Hopkins 4K for Cancer

July 3, 2003

Our first day of climbing in the Rockies
Watching the Rockies loom in the background and admiring their beauty was nothing like actually climbing the mountains themselves. When you see the Rockies from afar, you just take in the beauty, with none of the pain. When you are actually climbing the Rockies, you don't see much beauty, at least not till you reach the top of a mountain, and pain becomes all the more pertinent. When you get to the peak, for that brief moment that you are surveying the landscape around you, you forget all the pain. The pain in your quads as they contract to make you go faster than the 5 miles per hour that you ride at when you are already in the lowest gear. The pain in your knees as they take the exertions from your quads. The pain in your rear as the saddle threatens to leave a permanent groove so that you will remember this trip forever. The pain in your lungs as you huff and puff to take in all the air that you can get from these high altitudes. All the pain. You forget it as you race down the mountain at speeds exceeding the limits for cars and trucks. The ride down is breathtaking, and you will gladly forsake the chance to take pictures so that you can fully enjoy the adrenaline rush. But reality hits you when another upward sloping road comes in sight. Then you realize that you will have to re-do the hard work all over again.



That was essentially the story of our first day in the Rockies. Actually, the hard climbs only came in the afternoon. The first part of today was fantastic. There was beautiful weather and there were no tough climbs as we were just rolling through the foothills. Josh had to change his cleats at the first water stop, and fortunately, Buzz from High Gear Cyclery at Longmont was with us. However, he didn't have the right tools on the truck, so he directed us to Redhill Motorcycle Werks in Lyons, where we would be having lunch. He knew an ex-member of the US national cycling team who was working there, and he would have the proper tools to change Josh's cleats. This was a really awesome motorcycle shop. You could find everything you need to make yourself look like a cool motorcyclist. The owner of the place, Mercedes Ross, was a cancer survivor, and she gave me a stuffed racoon that I really liked. She named it Benzie (her nickname), and told me that she wanted pictures of Benzie at various places across the US. Mercedes was a cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with a severe form of cancer and was given only 6 months to live. 8 years later, she's still surviving. She attributed her survival to biking 75 miles every day prior to going through intense chemotherapy, and that allowed her to go into therapy a strong woman. Tomorrow, I'm going to dedicate our ride to her, and it's only fitting, because tomorrow, we will be climbing to over 12,000 feet, which would be the highest point we would ever reach on this trip, and which would be a testament to the strong determination that cancer patients exhibit when battling the disease. For now, I should probably go to sleep. The YMCA at the Rockies have some amazing facilities. =)



Weijie