VOTE for Tyler's Red Dress!

Alright folks... It's not often that you get the opportunity to do this, but Tyler is opening up selection for his red dress day to a totally democratic vote!

PAY ATTENTION. Here is how this works:

Step 1: Review the dress photos below.

Step 2: Select your favorite option and make note of the dress number.

Step 3: Click on the "COMMENTS" link at the end of this post. The COMMENTS section may already be visible if you linked directly to this post.

Step 4: Enter your selection and SUBMIT!


Here are the three finalists!

DRESS #1

DRESS #2

DRESS #3

There you go! Now go vote in the COMMENTS section right below!

Los Angeles or BUST... Take One

Alright folks! It's time for Tyler and I to get on the road, bound for Los Angeles! The car is packed up with our luggage, the bikes are mounted on the hitch rack, and we're about to be fully caffeinated thanks to the lovely ladies at the Central Park Starbucks!

We're dropping the bikes off in Orange County, where they will be staged and shipped via truck to San Francisco. Meanwhile, we'll hop on a plane at LAX and arrive in SFO early in the evening.

Scotty will join us in San Francisco Friday afternoon.

Wish us luck! Los Angeles or BUST... Until the next time.

TT Memorial Weekend Cross Training

I didn't quite make it out on the road as much as expected this weekend, but did still get in some good cross-training.

Saturday Morning I got called by the Fitness Director at the New Gold Gym here in Downtown Phoenix and was offered a job. After some of my former spinning students that work for the Phoenix Mercury had to switch to Golds, their sponsor Gym, they have been actively

trying to recruit me. I had gone in for an audition last week, it's an amazing new facility and the Cycle Studio is Gorgeous! So, I was offered the job and subbed a class this saturday morning which kept me from riding with Dan and Scotty.

Sunday I went into the YMCA and practiced a new Cycle Class I've been working on and then Ran and Swam before coming home and hunkering down on my last project in the last class I have to take in Grad School!! Now it' s just my Applied Project and I'm done by Late August.

Last night Dan had arranged for us to have our Bike's blessed at Trinity Cathedral where he attends Church. Dan had done so last year and Scotty and I joined him this year.

Today I woke up and met up with Tracy Pitts, another ALC 9 Rider who lives here in Phoenix, we hiked Camelback Mountain before it got to warm out.

- View from Camelback Mountain -

Less than a week to go now before we begin our journey, still need to pack before Dan and I head out to Orange County Thursday morning to drop off bikes for shipping.

I've been looking forward to this week coming since they day Dan and I finished ALC 8.

I'm excited, I am nervous, but more than anything I am looking forward to the being back amongst such an amazing community of people.

A Video Recap of AIDS LifeCycle 8

Sorry the video quality isn't too great... You get the idea.

Training Ride: South Mountain Summit Road

This morning, all three of us trucked out to South Mountain Park to conquer the Summit Road. South Mountain is roughly 1,400 feet tall from the base to the summit with a total ascent of 1,550 feet.

As you can see from the elevation chart above, it's a pretty consistent climb along the 8 mile route. We made pretty good time riding up the mountain - about 43 minutes from the parking lot at the entrance to the tv towers at the summit. I didn't take my allergy meds last night - and haven't done a mountain ride since last summer - so I was huffing and puffing up to the top. We all made it, though!

We all took photos at the tv towers just in case you don't believe that we made it!

We took a little break at the top and Scotty had a wee wardrobe malfunction... SILLY ROOKIE and his busted zipper.

The ride back down was GLORIOUS, as per usual. The views of the city and valley on the way down just can't be beat. We had a pretty good pace coming back down because there wasn't a lot of auto traffic. I looked down and clocked myself going 36 mph on the final stretch. It felt great. Tyler reminded us that we need to get another South Mountain summit ride in before AIDS/LifeCycle in June. As much as I hate to say it, I know he's right. It'd be a good idea for me to get in two more of those before the ride. I can fly along the flat and rolling routes, but need to work on my climbing in a bad way if I'm going to conquer Quadbuster and the Evil Twins the same way I did last year!

We're all closing in on our AIDS/LifeCycle goals. Please visit our fund raising pages to contribute today!

Click here for Scott Brown
Click here for Dan Maxey
Click here for Tyler TerMeer

Thanks to all of our friends and family for supporting our AIDS/LifeCycle 9 journey! Just 43 days left until the start of the ride!

Official Ride Photos from the Paul Hulse Memorial Century Ride in California

Stevo got some great photographs of the team on the ride. I have also included a link to the full gallery below.

Click here for the full gallery of official photographs.

Data from the Paul Hulse Memorial Century Ride

We'll be posting a more complete description of the day's events early this week, but I wanted to share the map, elevation profile, and some data about the ride tonight before I hit the sack. Here you go!

(Click to View)

Starting Point: Santa Clarita, CA
Mid-Point: Ventura, CA
Ending Point: Santa Clarita, CA
Miles Completed: 103.9
Average Speed: 16.6 mph
Maximum Speed: 36 mph
Total Moving Time: 6:06
Total Ascent: 2,724 feet
Elevation Change from Lowest to Highest Point: 1,125 feet
Calories Burned: 5,600+
Total Flats: 2

Number of New Friendships: Too Many to Count!

Training Ride: Tempe to Fountain Hills and Back via the Beeline

Today we completed our longest group training ride of the season - 61 miles. Tyler, Scott, and I left midday and headed to Tempe to ride up the Greenbelt and Shea Boulevard to Fountain Hills. Our ride took us through Tempe, Scottsdale, North Scottsdale, Fountain Hills, and the Salt River/Pima-Maracopa Reservation.

We hit really strong headwinds in spots along the Greenbelt, but the winds seemed to keep the trails relatively clear, which was nice. After a quick break to refuel, we took off up Shea Boulevard - the eight mile climb over Saddleback Mountain into Fountain Hills.

On the climb into Fountain Hills, I heard a loud pop come from my front wheel while we were passing through an intersection, but was pretty sure my tubes were intact. Upon further examination, it became clear that I had popped a spoke - a pretty serious problem when you're 30 miles from your car and your wheel is staring to warp slightly. Thank God for smart phones. I was able to locate the nearest bike shop pretty quickly and gave them a call to expect me. We rode the remaining few miles uphill into Fountain Hills and eventually found our way to the Slippery Pig bike shop. The staff was VERY helpful and managed to replace the spoke and true my wheel relatively quickly. And the bill ended up totaling a little more than $16.00. Once we got everything settled, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Subway and got back out on the road.

 
The ride back toward Tempe down the Beeline Highway was sublime! The views of the desert rock formations, mountains, and plants (especially the wild flowers) were such a beautiful sight to see at the end of a long ride. Off on the horizon, you could see Camelback, South, and Estrella Mountains. It was remarkable.

We reconnected with the Greenbelt in Scottsdale and headed South toward Tempe. On the way, we passed through a short spot that's been flooded for a few weeks (just a few inches of water) and nearly came head-on with a couple other cyclists. Tyler hit a hole in the puddle and fell in, banging his knees and ankle up pretty bad. After we got him wedged out of his bike, he decided he was good enough to continue, so we pressed on.

We completed the stretch along the North bank of Tempe Town Lake to Priest and made the final turn toward the car, rode the full length of the South bank and made it back in three complete pieces in time to grab frozen yogurt at Yogurtini for a job well done.

61 miles down and a total 3,400 calories burned for the day. Beautiful. I think we feel that much more prepared for the Paul Hulse Memorial Century in two weeks!