I Hope My Parents Don't Find This

Oh man, so here I go, I'm committing myself to a huge challenge but not without a lot of thought put into it and time ahead for preparation. In October of 2010, I'm going to participate in the Qualcomm Million Dollar Challenge to raise money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation.

For the last couple of months, I've had the privilege of mooching off training rides for the 2009 QMDC participants. I've met some great people with quick wits and a love of riding that have inspired me to give this goal a go. (For the record, I think anyone who gets my humor must have a quick wit as the alternative would be far too humbling.)

This "challenge" involves a 7 day bike ride covering about 620 miles from San Francisco to San Diego. The course will involve some long days of back to back centuries and anywhere from 56-89 miles of riding on every other day. The furthest I've ever ridden is 85 miles and I felt every bit of it after 50! I'm secretly hoping for a strong tailwind. In addition to attempting to cover these miles, I will also be raising $10,000 to benefit CAF. Short of working El Cajon Blvd. after hours, I'll need some help with the creativity on how to make that happen. I'm hoping this won't be as challenging as the ride itself!

I know for many of my friends this ride would be a walk in the park but I have to admit, I'm scared. I don’t know if my body can handle this distance but I’m hoping a year of training will get me there. I’ve overcome a lot of physical issues over the years and know I will need to be smart about how I approach this so I don't completely destroy myself in the process; it's not my intention to make this the ride that ends all my riding. Misquoting the Beastie Boys, "Slow and low will be my tempo!"

So there, I've said it. I'm doing it. I can't resist the challenge; I tried to resist but my will is greater than common sense and I would truly rather try and fail than let this opportunity to do something challenging for a kick ass cause, pass me by. With that said, if I was with this year's group in San Francisco right now, getting ready to start the ride, I think I would puke. It makes my stomach flip.

If you have stumbled upon this and I don’t bore you to tears with what’s to come, I’ll keep you posted on the progress and probably make fun of myself and anyone who dares to claim me in the process. Since blogs are better with pictures, I ripped these pictures off from my friend Diane’s page. These were taken during this year’s Million Dollar Challenge training rides. I’m hoping some of these foolios will return for the ride next year:

This is Anne Fleming and I climbing up some long hill on our way out to Ramona. Anne works for CAF and is the one who invited me to join her on these training rides. She's an awesome riding buddy.

Tina on the left is responsible for the incredible SAG support we get on these rides and Vikki in the middle is the coordinator of this event. I have NO idea how she does it; she's amazing!

Diane, ride leader extraordinaire. Words cannot describe the beauty of the sarcasm that comes out of this woman's mouth.

This is our other ride leader, "Hooter," taking a spin on my sled. He makes my bike look like a Christmas tree ornament.

Anne, Vikki, David and I. David is my buddy but he was super crabby this day so I turned on the charm (or rather turned up the "annoying") a bit.

Birds on a wire. How we stay cool in the middle of WheretheHellAreWe. I'm in there.

Why I will never pay for a boob job and why I will never have a secret love child with Fire Marshal Bill. The genetics would be unforgiving.

I'm only putting this one in because I think I look fabulous. I don't tell lies.

Alright, more to come. Holy crud that was time consuming. This blogging concept may actually be harder than the ride and fundraising!