All spring the race seemed so far away -- now it's only one more day until we leave to go down to Oceanside. Already we are working well together as a team and it will feel really good to finally hit the road. I think we're all nervous but anxious to get going. Everyone seems to be focusing on their job and doing their best. I can't believe how quickly the time is passing now. Let's go!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Time ticks away
5 days and counting till we start the race! So much to do and so little time.
This year RAAM has a whole new twist for me. In 2009 I was a rider in the race and now in 2011 I am a crew chief for the most amazing team I have ever been around. I can not wait to help lead them across America. This team has put there heart and soul into this race and for our cause. So please stay tuned as I will be taking small video clips and uploading to this blog to try and show you all just a little bit what it's like to be a part of RAAM. I will tell you that ALL VIDEO will be uncut and uncensored so don't be surpised when you look at it. I hope that over the next week and a half Organ Re-cyclers Blog is part of your every day routine to check in on us. Be sure to blog back to us to help keep us motivated and fuel us across america with inspiration and stories you may have!
This year RAAM has a whole new twist for me. In 2009 I was a rider in the race and now in 2011 I am a crew chief for the most amazing team I have ever been around. I can not wait to help lead them across America. This team has put there heart and soul into this race and for our cause. So please stay tuned as I will be taking small video clips and uploading to this blog to try and show you all just a little bit what it's like to be a part of RAAM. I will tell you that ALL VIDEO will be uncut and uncensored so don't be surpised when you look at it. I hope that over the next week and a half Organ Re-cyclers Blog is part of your every day routine to check in on us. Be sure to blog back to us to help keep us motivated and fuel us across america with inspiration and stories you may have!
LET'S GO
Ok, so yesterday I rode to work and then did the trainer when I got there. That was my last ride that I am going to enter into the training log. We pack up and leave for Oceanside, CA Thursday at 0600 from It's a Grind (right after some coffee and treats). I am sure I speak for my team mates when I say "Let's go already!"
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Patience
Since my crash on May 19 where the cement happened to break my fall and clavicle! I have learned a little bit more about patience. Believe me there is nothing more that I want than to be out there with my other fellow Organ Recyclers racing across America here in the coming weeks. I watched 28 riders and several crew members work towards one goal on Friday. Getting across the finish line safely, but there was one little mishap. In my 27 years of life on this on this planet Earth I have learned that things happen, we may not know why but they do. I am the type of person thats flies by the seat of my pants and if it sounds good than it must be good. I have toned that down a lot in the last few years. When this RAAM and TDL thing came up it was a unequivocal YES. I have been known to put other people first no matter what and I will be repaid later. In this instance I said yes. I wanted something that challenged me through and through. In this time I have met some of the best people ever. The Baade's, Kelly's, Doll's and Guevara's. So I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for the awesome gratitude and pure awesomeness. Thank you for believing in me until I had to say no, even though you all still believe in me. Believe me if I could, I would out there riding with all of you everyday day or night, rain or shine! This time I get to gnaw my arm off as i'm navigating or driving and helping with making lunch or honking the horn to go left or right. I am glad that I still get to help out. I wouldn't have it any other way. Every person that has helped me out or given me words of wisdom, thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. All of you have helped me in tremendous ways. Its amazing the extended family Rachelle and I have through TDL. I will never forget this. I will do RAAM if not next year than the following year.
Eric, I am glad that you are okay and still on the team. When I saw that it was you in the ditch with your eyes closed, a lot of four letter words came to my head. When I walked over and saw that you were talking I said thats a good thing. I said a little prayer in my head that you would be okay. You were and all you want to do now is get back on the bike. That. Is. Awesome. We all know it could have been worse, but it wasn't and thats all that matters. Eric you're the man!
What a weekend!
These passed few days have been a whirlwind, physically, emotionally and mentally. As Eric wrote in his previous post we just attended Team Donate Life’s spring training camp. The first day of camp was supposed to be a 60 mile ride. By the time we all met up at Bicycles Plus there was lightening, hail, and heavy rain. We cut the ride short, but still got pelted with lots of hail and rain. If it wasn’t the first day of camp, I would have just gone home and got on the trainer or better yet, changed into my jammies.
The second day was a 100 mile ride with 11,000 feet of climbing. That’s a tough ride! Everyone did great! That evening riders, crew and family met up at Bicycles Plus for a yummy dinner and to catch up with some old TDL friends and to meet new ones.
The third day was a RAAM simulation. All the riders were split into teams of two with three crew members following in a vehicle. It was a chance for the crew to learn how to help the riders with transitions, to navigate, to drive, and take care of the riders. It was pretty crazy because there were so many teams and so many cars on the road. But it was fun! I was teamed up with Bob, who was crew chief last year and has raced RAAM before. Things were going great and the crew was learning a lot. We had just been following Bob down a fast descent down Salmon Falls Rd and the crew was looking for a safe spot to make a transition. When we were getting ready to round a corner we saw another crew member waving a big orange flag. Then I saw Jen, a rider, near him signaling cars to slow down. I immediately knew something was wrong when I saw a rider out of the car and off her bike. We all then saw the other side of the road were a bunch of TDL people hovering over a rider who crashed. I was looking for Eric and I couldn’t find him and I knew he was somewhere in front of our team. I jumped out of the truck before it was stopped. I immediately started running up to the road, but decided to walk, because have you ever tried running in bike shoes? You really can’t! I asked the first two people I saw with TDL who crashed and they didn’t know. The next three people I asked didn’t know either. Then I saw Cayden across the street near the crash site and she waved for me to come there. Crap, it was Eric.
I knelt beside him and grabbed his hand. He was surrounded by Dr. Ray Thomason, Dr. Bodily, and Chris Biesinger, a nurse. He was so lucky to have them there to help him. They were asking Eric simple questions, which he wasn’t answering correctly. Eric couldn’t even remember crashing. We were all patiently waiting for an ambulance. He looked good, no broken bones, not too much blood, but he just wasn’t getting the damn year right when they asked him. The medics arrived and loaded him up in the ambulance. It was determined that they would get the helicopter to transport him to the hospital since he had a head injury and they didn’t know the extent of the injury. As we rode to the site where the helicopter would land, Eric started to talk more and remember the crash. And then he would finally correct himself when he got the year wrong.
I looked up from the ambulance and saw two TDL crew members, Tad Rogers and Virginia Nunez, waiting to take me to the hospital to meet Eric. I was so relieved to see two of my TDL family. Once the medics took Eric to the helicopter and I headed up to meet Tad and Virginia, I finally shed some tears. My son Tucker, and I have had multiple hospital visits, some life threatening. Thank God, we survived, but through those I have learned to remain calm and wait to hear news from the doctor before I react. But seeing Eric leave for the hospital in a helicopter for unknown head injuries and seeing him worried and scared, it finally hit me. We watched the helicopter leave and then drove to the hospital.
The doctor had the results of the CAT scan fast and said there wasn’t anything wrong. The tech bandaged up Eric’s finger that had a bad cut on it. Other than a big bump on his head, his cut on his finger and lots of scratches on his back, he was fine. So they discharged Eric within less than two hours. He walked out of there with just a bandaged finger.
I can’t even begin to express my gratitude to everyone with TDL. They were all concerned and quick to help with whatever we needed. We are so lucky to have such a huge extended family. And of course a huge thanks to our friends, family and our Folsom PD family who were also there to help in a heartbeat.
Once Eric’s head is a little less cloudy he will blog about his version of the crash. God was truly watching over him that day. His crash could have been much worse if he had crashed on the asphalt instead of the dirt. I can’t even begin to imagine it.
The second day was a 100 mile ride with 11,000 feet of climbing. That’s a tough ride! Everyone did great! That evening riders, crew and family met up at Bicycles Plus for a yummy dinner and to catch up with some old TDL friends and to meet new ones.
The third day was a RAAM simulation. All the riders were split into teams of two with three crew members following in a vehicle. It was a chance for the crew to learn how to help the riders with transitions, to navigate, to drive, and take care of the riders. It was pretty crazy because there were so many teams and so many cars on the road. But it was fun! I was teamed up with Bob, who was crew chief last year and has raced RAAM before. Things were going great and the crew was learning a lot. We had just been following Bob down a fast descent down Salmon Falls Rd and the crew was looking for a safe spot to make a transition. When we were getting ready to round a corner we saw another crew member waving a big orange flag. Then I saw Jen, a rider, near him signaling cars to slow down. I immediately knew something was wrong when I saw a rider out of the car and off her bike. We all then saw the other side of the road were a bunch of TDL people hovering over a rider who crashed. I was looking for Eric and I couldn’t find him and I knew he was somewhere in front of our team. I jumped out of the truck before it was stopped. I immediately started running up to the road, but decided to walk, because have you ever tried running in bike shoes? You really can’t! I asked the first two people I saw with TDL who crashed and they didn’t know. The next three people I asked didn’t know either. Then I saw Cayden across the street near the crash site and she waved for me to come there. Crap, it was Eric.
I knelt beside him and grabbed his hand. He was surrounded by Dr. Ray Thomason, Dr. Bodily, and Chris Biesinger, a nurse. He was so lucky to have them there to help him. They were asking Eric simple questions, which he wasn’t answering correctly. Eric couldn’t even remember crashing. We were all patiently waiting for an ambulance. He looked good, no broken bones, not too much blood, but he just wasn’t getting the damn year right when they asked him. The medics arrived and loaded him up in the ambulance. It was determined that they would get the helicopter to transport him to the hospital since he had a head injury and they didn’t know the extent of the injury. As we rode to the site where the helicopter would land, Eric started to talk more and remember the crash. And then he would finally correct himself when he got the year wrong.
I looked up from the ambulance and saw two TDL crew members, Tad Rogers and Virginia Nunez, waiting to take me to the hospital to meet Eric. I was so relieved to see two of my TDL family. Once the medics took Eric to the helicopter and I headed up to meet Tad and Virginia, I finally shed some tears. My son Tucker, and I have had multiple hospital visits, some life threatening. Thank God, we survived, but through those I have learned to remain calm and wait to hear news from the doctor before I react. But seeing Eric leave for the hospital in a helicopter for unknown head injuries and seeing him worried and scared, it finally hit me. We watched the helicopter leave and then drove to the hospital.
The doctor had the results of the CAT scan fast and said there wasn’t anything wrong. The tech bandaged up Eric’s finger that had a bad cut on it. Other than a big bump on his head, his cut on his finger and lots of scratches on his back, he was fine. So they discharged Eric within less than two hours. He walked out of there with just a bandaged finger.
I can’t even begin to express my gratitude to everyone with TDL. They were all concerned and quick to help with whatever we needed. We are so lucky to have such a huge extended family. And of course a huge thanks to our friends, family and our Folsom PD family who were also there to help in a heartbeat.
Once Eric’s head is a little less cloudy he will blog about his version of the crash. God was truly watching over him that day. His crash could have been much worse if he had crashed on the asphalt instead of the dirt. I can’t even begin to imagine it.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Training Camp
Training camp starts today! More than just the ride it is the team that I am excited about. 8 people have sacrificed their own time to train, put themselves on emotional roller coasters to involve themselves with others who are in need, or lost loved ones or have been affected by organ donation. Now is the time that all of us come together to become the team we will be to cross our country. I am looking forward to ride with each of them as we are all so completely different in not only backgrounds but riding abilities. This makes our team so unique because of that. We aren't a well oiled machine that no matter who is on the road at the moment you always know what to expect. We are people not robots. The crew will know our strengths and weaknesses and will always have to plan and look ahead to get the most out of us. This is going to be an adventure we will have forever.
And I am going to change the number to 9 riders. Kenny is still part of this team, and even though it might be from a passenger seat, he will still be taking his pulls too.
And I am going to change the number to 9 riders. Kenny is still part of this team, and even though it might be from a passenger seat, he will still be taking his pulls too.
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