Coast to Coast with Athletic Brewing Co!

Finally, I get to share this news with you!

I’m on the crew for Athletic Brewing Co’s Coast to Coast ride!

Our team is riding from the founding brewery in Connecticut to the new brewery in San Diego. There’s 10 people in our crew, and we are carrying the beer tap in a relay-style ride that spans 3,188 miles. So cool!

My segment is in late August, from the 23-25. I’ll be going over the Continental Divide (Monarch Pass). Just me and my bike. I will climb about 23,000’ in just over 300 miles. It’s gonna be a beast of a segment, but it’s also going to be incredibly beautiful.

When I first started training for Bike MS, those 180 miles over 2 days were going to be a challenge for me. I started this blog to track my training, share my story, share my aunt’s story, and try to raise some money for multiple sclerosis research.

Then coronavirus hit. Everything was canceled. My summer plans of doing the Denver Century, the Tour of the Moon, the Tour de Prairie, and Bike MS even itself quickly faded away too. I didn’t really know if I should keep training, or what I would be training for. But I decided to dig in my heels even more and keep going anyway, hoping that something would still be on.

Then I got this email.

Definitely thought there was no way in hell I’d be able to do any of the segments. I sat on it for a couple of days. Spent a lot of time asking family if I should, asking my partner if I could.

And then I said, sure, why the hell not. I signed on. It was a little up in the air too because of coronavirus.

But it definitely gave me something to focus on, something to shoot for, something to believe in.

Now, here we are, it’s finally happening! It feels like it’s been a really long time, but in reality it’s just been a few months. (Let’s be real, though, these months have dragged on for eternity, right?)

We got our Tour de Prairie (unofficial) in. I did the 719 Ride and had a blast, just like I had in my training plan. I’ve been doing back-to-back-to-back rides on the weekends now to learn — at least a little bit — how to manage fatigue and not blow out my muscles. This Sunday is the Ride for Sight, which I have decided will be my “Virtual Bike MS” ride.

In a week or so I’ll begin tapering down so my muscles will be rested and ready. Then off we go!

Are you as hyped as I am? My motivation may be running on fumes because it’s been hard sticking to training for so long, It also seems kind of surreal that it’s all finally starting. I can imagine that’s only going to increase as the days get closer!

I hope you all have enjoyed this journey so far. There’s so much more to come in the next month … and who knows how much longer? But I’m so stoked I do finally get to share this crazy awesome adventure with you.

Cheers!