the park, are you going through the park?" It is famed because Lance Armstrong has trained in it. I thought, sure, why the hell not?

This is the break point right in the park. Beautiful and another shot of how big this event really is. Well, I found out why it is the challenge route. The Park is full of multiple steep hills. I went very slowly, took my time, stayed far to the right. I never had to get off and walk up the hill, but I could have walked faster than I was cycling at times. I had a fall on one of the hills (going up, not down, thank god) but this was because I got wobbly and went into the pine needles on the side of the road. I didn't have a heart monitor, but my heart rate must have been in the 200's at some point.  You would think than going down would be fun, but it was actually more terrifying - it's scary to go 30+ MPH downhill on a bike. There were times were I felt miserable, but used my favorite CBT skill of comparing it to worse situations: "this is definitely not as bad as being on call in the Ben Taub emergency room for 36 hours with psychotic patients trying to kill you. " See- it worked! After I finished the park, I was so giddy and very proud of myself for doing it.

This is the end of the ride in Austin with Marcia. She is another psychiatrist who works at the VA. You wouldn't expect her to be an athlete - little middle aged Jewish psychiatrist from New York - but she is hardcore and has been my mentor (as task master at times). Notice that the googly eyeballs are droopy and tired as well.

I've never done a marathon or any sporting event. Cycling into Austin was an emotional event. Karen, a secretary at Baylor, told me that ever year she does the MS, she cries like a baby. I thought, yeah whatever. But coming that last mile on the UT campus with people cheering you on, seeing the end of the finish line, seeing the culmination of a goal that one has worked months on... yeah, I cried like a baby and I hardly ever cry. I was prouder of myself than I'd ever been - more so than when I graduated college or med school or residency or passed my boards. Also, this was PHYSICAL and while academics were always a given, I could never really walk in a straight line without falling over. It makes me feel kinda invincible.   Also, I raised about a thousand dollars for the MS Society.

Have to include the war injuries. I heard that you're not a real cyclist until you've had a fall with injuries, so I must be real cyclist now!

From right to left: fall in the park resulting in small but deep gash that bled a lot; road burn on my elbow then I fell after incoordination with a water bottle incident; big bruise on left leg. The end.

Comments

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You are invinicible.