Livestrong Challenge - schedule for 2009

Tofu -

I'm signed up to ride the 100 miles in San Jose. Which one are you riding?

I chose the 100, but I'm reconsidering. Won't it be hot as hades in July? I just moved back from the south, and am thinking about the scortching dryness of ca summers!

But it's a dry heat... :D Last year was pretty hot, but we were okay until we got to the Silverado Country Club which was open and the sun baked down - but once we were over that hill, it was fine. The 100 miler went up over Metcalf which is a brutal hill in the best of conditions and I did hear it was pretty tough. I hope the ride more of the Santa Cruz mountains this year - it's more shaded and there are some great rides. We'll see.

Mountian...haven't ridden mountains yet. Just lowly coastal carolina. Guess I'd better get training!

Lori - if you live in the Bay Area now, you'll not be able to avoid the hills. But the ride only had one tough hill, the rest was pretty easy. I'm all for putting together a TE Team. I think that would be fun.

I'm in! Where are you located? I'm in Martinez

I'm further south in San Jose. There are tons of rides between, too. And there are a lot of riders in the Bay Area. I think we could managed a ride or two before hand. :p

Event details (schedule) and course info has been posted for some of the locations.

A 20-mile route has been added for Philadelphia and Austin.

The Philly route looks like it's the same as it was in 2007-2008. This makes me very happy - it's a challenging ride with some steep hills, but being familiar with the route makes it easier.

I'm registered for the San Jose ride.

I will ride the Austin one, maybe with a team if I manage to convince some coworkers :)

Austin is a hilly, challenging course. You will love it though, it is so pretty out in Dripping Springs.

This year they're posting total climbing elevation in the course details. So now I have a number to go with the pain (5423 feet for the course I plan to ride).

But it's such a beautiful ride that this year I plan to bring my camera. Usually I don't bring it because I try to cut down on anything that adds unnecessary weight, but last year I kept wishing I could stop and photograph the scenery. And since I've lost about 10 lbs since last summer, I figure the addition of a little camera is nothing compared to the added pounds on my butt during previous years' rides.

I had my camera with me, I took not only pictures but video, of my team though mostly. But I'm glad I did. I made a video out of all of it but at 12 minutes, it is too long for youtube. :( I'll post it if I get a way of putting it online. I also had my garmin so I knew the elevation (also had looked up other people's posting of the elevation from other years). It is a bit hilly, but such a really nice ride and nice day. I can't wait! :)

and congrats on the 10 lb loss, my sister and I are aiming for 30 each by then, but who knows how successful we'll be.

Hi all. My mom was just diagnosed with brain cancer, and I really want to do the Livestrong Challenge in her honor. I'm in upstate NY so it would have to be Philly for me. I would like to do the century, but it would be my first (I've done several MS150's and some 75-mile one-days, but never a full century in one day), and I've heard the Philly route is pretty challenging. How challenging is challenging, and just how bad are those hills?

Cyclingmama, sorry to hear about your mom. I hope she's okay.

The course description for the Philly ride is here.

http://www.livestrongchallenge.org/s...se_Details.htm

Total climbing for the century is 8301 feet. Some of the hills are quite steep. So yes, it is challenging.

There is a time limit for the ride, which I think is 8 hours. The course is laid out in such a way that if you are not going to make the time cut, or if you're just not feeling like you have the legs to do the full 100 miles, you can switch to a shorter route along the way.

You have lots of time to train and prepare for the ride, which is good, especially if you can find some good hilly routes for your training. Since you've already done some 75-milers, you should be able to do a century.

I will admit that this is the hardest ride I have ever done, but I've done it 3 times (full century the first year, when it was a different route, and two 70-milers since then), and I'll be back for the 70-miler again this year. It's difficult but I also really enjoy it. It's one of the best organized rides I've ever done, and the rest stops are only 10-15 miles apart, so there's plenty of opportunity to stretch and refuel.

So I guess what I'm saying is that it's really freaking hard, but if you're able to devote the time to preparing for it, you should be able to do it. The more steep hills you can ride between now and then, the better prepared you'll be.

p.s. I should add - there are some nice downhills too. There is a reward for slogging up the steep slopes. And the scenery is great.