Signing Up For Team-In-Training
There were a lot of small steps that lead up to me being in a small beige room on the second floor of a building in Palo Alto, with 16 or so people learning about the Team-in-Training program. But I will fast forward to sitting in a circle, as we listened to the immediate need for blood cancer cures, the work the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has done to improve the treatments and lives of those with cancer, and about the training we would receive to prepare for a 100 mile bike ride.
 
Nervous and slightly embarrassed about my lack of cycling experience and my general body size—I surveyed the room to see who might be in a similar boat. To my left was a blond girl that could be model for an Abercrombie and Fitch advertisement. Further around the circle, there was a lady named Monica who lamented about owning a mountain bike for a couple of years and never riding it. Across from me, there was man in his “forty somethings” with a belly, but no where near my overall size—he was there with his teen-aged daughter. I continued to look around the room. I noticed a woman in her forties that was more pear-shaped then the average person in the group. She looked more like a librarian (soft shoulders, white fleshy skin, a June Cleaver type) than a person who would endure a century long bike ride. She made me feel at ease just to have her in the room.
 
Later we all introduced ourselves as we went clockwise around the circle. The blond says her dad is a prolific cyclist and could ride 100 miles tomorrow. The father and daughter talk a little about why they are there and their riding experience (very cool, I must say.) Then comes the librarian—who I have emotionally bonded myself to over the past thirty minutes. She introduces herself and then states, she did TnT last season and the training was phenomenal.

High on Inspiration
That’s it—I am in. If the Librarian can do it—I can do it. My heart rate went up, my hands got sweaty and I was signing the paperwork while the rest of the people in the room finished their introductions. I was ecstatic.  I was on my way to training and eventually completing something I would have ruled out as insane and impossible less then six months ago. The Librarian and I were going to be a team, cross that finish line, and tell the world together with each rotation of the pedals—you can do it no matter who you are.
 
I wish I could bottle the feeling created from the excitement and fear of what I had just committed myself to.  My endorphins are pumping through my blood and I am floating down the hallway as I leave the room. (I may have been skipping—I was so excited.) As I was headed down the stairs, I saw the librarian out of the corner of my eye. I slowed to ask her about the ride.
 
Me: “Hi, I am Scott—was the training really tough?”
Librarian: “No—each week they step you up little by little—you will have good days and bad days—but overall it was a lot of fun.”
Me: “Was it a brutal finish or are you so excited you push hard across the finish line in Tahoe?”
Librarian: “Actually I didn’t finish the ride."
Me: “Oh?”
Librarian: “Yeah—I was hit by a car in the first 30 miles.”
Me: “OH!”
 
Inspiration Lost
I think she heard my balloons popping, the wind leaving my sails, my tires going flat, and my heart breaking. Hit by a car! Even today I am still registering the fact that she said she was hit by a car. I did not even process that in as a possibility when I was signing on the dotted line. If the distance, lack of air, heat, or the seat didn’t kill me—I just realized a car or truck could. I was crushed.
 
Inspiration Found
I never saw the librarian again. However, Monica is one of the funniest and biggest cheerleaders on the team. She makes up for the fact that I am not a “wah-hoo’er” and I dig her for that. I saw the father and daughter team sharing Cytomax (more advanced Gatorade) about 30 miles into the 70 mile ride a couple weeks ago. Training has been fun and tough. I have had the “good and bad” days. I have found inspiration in myself and I think that is greatest lesson I could have learned during the training.
 
As far as the blond Abercrombie and Fitch girl—she may be there, but no one looks cool in lycra and a helmet so it’s hard to say.