One week to go

One week from today we will be participating in a JDRF ride for the 14th consecutive year. This year's adventure takes us to Santa Fe, New Mexico. For a variety of reasons this could be our toughest ride yet. To start with the elevation in Santa Fe is 7,000 feet above sea level. That's more than the Lake Tahoe ride in 2012. The 100 mile route features a 1,300 foot climb over seven miles. Which is about the same as Jubilee Pass in Death Valley which we rode in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2014. The temperature is predicted to be in the low to mid 40's, or the same as we had in Killington, Vermont is 2009.

Our bikes were shipped out last week and we are leaving Tuesday. We want to get out a few days early so that we can start to get acclimated to the elevation. According to the science types, at one mile in elevation there is 50% less oxygen than at sea level. That takes some getting used to. Hopefully it won't negatively impact our ride next Saturday. My plan is to ride the full century (100 miles) and Mary is planning on the metric century (100 kilometers).

Thank you to everyone who has donated to our ride this year. Mary and I have to raise $5,000 each. As I write this she is about $400 short of our goal and I'm about $700 short. If you'd like to help close the gap we'd greatly appreciate it. Donate to Mary here and donate to Tom here. Thanks again for helping fund the search for a cure to Type 1 diabetes.