End of the Beginning - Race Across the West 2010

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

Winston Churchill, 1942

By popular demand, here is an update; the first since New Year’s Day. We are at the end of the training phase of the Team Lyricycle / Race Across the West project. Laura is currently driving somewhere between Toronto and the Grand Canyon with all our bikes and equipment (don’t forget about that left turn at Albuquerque…) en route to the starting line at Oceanside California. The rest of us are flying this weekend. I will write more before the race begins next week, but here are some thoughts about what’s happened so far.

Just over five months ago I wrote here of my plan to train for, and to participate in the Race Across the West, 1400 kilometres across the deserts and up the mountains of the southwestern US. I am all about learning experiences and this one is turning out to be a postgraduate degree. More biking, more sweating than I have ever done in my life. And that’s just the training.

My log indicates that over the course of 280 hours of training, I have pedaled my bike more than 6000 kilometres. Truthfully, I didn’t travel quite that far since many of the kilometres were logged on my trainer in the basement during the winter, (when in fact I travelled nowhere). But each kilometre – real or virtual - on my computer represents a number of pedal strokes, and another training milestone reached. Over the past months I have pedaled hour after hour through long nights, headed out on cold windy mornings when the last thing I wanted to do was ride a bicycle and I have watched the sun set over my handlebars after riding since sunrise. Is it enough? I believe I haven’t even scratched the surface yet. How can anyone know?

I am lucky to have survived the training phase without developing any new injuries, although I have caused some of my old ones to look up sharply and take note, like wolves aroused from sleep. One of the challenges of the race will be to keep these crafty old wolves at bay.

One thing I hadn’t planned for was the wonderful response of family, friends and the myeloma community to my fundraising efforts. We are up around $4000 now and I hope the figure keeps climbing. The stories and notes I receive from Canadians who are battling this disease make it all very real to me. As I have said before, their best advantage is our awareness and support.

The world at large will be happy to see me safely away on my bike and happier still not to have to listen to my endless chatter about the Race Across the West. I am shameless in my self-promotion. At an upscale reception the other night I couldn’t resist telling person after person that I was about to try riding 1400 kilometres on a bike. Their reactions resembled what I imagine they would be if I had told them I was going to try to eat fifty hard boiled eggs. I have gotten used to that kind of reaction.

The training is over; now it is time to ride.