Did I forget to mention?

Here’s just a small-little detail I left out when informing many of you about this bike ride: it’s in Lake Tahoe.

Allow me to explain how my thinking on this location developed.

Thought 1: 

Hmm, there’s a ride in September in Michigan… but our annual conference is in August and I’d rather not be training at the same time as I’m working so hard at my actual job.

    Thought 1a: 

    Also, who wants to do the hardest bit of training in July-August heat? Ick.

        Thought 1b: 

        Oh hey, look, there’s another ride a little earlier, in June. That’s better!

Thought 2: 

Oooh! The June ride is in Lake Tahoe! Talk about an incentive location! I WILL SIGN UP NOW.

Thought 3 (later that day): 

Er. It’s hilly there. This will be hard. Ummmm… distant misgivings… but – pretty scenery!

Thought 4 (two days on): 

Wow, everyone’s being so supportive and wonderful! What a shame it’s in Lake Tahoe, where none of my family or friends can easily come to cheer me on to the finish line.

Thought 5 (next day): 

What the hell was I thinking? I won’t even get to enjoy the scenery, really, because I’ll just spend the whole time desperately focused on survival. And afraid I’ll run off the road and off a cliff, because I am a little scaredy-cat about heights, sometimes. So much for for the whole draw of Lake Tahoe, dummy.

Thought 6 (sometime later): 

Not so much a thought as a sort of sinking sense when, in response to my referring to the course as “hilly”, my friend Paul replied that these are not “hills” so much as they are THE SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS AND LAKE TAHOE IS MORE THAN A MILE UP.

And thence began a panic that only blossomed to its fullest potential when I took a look at the elevation map for the ride, found at the informational site where I also found this tidbit: It includes a challenging 800 foot climb to a rest stop overlooking Emerald Bay and a 1,000 foot climb to Spooner Junction. There are also many short rolling ascents and descents totaling over 2,600 vertical feet of elevation gain! (Note: I hate that exclamation point. Unless you throw an expletive in there, it's all a smiling, yay-isn't-that-awesome, steaming pile of horse feathers. It's like saying This particular colonoscopy is super-painful and will leave you wincing for a minimum of 14 hours!! Screw you, Gidget.)

Apparently the ride includes a little “side trip” to something consistently referred to as “Historic Truckee, California.” Gee, I wondered – what’s historic about it? Answer: The Donner Party. Okay. Well, just so long as we all know how bad it might get out there.

That's the skinny, and I don't know why I didn't say it straight out when announcing the thing to all and sundry except that honestly? It's a lot of information. Even I can't pack it all into one clean and concise message. It is indeed Epic, this whole endeavor, so I just try not to think of it all at once. And sure I could do something a little LESS Epic, but as I was explaining to Dawn -- it really doesn't have any appeal for me unless it is utterly and completely mind-blowingly insane. If it doesn't seem impossible, I'm not nearly so interested. And honestly, when I consider what the funds benefit - what those people with blood cancers and their families have to go through? It's honestly like nothing, in comparison. Nothing at all. Which I will frequently remind myself when the whining reaches critical mass over the next several months.

Okay, really quick in other news:

1. Got the helmet from Laura and it fits perfectly AND is adorable. 
2. Did spin class twice this week and I am still the most pathetic person in the room. BUT - I still do it. Even though so far, the only thing I like about that class is the fan. It's an Air King High Velocity Air Circulator (not that I stare at it lovingly for half the class or anything). Like at least 24" in diameter. It's so gorgeous I want to take it out to dinner and ask it to marry me.
3. Plan to go out with the aforementioned Laura (my nearest neighboring biking buddy) to the lake path on Sunday, where I will actually ride a bike. More specifically, my bike. Hilarity will likely ensue, so I'll let you know how it goes.
4. Tomorrow is our first Team In Training meeting, which is the kick-off to the training season. we'll get info - training schedules and a whole clinic on how to dress for winter training, and we'll meet our teammates and coaches and stuff. I really can't wait to get all the detailed info, and then -- oh god, and then we'll actually get started training in the next week. For real. Okay, but I'm just gonna think about how tomorrow's all info-and-pizza. Yeah.