And now for the moment you've all been waiting for.....

It is hard to believe that in a few short days I will toe the starting line to the 32nd annual Race Across America. In case you haven't heard (what have you been living under?!?) RAAM is a 3000 mile bike RACE. It is continuous, we will race 24 hours a day. We start in Oceanside California and end in Annapolis Maryland. We have 9 days to complete the race. Only three 2-person female teams have finished it. Ever. 

 It's hard to know exactly how much I will ride, but it's safe to say it will be around 100+ hours in less than 9 days. So how exactly does one train for Race Across America? Honestly I have no clue. I know what I did, and I know what Kacie did and that is about all I know. It involved a tremendous amount of time on the bike. More hours riding than I have ever put in. It also included days that looked like this: 1 hour ride/30 minute break. Repeat 8 times. Those were some of my winter trainer sessions. They were brutal. 1.5 hours total time x 8 = 12 hours. I  remember crawling on my trainer for my last "on" and getting done at 9pm thinking "seriously I have lost my mind" The toughest part about those sessions? Having just enough time to shower, eat dinner, sit in the norma tec boots and pass out because I had to get up the next day and do it all over again.

 

In addition to the training Kacie and I have been putting in, our crew has been putting in work too. Chief Anne has been booking flights, working logistics, putting out fires with her glitter shooting extinguisher. Gear Guru Jason made countless trips to the store buying things to get the 8 page list of items we needed to bring as organized as possible. He kicked me out of the garage to make room for his work, and spent hours separating and organizing. I hate to tell him this, but it will likely all get undone in about 2 days of racing. George is our navigation man. I don't know what he has been doing for RAAM, but I know that he has made us some really great routes that we used for our 24 hour simulation rides. The man can read a map!

 We have tried the best we can to prepare our crew for what they will encounter at RAAM. In early February we had a crew retreat. This was our "this isn't going to be all glitter and butterflies" meeting. Chief Anne laid out the expectations and what our goal was. We asked our crew to make the choice then-you are vested in this journey with us and believe in this goal or bail now. Fortunately they choose to stay. Having your crew believe in your goal is one of the most important aspects of this race. In the event that we want to quit, our crew HAS to make us keep going. They have to want to see the finish line in Annapolis as much as we do. I have full faith in them and their abilities. When my chiropractor was unable to make the trip, we replaced her with a massage therapist from Iowa, Kim and Ben Murphy, whom we met at the Florida Double. Although they are new to the crew, we are still thrilled to have them and have full faith in their abilities as well. So we trained, raced Heart of the South 500 miler as a team and did two 24 hour simulations with our crew. We have faced adversity, cold conditions at Heart of the South. I got hailed on during a 24-hour ride (we packed that one in and had a redo!) I'm used to training in conditions that aren't ideal, and this year Kacie got her share of rain as well. Cold,hot,windy,rainy, dark, light, flat, hilly, we have tried our hardest to spend time in it all.

It's impossible to plan for all the things that can wrong in a race of this duration. We know things are going to happen. It's how we react to them that will affect our outcome. In January I convinced Jason to bundle up with me as I finished a long, super cold day in the saddle. As we finished out last 5 mile loop Jason got hit by a car. We went to Grady because he also had a head injury. I had to coordinate dog care and get someone to pick up our bikes. By the time we left grady trauma center it was 2 am. I had ridden 130 miles, had very little to eat, no shower, and was exhausted. Jason jokingly said "this is great RAAM training. You should go home and get on the trainer".  Sadly, he was right. 
I've been overwhelmed the past week or so. Feeling anxious about whether or not I've forgotten anything. I am not worried about my training, honestly, my body is in the best shape it's ever been in. I feel great about that. But looking out at the 75 people that came out to our send off party it really hit me. There are a LOT of people that support us. They've followed our training and racing. They're counting on us to do well. 

I cried today. I don't normally cry. My boss called me. She's known me since I was 19. She's been in my life when I was overweight, when I got hit by the car and broke my leg, and when I took up bike riding. She asked why I was crying. I told her I wasn't sure. I felt overwhelmed. I told her about our crew, who have so selflessly given of themselves, both their time and resources. I worried about letting them down. Martha's insight meant a lot. She told me that I should take that concern totally off the table. Our crew might get to the end of RAAM and say "I'll never do something like that again" or "that wasn't a good use of my vacation time" but that they'll never regret the experience. Because experiences like this can't be bought, or read about, or made up. These experiences are only felt through doing it. I agree, and hope our crew leaves this experience and is glad they did it.

So as I clean my house (because who wants to leave their house dirty before a bike ride!) I am left thinking about how incredibly grateful I am. I am grateful to the people who have encouraged me. Inspired me to do more, be more, try harder, never give up. I am also grateful for the people in my life who could care less about bikes or bike races, but support me because they love me. 

This is an amazing opportunity. Someone asked me at work if I was going to do this again. I told him I doubted it. I likened it to having quadruplets. Sure, you may want more kids, but just one next time. 

Many of you have asked how you can follow our progress. Tracking is available online at www.raceacrossamerica.org under the results tab. Click on our team "Power, Pedals, and Ponytails"

We are still fundraising and will continue to raise money for Camp Twin Lakes. Please consider donating at www.raam2013.org 

Am I scared? Of course I am. I wouldn't have signed up for it if I wasn't. But I am confident in my abilities, Kacie's ability and the amazing people who make up our crew. We WILL make it to Annapolis. We WILL break the 2-person females record. It will not be easy. It will be the hardest thing I have ever done, both physically and mentally. We are Annapolis bound via a million pedal rotations, sweat, tears, pain, and every other emotion that is known to man. But through it all one thing will remain the same- relentless forward motion from Oceanside to Annapolis. 

Why 2 chicks want to travel 3000 miles by bike....

In Amy Snyder's Book Hell On Two Wheels she describes Race Across America as "the toughest test of endurance in the world". She goes on to compare  the 3,000 miles as the equivalent of 114 marathons, or 21 Ironman triathlons. In the 3,000 miles covered from Oceanside, California to Annapolis Maryland riders will climb more than 100,000 feet. Temperatures can range from 125 in the desert to 30 degrees in the mountains. Solo racers vying for the win do so on as little as one hour of sleep per day. Sleep deprivation can cause riders to hallucinate, become highly suggestible, confused, and angry.

I read her book and in my mind I thought "this is crazy!" but my heart was totally fascinated. Last year, Kacie rode as part of an 8-person team for RAAM. I tracked her every step of the way. I wanted to know what her riding rotation was, how they rotated crew, everything. The logistics alone of traveling 3,000 miles are tough enough without factoring in having to use a specific route and people on bikes. Once Kacie returned she started planting seeds in my head, and I knew that she wanted us to tackle RAAM as a two-person team.

In one of our first of almost a million e-mail exchanges Kacie said " we need to be on the same page about our goals, and why we are going this." Here is my response:
When I am thinking about taking on something like this I ask myself the following:

 Can I get off the couch and do it tomorrow?
Am I overcoming some type of fear by completing it?
 Does the idea of doing it scare me?
 Will the experience outweigh the sacrifices to get there?
 Can I use this experience to inspire others?
 I saw on your wall where one of your former students posted about how proud she was of you. If I could get one kid to believe in themselves and their abilities by riding my bike, it'd totally be worth it to me. 

And thus, Power, Pedals, and Ponytails was born! 

I have to first of all say that the response that we have had to peoples reactions has been amazing. We are so very blessed to have such an incredible support system in our lives. I talked with Jason at length before committing to doing this. It's a huge sacrifice on his part as well, and I would never be able to do it without his unwavering commitment to me and his support. Everyone should be as lucky as I am to have someone like him! My dad totally rocked too. He said "Wow. 3,000 miles huh? Better make sure you bring some extra tires. And sunscreen." Many people have had questions about how it works, so the basics are that Kacie and I will cover the 3,000 miles as a team, so we will split the riding. Shorter shifts during the day, longer shifts at night. Someone will be on the road riding 24 hours a day. We will have a support crew, made up of 8-10 exceptional people that will care for us the entire time. For 8-9 days we will turn our lives over to them. They will be in charge of everything, when we eat, when we sleep, when we put on a jacket, etc. Our job is very simple. We will ride.

Kacie and I decided early on that we wanted to partner with an organization for fundraising that we really believed in. Camp Twin Lakes was an easy decision for us to make. I first learned of them when I was 18, and volunteered at a Camp they hosted for kids who had lost a sibling or parent to cancer. Camp Twin Lakes puts on multiple of camps and events throughout the year for kids to give them an opportunity to know that they are not alone in their individual struggles. Children with medical conditions like kidney failure can all play together, then camp stops and they can received dialysis treatments on site. The camps regularly puts on family retreat weekends too for everything ranging from  kids with Type 1 diabetes, Lifestyle and Weight Management, Victims of abuse, and wounded warriors and their families.  80% of camp costs are covered by Camp Twin Lakes, the other 20% by sponsors of the individual camps. Thinking about these kids and the challenges that they so bravely face will be motivation for us as we ride across the country. THEY are truly the inspiration!

Camp Twin Lakes wheelchair accessible treehouse! So cool!

Your support of us as we tackle this adventure would mean a lot! We will be hosting several local fundraisers to benefit Camp Twin Lakes, so please make sure that you follow our blog at www.powerpedalsandponytails.blogspot.com You can find updates on our training and progress by liking our facebook page, or following us on twitter @PowerPonytails

Please visit www.raam2013.org to donate to Camp Twin Lakes!

I am excited about Race Across America. I have a team mate that is a strong cyclist, but more importantly, a passionate person. We are ordinary women, with extraordinary dreams, and our vision is being made a reality by people like you. Thank you all in advance for all the ways you support and encourage us! Stay tuned for some really cool news!