Ride for the Roses Day 4

Today was the big ride day and for me, it didn't exactly start off with a bang. We were to be on the bus to depart for the ride at 6:30 a.m. At 6:15 a.m. I looked at the clock and said to myself "no way." So, I arrived at the ride at about noon, just in time to catch the first wave of riders finishing the 100 mile course. While I did feel a tinge of guilt over not getting my ass out there to ride, I thoroughly enjoyed the day.

The race itself took off and ended at a raceway type area on the outskirts of Austin. The atmosphere there was completely joyous and celebratory, with music, food, drink and about 10,000 people gathered with a common goal of supporting cancer survivorship.

When I arrived I ran into my new friends Gregg and Kyle from the Lucky Lounge team, who had helped me on Friday when I was the biking damsel in distress. They had just finished the 100 mile course in under four hours, and I sat with them and joined them in rehydrating with Guiness. I then spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the festival, meeting new people, taking pictures and enjoying the day. It was really a quite overwhelming experience to take in. I was both moved and saddened by how cancer had affected the lives of so many of the people in attendance.

At the end of the day, everyone loaded up their bikes on the busses (waiting for the bus I did get in about .2 miles riding around the parking lot. :) and then headed back to the hotel. On the bus I sat next to another colon cancer survivor, and we shared war stories. He and his "domestique" helped me pack up my bike once we returned to the hotel.

Later in the evening I joined the Lucky Lounge bike team (the captain of which is Lance's friend John a/k/a "College") at a team meeting with one of their sponsors at the Lucky Lounge. That was a treat! After the meeting I went to dinner with Gregg and Kyle and their ladies, and a few other friends. We had a fabulous dinner and a great evening spent swapping tales, discussing doping scandals and making plans to meet up again in New York.

After a very, very long weekend, I headed back to the hotel to prepare to return home tomorrow.

So, there you have it. A very quick summary of a very memorable weekend. The weekend definitely was different than I thought it would be, but in many ways better. I made so many new and interesting friends from every walk of life. So many kind, genuine, gracious people that I plan to remain in touch with for a long time to come.

Here are some of the highlights of the weekend:

* Robin Williams and Bob Roll - both completely lovely, hysterical guys who were incredibly generous with their time and commitment to LAF.

* Getting to participate on the "Conversations with Lance" panel where I got to embarrass myself in front of 2,000 people by carrying on banter with Ann Curry about my outfit and then"accidentally" engaging in gratuitous self-promotion about my LifeLab project.

* Meeting the hard working folks from LAF who put on a great weekend, and are such nice, committed people.

* Getting to stay in a hotel suite with a washer and dryer. :)

* Meeting all of the other people from Region 7B at the luncheon put on by Michael Wolfe - Michael you rule!

* The Peloton Dinner on Friday night held at an exotic game preserve (real zebra and buffalo!)

* Getting rescued by the Lucky Lounge bike boys and getting to spend time with them.

And some of the disappointments:

* That I didn't go on the ride today.

* That I didn't get to meet Doug Ulman from LAF, whom I had been so looking forward to meeting.

* That Lance wasn't more present for the event - This isn't a personal disappointment per se, but I think a lot of people were surprised and felt let down that he wasn't around very much.

All in all, a fantastic weekend, and I will be posting the pictures to prove it shortly!

Thank you so much for reading and following me on this journey.