Irony at its best..

So I'm feeling awesome. My knee is a bit sore still, so that means my bike isn't fitting me properly and I need to get it rechecked, but that's doable..

The ironic part .. I got so wind and sun burnt this weekend, even with SPF 45 that if I get skin cancer at a cancer event I'd probably laugh. Sadly I was one of the non-burnt people in comparison..

Oh so I've been asked what kind of bikes were on the event.. Three that are super notable. An old 1 speed. Yep the ones from 35 years ago. Wowza. A BMX bike, you know the ones that have a wheel size of 15 inches.. and what we dubbed as monster tire guy. These tires were flippin huge, probably 3 inches in width. Crazy.

Have a great week.

THE RCC Day 2..

So day two was about 100X more hilly. I will never again think that the hill on 22X is gross. That hill is a molehill compared to these ones.

Woke up at 5:15 with my lovely roomy saying Jenn its 5:15 wakeup.. Ugg seriously. Had some incredibly crappy coffee - do the organizers not realize for 90% of us, coffee is a lifeline? I need coffee, but I digress.. And some rehydrated freeze dried eggs.. Again not the most pleasant but whatever, their protein..

Got back on the road at 7:10. Not bad.

Flat for about 30 minutes. First hill. Yuck.

Next another hill. And another and a holy shit hill. This hill had me seeing things. But I just looked at the incredible scenery and took it all in.

A few more hills. 28 km later.

And then first pit stop of the day. Grabbed some carrots, which surprised me since I hate carrots but my body must have needed them. Filled up on blue Gatorade, which is much tastier than lime. Lime is gross.

Cruised up a few long gradual hills for about 2 hours..

Biked until the next pitstop and saw the mountain. Decided I had enough to last me the next 35 k and forgoed the pitstop to just keep the momentum..

Went up and up and up. Seeing a pattern?!?

Then the bloddy wind hit. Oh the wind. I understand why there are thousands of windmills in the area. I think I said the F word a few times. And I heard the muttering of many others saying just stop the F'n wind. It was so strong, that you'd be forcing your bike to stay in a straight line but it wanted to go left. I saw a sign and man I wish my camera actually worked but it said 'wind gusts next 35 k awesome since I only had 15 left.

And then I bonked. I saw what I was told was the last hill, although I really didn't believe anyone at this point, and couldn't do it. I stared, I mean I stared at this hill for what felt like 10 minutes. I just couldn't, wouldn't, didn't want to do it anymore. I was going to throw my hands in the air and say screw it..

Then the absolute strangest thing happened.. I saw a middle aged man on a Maroon/red Goldwing, with a red motorcycle jacket with black trim, with a license plate of wait for it .. CHRIS. I'm sure it was a sign from my dad. It was my dad's bike, his jacket, his everything. And then I cried. I could do this. I would finish this for my dad. And I did. I made it up the final hill. Made it through the wind gusts from up above. And what did I see at the crest of that hill? Cars.. Lots of cars. I was almost there. I could see the finish line and through my tears I was ecstatic.

Made it to Sierra West ranch at 1.10. Saw mom, although I had to yell at her so she could see me. Sal and the girls were a tad late, because I didn't think I'd get in until 2. But my momma was there and my daddy was in my back pocket (his picture) and his spirit was around me.

And yes, I'm doing it again next year.

When I find my other camera, I'll post tent city, the bikes and the vista's..

1743 Riders, 500 Crew members, and 6.9 Million dollars raised for the Alberta Cancer Foundation.

The Ride to Conquer Cancer ... Day 1

What an experience!

I started out the day at my friend's house at the bright and early 5:30 mark. Let me tell you, me and 5:30 don't usually see eye to eye but on Saturday it was great. (Although I really don't want to see 5:30 again until next year)..



We get to the Deerfoot Inn and Casino at 6:45 and park my bike, grab a coffee and a surprisingly yummy egg mcmuffin sandwich. They put on a pretty great spread there.

I find my friend Janice, who I'm biking with and we chit chat for a bit. Contemplate life ect.. Actually we just try to wake up :)



8 am the opening ceremonies begin

Wow were they ever moving. There were a group of survivors walking down the aisle with an empty bike. You can guess what the empty bike means. Very sad. Very touching and moving. I cried, but I always cry..







We get on our way at 8:30. Sal thinks he'll be able to beat the first guys before they hit Cranston Blvd. It takes about 5 minutes to get there. He didn't. The first guy was wicked fast.. He made it to camp 100 km from the start by 10:15. Yikes. I did not. lol



If you don't know about Alberta, and I didn't, although I've lived here for almost all my life, it is flippin hilly here. Soul crying hilly. Long and gradual. Long and steep, long and gross. My goal was to try to make it up every hill without walking. The first day, I had to walk about 500m and realized that it was taking too much energy so I got my bum back on my bike and biked up. Slow but did it. Wahoo..

We made it to lunch in Turner Valley around 12:30. What a beautiful town. This is where my camera died so I have no pictures until camp. But let me tell you, it is one heck of a scenic place. I might consider finding out what property values are. I think it would be a great place to live.

Next up hills. A few more hills. A few more hills and then Longview. Sal was quite peeved that I didn't stop for beef jerky but jeez man I had more important things to do.

A gentleman who was either a friend of my parents or a really good hallucination, said you have one more hill and then its gravy.. He lied. It was all hill. But again, I got my bum on the bike and biked. Luckily there was a nice downhill where I got to 55km/hour. Scary stuff especially with the margin for error so slim. You had rumble strips and a guard rail and 13 inches of ashfalt in between. Scary stuff.. But that's what this ride was all about. Facing fears, kicking cancer's butt.

I saw a few riders hurt on the side of the road, which reminded me I wasn't in that much trouble. It hurt but no broken bones for Jenny.

Next up camp. You see camp in the distance and your ecstatic. The white tents aren't just a hallucination. You're done! Well for the first day.. The hardest part of day one, was the headwind going into camp. What should have taken 5 minutes took 10. All wind.

I managed the first day with a respectable finish time of 7 hours. I think I was 1200th to come in. Happy as a clam I was. Next year I'm going to break the top 1000.

Camp life was what camp life is. Except a lot more poop than in campsites. It was and is a ranch so lots of cows. Lots of pies in various stages of dryness. lol. Got myself some vitamin M (motrin) and a nice glass of wine. Waited for an hour to have a shower, but it was hot, so didn't care. Had some dinner, heard some more speeches and then the entertainment came. Duane Steele. For someone who likes Country music and not the teenybobber crap that usually comes with these types of events it was a welcome turn of events.

Called the kids, where Emily hung up on me.. You can see they missed me terribly..


That was day one. I need a nap just thinking about it..

Sweat, tears, and a bike..

Made it!

200km, 95% of it uphill at degree's of steepness I don't want to remember..

There was a lot of sweat, a few tears (I miss you dad) and a bike..

Pictures and info to follow..

Jenny needs to rest..

Goal!

I made my goal for the ride.. $6500. (6507 to be precise) Thanks so much to all that donated..

If you don't see a post on Monday, assume that I'm in an incredible amount of pain..

And now a round of

GO JENN GO

Please :)

Packing.

I am one of the few people that enjoy packing. This trip however, I'm at a loss.

2 days. It shouldn't be hard but man it is. I have to get everything including my sleeping bag and foamy into one bloody backpack. Jeez.

Plus if you haven't already figured out, I'm in virgin territory here. What do you pack for a bike trip? I know that I'm packing an extra pair of shoes because I can handle a wet rain filled shirt and shorts but socks and shoes that are wet are just plain gross..

I found out about these CO2 containers that you can use instead of a pump just in case you get a flat, because those I have to take care of myself. Maybe I'll show some leg and someone will help me? Ahhh..

The panic is starting to set in. 200km. Am I ready? Can you ever be really ready for it?

And the race is on...

5 days.

5 days until I do something pretty amazing.. (If I can toot my own horn)

5 days

5 days until all my training, sweat, tears, are shown to be truly worth it.

5 days and I'll join 1900 other people trying to chase a dream..

5 days.

Thanks for following this crazy ride.

Don't worry if you don't have saddle sore, because man I have it for the both of us..

5 DAYS

Cancer can and will be history in my lifetime. That's my dream!

Happy Fathers Day..

Wishing all the fathers I know a really happy fathers day.

And wishing the one that is mine, was here for me to tell him so..

Love you and miss you..



I didn't get the distance I wanted in, my brakes need some adjustments, well that's mild since I have no brakes anymore.. So off for a tune up.. :)

190 Kilometers in 2 days..

So the weather looks awesome this weekend so my last training weekend will be hopefully successful.

I'm hoping to do 120k tomorrow, Saturday - strange that I know for sure I'll be able to do it.. ha the diference 6 months makes. And then 70 on Sunday. That one I'm a little worried about. Oh well. Last two training days before I will be joining 2000 other riders in the Ride to Conquer Cancer in 8 days. 8 DAYS. YAY!

I'm a nerd..

Is it weird that I got all excited when I saw this today at Walmart? I have Martha's cookie book and love it. It's like my cookie bible. And I'm so very excited that she's probably going to do a complete series.

The lady might be annoying as sin, she might have gotten herself into trouble, and created that annoying "knitted shawl" phase but man her bakers bake. And her/their creations are awesome.. I know what I'm getting for my birthday in 32 days.. 32 years old in 32 days.. I'm pretty excited. About it all. It's a good year, with smidges of shit pulled in. But I am supremely lucky to have such a great family, and some awesome friends. And in 32 days, the Cupcake Bible. :)

Just when you think ..

*BEWARE, THIS IS NOT A HAPPY POST. THIS IS A VERY SAD POST. * Just wanted to get that out there because if I do publish this, it will be sad..

I've heard it all the last 4 months. From, 'you seem to be doing good' all the way to 'you're not over it yet' (that one really pissed me off, seriously how do you get over losing a major part of your life?) and I've felt it all. The sadness, the grief, the happiness, the resentment, the anger etc etc..

Today I'm remembering that grief is a pendulum. I thought I was doing pretty good. Lately the memories have been happy ones. I missed dad, sure, but it wasn't overwhelming. Today it's overwhelming. I really can't stop missing him. I want to talk to him. I want to ask him what he wanted for Fathers Day, even though I know what I'd get as a response. I want to hear his voice. More than I want my next breath. I know it's impossible, and the result would me losing my life and that isn't cool. So I cry. I miss him so much. I want my daddy. I want to see his smile. I want to hear his laughter. I would even take him saying "when you going back to school" because that would be a wonderful alternative.

I hate this. I hate feeling this way. I hate feeling like I'm losing it. I bike, I run, I walk so someone else might not have to feel the same way I do. But it's just procrastination. I'm waiting for the shoe to drop. I'm waiting for the next wave of grief. And although I am grieving in the way that I'm grieving. There is no right way or wrong way to grieve, I feel like, I don't know what I feel like. But it sucks.

I'm sad. I miss this person that was such a huge part in my life. The questions that I have are enormous. Did he know I loved him so much? Did he know I was so proud of him, with and without this disease? Did he know I loved his stupid jokes. His magic tricks?

Blech.

Blech.

Blech

The good stuff .. haha

So off I went this morning for another 100+ kilometer bike ride. First 50 awesome. Then I look to the left and the right to see the biggest fattest most ugly .. black cloud. Uh oh. Ok it's in the distance, I can do this. And I did. I spent 25 kilometers having the most exhausting. most wet, most horrible bike ride of my life, this far. Sheeting rain, hail the size of small soccer balls, wind that makes a girl grip her handlebars tighter. Oh man was it ugly..

I got back to my moms 75 kilometers after I started and was a muddy mess. My shoes were so wet that I'm pretty sure I wrung about 3/4 cup of water out of each sock. Yep it was that awesome.. I kept doing little things.. Just until you hit X, then if you make it to McDonalds.. But when I made it to McDonalds near Glenmore reservoir, I can't figure out if the blue sky near Woodbine was the "after" or the "before" so I figured I should skip the hot hot coffee and bike my butt off just in case.

I learned something today though, I can do anything! Nothing is going to stop me. Not the blinding rain, not the hills from he$$, not the sad memories. Nothing is going to stop me. I can bike 200km, June 26/27th and I am darn well going to have fun!!

As a side note, I could have stopped at McDicks. Woodbine had already gotten the rain. Actually mom was waiting for a rescue me call. Ha, Jenny doesn't need a rescue. But darn its nice to have a great momma, ready to come rescue me. :)

Divine Intervention??!?

Dad has always been a hockey fan. He loved the game. He loved the Montreal Canadiens, they were his first love in the hockey world. I remember as a kid watching old Boston Montreal games because he had taped them. It didn't mater that he knew who won, he was just happy to rewatch them..

And while he continued to carry a torch for the Canadiens, he began to look at the big picture. He was involved in many Hockey Picks, drafts etc. I remember him going over the stats to get the best bang for his buck, sort to speak. In August 08, he sat down and looked at the stats. He knew it was going to be his last time to do the drafts, so he wanted to make it right. He made a prediction based on those facts. And I am happy, so happy, actually I started to tear up when I saw that his pick, the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup tonight. He would have been so happy that his favorite team in the last 5 years made it. He loved the depth and age of the team. He thought the character of the Pens was phenomanal. So dad, two things happened this year in hockey that would have made you smile, and through my tears right now, I'm smiling with you. Mike Keenan was fired as Head Coach for the Calgary Flames (that's a whole different story :)) and the Pittsburgh Penguins won the cup.

Go dad go. Now if you could swing a lottery win for me But I'll take the little things. The guy on the motorcycle, the Penguins winning the cup. Those I'll cherish and take with me forever!

Another reminder..

Here it is the 10th of June and I've been given another reminder how short and fragile life is.

My sister's, (who really is my sister in law), Grandma died after a stroke on Monday. She died yesterday afternoon. She was older. From what I heard, she wasn't all that healthy, but she was doing ok. Then without real warning, she died. Luckily Ange's family were able to be by her side at the end, and I'm told it was very peaceful.

My message is brief today. Call someone you haven't called for awhile. Be it your Grandparents, and Uncle or Aunt, a friend, or even a parent. Because you never really know what will happen.

4 Months ago...

Yep it's been 4 months since Dad Passed.

I actually forgot for a minute, but then I called my mom. She wasn't doing very well today.

It's funny. It feels like forever ago and then I'll see a motorcycle with an "older guy" on it and think, man dad would have loved to be here. He loved his bike. He was riding bikes, or so he said, before he could walk. That's unverifiable of course, but he was the ultimate in fishtalers.. He could spin a tale over anything.. You would think he was a genius. But really he just had a knack for cool (and sometimes useless) knowledge. That's what I miss the most. Besides his smile. He was always smiling. I miss the smile. I miss him.

But as we all know, life goes on.

I took a few days off because my quad hurt, but tonight I'm back in the saddle. Just a short 20k ride tonight. Tomorrow will be another round the city bike. I'm hoping for 105km. Wednesday will be another short 40k. And yes I know how strange that seems.

Have a wonderful day. Take time to call your parents and tell them you love them. Because you never know when you might not have the chance.

Blech,

So I'm trying to get over the disappointment but I'm having a hard time. I'm also trying to remind myself that I raised $530 towards cancer research for cancer's "below the waist" like dad had. But I'm still bummed.

We left the Round Up Center just as the sky's cleared. Pretty awesome. I ran two k in really no time flat, I was gearing up for an under 1.05 finish. Then the worst (ok yes this is exaggeration) happened. I tripped. I tripped at the 2k mark and my quad crumbled. I had to make a decision. And I hate having to make decisions. I hurt. And I hurt big time. So I decided that the bike ride in two weeks was much more important than this run. So I walked. I jogged. But I didn't run. I told myself that I should just quit. Then I couldn't. I couldn't quit. My father, the strongest man I've ever known DID NOT QUIT. He never QUIT. He would still be here if cancer didn't quit for him. So I started crying. Must have been quite the sight. But it hurt. Man it hurt. My quad needs lots of work this next couple of days.

I finished in a crappy time of 1.20. But I finished and I'm very very proud of myself for sticking withit. next year I'll be a crew member on a bike pacing the runners :) because that I enjoy. That I can do!

Life without risk .. has no reward..

I could do without the hail and snow today, but you know I'm pretty darn excited about running tonight.

6pm .. 10k ...

I'm hoping for 1.20 or less. The rain might make me have the best run of my life. So we will see how it all turns out.

And for those just stopping by, Dad, I love you and miss you terribly. I'm running the Underwear Affair in honor my dad who lost his life at the incredibly young age of 62 to Kidney Cancer in Feb. Dad, thank you for encouraging me to do things that scare the crap out of me. Thank you for being there. Thank you for being my dad for 31 years. I love you and miss you so much. This 10 km is for you. Love you.

What a year it has been..

It has been a year, well actually a crazy half year.

To sum it up, I said to Dad after watching the Ride to Conquer Cancer commercial, who the heck in their right mind would bike 200km? That was November. First part of Dec, dad starts to go downhill quickly and Jenny decides to do the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Because I can't cure Cancer but I can bike (or so I hoped)

Here it is June 4th and I am basically done training. I have 23 days left. 2 long rides left, 6 short rides and then I'll be done the hard part. Then the actual event will happen. Wow. I can't believe it.

6 months ago, I thought it would be cool to do but didn't really believe I'd be able to do it. Now a short ride is 40k. Wow.. What a year.

Wow. Thanks for following this crazy ride.

Now I'll run 10k in the snow?!? on Saturday. In June. Yippee Dippy Skippy. But it's for a good cause. As I said way back when, I'd run, walk, and bike through fire to make it less possible for someone to lose someone they love to this blasted disease. cancer SUCKs.

On top of the world..

Yesterday was my first "big" ride. It was a great one. If you know Calgary at all, you'll know we have an excellent pathway system. I was able to go from my mom's in the far southwest to the far north west (Bowness Park) on basically one pathway. Well it was 2 paths. Elbow River and then the Bow River pathway.

In my journeys through the city, I've found one thing that amazes me.. We have wonderful parks that I've never bothered to explore. Bowness, Edworthy, even Princess Island park. That will be my summer goal!

I can do it. And those hills, that are mountains will not stop me. I have a mantra now on the scary hills. Dad went through hell, you can bike a stupid hill. Ok there were some explicts thrown in there at the end of the longest hill of my life, but I didn't walk once. I stopped and took a break for a minute but I did not walk. Not once in the 100 kilometers. Yippee!!

I ride today for a short 40 k, and yes I know how short and 40 don't usually play well together. Run tomorrow. Run in the rain for the Underwear Affair on Saturday. Guess I won't be wearing white. lol :)

100 Kilometers!

Holy SHI$. I biked 100 km today. 5 hours 45 mins..

Yippee dippy skippy.

Motrin, bed, and praying I can walk tomorrow..