Coast 2 Coast 4 Cancer 2025 - Let's Really Tell Cancer to F*ck OFF!
- Thread starter iman29
- Start date
iman29
Well-Known Member
Day 3 recap - The Finale
Now that I am back home I can write up Day 3 and final thoughts on this event.
Day 3 is the big climb over Gore Pass up to just under 10K elev level. Due to stuff going on back home I only got about 4.5 hours sleep the night before, so I was already at a deficit both physically and mentally. It was a bit of a scramble to get ready in the morning, but at least this time we rode directly from the hotel for the planned route.
The first 10 miles or so were some freshly paved rollers on the same roads we came in on the day before just now going the opposite way. Then the initial climbing starts with some smaller ups and downs, but essentially we are going up continuously with varied levels of grade changes.
Once the big climb section started I was able to settle into a good pace, even if the faster group was charging ahead. I had all the typical thoughts of quitting and questioning life choices but I just kept my head down and settled into my rhythm. The coaches are along side when needed with a good reminder to vary standing/sitting on the slight grade changes to flush the legs a bit. Once I hit the .5 mile to go spot I got that burst of energy and finished strong at the summit with the team and coaches and support crew cheering me on. There were 3 others behind me who were newer riders and I was so impressed at them riding up this climb. Then we hit another 10 mile descent which had a few more little rollers than the other day. I stayed with the fast group until it leveled out a bit, but I am much more conservative than others and while my usual threshold for descending is around 45 mph we hit pretty close to 50 (yeah yikes) on some of the sections which had great pavement and a clear line of sight.
There were so many times I wanted to stop and take out my phone just to take in the views. Being from the Northeast my whole life I have never been out west much and certainly have never ridden in the mountains like this. Every climb, descent or rolling section had some incredible scenery. We got lucky with perfect weather all three days, and at the end of Day 3 we even dodged the thunderstorms we could see in the distance even if we had to pack up from lunch at the finish a bit early to avoid getting wet.
This whole event has made a significant impact on me not just physically but emotionally/mentally. Im certainly a lot more fit than I was 5.5 months ago. I hate what cancer has done to me and my family, friends, and everyone else but it drives me to do things like this so that I can be a small part of the possibility that someone can get the treatments they need to beat it. It's been an emotional roller coaster for sure and now that it's over I am feeling the post event blues more than ever before. I've bonded with 11 other co-workers who were complete strangers to me before this event, but now we have a life long experience together (along with 11 new strava connections LOL). Hearing everyone else's stories and how one of the guys on my team is a brain cancer survivor, it just really hits home and how important it is to fund research for cures.
This event runs every year, and I want to do this again and come back as a team captain. But I will skip applying for 2026 just to take a break since the training is a huge time commitment and I need to give my family and work/life balance a break from that while also focusing back on personal stuff at home.
Last words:
If you already donated to this event for me - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
If you didn't donate and were still thinking about it, the donations are open until sometime in Mid October but no obligation.
If you paid attention to the pictures, you may notice one of the names on the back of my jersey is someone you should recognize... (added with permission of course)
Photo dump of some of the 1000 pictures I have from Day 3.
Now that I am back home I can write up Day 3 and final thoughts on this event.
Day 3 is the big climb over Gore Pass up to just under 10K elev level. Due to stuff going on back home I only got about 4.5 hours sleep the night before, so I was already at a deficit both physically and mentally. It was a bit of a scramble to get ready in the morning, but at least this time we rode directly from the hotel for the planned route.
The first 10 miles or so were some freshly paved rollers on the same roads we came in on the day before just now going the opposite way. Then the initial climbing starts with some smaller ups and downs, but essentially we are going up continuously with varied levels of grade changes.
Once the big climb section started I was able to settle into a good pace, even if the faster group was charging ahead. I had all the typical thoughts of quitting and questioning life choices but I just kept my head down and settled into my rhythm. The coaches are along side when needed with a good reminder to vary standing/sitting on the slight grade changes to flush the legs a bit. Once I hit the .5 mile to go spot I got that burst of energy and finished strong at the summit with the team and coaches and support crew cheering me on. There were 3 others behind me who were newer riders and I was so impressed at them riding up this climb. Then we hit another 10 mile descent which had a few more little rollers than the other day. I stayed with the fast group until it leveled out a bit, but I am much more conservative than others and while my usual threshold for descending is around 45 mph we hit pretty close to 50 (yeah yikes) on some of the sections which had great pavement and a clear line of sight.
There were so many times I wanted to stop and take out my phone just to take in the views. Being from the Northeast my whole life I have never been out west much and certainly have never ridden in the mountains like this. Every climb, descent or rolling section had some incredible scenery. We got lucky with perfect weather all three days, and at the end of Day 3 we even dodged the thunderstorms we could see in the distance even if we had to pack up from lunch at the finish a bit early to avoid getting wet.
This whole event has made a significant impact on me not just physically but emotionally/mentally. Im certainly a lot more fit than I was 5.5 months ago. I hate what cancer has done to me and my family, friends, and everyone else but it drives me to do things like this so that I can be a small part of the possibility that someone can get the treatments they need to beat it. It's been an emotional roller coaster for sure and now that it's over I am feeling the post event blues more than ever before. I've bonded with 11 other co-workers who were complete strangers to me before this event, but now we have a life long experience together (along with 11 new strava connections LOL). Hearing everyone else's stories and how one of the guys on my team is a brain cancer survivor, it just really hits home and how important it is to fund research for cures.
This event runs every year, and I want to do this again and come back as a team captain. But I will skip applying for 2026 just to take a break since the training is a huge time commitment and I need to give my family and work/life balance a break from that while also focusing back on personal stuff at home.
Last words:
If you already donated to this event for me - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
If you didn't donate and were still thinking about it, the donations are open until sometime in Mid October but no obligation.
If you paid attention to the pictures, you may notice one of the names on the back of my jersey is someone you should recognize... (added with permission of course)
Photo dump of some of the 1000 pictures I have from Day 3.
I may add the hug emoji -
We are a cancer family. nobody dies of anything else.
young, old - this is it.
when you say it got hard, but your image of how hard it is for those that suffer with C, it drove you.
Deep down, every day, I make sure I honor my parents integrity - nobody is perfect, lead when you can, follow when you believe, apologize when it wasn't right.
I think they set me up for the long term. I miss them both.
My mom has been gone a long time - sometimes I hear her voice when I dream.
And now i'm crying.
Thank you for seeing everyone. here and not.