My Blog

This video is a trip. Remind me not to take my bike to NYC!

Congratulations to everyone involved with the Kids with Heart Monster Yard Sale! This amazing group of children and their families were able to raise $4,197.95 to purchase bikes for TurningWheels 2007 Holiday Giving Campaign! With 100% of that going towards the purchase of bicycles, that equals 129 bikes for kids!!!!!

Thank you to everyone who came out to make this day special and memorable for these kids. And thank you to Kids with Heart from TurningWheels For Kids!

Here is the Mercury News article covering the event:

Almaden youngsters gladly share bounty
By Jennifer Martinez
Mercury News
Article Launched: 08/18/2007 09:05:40 PM PDT

At a quarter to 5 Saturday morning, Michelle Takeuchi and her 9-year-old son Christopher headed down to Los Alamitos Elementary School in Almaden. The two were soon joined by 26 other Almaden Valley moms and 35 kids who didn’t seem too upset about losing sleep and missing the Saturday morning cartoons.

Racing the sun, the group began organizing toys, furniture, books, kitchenware and other household trinkets into separate sections on the front lawn of the school. The group, Kids With Heart, threw the yard sale as a fundraiser for TurningWheels for Kids, a San Jose non-profit that distributes more than 1,000 bicycles to low-income children during the holidays.
“Living in Almaden, we have many blessings here,” said Takeuchi, who spearheaded the yard sale. “I want the kids to understand that we need to be grateful for what we have, and help those who don’t have as much. Hopefully they’ll understand that we’re a community and we need to care for our community.”

About 300 people showed up throughout the morning to peruse the cornucopia of goods donated by Kids With Heart families. Among the merchandise was an air hockey table on sale for $25, a lawn chair for $1 and a Winnie the Pooh doll for $2.

“We’ve been purging our garages and cabinets for weeks,” Takeuchi said. “There was one piece of furniture I had that I really thought hard about giving up. But if all my kids can see the joy and happiness of these children when they get the bikes, that to me is just priceless.”

Takeuchi had the idea for the yard sale in December when she was running errands at Rite Aid in Almaden Valley Plaza. Next door, a group of people stood outside, raising money for TurningWheels for Kids.

After chatting with the group and making a donation, Takeuchi realized she could enlist the help of her Almaden neighbors and Christopher’s classmates to help the group purchase more bicycles for its holiday giveaway. The summer yard sale would give the kids a crash course on the inner workings of philanthropy and help TurningWheels reach its goal of buying 1,500 bicycles for Christmas this year.

“There’s so many adults I talk to who say, `Who doesn’t remember their first bike?’ I’ve heard those words 10 million times,” said Sue Runsvold, founder of TurningWheels for Kids. “It’s an absolute rite of passage for a kid to have a brand new bike. It’s kind of been my dream to have kids helping kids. They can connect to this.”

At major intersections in the Almaden area, posters with neon-colored paint made by the kids were taped onto stoplights advertising the yard sale. The kids kept the display of merchandise organized during the day and sold doughnuts, soda, homemade cookies, Ring Pops and Airheads at the small snack shack they headed up.

“I was really tired this morning, but it’s all worth it,” said 12-year-old Marissa Hidalgo. “I’ve always been a sucker for little kids though. Putting a smile on their faces makes me really happy.”

Marissa spent the past two weeks going through clothes in her closet and her little brother’s bookshelf to pick out items to give away at the sale.
“Our kids don’t want for anything,” said Debbie Vogel, one of the volunteers. “Michelle’s made it a point of the kids having a big role in the sale so they can see the end result and the final outcome.”

Each of the children will accompany TurningWheels to Toys R Us to help pick out the new bikes and assemble them in December. They’ll also have the chance to personally deliver the bikes to the San Jose children receiving them.

“It’s wild! Earlier this morning it was really packed,” said Takeuchi. “I never envisioned that the sale would be so big. It’s a really great feeling.”

As promised we shot some cool pictures at the BBQ and had the opportunity to meet and talk to some great people as well.

Today the San Francisco 49ers have invited TWFK to their Santa Clara Civic Leaders BBQ to help TWFK boost our exposure and awareness in the community. We’re super excited about this opportunity to talk to the community and check out the players practicing.

We are going to grab some pictures and let you know how the event went. Stay tuned!

I know this is a little old but I just came across it and I think it’s very cool.

On August 18th a great lady and friend to TWFK, Michelle Takeuchi and Kids with Heart is hosting a Monster Yard Sale at Los Alamitos Elementary School. Over 70 kids from over 30 different families are coming together for the biggest yard sale in Almaden’s history! Kids with Heart are fundraising for TurningWheels so that they can experience the joy in what it feels like to give back. The Kids with Heart project will take the children from fundraising, to actually purchasing the bicycles themselves, all the way to the bike build in December and then of course, to the end result-the holiday giving experience. Come down to the Monster Yard Sale and help kids helping kids!!!!

Check out the flyer for more information.

There are so many people to thank for the result of 2007’s Death Ride, ‘tour’ of the California Alps.

To my family and my friends, for their support and encouragement, especially while struggling through training.

To the entire TurningWheels for Kids team, for their constant positive energy. To Jack, my co-TWFK Death Rider and training partner. To Sue, initiator and driver of giving bikes to kids since 2003.

To my coach and physical therapist Curtis Cramblett and Revolutions in Fitness, for squeezing in 6am appointments on Saturdays, helping me through my pain and creating an amazing off-bike training routine.

To everyone who commented on the training blog, sent emails and phone calls with ‘good luck’ wishes.

TO ALL WHO DONATED TO TURNINGWHEELS FOR KIDS. Your generosity and initiation to pass on my email to your friends and family resulted in over $9,500 in donations and they keep coming in! That equates to 250 deserving kids who will receive a brand new bike at Christmas this year. More than any other outcome, this one still has me shaking my head in disbelief. It’s amazing and you did it.

You all believed in me and I thank you.

And now to the tale of the 5 passes…

Friday
I had spent the week and a half leading up to the Death Ride in Bear Valley, altitude 7,000+ feet. Tapering (aka, light training – allowing every muscle to be rested the day of the ride), I adjusted to the altitude and accepted that I had no idea how I was going to fare this year. Last year, I had trained over 3x as many miles and 3x the amount of hills. Although the time dedicated to training was near the same for both years, the type of training was drastically different. My last two weeks of training on the bike were encouraging, but I was still reserved.

My sister Megan, mom, dad and friends Brett and Jen joined me in Bear Valley. Brett was going to take on the ride as well, so we’d be heading over to Turtle Rock Park in the wee hours of Saturday morning. We had a back-up plan all figured out in case either of us didn’t make it past the 2nd pass (bail out option #1, wait at car) or the bottom of the 4th pass (bail out option #2, go back with cheering squad) or to the 5th pass (wait at car for the other).

I had learned that my support group at the bottom of pass #4 had tripled in number this year. My younger sister and my mom would be there again to support me, but this year I was lucky enough to have my dad and a huge showing from the TurningWheels team and VMC Foundation. Having driven four hours that very morning, Sue Runsvold, Donna Matney, the extended Lemberger family (Derek, Deborah, Jakob and Colby) and Chris Wilder were all going to be in Hermit Valley. There was no possibility of not making it to the bottom of that pass with that kind of support, so my goal was at least the 65 miles and 9,300ft of climbing it would take to reach everyone.

The night before the ride I prepared everything I’d need to bring with me:

- Bike: cleaned, adjusted, official number attached (in car)
- Clothes: for after the ride (in car)
- Towels: in case it rained again and to separate my bike from my Brett’s (in car)
- Riding gear: helmet, glasses, gloves, shoes (in car)
- Possible extras needed: gloves, sunscreen, water, Cytomax (liquid calories), Power bars (solid calories), request for PB, banana and honey on wheat (in the hands of family to bring)
- Cooler: ready to be filled with two bottles of water, one bottle full of Cytomax, one bottle full of recovery drink, power bars (on kitchen counter)
- Breakfast for the car: one flax pancake with banana and walnuts (cooked and in fridge)
- Riding clothes: shorts, socks, base layer, TWFK jersey, vest and sleeves (next to bed)
- Alarm clock: set at 3:15am (next to bed)
- 9:30pm: lights out

Saturday, aka DAY O’ RIDE OF DEATH:

3:15am:
Alarm sounds, but I had been awake since 2:30am, so it wasn’t too hard to finally get out of bed. Bleary-eyed, I stumbled towards the bathroom to find “You Can Do It!” painted on the mirror by my sister. I was already starting the day with a smile.

3:25am:
Dressed, sunscreen applied and heading to the kitchen, I found surprise #2. “Go Leah!” painted on the bathroom mirror off the kitchen. The smile continued.

3:40am:
Cooler packed and breakfast eaten (part 1: Kashi cereal and blueberries), I headed to my car to find surprise #3. My mom and sister had painted the back and side windows of my car with “Death Ride, Go Leah, 5 Passes Easy and 129 Miles No Problem”. Okay, I was laughing at this point.

3:45am:
Arrived at Brett’s car where we loaded up his bike and gear.

4:00am:
Brett and I take off for the hour drive to Turtle Rock Park, munching on the cold pancake, again driving the route we would be riding later that day.
4:55am:
Parked outside Turtle Rock Park, it’s still fairly dark and around 48 degrees, just outside of Markleeville. The true ‘time trial’ riders were already on the course, zipping by as we got ourselves geared up.

5:20am:
Ready to go, we met Jack at the designated location and we were riding by 5:30am. START OF THE RIDE, AT 5,501 FEET.

6:00am:
Freezing after the 4 miles of slight downhill in the cold morning air, Jack rides on at his lightening pace and Brett and I start the first pass. My goal was not to exceed 160 bpm on my heart rate monitor for the entire ride. 150-155 was ideal. It was a slow warm up, but the strategy was the same as last year, remembering what a veteran Death Rider had told me a year back – “start off at marathon pace, then pull back”.

I was also focused on the correct intake of calories and liquids, since we knew it was going to be a hot day as soon as the sun came up. I went by the advice I had read in a cycling magazine: every 15 minutes, on the 15, a gulp of Cytomax and a gulp of water. Every 30 minutes, on the 30s, ¼ of a Power Bar. If I was going to eat anything else at the rest stops, it would be limited amounts of fruit – high in water content, but nothing else. Last year’s ride had taught me that eating whatever was available at the rest stops wasn’t the smart move and I paid for it later. I was hoping this change would be just the right amount of calories for the entire ride.

7-something am:
TOP OF MONITOR PASS (8,314 FT, 17 MILES), pass # 1 complete, sticker #1 earned and feeling great. The altitude adjustment and rest the week prior was proving very beneficial.

8-something am:
After a spectacular and fast descent, Brett and I were at the bottom of the other side of Monitor for a brief water and Cytomax refill. A slight issue surfaced on the take-off back up Monitor. I have clips on my cycling shoes that are notorious for harboring small rocks and dirt – both problematic when needing to clip back into my pedals for the climb. My left shoe refused to clip in and I hoped off the bike. For the next 20 minutes I tried everything I could to get a small rock unclogged from my clip. A fellow Almaden Athletic Touring Club (my local bike club) member kindly stopped to help me and eventually we got it figured out and I was riding again. About 25 minutes up the climb I met up with Brett again (the kind soul had waited) and we kept climbing. About ¾ of the way up we came upon a very large, very smooshed rattle snake in the middle of our path. Neither of us could decipher if bike or car had laid it to rest. Near the top, we passed a rider (the first of many) stopped on the side of the road, head down, out of energy. A support/SAG motorcycle was sent back to help the rider.

Reached TOP OF MONITOR FOR THE SECOND TIME (8,314 FT, 33 MILES). Pass #2 complete, Sticker #2 officially earned.

9-something am:
Still feeling good, no pain (yet) and lots of energy, I headed away from the rest station at the top of Monitor while Brett took in the sights. I knew I was already ahead of where I was last year in terms of time and I was determined to make it up and over Ebbetts Pass – the steepest climb of the day. Last year I had planned to be at the bottom of pass #4 to meet my mom and sister around 11am, but I just barely arrived at 1pm. This year, we had decided they didn’t need to arrive until noon at the earliest, but now I was thinking that might be too late.

The sun was really beginning to warm the air. With riders all around me, I began to recognize and briefly chat with those who were pedaling around the same speeds as we passed each other. There was a brief period of being passed and passing on the downhill, then again on the uphill. I met riders from all over California, Oregon, Alaska…many who considered this ride ‘infamous’ and traveled to it every year.

Ebbetts Pass is one of the most beautiful passes of the total 5, but it is also the most technical and dangerous. The other passes have two distinct lanes, separated by a painted divider (i.e. Monitor and Carson are wide enough to have two lanes). Ebbetts, on the other hand, is more accurately described as a 1 & ½ lane, no shoulder, bordered by rock wall on the uphill side and steep drop-off on the downhill side type of twisty jaunt over the mountain. The views are stunning, but distracting and the combination of a steady stream of climbing riders on the same road as some quickly descending riders proved to be a truly dangerous combination. Although I made it over the pass safely, I was saddened, though not surprised to hear of a rider who had crashed while descending, resulting in an ambulance being sent down and a helicopter being called in to medevac the rider. I don’t know what caused the rider to lose control, but considering the speeds of many descenders, the occasional unseen rock on the road and the lack of room for error, I can only imagine a combination of those three acting as the culprit. A sobering reminder that this wasn’t a race.

Even at a slow marathon-like pace, I reached the TOP OF EBBETTS PASS a bit past 11am (8,730 FEET, 56 MILES) and began my descent to what I had looked forward to all morning – the cheering squad!! I arrived at the bottom of pass 4 around 11:30am and rode into the cheers and smiling faces of the TurningWheels for Kids team – Sue, Donna, Derek, Deborah, Jakob, Colby and Chris. I was overjoyed at their enthusiasm, overcome with gratitude at their effort to attend the ride to cheer for Jack and I (who I had apparently just missed). I was further motivated when Sue shared with me that two donations had come in the night before, one for $1,000 and another for $500. I couldn’t believe it. I had reached my fundraising goal of $5,000 earlier in the week and this was completely unexpected. All I knew was that I couldn’t wait to finish this ride!

TurningWheels for Kids support team! (Jakob, Deborah, Colby, Chris, Sue, Derek, and Donna)

My parents and sister arrived shortly thereafter – all of us shocked that I had arrived so much earlier than last year. Peanut butter, honey and banana sandwich in hand (thanks to my family), I took a 45-minute lunch stop with my group of supporters, re-applied sunscreen, shed some extra clothes and hugged everyone before getting back on the bike. No seat change was going to be necessary, my sit bones and lower back were not hurting and no nerve pain thus far – time to get riding again. As I began pedaling away, there were whoops and cheers from these 10 individuals, which caught on with the other riders who were pondering the ruckus, and then we had whoops and cheers from them as well. I couldn’t think of a more uplifting exit?.

Family support and team TWFK jersey?

Back up Ebbetts Pass!

12:15pm: Back up pass #4 (after finding Jen on the take-off). I had a hard time keeping my tempo down with all the positive energy bestowed upon me at the rest stop. However, it didn’t take long until I began passing riders who were walking their bikes or stopped on the side of the road. The heat was taking a toll. I overheard riders saying they weren’t feeling well, who didn’t know if they could even walk to the top. Why not just ride back downhill to the rest stop at the bottom of pass #4? Because everyone had started in Markleeville, which meant that everyone’s vehicles were back over the hill and the only way to get to them (unless you wanted to ride down Ebbetts Pass on the back of a motorcycle with your bike) was to ride back. The weather was definitely warmer than last year, but I didn’t see any riders pulled off the road with dehydration like I was seeing this year (a reinforcement to continue drinking at least a bottle of fluid every hour). Another laugh – as I was trudging back up the pass I heard ‘Lllllllllleeeaaaaahhhhhhh’ whoosh by. Brett was on his way down to Hermit Valley.

12:45pm:
TOP OF PASS #4 (8,730 FT, 68 MILES). 4th sticker earned and raring to go.

Back down Ebbetts Pass (and passed several times by more ambulances), I passed the organized lunch stop and the real heat and wind began. All day it felt as though there was always a head wind. Now that wind was stronger, pushing hot air at us and a becoming a real challenge. The valley floor between Ebbetts Pass and Carson Pass is relatively flat and there were few riders around to draft behind. I likened most of the next 14 miles to what it must feel like pedaling through sand. The wind would not die down and the thermometer on the bike read 104 degrees – which I believe if that was the temp near the pavement. This was the biggest mental challenge of the ride. I was around 8 hours and 80 miles into it – 35 miles more than any training I had done in the last 3 months and still 49 miles and a big hill short of the end. I was about to pass my car at Turtle Rock Park. Taking stock of how I felt (tired, but not in abnormal pain), I pushed on. I knew as soon as I got past the car that I wouldn’t turn back. How could I after the send-off I had just received 30 miles back? To Carson!

4:00pm:
Arrival at the base of Carson Pass, Woodfords rest stop (somewhere around, I think): This highway (Hwy 88) is the only one open to vehicles of the whole course, which makes it all the more interesting. Between the heat and the wind, every rider was taxed to their extremes. I will hand it to the Death Ride volunteers, though, because they had set up something at the next two rest stops which no other rest stop had to offer – hoses! That’s right, as the riders would approach the stop, we were hosed down with cool, refreshing water. In the 100 degree heat, it was a godsend. Refilling my water bottles for the um-teenth time, I ran into riders that I knew from Bear Valley and we exchanged commentary on the heat and challenge of the last and final pass. Still not wanting to stop for very long, I ran under the hose two more times and hopped back on the bike. My focus was set towards the next rest stop, 7 miles uphill (but hopefully at a more agreeable temperature), battling the wind and steady flow of vehicular and bicycle traffic.

Arrival at the Pickets Junction rest stop, 99 miles down. Again, the hoses were available and welcomed. This rest stop made me laugh because there were 3 rows of 10 chairs all facing the same direction under the shade of a propped-up tent and each chair was occupied by a resting rider, all with very blank expressions. Also at this particular stop, there was a whole table dedicated to ‘relief’. Advil, Tums, Ibuprofen, Imodium AD, vitamins, you name it, it was there in large quantity. 9 miles to go until the top.

The remainder of the ride was challenging, but uplifting. I was feeling rather fatigued and couldn’t shake a nagging cramp in my left calf, but at least I knew what to expect this year for this final climb. I would round the last corner and look ahead to see riders as far as the eye could see (meaning I still had a long way to go). As I neared the top of Carson Pass, all I could think of was “ice cream”. That ice cream bar that would taste so great after this last effort – I couldn’t wait.

5pm:
TOP OF CARSON PASS!!! At 8,580ft, 108 miles down with only the descent to go, I was ecstatic. I had my fudge ice cream bar in hand, my 5th pass pin and my final sticker.

Five stickers for five passes

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, I heard my name being called. I looked over to find Jack France, my teammate! Jack had just started his descent back down Carson when he saw me pedaling up, so he turned around to meet me at the ice cream bar stop. After a few final moments of recounting the awesomeness of the day, how thrilling it was to have so many people supporting us, how great it felt to represent TurningWheels for Kids in our jerseys and how satisfying it was that we were both going to finish the entire ride, we headed down the final descent together. No hail on this year’s final leg of the day, but I don’t think it would have dampened my spirits. Another high-5 back at Turtle Rock Park and we were done (and 1&½ hours earlier than last year)!

6pm:
129 miles, over 15,000 feet of climbing, little sign of the pain I had experienced two months back, an amazing support group, over $9,500 in donations raised and still smiling – what an incredible day. I met up with Brett at the car and the drive back to Bear Valley was full of stories from the day. My celebratory dinner consisted of an exquisite duck dish (pre-ordered from Headwaters Café by my family), followed by a veggie pizza from the Upper Crust (I was still hungry!). The remaining hours of the evening were spent cleaning a very dusty bike, stretching every muscle that could be stretched and watching the day’s stage of the Tour de France. Once again, I was satisfied with the knowledge that my day of riding had been more challenging than theirs.

Day after the ride with my painted car?