Team Bear

The site has been somewhat slow for a while now.  At first it felt like a moment of silence, but at this point it’s been too long and I need to do my part.  Tonight was the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project annual gala.  I’m sorry to say this is the first time I’ve been.  I have few regrets in my life – I don’t particularly believe in them – but that is one, Beth stood with me for everything and I wasn’t there until now.  Honestly we need their help as much as they need ours.

Getting ready for Austin has been hard.  I haven’t had time to ride much apart from commuting, which means I’ll be getting a good look at Kevin’s back wheel as it gets smaller on the horizon.  On the other hand the rides I have done all involve hills or the use of Maxwell as weight in the trailer behind the back wheel – it feels like your always going uphill when he’s back there.

I never really put up a ride report from the Seattle challenge so here it is. Enjoy.

The morning started with a text message from Kevin indicating we were good to go.  Beth was in a tough situation and we weren’t sure it was all going to add up to a ride that June 21st.  I posted a quick note that we would be on course, ate a bowl of Cheerios (for good karma) and hit the bike to ride down to the Seattle Center.  I ended up about 10 minutes early and hung around until Kevin, Erika, Mary, Marc and AJ showed up.  It was warming up so I stuck AJ with my leg warmers – no really, they were clean.

It was sure to be an emotional day.  This is what I had latched on to as my way to fight back against what had taken my mother and was after my sister – specifically I wanted to tackle the climb up Village Park Drive in Montreux, but we had a good 35 miles to put in first.

We rolled across I-90 on the express lanes and onto Mercer Island.  This was familiar territory since I had ridden this a few times alone and with others to get ready but it was nice to have the express lanes.  At some point the cat-and-mouse game ensued and I found myself chasing an attacking Kevin through the windy Mercer Way.  I really didn’t expect to do any defensive riding but I saw him fly by and couldn’t stop myself from trying to catch him.  The best part was once I caught him he turns and says “why don’t you take a pull” as if I didn’t just cook my legs to get to his back wheel.

We hit the power stop on the island so the weaklings (me) could us the portable facilities.  Only the finest honey-bucket will do.  After a courtesy stop at the hand washing station – remember we are all wearing gloves we wipe our noses with – we were off again.

Somehow Mary and I got ahead by a bit and hit the third power stop a few minutes ahead, we had agreed to skip the second stop.  Turned out Erika got a flat and her and Kevin jumped into a group and worked their way back.  This would be the last stop before the big hill.

We cruised through unfamiliar roads then I realized we were headed west along I-90, meaning we were almost to the big hill.  I grabbed some energy gel since I didn’t think I’d have a free hand for the next 3-4 miles and we took the left up Cougar Mountan.  The climb is steep and long, I’m not sure of the exact numbers but it’s around 3.5 miles at 6-8% grade.  Kevin and I were together for a bit but at some point he turned off to go back to the group.  I worked as hard as I could until the top was in sight then clicked a gear or two and poured whatever was left in the tank into the road.  I finished the hill with stinging legs and a tear in my eye.

In my head it was glorious; in reality I was the only one up there, team-bear was on the hill.  I walked down to cheer them on but decided it would be better to take the bike so I rode back to the group and we finished the hill together.

The descent off Cougar Mountain was a different route than we had taken in our training ride.  The hill wasn’t as steep but it was long and it was certainly the scene of the top speed for the ride – somewhere in the mid 40s.  Kevin and I took off down the hill, likely both looking at computers to see how high we could tick the numbers.

By the time we reached Seward park it had been around 4 hours in the saddle.  I think everyone was slowing down.  We came to the hill to take us into downtown and I decided to sprint up.  It all made sense in my head until the hill kept going and I didn’t have the legs left to keep the pace up.  Kevin caught me about 3/4 of the way up and we finished the hill off together.  After that it was time to stick together for the ride through downtown and back to the finish line.

We made the turn into the Seattle Center together, the final few hundred feet.  We came to the finish chutes and I saw Melanthia, with Max on her back, taking pictures.  There was quite a crowd ready to welcome us.  I kept the tears under my glasses but at that moment we had accomplished something.  We exchange hugs, took some photos then Kevin was whisked off home to be with Beth.

The event was extremely powerful.  Thousands of people in one place riding and running to make a difference.  I can’t wait for Austin.  I can’t wait for next year.  I can’t wait for the day we don’t have to do this.

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