On Call and On the Bike!

The Two Italians!

The last time Cece was on call it was a 5 day Labor Day Weekend and she got a resentment.  The crises kept coming and she was stuck indoors or in her gym the whole 5 days. She did not dare to venture forth on her bike because every other moment she had a crisis to deal with. She could not carry the on call book and a notebook and schedules etc.  But,  she resolved that the next on call,  things would be different! 

This weekend  came all too quickly, but Cece still had had time to figure out her plan. Friday early morning she rode.  Then she waited to see how things would go Friday night and Saturday.  She watched the weather and plotted her strategy!  Saturday was a disaster!  She had to fire someone and there was police involvement.  The Verizon phone network was down because they were upgrading (?) to 4G and in New Mexico they had failed.  Each call was either lost, dropped or she could not hear the other person.  Cece was stressed out.

She determined that she would go to a party  of cycling friends that evening and she did that, but her friends saw that she had developed this strange appendage hanging out of  her ear...oh yeah...it was the phone. In and out of the house she went...looking toward the sky trying to get better coverage...standing in the middle of the street trying to avoid the coverage of the ancient cottonwoods lining the North Valley along the Rio Grande.

No exercise,.  No freedom!  URGH.  Cece was just about growling!  But she was developing her plan.  Come Sunday morning she planned that if she did not get any calls by 9am and things were calm, she would be off on her bike!  She checked the Weather Underground 

perfect weather,,little wind.  Her plan was forming.  She called the other on call....across the city and told him she was going out on her bike.  Cece is in charge of the Westside of the city and her friend the east.  She checked in to make sure all was calm on his end too. It was.

She looked in her closet for a jersey that had very deep back pockets and found a hot pink jersey by Terry with flames on the sleeves...perfect.  She took the volume of schedules and things she would need if she got a phone call and rolled them up in a tight roll and taped the edges.  That went into a back pocket along with a note pad and pen.  The phone went into the bento box and she was off...finding matching  pink watermelon socks to complete her pinkness on her way out the door!

She wanted to climb some hills today and that necessitated venturing out a bit from the city...but not too far that she could not get back quickly if she got an emergency call!.  Off she went. Climb she did.

On the way back a little skinny girl passed her and that pissed Cece off.  It was on.  She put on the speed and caught that girl and they battled all the way back to where they both had inadvertently started from.  A nice challenge for 2 women who were not at all competitive!  LOL.

As Cece pulled into the parking lot and dismounted her bike, her phone rang. She answered with a breathless smile...what good timing!  She was back to work, but this time without a resentment!

Horse Power...67 the new 40!

At the end of a 75 mile bike ride today in the 98 degree heat of the day, these famous words were heard:

Friend #1."Well, what should we do now?  "

Friend #2:  "Oh!  I thought we might go bowling!" 

Cece could not believe her ears and burst out laughing! 

The woman who said she thought she might go bowling is 67 years old. She also has a horse on her under seat bag.  When Cece asked her about the  horse, she replied, "That's my horse power."  And so it was!

Cece was the support vehicle for a group of people who were riding with Team in Training and are training for the Honolulu century at the end of September.  As Cece took stock of the group of riders at a rest stop, she realized that she was the youngest at 53.  The median age of the other 5 riders was 64!  Cece decided right on the spot that the middle and late 60's is the new 40.  Lately she is surrounded by people in this age bracket and she is awed by their  fitness and superb health and stamina.  These are people who have worked hard to take care of their  minds, bodies and spirits and have chosen an active healthy life style in order to prolong their health and happiness. 

And so it was that on this day, Cece supported this group of 60+ year olds on a 75 mile cycling adventure that would take them almost to the bowels of hell and back...she says this not because they had any trouble at all...just that it was so blasted hot with no shade that it certainly felt like they must be approaching the heat of  hell itself!

Down the Bosque trail they went.  Then up up up Rio Bravo to the Snakes....7% grade climb anyone?

Then they cycled all the way down to Los Lunas  with a few loops and dalliances along the way.  Cows anyone  (In honor of Ellie's Bovineophobia!)

All along the way there were flat flats and more flats!   There was so much debris on the roads that the tires  really took a beating.  Clark got many flats, but his last flat ended him up with some good Karma.  A man and his wife saw that Clark had a flat and stopped to help him giving him a floor pump.   It turns out that this man's brother had leukemia and Clark, being an oncologist, had helped his brother and admitted him into the hospital.  A chance meeting?  Good Karma in action as Catherine said!

There was not a drop of shade to be had, but Ona took a breather on the cool grass in Los Lunas and a much deserved rest break!

And  Finally, we had to tell all the cows, that Ellie was not with us on the ride today! 

It was a difficult ride in the difficult heat , but all had a wonderful time and did a fantastic  job coping with the heat in their own ways and pulling off a tricky ride that was a great challenge!

Her Time Has Come! Iron Will in the Water.

Diana Nyad is in the water at last...swimming from Cuba to the Florida Keys.  As of this writing she is 22.5 hours into the swim which has the potential for 60+ hours of swimming.  Good Luck Diana! You can check  her blog for updates at this link.

Succeed or Fail on Your Own Terms

When you are out there cycling it is you, your bike and the road.  It is a challenge as to how you will handle yourself in any given situation.  You are alone.  If you fall and get hurt, how do you handle that?  If you have a mechanical...how will you cope with that? If the weather changes, are your prepared for that?   If you have a steep up how do your propel yourself up that?  No one will save you, rescue you and fix the problems.  It is you, your bike and the road.

 Cece has  had this experience several times while on the bike.  Once during a century she struggled to continue after her damaged shoulder gave out at mile  47 after she was hit and run.  She pushed on.. pedal stroke after pedal stroke  as the pain got worse.  She realized, it was she and her bike and the road...just the three of them...stroke after stroke.  What would she do?  How was the pain speaking to her?  How would she go on?  In this situation, she was able to make it until mile 71 and then got off her bike sobbing because the shoulder had collapsed and she could hold on to the handle bars no longer.

A friend told Cece a story about a fall he had on the bike and how he  could barely hold on after his wrists were injured and he still had 8 miles to go to get home.  Somehow he was able to ride those 8 miles and get to his vehicle.  How did he conquer this pain and move on?  It was he,his bike and the road.

On a 96 degree day in Moab during the Moab century tour after almost being thrown off a cliff by a huge RV, Cece had to go on to finish her ride.  It was so deadly hot and there was no water on  the course.  Her friend had collapsed and she was left to ride many miles by herself in the heat without any water.  She knew that she had to go on.  She had to finish.  It was Cece , her bike and the road.

And so, as Cece watched Cadel Evans in the Tour power up those hills and set the pace and pull the peloton up the Alps, Cece had this feeling that for Cadel it was he, his bike and the road. He as making his destiny. He was determined that he would do it and he would succeed...and he was determined...she could see it on his face. This is what he had trained for...come for...worked for.. In the time trail chute, he was in a zen like state,.  He was focused, he was still and he was breathing in a paced way.  He
was in the zone.  Cadel knew what he had to do and he was reviewing that in his mind.

As she watched him in the time trial, Cece was  cheering him on...shouting at her computer,clapping her hands,  shouting out affirmations, telling him to stick to his plan....to take risks, but not thoughtless ones...and as she watched him,   it was another situation of man, the bike and the road,  No one else could do it.  It was succeed or fail right there...on two wheels spinning.

Santa Fe Triathlon..or..."Where is Ayoub?"

When Cece and Stephanie arrived in Sante Fe for the triathlon, they were surprised to meet so many friends...some they had not seen for over 3 years!

Melissa

Ayoub

But it was not long until people started to come up to Cece and ask her if she was racing and if Ayoub was on her team again this year.  People were  scoping out the competition.  You see Ayoub is an elite Moroccan runner who is here in New Mexico training and  staying with one of Cece's friends.  He was a ringer for their team coming in with a low 15 minute 5K...which  he himself was not pleased with...the rest of us were...but he was not!  LOL.    People were very nervous that he would blow them out of the water once again.  Cece assured them that she was a spectator this year and she had no Ayoub and she watched each person suck in air in relief!

The fastest runner came in at 17+ and was  on a team.  Cece watched them the entire day.. The cyclist lost time for the team, but the swimmer made up time in the pool and they were able to come in 2nd place overall and first place for the co-ed teams. It was nice to watch the race and cheer her friends on.    Cece has the competitive bug once again and she is currently recruiting friends for the all women's tri in Rio Rancho  at the end of August.  It is called  Live , Love , Tri.

Everyone did well and had a great time! 

Stephanie

Little Boy Down...A Cautionary Tale

As Cece left her office on Friday afternoon, she was later leaving than usual and was faced with rush hour traffic in the city.  What to do?  She contemplated the various routes she could take home.  Too much traffic.  Too much construction.  That road is a parking lot at this hour.  So, she finally settled on going home the scenic route on Rio Grande Blvd....much slower, but more restful.

As she drove north on Rio Grande, as she approached Matthew and the COOP, she noticed a little boy half in the road, lying on his back with his bike flattened out alongside him.  Was he hit by a car?   The little boy was not moving.  Cece called 911 and reported this and worked to turn her car around given the median in the middle of the road.

Once on the scene she saw the boy move and sit up.  She got out of her car and spoke to the boy.  He wanted water.  Cece only had hot water in her camel back bottle in her car.  But, he said he wanted that.  It turned out that this was Johnny.  He looked about 9 years old, but he was a 17 year old boy with spina bifida.    As they waited for the paramedics and his auntie to come, she discovered that he had not eaten and had had nothing to drink as he rode his bike in the 97 degree heat in Albuquerque in the late afternoon sun.  His eyes were bleary and not well focused and he poured water over his head.   The paramedics arrived and  it turned out that he was exhausted and dehydrated and had heat stroke and had collapsed on the road because he just could not go on to get home.

Cece will never forget her ride in the Moab Century Tour last year when it was 96 degrees and there was no more water on the course with 20 miles to go on the ride back in to the finish. It was extremely difficult riding and many went down.

This is a good reminder to ride early in the morning if possible when there is this type of heat...to eat and hydrate well and be prepared with more water than you think you will need.

Girls and Legs!

Can you guess whose legs these are?  The other morning when we met,  we asked this man on a commuter bike to take a pic of us and he asked us if we wanted the sexy legs in the pic.  Cece told him "just the boobs" and off we went!    But today, Cece herself took the legs!

This reminded her of another "leg shot" that was taken pre-century ride when we all decided to wear stillettos or as high as we could for a poignant leg shot!.

And this remidned her  of another leg shot that was taken pre-triathlon in  Santa Fe.

 Anyway, this am we took another picture too.  Ellie and Stephanie did a long climbing route and Cece and Jamey did a casual talk and bond ride with a few hills thrown in for good measure.  The friends all met togehter at first then the groups split.  What fun!

Here is the perfect triathlon team!The Shark will need more coffee though!