Wednesday, 12/9/09 at 12:35 PM
by Mari Holden
by Mari Holden
Qualcomm Million Dollar Challenge
As many of you know, I coach a group here in San Diego that trains for the Qualcomm Million Dollar Challenge, a ride that goes from San Francisco to San Diego over 6 days. We train for 20 weeks for the actual ride down the coast. It is a fundraiser for the Challenged Athletes Foundation. Our ride is capped at 100 people, and the goal is to raise a minimum of one million dollars.
We finally had our big ride. It is the fourth time I have participated in the event, and the second year as the “coach”. I am always relieved when the ride is over, and once again, almost everyone made it down the coast. It’s a difficult ride of back to back hundred mile days so for most people it is the most riding they have ever done. Even for me, we never had so many back to back long days when I was racing. We don’t necessarily go hard all the time, but the effort still takes its toll on your body.
The Challenged Athletes Foundation raises money to get sports equipment to people with disabilities. In fact I believe they supplied my Giant For Women fellow council member Tara Llanes with a hand cycle. It is an amazing organization that does great things to help get people back into sports. We actually have a few people who ride all the way down the coast on hand cycles. They really show us what it’s all about. I tried riding a hand cycle at the military camp I organized, and it was exhausting for me. I don’t have much upper body strength, but I didn’t realize how little until I tried to ride the hand cycle. I had an even bigger appreciation for what these guys were accomplishing by riding over 100 miles a day.
The riders all start their training at different ability levels. The one thing in common is their desire to help CAF. My challenge is to design a training program that helps them all get ready to ride 620 miles in less than a week. It is always interesting for me to see the different personalities and how they all mesh. We break up into four groups and each group has a distinct personality. Group 1 wants to race every training ride, and then race down the coast. Group 4 wants to make it down the coast, but they also take their time and enjoy the ride. They stop for pictures, stop for coffee and pie, and just basically make a vacation of it. The cool part is that everyone finds their niche and then enjoys their bike.
We all want different things from our riding. But, we all have a lot in common too. Cycling is healthy, fun, and social. Whether it’s socializing on the bike, or socializing after the ride we are like a tribe. I hope that all of you can find a group that resonates with you. I have found that cause-based rides are a great way to meet like minded people and enjoy my sport.
Mari
We finally had our big ride. It is the fourth time I have participated in the event, and the second year as the “coach”. I am always relieved when the ride is over, and once again, almost everyone made it down the coast. It’s a difficult ride of back to back hundred mile days so for most people it is the most riding they have ever done. Even for me, we never had so many back to back long days when I was racing. We don’t necessarily go hard all the time, but the effort still takes its toll on your body.
The Challenged Athletes Foundation raises money to get sports equipment to people with disabilities. In fact I believe they supplied my Giant For Women fellow council member Tara Llanes with a hand cycle. It is an amazing organization that does great things to help get people back into sports. We actually have a few people who ride all the way down the coast on hand cycles. They really show us what it’s all about. I tried riding a hand cycle at the military camp I organized, and it was exhausting for me. I don’t have much upper body strength, but I didn’t realize how little until I tried to ride the hand cycle. I had an even bigger appreciation for what these guys were accomplishing by riding over 100 miles a day.
The riders all start their training at different ability levels. The one thing in common is their desire to help CAF. My challenge is to design a training program that helps them all get ready to ride 620 miles in less than a week. It is always interesting for me to see the different personalities and how they all mesh. We break up into four groups and each group has a distinct personality. Group 1 wants to race every training ride, and then race down the coast. Group 4 wants to make it down the coast, but they also take their time and enjoy the ride. They stop for pictures, stop for coffee and pie, and just basically make a vacation of it. The cool part is that everyone finds their niche and then enjoys their bike.
We all want different things from our riding. But, we all have a lot in common too. Cycling is healthy, fun, and social. Whether it’s socializing on the bike, or socializing after the ride we are like a tribe. I hope that all of you can find a group that resonates with you. I have found that cause-based rides are a great way to meet like minded people and enjoy my sport.
Mari
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