Birthdays, Bike Rides and Boys!

July has always been a great month in our family; it is my sister’s birthday, my birthday, 3 of my friend’s from high school’s birthdays, Grandma Tennant’s birthday (we always celebrated together when I was a little girl) and on and on. Historically Margaret and I are just far enough apart in age that when we were kids we didn’t really celebrate together. Last summer I was lucky enough to be in Connecticut and celebrate Margaret’s “big” birthday with her in-person. We had a nice dinner with friends and I got to monitor the 50 Pushups goal she had set for herself. Quite an amazing accomplishment for sure!

This summer I had the great fortune of having Margaret her for my birthday. She has always been the best with sending gifts from wherever she was in the world…but I have to say that there is nothing like having her in my home and in my life on my birthday! I couldn’t have asked for a better gift!

She was here for about 10 days and I tried to make sure she got a real feel for my world; friends, work, training, cats etc. I think we were successful! Although she couldn’t meet everyone I wanted her to meet she did meet Paula, Noell, Audi, Lori, Ken and company, many of my Tri Family, Mandy the cat sitter and even my neighbor Jerry. I can’t speak for Margaret…I think we had a blast!

We had a really nice birthday party that Paula hosted ostensibly so we could sit on her deck and relax in the garden but the weather didn’t cooperate so we hung in the kitchen and passed Samuel around and ate too much! The gifts I received were so thoughtful and generous I was overwhelmed. THANK YOU ALL! The most amazing gift was the mirror that John made me. When we were in Breckenridge over the 4^th we went to the Artisan Fair and I saw this booth filled with these amazing mirrors that I just fell in love with. Only John, with his creative mind, would think to make me one of those and make it match my home perfectly. It is gorgeous.

The real highlight of Margaret’s visit was our plan to ride the Copper Triangle. This is a 78 mile bike ride that starts in Copper Mountain and covers 3 passes, has 4 major climbs and finished back in Copper. The elevation change is 6000+. This is a challenging ride for anyone who lives at altitude and trains, just ask my friends Lori, Kelly and Heidi. When Margaret’s life changed dramatically 4 weeks before the ride I thought she might decide not to come out or at the very least go on the ride. There would have been no shame in her driving along the course and supporting everyone else…NOT MY BIG SISTER! Before I tell you the outcome of the day I have to share some stats that although Margaret may not appreciate this it really makes the results outrageously amazing! Margaret turned 51 in July. You would never ever know it as she is fit, trim and has porcelain skin…but she is. She lives in Connecticut at sea level and rides her bike most weekends for 30-40 miles. And from what I can tell those rides are pretty tough on her as she is wiped out by the end of them. She rides a bike that by today’s standards is old, heavy and tough to ride. Her life took a pretty wicked turn a couple of weeks ago and today she is revisiting what it is like to be single, fit and HOT! And by the way, she has had Parkinson’s Disease for 10+ years now.

Now if that isn’t a recipe for “I want to stay home and eat ice cream and feel sorry for myself” then I don’t know what is! But not my sister. Not a chance. She may have wavered about the ride the day she arrived in Colorado but the next day Lori and Ken took her for a ride in Bear Creek Park and she just blew up the hills. No problem. She came back so pumped up and she had that very cool sparkle in her eye that I miss so much! She was ready to go! We spent the week giving her shorter rides and attending her Tae Kwon Do classes to keep up with her class back in CT.

On ride morning it was freezing cold! I knew it would be but I also knew it would warm up and I didn’t want to have to hump all our clothes for 80 miles! Thank goodness for Sara Sheridan and Katie and Drake! They met us at the top of Freemont Pass and took some of our outer layers! Phew! I promised Margaret that I would ride with her all day and John decided to do the same. Sweet guy! We started with a large group at Kelly and Paul’s RV but we quickly lost them as we settled into a strong yet smart pace. The worst thing to have happen would have been if I had let my ego and impatience dictates a single moment of that day. I must have had on my “big girl” pants all day. The Copper Triangle was all about Margaret. So we are riding along and I am waiting for the inevitable “I need to rest” or “I need to stop” or anything like that. She cruised up the first climb like she lived in Colorado. No panting, no drama and no problems. The cold was the only bother and she wouldn’t believe me when I told her we were all freezing…we are just dumb enough to be used to it. Once we made the turn outside of Leadville the sun was blazing and the air was warm and fresh. It was a gorgeous day! I think the aid station at Tennessee Pass was the toughest for both of us. My sister, like many women I believe, think if they eat less they will become or remain thin. Regardless of what your normal days look like when you are taxing your body in a manner you haven’t in many moons you need to feed the machine! EAT POPPA! I had the hardest time convincing Margaret to eat whether she was hungry or not. Rarely am I hungry during a ride but my mind is trained to listen to my body when it knows it will be screaming for calories in the very near future. John was the one who successfully convinced Margaret to power down a handful of chocolate chip cookies. Yahoo! Energy. She was clearly tired and feeling the climbs and the food flipped the switch for her. She was energized and ready to go again. The funniest part of the day was when we were climbing up Battle Mountain. Although not a long climb it is very steep and at a point in the ride when people begin to crumble. There is also a beautiful bridge over the canyon that everyone should stop and get a picture of…except Margaret. We were cruising up the start of the hill and a slight woman on a hybrid rode past us. Ah yes, Margaret is a true Tennant. She made some comment about being beat by that woman but she never let her go…as we rode past the professional photographer and smiled widely I started to tell Margaret we need to stop here and take some pictures. She told me in no uncertain terms that there would be no stopping…none…and off she went. John and I stopped to take some shots over the canyon and then had to really haul to catch Margaret. I thought for sure we would come around a corner and she would be walking her bike…nope…as I perpetually shocked throughout the day. Since I had decided to do the entire ride in my big ring I was really working to catch her before she got to the top of Battle Mountain. Not only was she cruising to the top she passed the woman on the mountain bike! Yahoo! At the last aid station before Vail Pass I encouraged a nice looking driver of the sag wagon to talk to Margaret about how she felt and what she needed. His name was Jethro..seriously. He explained to Margaret that the Vail Pass climb would be the hardest part of the ride and up to this point it had been a warm up. It was good for Margaret to hear it from someone else because I knew she wouldn’t listen to me and since she had already blown away any expectations I had for the day I didn’t think I would be able to help her make a sound decision. So she basically told Jethro (and me) to zip it and leave her alone because she was going to finish the ride no matter what…and she did. The climb out of Vail was steady and strong. Margaret never wavered. She kept her cadence high and just kept pedaling. Once we got to the reservoir at the top of the pass she started to slow down and I couldn’t have it. We had made it this far and I knew she was not nearly as tired as she thought she should be…so I pushed her just a little bit to get her to the top. It was awesome. Like all the Tennant women she took the challenge and pushed even harder, scowled at me and then cruised to the aid station. The top is The Summit Aid Station and there were a lot of bodies around and I although the sum was blazing and it was warm I didn’t want to dawdle at the top. I wanted to be sure Margaret had the confidence and energy to get down the pass to Copper Mountain. The bike path is pretty narrow with blind curves so Margaret navigated it at her own pace and we rolled into Copper Mountain in under 8 hours!

How can a woman who struggles with a 40 mile bike ride on a Sunday morning in Connecticut have such a great experience with an 80 mile ride at altitude? I have plenty of theories but none better than this…the only real limitations in our lives come from our fears of the unknown and/or our fears of the past. Margaret had more energy and drive and determination than I have seen in many years. I was so overwhelmed and proud of her I didn’t know what to say! Since Margaret was diagnosed with PD it has been hard for me to see the mental and emotional phases she has been through. Oddly I am not fazed by her physical limitations because I understand those come with the illness and she will conquer those as she learns more about the illness. The hard part has always been seeing my amazingly strong, independent, brilliant, vibrant sister fall into the role of a victim…for a time she became a victim of PD. This is not a criticism; simple an observation. I can understand being pissed off and asking “why me” for a period of time but I never understood why it took such a strangle hold on Margaret. I always expected her to do what she had done with everything else in her life; face it head on and whoop its ass. This was her disease and her life and I kept waiting for her to own it and then put it in its place. Not until the last few months have I seen her do this. This is not to say that she has been pitiful in anyway. She has always lived life to the fullest…I just always felt like she was letting the PD win. The day she rode her bike into Copper Mountain was so amazing to me because it was the first time I saw her really push back and say “I am NOT going to let PD stop me from living my life!” I am SOOO PROUD of her!

After the race Margaret was anxious to see if we could find Davis Phinney. The Copper triangle is a fund raiser for his foundation, website. Davis Phinney and his wife Connie Carpenter are both retired world class cyclists. Davis was diagnosed with PD the same year Margaret was and he has always been a proponent of exercise for PD patients so Margaret was hoping to meet him. I was a bit skeptical that we would even see him from a distance but we went to the Foundation tent to see if he had been around. Of course we had just missed him and I was ready to walk away when his son Taylor, an amazing young cyclist as well, popped into the tent. Margaret asked him if his father was around and Taylor called him to see. He hung up his cell phone and said his dad was over getting a bite to eat and he would walk us over to him. WOW! The music from the finish line was blaring so we all had to yell but Connie went into the restaurant to get Davis and he graciously came out to meet us. For the next 15 minutes I was in awe and agony as I watched Margaret and Davis talk about their illnesses, timing, struggles and obvious connection. Davis and Margaret are about the same age (although Davis couldn’t believe that Margaret was anywhere near his age) and have had the disease for 10 years. My favorite line that I heard Davis say to Margaret was this: “Parkinson’s patients need a lot of love!” and then he hugged Margaret so hard and so warmly it made us all cry. He was so genuine in his interest in learning more about her. He had ridden about 30 miles of the ride and his PD was clearly impacting him since he finished. His motions were slow, his speech was deliberate and his gaze intense. He was so impressed and stunned that Margaret had done the entire ride; it made her glow more than she already was.

Since I can’t speak for Margaret I can only share the impact the day made on me…unbelievable, amazing, fantastic, heartwarming and life changing. That’s how the day impacted me and the effect has yet to go away. I have more respect for my sister and her accomplishments, challenges and success today than I ever have…and that is saying something since she has been my hero most of my adult life.

As if the ride success and Davis Phinney weren’t enough, we still had a full afternoon of Go-Kart Smackdown and birthday celebrating to do! I thought for sure Margaret would excuse herself and sleep but she didn’t. I was so happy she hung out with us and really got to meet so many of the important people in my world. The Go-Kart Smackdown was a total set-up! I can’t say I won and I have to say that Ken definitely did NOT win either! It was so much fun having so many great friends around. We had pizza and beer and yummy cheesecake for our post-ride dinner! What a great way to celebrate 45!