Tour de Summerlin

It came. My big 80 miler came and I did it! It was great. Friday night we went to a team dinner at Paymon's Mediterranean Cafe, one of our sponsors and filled up on carbs. Bill and the kids were all able to join me and Livi even prepared a little speech. Melissa, from Candlelighters, who we were riding for, had asked if Livi would stand up and say "Hi" to all the riders who were going to be at the dinner. Livi wanted to say a little more. She sat down at the computer and typed this out, with little help from me, and with that only on spelling. For future references I want to stress that the ideas were completely hers.

"My Name is LIVI and my brothers Name is Aaron he is very funny. I try to teach him things like time. And the special thing is he helped me with my cancer. I appreciate all the things that Candlelighters does to help the cancer kids. I appreciate how you are helping Candlelighters raise money for the cancer kids. The money that you raised helps families like mine. When I was sick, Candlelighters paid for my TPN. It was the food that went into my port. They also gave money to my family for gas and food while I was in the hospital for a long time. I’m so glad that you are all doing the race together. GOOD LUCK!!!!"

Unfortunately she froze in front of the crown, about 40 people large, so I ended up reading it for her. I started to cry at one point and was reminded at how real the last 2 years have been. (Lately with things going just fine, the "craziness" of it all has been tempered.) Everyone was very gracious and thanked her for her words.

I was nervous getting to bed that night. I wanted to make sure everything was ready to go for the morning. I had gone shopping earlier that day with Aaron to get all my nutrition for the ride and Bill picked up some Gatorade, so I was set. Alarm was set for 5:30, a friend, Joel, from the team, got to the house at 10 til, we loaded up and drove out to the start in Summerlin. The two of us had decided to ride together as it seemed that our riding levels were closer to eachothers than the other team members. It was very cold to say the least, but with the forecast calling for mid 80's by noon we knew we wouldn't want any extra clothing so we dealt with the cool morning temps.

The ride started and we were able to make it to the middle of the pack. Neither of us had ever ridden with a group before. We couldn't figure out why everyone was going so slow. We were on the downhill part of the course and COASTING! Why are we coasting when this is where we can make up the time of the more strenuous climbs later on the route? I didn't think my odometer was working correctly because no way were we going 25 mph on a slight downhill grade COASTING! Well, come to find out, that drafting thing is quite amazing. I pulled out of the pack, alongside, and quickly lost my place. We met up with a gal that I had met through my riding buddy Rhonda Cook, and yes my computer was working properly. In a group of about 70 riders, there is a serious draft. We enjoyed it for the first 10 mi or so and then stop lights separated us out. The first 4-5 mi we had police helping us through the lights but after that we were on our own. It was a fun atmosphere, and I ended up riding more with Tammy than Joel due to miscommunication but I was more than happy with my performance. I hit my target time of 5 hours and kept my avg speed at 15.5.

Bill and the kids met us at the 35 mi mark to give Joel and I full drink bottles. It was fun to see

them and I was grateful that they put the effort into coming. They left from there to take Aaron to his opening day of soccer. They were to run drills and get the teams figured out. After his soccer they came back to the ride, I had just finished and was getting my lunch. They had Qdoba Mexican Grill cater for the riders and their families.

The kids ate ice cream. I enjoyed the tacos and started to relax.

That night was the Elders Quorum BBQ at the park so not a lot of down time was acquired. It was a good turn out but I was more than happy to be home.

I felt really good about the ride and didn't have any problems except that my legs felt... tired. My muscles weren't sore or anything. My saddle was a little sore, to be expected I suppose, but my legs were soo tired. By Tuesday I felt fine.

In addition to meeting my physical goals, I exceeded my donation goals. I raised $1040.00 thanks to all my friends and family who gave and even pushed their friends and family to give. And yes, I am doing it again next year.

Welcome to the Donation Page of Rachel Ellison

Thank you for your involvement! Enter Donation Amount Here: *Currency shown: US Dollar $ My Fundraising Goal: $1,000.00 Money Raised to Date: $1,040.00 If you are unable to donate online, please print out a donation form. ... because Candlelighters helped us fight. I have signed up for a challenging fundraising initiative, called "Riders for Candlelighters Kids". This is a team of beginning to intermediate cyclists who are training for 14 weeks for the Tour de Summerlin bike event on April 24th. This event is an 80 mile bike ride throughout the streets of Summerlin in Las Vegas, Nevada. This charity allows us all to give a little to make the suffering from childhood cancer less and living life a real goal. I wanted to take this opportunity to help an organization that helped us through Livi's battle with Cancer. Our whole family struggled with the effects of cancer and were given much support from Candlelighters. Many services, treatments and other expenses were covered thanks to all the hard work that this foundation does. Please help me give back! I will be counting on Mom to push me from behind on my 1st 80mi. ride.