My trip to the mountains
Here we are picking up our race packets in Markleeville

Enjoying a well earned pint after packet pickup at my favourite pizza and brewery in South Lake Tahoe






Here we are half-way into our tune-up ride on Friday, checking out the start of our first climb, monitor pass. We managed to get the whole team together just once over the weekend!!

And here are the Gardnerville crew and Homer enjoying a big pasta dinner.






And its on, with the sun starting to climb over the mountains I made my first ascent up Monitor Pass. I started with Lan, and she was gone within minutes and I was on my own. Not so bad as I was conserving oxygen instead of talking!!

I then got to the first aid station and enjoyed a nice selection of bagels, clif bars and fruit. I then made sure to document the fact I'd made it to the summit of monitor pass! Looking nice and fresh still!

I then enjoyed a fantastic downhill
down monitor to the bottom, then I
had to start climbing up what I'd already descended. Another fun downhill was followed by a long gradual uphill then an abrupt awakening with a 12%
grade up Ebbets pass. Just as I felt like giving up, I was rewarded with breathtaking views, including this lovely lake. I was pleased to be wearing
sunglasses for the summit picture, I was in tears with a mixture of exhaustion and starvation!

Thankfully I later bumped into ACE teammate Chris, who managed to cheer me up when I realised I might be able to finish this thing. I felt a lot more positive here after getting to the bottom of Ebbets and realising it was only(!!)a 5 mile climb back up to the summit, where I was greeted by angels!
I carefully made the 'technical' descent down Ebbetts, then was very pleased to realise the gradual downhill was keeping my speed at around 30mph, zooming towards lunch, and knowing I was making good time. I stopped for a nice cupasoup and met a Team in Training person from San Francisco. We rode together for a little while but I wanted to rush on to make the cutoff time at Woodfords by 4.

I made it by 3.37 and then was well chuffed to learn I only had to go another 7 miles by 5.15 pm. Easy? Maybe not!! Uphill and with the wind in my face it was hard, but I made it with 45mins to spare, and I had my 5th pass in sight!

This gave me a bit more time to get some more food. Thoroughly sick of clif bars, gu and all sports food I was starting to flag. I then started my final climb up Carson pass. I was lucky enough to meet lots of friendly people who were happy for me to ride in their paceline as it was getting quite windy and very tiring.

I stopped more as the climb became steeper, stopping to enjoy the view of the mountains and the lupins.

I made it up to the top of carson pass, to claim my ice cream and bask in the glory of my achievement, I'd worked so hard for this, I was just beaming that I'd made it to the top. I didnt have time to rest on my laurels though, it was still another 25 or so miles back to the start, with a nasty little climb at the end.

Sure enough, it was really hard, I kept hoping I'd see someone I knew drive past to collect me, but I made it all the way to the finish, with my last bit of energy. Here is me nearly passing out when I finally find Lan and my teammates, who've obviously been waiting for me for some time, having had time for a quick shower and a big dinner!!