RAGBRAI

JENNIFER: I just got home from RAGBRAI, a week-long bike ride across Iowa. It was like nothing I have ever seen in my life.

Cyclists riding through never-ending corn fields from town to town and stopping to eat, drink beer and listen to live music - not to mention the mud volleyball courts and huge super-slides that popped up at a town or two - it was like an 8-day Mardi Gras in a small-town Iowa setting.

Throughout the week, I worked with a lot of different media outlets - TV and radio stations and local papers from across the state - and I'm thrilled to see the media interest and coverage of not only Lance at RAGBRAI, but also Team LIVESTRONG.

The LAF brought to RAGBRAI a team of 150 riders, each of whom had committed to raising $1,000 for the Foundation but together surpassed their collective goal by raising more than $300,000 for the LAF. All of them were either cancer survivors themselves or were riding in honor or memory of loved ones who had been diagnosed with cancer.

Getting to know the team was an absolute highlight of my week! In between my work with the media, such fun I had running into Team LIVESTRONG members at the different towns, hearing about their adventures and the media interviews they'd done that day, hanging out back at Camp LIVESTRONG with cold Shiner and dancing into the wee hours to local bands playing at the beer garden.

And if you can believe it...I actually rode Thursday at RAGBRAI. 55 miles!

Wednesday was the busiest of days with a million things going on, and they all went off without a hitch. I was in the most euphoric of states, thrilled about the success of the day, beer in hand, when I realized that I didn't have much going on the next day until the evening.

Someone suggested I ride a leg of RAGBRAI and I said great! I'll do it! without thinking it through, and the next thing I knew I was outfitted in LIVESTRONG gear with a brand new helmet and a borrowed bike on the way. What had I gotten myself into?

If you've read my past posts, you know I haven't been on my bike hardly at all the past few months. No training, nope.

But on Thursday I rode 55 miles, thanks to Team LIVESTRONG member Julie who rode with me all day, kept me entertained and encouraged me as I rode uphill into the wind with the sun beating down. At times I thought I was not going to make it, but I rode into Independence, IA, on my bike, not on the SAG-mobile like I'd figured.

It was hard. Boy, was I sore the next day.

But if anything, I know now that I can ride the LIVESTRONG Challenge in October. If my hesitation to train was rooted in fear I couldn't do it, I know now that fear shouldn't hold me back.

I am proud of myself and I am inspired to get after my training, just as soon as I get back from my next trip to Chicago. I leave tomorrow morning and I'm back on Tuesday, but this August, it's on. I'm ready to kick my training in gear.