Eleven Weeks

There’s a lot to be said about changes in life, some you make consciously and some are thrust upon you. As someone who used to derive a sense of peace out of having control over my life, changes were planned, not unexpected. What I have come to understand is that the changes you don’t expect are sometimes the best of all and there’s a positive side to every story.

It’s been 11 weeks since I had my accident and I’m happy to report that I am healing (not healed) very well. The doctor has released me and barring any unforeseen circumstances, the bone should continue to mend, besides the fact that I now understand it was in a muscle attaching not structural part of the pelvic bone.

Here’s what I’ve learned in my “crash” course on what’s really important in life, some of which I knew and some of which I was reminded, as well as some plain old truths in life.

1. God’s got a plan for me. I may not understand it or see what it is at the time, but I trust in it. It’s FAR better than any plan I could dream up!
2. I have the best family and their support and love keeps me going.
3. I also have the best friends in the world. The care and support they have given me has been immeasurable and been better than any medicine!
4. Having to give up some independence, though tough, was a good thing.
5. I am incredibly fortunate to be able to be active and live life as I do.
6. I want balance in life – too much of anything is not good. I’m on my way on this one!
7. Fretting about stuff is not worth it! I may be good at it, but I’m trying to stop. The things I let go of instead of worrying came back to bless me ten-fold.
8. Getting home from a ride on a Saturday morning in time to make pancakes for my kids is worth it every time!
9. I’ve got nothing to prove.
10. Slowing down gave me the opportunity to reconnect with some old friends and make new ones.
11. People in the airport, at the store or really anywhere are really nice to you when you’re riding around in a wheelchair!

I’m sure there are many more lessons, but 11 in 11 weeks seems like enough to write about. Will I try and do PAC Tour again, maybe. I’ll see what God has in store for me, whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be better than anything I could ever imagine!

Thoughts as I recover

It’s been nearly two weeks since I crashed on PAC Tour on a back road in Oregon. Seems like a long way away but it’s brought closer remembering that my friends continue on the same trip which I was to be on. They’ve reached Texas now and are doing great! Still riding strong, I’m confident of that.

If you know me, there are several attributes which I would describe myself as having, perhaps you agree. I think I’ve very goal oriented, independent and have an ‘I can do it myself,’ attitude. All of those have been thrown out the window in the last two weeks. Starting with independence, I’ve become dependent on the seeming never ending support of my family and friends. Where I normally wouldn’t ask for help, I don’t have to it’s there before I ask. Several people have gone above and beyond and I don’t have the words to thank them. Right now, I really cannot do much by myself. Though I can get around my house reasonably well, there are limits. Simple things like carrying my laundry downstairs or taking out my garbage cans (or removing the dead animal in the backyard that happened while I was gone, yuck, thanks Steve), or most importantly, food! I can’t go to the grocery store alone. I must say though that there is a whole new selection at eye level from a wheelchair! My son helped me all weekend and went above and beyond the call of duty. He truly has a giving heart, at least for his Mommy. Thank goodness he can drive me around, but now he’s returned to his summer home and job, and that’s alright.

Physically, I think I’m progressing well. I can gingerly walk around the house without a walker. I can shower sitting on a chair, cook for myself and do a little more each day. This is perhaps one of the first times in my life I’ve felt like I had a disability and I can see how frustrating it would be. I probably don’t even see it as it would truly be because I know I’m going to get better. With the exception of bruises, all but one of the external wounds has healed and is gone. The last one will be gone this week, leaving all the healing to come from within.

Emotionally, this has been a roller coaster. I was one of the few who ride bikes who had never crashed. While perhaps inevitable, having it happen during a trip that I planned for a year, wrapping myself around it constantly, left a whole inside of me. I’m so sad that I’m not with my friends, braving through the winds and probably coming rains. The goal orientation in me feels at a loss. I’m used to setting goals, even ridiculously hard ones, and meeting them. This was a first, I’d never even had a DNF in a ride or race. So I’m adjusting to that. I certainly can’t stay sad and am thankful to God that the injuries I sustained were, in the scheme of things, minor. I understand He has a plan for me and maybe it includes a cross country trip in the future, but maybe it doesn’t. Right now I just don’t know.

This I do know, I have a whole community of family and friends who I love and have overwhelmed me with their care and concern during this time. I thank each and every one of them. I know that many, MANY, positive things are going to come from this and that when I get back on the bike, I will be as strong as ever (at least after a month or so). I am an extremely fortunate person and will learn lessons from this experience that I may not realize until later, but they’ll be there. I continue to believe that Life is Good and will continue to try, to push myself and to trust in God in all I do.

There are silver linings! Lisa

Things don't always turn out like you think they will

Yesterday started as a beautiful day - nice climbing, and adventure up a dirt road to a vista point with a fantastic view. We stopped to look at an old pioneer wagon and got lots of pictures. After the second rest stop, we were going down a hill, I put my arm warmers on and what happened next I was only told about. Apparently I hit a pot hole and fell (actually, no apparently about it, I crashed). I was knocked unconscious and 2 doctors and an RN on our trip came up on me and tended to me until the SAG van got there. Lori was there too, flagging traffic out of the way. When we got to the hospital, I thought - oh, a couple of days in the van and I'll be able to ride, sore hip, no big deal. I even called Matt at Momentum and had him ready to send me a helmet! But, an x-ray and 2 Cat Scans later and we knew I had a broken pelvis, in two places. I could ride, but in a tremendous amount of pain. Ok..so really I couldn't ride So, now I sit in the hospital in Baker City waiting for my stepmother and Grand stepmother to come and get me for the ride home.

I told Lori and Jeanine - who were fantastic last night, we have a whole new closeness after they helped me clean up and shower :) - anyways, I told them that you have to get a DNF at some point, and this was a big one, so maybe I've gotten it over with for a while! I also told them they better kick some butt and get all the county, city and state line sprints for me! Lori and I passed the 45th latitude parallel yesterday in the van and I told her to make it clear to the gang that we won that sprint. The people at this hospital have been great and whatever the pain killer was that they gave me works like a charm.

So, as I get ready to go home, I just have to believe that God knows what he's doing and trust that His plan on all this is better than mine...I just don't know what that plan is yet, but I know it'll be better than anything I could dream up.

I'm thankful that the trip so far was fantastic. PAC Tour does a great job, their crew is awesome and I was so impressed. All the riders were so nice and I hope they have a wonderful trip.

I'm signing off for now, looking for silver linings! Lisa

Day 3 – The Dalles to Pendleton, Oregon – 135 miles, 4,000 ft of climbing – 6 hours

They might say that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but my best friend today was a 30 mph tailwind! I rode with Ann and Doug from Portland and Dan and his son Brian from Michigan. All are racers. We clocked a 4 hour century – it was rockin!! The scenery was a little bland in the beginning, other than the dams along the Columbia, which were cool. We were on I-84 for probably close to 100 miles. For awhile, we were along the Columbia River, with Washington on the other side. We stopped where the John Day River met the Columbia and took pictures down by the river. It was so windy we almost got knocked over standing to take our pictures. In another group, Lori and Jeanine were with Tom from Half Moon Bay – we all hammered it today, as can be seen in the pic from one of our stops. The rest stops are so well stocked, with the abundance of food, I don’t think weight loss will be a problem on this trip, cookies, candy, snacks, everywhere! We had a short time off I-84 on a frontage road and went past a tree farm that went on for 7 miles. Apparently, timber being a huge commodity in Oregon, they grow trees for that purpose, looking down the rows of trees was fairly mesmerizing at that stage in the ride. After we got off I-84, we cruised through the town of Echo and along the Umatilla River for around 25 miles until Pendleton, it was very pretty – raced a train, saw the grave site of Oregon Trail pioneer Dave Koontz, Doug laid on the railroad tracks…made for a great picture, but I’m pretty sure we broke a rule. Now I have to go rest my legs and let the Indian casino buffet food do its job and nourish my body – maybe that’s an oxymoron, but it’s worth a shot. Tomorrow will be our last day in Oregon…here’s hoping for more tailwinds!

Day 1 – Portland to The Dalles, Oregon, 103 miles, 8,000 feet of climbing

Ok, I’m starting to get it. You get up at the same time each day, each breakfast, stuff to the truck and head out. Today’s ride took us towards Mt. Hood, away from Mt. Hood, back to Mt. Hood and then finally dropped to the Dalles, which is on the Columbia River. The riding was beautiful and we all started together but got into groups after awhile. Jeanine and I rode together much of the day with a guy from New Hampshire, who, before this ride, had only ridden 3,100 miles in his life! He only started riding in October. Craziness. Mt. Hood is beautiful and we ate lunch in a parking lot with a perfect view of the mountain. While we were there, this guy drove by in a VW bus, with a mini-VW bus on a trailer -too cute! Turns out the mini was a go cart. The climbing was just my style, 6-7% grades, just cruising up the road trying to remember not to push too hard. I think my total riding time was close to 6 ½ hours, so not too fast, hopefully just right. I’ve only ever ridden 2 long days in a row, so after tomorrow, it’ll be interesting. This afternoon and evening, we spent hanging out at the oh so glamorous Super 8 – doing laundry, relaxing, and then headed out for a fine Mexican meal. One thing we’ve noticed is that people in Oregon are SO nice. Jeanine had a flat today and three people stopped to see if we were ok. One guy stopped and offered us a floor pump, which was great because her first tube had a leak! Even as we wandered through the Fred Meyer parking lot after buying “room snacks” and ice cream, a lady in her car waited patiently as we clued in and got out of the way. Good times continue to abound!

We're in Portland!

After a bon voyage "cheers" in the Fresno airport, we’ve made it to Oregon, as did our bikes – all in one piece, or at least only in the pieces we put them in. On our van from the airport was a kid who I thought was helping on the tour. Turns out, Greg, a 16 year old from New York, is riding! And this is not his first cross country trip – we were very impressed. Check in was easy and PAC Tour had tools and people to help us get our bikes set up. Turns out the 40 pound limit doesn’t sound like it’s going to be that big of a deal, thank goodness – my bag can expand with souvenirs! We’d planned to take a little spin today, but ran out of time before a meeting with the group, learning the particulars of rest stops, what to do if we get lost and most importantly, to PACE ourselves for the first 5 days. If we don’t, it’ll cook us and we’ll be tired. Lon (main organizer) said that after the first week, we’ll get stronger and stronger so when we hit the mountains of Colorado, we’ll be ready. So that’ll be my goal, PACE – not race! And…I’ve already signed up for massages, so I can reward my legs in the next couple of weeks. Group dinner tonight, so off I go…

Ready to Roll

After what seems like months of preparation, Lori, Jeanine and I are headed out tomorrow morning for Portland. We’ll have check in, a ride to make sure our bikes are working after the flight, and then a meeting and dinner with the riders who we’ll be spending the next 30 days with! This final week has been filled with excitement. Last Saturday, I rode the Climb to Kaiser, coming in at 10 hours and 15 minutes, nearly 45 minutes better than my last attempt…in my mind…of course…I felt like that was good training (from which I recovered all week!). Sunday, we had a CARB fest barbeque with our great cycling friends. In theory, I should have tried to gain a little weight since I’ll be running in a deficit for 30 days, yet somehow, that didn’t happen (maybe because I can gain weight in theory better than gaining on the scale – but that’s another story).

Work wrapped up on Thursday and it felt different than getting ready for other vacations. I think because I’m going to be gone so long, I got a little choked up saying goodbye to my co-workers and promised to come back refreshed!

My efforts in packing this week were lame at best. We have a 40 pound limit and I struggled to stay under that. My first attempt was 45 pounds and after that, I ignored the pile on my floor for a few days. Today I came in at 37 pounds – I think I’m good! Jeanine and I packed our bikes this morning and pray that they don’t get roughed up by the airlines. I spent an impromptu afternoon at the movies (The Proposal – hilarious!) with my good friend Bill and am feeling relaxed and ready to go.

Tonight as I get ready to leave, I was reminded again of how important it is to live each day to the fullest with no regrets. I’ve known too many wonderful people lately who have been ill with cancer, faced tragedy in their family or passed away – often much too early. I have a wonderful chance to ride across the United States of America - and I thank God that I have been given this once in a lifetime opportunity!