Yup - give it time.

I am presently coaching a woman to do the Death Ride. She's a friend and fellow coach for Team in Training and this is really pushing her envelope. I feel I can share her story because she gave an interview to the SF Chronicle last year about what she'd been through:

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Dee Dee Rayfield, 54, Fairfield

Life and job skills coach for Contra Costa County Social Services, Martinez

Dee Dee Rayfield meets me at Fresh Choice in Santa Rosa after bicycling 64 miles in the rain. Until two years ago, Rayfield's adult life was full of self-destructive compulsions. She abused alcohol and marijuana, binged and purged, and subsisted on fried foods. Her weight blew up to 208 pounds.

Rayfield decided to do a 575-mile, seven-day AIDS bicycle ride in June 2001 after losing friends to AIDS. After training only weekends for two months, she was in no shape for this ride, but she did it anyway. Then she put away her bike and returned to her old habits.

In March 2002, Rayfield took her last drink, smoked her last joint and started going to Alcoholics Anonymous. Ten months later, her compulsive overeating was still out of control. She vowed to lose 60 pounds the "right" way -- eating healthy foods and working out.

In August 2003, Rayfield joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training (TNT), and started serious cycling. The program provides training for marathons, triathlons, cycling and cross-country ski events, raising funds for blood-cancer research and patient services. "I didn't know how to shift a bike, " Rayfield admits. "I didn't know how to ride, what to eat." TNT gave her coaches, a mentor and a supportive group of fellow riders.

Rayfield completed a 109-mile Tucson ride, and later a 206-mile from Seattle to Portland. She now wears size 4, but what she has gained is more important than the weight she lost. "This is the most important thing I have ever done," says Rayfield. "It's a fitness program that has become my lifestyle. My old, negative habits are not even part of who I am any more. AA got me clean and sober. Team in Training keeps me there."

Rayfield wears bracelets with the names of her special people with cancer. "When I get to mile 85 and I have a 9-mile climb, I ask myself, 'Why am I doing this?' " she says. "Then I look at my arm and see the names of people who have support groups and new treatments because I ride. This hill is nothing compared to someone who is dealing with cancer every day. That's what gets me up the hills and keeps me coming back."

Tip from Dee Dee Rayfield: "When you exercise for a cause you believe in, your mind will get you there, and your body will follow."

The full article can be found at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...MGQRA6E241.DTL


I am determined that this woman will get up all five passes in the Death Ride. She has put a lot into her training - and has turned her life around.