Lance finally brought Livestrong to San Jose. There were three ride distances: 100, 65, and 50 miles. There was also a 5K run. The rides and run combined consisted of 2800 people who raised $1.5M for the Lance Armstrong Foundation to further research toward a cure for cancer.
I rode the 10 miles from my house to the 7:30AM start since I really didn’t want to search around for a parking spot and with gas nearly $5.00 a gallon it was a good excuse to have a warm up ride.
It was a festive occasion in downtown San Jose with lots of riders, runners, volunteers, and dignitaries. I was lucky to get to the front of the staging area since Lance and his entourage led us out of downtown along with a police escort. I was able to stay in sight of Lance for the first 15 miles until we hit the Shannon Road climb when the front 40 or so riders took off and left me and others in their dust.
After that I spent most of the ride alone and occasionally jumping on trains of riders as they flew by. I had a great ride with 5 and 1/2 hours of saddle time over the 95-mile distance. With 5000 feet of climbing, I’m satisfied with that time. And it was nice to ride for such a great cause.
Click on the map above to get to my photos or this link. This was my 15th century of 2008 so I’m a little bit behind my pace of 33 in 2007.