Day 9

So our final day of our journey.... Let's just say it didn't turn out quite as planned! Graham had been having some issues with his crank/bottom bracket yesterday (where the pedal arm attaches to the frame for the non cyclists out there!).

Anyway we get only 13km's into our day and it broke! His crank arm is now off the bike and not able to be re-attached!!
Our only option.... hitch. Our trip was over and within 5 mins a nice gentleman had picked us up in his truck and we were headed for Phoenix. He had a lot of erons to run but we eventually got dropped off at the door of where we were staying in Phoenix.

We got a few last minutes of sunshine by the pool with a beer and then I fly back out tomorrow back to Vancouver.

It's been a great trip and have loved seeing a whole new area I hadn't explored before. We did miss out on what was probably going to be the best part of our route through Prescott and Sedona due to us staying longer in Palm Desert but thats all good as it means I will just have to return for another bike journey in the future!!

Happy New Year everyone, may you all have a fantastic fulfilling 2012!! What adventures are on everyone's calendar?

M

Day 8

Another big day today....175km. It started off tough with a busy truck road with no shoulder and rough road that didn't help the sore butt situation! But after we got off that road about 50km's into it, the day started to brighten. Its all just a mental game really!

One second you can be thinking 'im not going to make it today, everything hurts and there is so far to go' then a few minutes later you hit a nicer road, a good song comes onto the iPod, you start feeling ok, then you are back on a high enjoying it! So many highs and lows throughout every day, and if you didn't have the lows you wouldn't appreciate the highs as much - which can be nice smooth roads, tail wind, sunshine, great scenery, and just being out here exploring a new area in the wonderful warmth!

Many things wonder through your mind all day and they are the best times as you can really just zone out while the km's tick by! Thanks Todd for distracting my mind for most of the day getting me excited for my NZ trip! And thanks Jim for the playlist (from like 5 years ago) that I got cranked on for the last 2 hours, it was nice to listen to some different tunes!

Well one more day. We are off to Phoenix tomorrow to finish the trip off. Maybe lay by the pool all Friday before flying back to rainy Vancouver!

Today's stats: (1-3% incline all day today until the last 15km's.... Oh how amazing those last 15km's felt going down and being able to coast for the first time after 5hrs!!)
Duration: 7.5hrs
Ride time: 5hr 50mins (we had a few stops today!!)
Distance: 175km
Average speed: 30km/hr
Ascent: 745m
Descent: 225m

Day 7

Today we got back on the road and did days 3 original route from Twentynine Palms to Parker. It was going to be a long one - 175km. With no towns or services for 160kms of it, we had 2 bottles for the day and were out in the middle of nowhere!

But we were blessed with everything we could have asked for today. Tail wind, the smoothest freshly paved road you could get, a flat route, a road construction worker that gave us more water, then the lady at Best Western at check in was so excited for us that we had just road from 29 Palms and still had smiles on our faces that she reduced our nightly room rate!! What was expected to be a 7-8hr day was a 5hr 36min day! Woohoo!

Our legs felt great all day but our arses and shoulders/neck from the pack are very painful!

Not sure we could have got through the day if we had headwind or bad roads ;)

Today's Stats:
Duration: 5hr 36min
Distance: 176km
Average: 31.3km/hr
Ascent: 660m
Descent: 1125m

Day 6

We did a local ride today around Palm Desert and Palm Springs that included heading up the 7km tram road (2000ft climb that we pretty much had to stand the whole way up)! But it was a great climb and a great ride!!
We finished the day off at a Mexican restaurant with the biggest margarita ever!!

Today's Stats:
Duration: 5hr 35mins
Distance: 145km
Average speed: 26km/hr
Ascent: 1380m

Day 5 Rest Day

Ok not sure we are ever going to leave this place!! Yes another day in Palm Desert!! But today we didn't ride and took the day off. Relaxing by the pool, some reading, some eating, and a little bootcamp workout at the park!

So new plan for rest of trip... But of course this could change again ;)
We are doing:
Day 6 Tomorrow: 160km loop ride locally
Day 7:Twentynine Palms to Parker 175km
Day 8: Parker to Wickenburg 175km
Day 9: Wickenburg to Phoenix 120km

The sun and warmth has been truly amazing and more so knowing the forecast in Vancouver has been nothing but cold and rain!!

Day 4 Christmas Day

Another day in Palm Desert. We did this really great ride today along box canyon road. It weaved right through the middle of a desert canyon. It was so quiet and peaceful with great scenery. We were on our way to Joshua Tree National Park but only made it to the entrance. Then we got Mick to pick us up at the other end. This turned into a bit of a mess! Let's just say he couldn't find us and his cell wasn't working, we ended up starting to ride a hwy back but then it got dark and cold then we waited on the side of hwy in pitch black freezing, still no sign of him. We rode up to next rest stop and finally connected. It's crazy how the temp can be so nice during the day and how quickly it turns to freezing once the sun drops.
I took it easy today, slowing the pace down, spinning more and trying to loosen the legs up for the next 2 big days ahead - but it didn't help much, the legs were feeling pretty beat!
A swim, hot tub, stretch and a beer and then it was time for lobster and steak that Holly prepared us for xmas dinner with margarita's. What a great day!

Todays stats:
Duration: 3.20hr
Distance: 95km
Average: 28km/hr
Ascent: 725m
Descent: 155m

Day 3

So day 3 we got convinced to stay another night in paradise (friends place in palm desert, Jordans and his wonderful family) But this didn't mean a day off!  Jordan and Mick just received their brand new bikes so we got the tour of the area and got in a 3hr (77km) loop ride without packs and with Jordan leading the whole way ;) it was such a cool loop, it started with a gradual climb for about 45mins then the rest of the ride felt like it was downhill and fast!
Such a great place here. More great food and drinks to top the day off. So now it's Xmas morning and we will head off today through Joshua Tree national park to Twentynine Palms. But heres the catch.... Jordan will join us for the 125km ride and Mick will come pick him up, but has offered to bring us back too and have Xmas dinner with them instead of Twentynine palms.... Then take us back out to start our next day and continue on our journey.... So amazing!!!

Merry Christmas everyone

Day 3 stats:
Duration: 3hrs
Distance: 77km
Average: 28km/hr
Ascent 450m (oh so nice!)

We laughed a lot today, more so at the craziness of what we were doing and what the day was throwing at us!!
Another blue bird day but we knew our descent down 5000ft over the first few hours was going to be cold.... So we put on every layer we had and then but plastic bags under our gloves and over our toes inside our shoes! Alas unbelievable of how well that works, we didn't get cold and were delayering only 30mins into our ride!  
The winds were crazy strong, and I lost Grahams wheel on a corner on the first descent so no drafting for me, I was pedaling as hard as I could into the wind into a steep descent and still not moving very fast! But held on for the second down so it was much easier!

We arrived at the small town of Borrego Springs (where we were meant to make it to the day before). They had some markets going on that we looked around at and had a small break. It was for sure a very cool area to see and the terrain around us was very different and really neat. Another 50k of flats and still more descending until we reached Salton Sea. Huge cross wind where we would get blown up to a meter either side without warning. We were dreading making it to Salton Sea as that meant a 90 degree turn directly into the wind for the last 60k on dead flat terrain, we weren't even sure if it was going to be ridable! 
We had lunch then decided to break up the last 60k into 20k segments, to stop have a break and mentally recharge each time, it worked well. I guess I can't complain much as graham lead the whole way while I hid behind him trying to get sheltered from the wind as much as possible!   We made it in to Palm Desert after dark and pulled up at the gates of jordans place at the exact time they did arriving off the plane from Vancouver!

Some beers, some great food, great company and a hot tub later we were very happy! They were trying to convince us to stay another night! We will see ;)

Today's stats:
Duration: 7hrs
Ride time: 6hrs
Distance: 164kms
Average speed: 27.6km/hr (to think that would have been over 40km/hr if the wind was the other way ;)
Ascent: 530m
Descent: 1765m

Wow where to start? We are shattered....with 7 days to go! Let's just say we didn't quite make our destination today, mainly because we left San Diego too late, but in the end it was a blessing in disguise! Not sure We could have made the remaining 50k we had left to do even though it was going to be all downhill. We were so fricken cold (but I'll get back to that). Since we left Diego so late we were on a mission as we knew this would mean racing the daylight and getting in after dark with no lights on us! So our relaxed pace plan was out the window! We work our way through the streets of San Diego with the perfect temps and blue bird sky's. Once we get out of town it was nothing but climbing and unbelievable head wind, blowing us all over the place! About 50k in we realize there is no way we are going to make Borrego Springs.... So new destination 'Julian'.

Now that wind had some cold bite to it and as we continued to climb it got colder and colder and the layers started to come on (well the only layers we had which wasn't much) Once we reached 5000ft we were frozen to the bone, it had to be below zero! We weren't really prepared for that! We finally reach summit after hours of climbing and have a short decent into Julian, we couldn't have been happier to see that hotel and hot shower!

Over dinner and beers (and the towns famous apple pie and ice cream) we look at tomorrow's route and forecast. Predicting wind warnings tonight and tomorrow with gusts of up to 100km/hr, wowza! Tomorrow is meant to be mostly down and flat but doesnt sound too appealing with the wind! Let's wait and see, at least we are dropping back down to sea level and warmth! All and all yes we are shattered but it's only going to get easier from here, those packs will start to mould to our backs, our arses will slowly get use to the extra weight from the packs and our legs will just go numb and adapt (or am I just dreaming ;) Regardless, im still looking forward to the rest of the trip!

Huge thanks to Tutti for leading the charge today and letting me sit on his wheel all day long!

Todays stats:

Distance: 97km
Time: 4hr 55mins
Average speed: 20.8km/hr (yes very sad but in our defence we did climb all day!
Low temp: 2 degrees (without the wind chill factor)
Climbed: 1850m
decent: 650m

Rest time. But first I am going to see if I can get any of the vids to attach to this!

Whats Next? Soutern Traverse Trip

So whats next? Well today I am about to head down south to California and Arizona and do a road ride from San Diego to Phoenix with my friend Graham. 8 days and 1200km's, just our bikes, a small back pack and credit card for hotels! There has been a few times over the last week where reality has hit and I think that maybe we are being a little too optimistic, but we did some re-routing of our first 4 days and it looks a little better. Here is our Southern Traverse Trip Line Up:

Day 1: San Diego to Borrego Springs 146km (2440m of climbing)
Day 2: Borrego Springs to Palm Desert 117km (480m of climbing)
Day 3: Palm Desert to Twenty Nine Palms 126km (1830m of climbing)
Day 4: Twenty Nine Palms to Parker Arizona - Christmas Day ;) 175km (700m of climbing)
Day 5: Parker to Wickenburg 175km (850m of climbing)
Day 6: Wickenburg to Prescott 95km (1900m of climbing)
Day 7: Prescott to Payson 180km (3100m of climbing)
Day 8: Payson to Phoenix 200km (2700m of climbing)

Lets see how this goes!! Will try to keep some updates going on this website.

Megan

Thanks!

So the Fall Season. I have been super privileged to have the support of 3 wonderful people over the fall season. Usually this time of year is me spent being burnt out from riding and just taking some time off. But this year was certainly different.

Monika Marx from Marx Conditioning has taken me on as a sponsored athlete to do some weight/strength training with me during the off season. She sees the extreme value in this in taking it into next years racing season and I have been loving the feeling of using those muscles again - its been so long! I left working the personal training industry 5 years ago, and I don't think I have done a consistent weights program since!

Then there is Graham Duthie from Innovative Performance (Sport Science Consulting) that has been working with me since October (with the support of a very special someone - they know who they are!). Very exciting. Getting taken through all the scientific lab tests and looking for holes in my fitness and training and for the first time in many many years, following a program. I can't believe it! Very much looking forward to 2012 and working with Graham over the winter. Such valuable information and cycling specific workouts that keep me engaged everyday!

So a HUGE thank you to all the support for 2011 from Willie Cromack and John Henry Bikes, from Norco Performance Bikes, Monika Marx, and Graham Duthie and my riding buddy for the ride across Canada Barb Sweeney - you are all truly wonderful people that all help me be inspired throughout the year!

Megan

Im Back!

Ok yep I am slack and left anyone reading this hanging of what happen after the last blog! Well - it was a long slow recovery, 3 months in fact. It was a test of patients, staying positive, looking only 1 day ahead and not taking anything for granted! The doctors rules were, no exercise, no TV, no reading, no computer time... um what else is there left to do? I was able to do some road rides here and there on my mountain bike after a little while, but I couldn't hit any trails until late May. But boom, then it hit and I was ready and good to go again. So funny how that works. The more I read reports and information on concussions, the more I had to turn away from reading them - all so negative!

But I made up for lost time in June and July and got some amazing riding and racing in. Sure there were and still are some symptoms here and there, but for the most part it never stopped me as of May 31st at Nimby Fifty race. The funny things was, I felt stronger then ever in June and July after all that time off! The work trip across Canada (Cycle4:National Relay) was again a highlight in August and getting in over 1500km on my road bike and meeting and working with some truly amazing people. This was followed by the Vancouver to Whistler Granfondo - what a blast that was and chaos of riding with over 7,000 people - but did manage to be 4th female across the line, I was stoked!

Whats next?

Megan