After completing my first century ride in September, I think I am now in this for the long haul. I enjoyed the summer of training, and I have been riding since the Moab Century. On my birthday, I went up Lookout Mountain with Jennifer and some TNT friends. A couple of days later, we went on the 71 mile Tony's-to-Tony's Ride with some other TNT friends. After the weather got cold, it has been more difficult to ride, but Jennifer and I have gotten out there a few times.

Seeing that biking is becoming a permanent part of our lives, Jennifer and I also decided to upgrade our bikes. We were both looking at the sales and checking Craigslist daily. As luck would have it, we both found bikes on Craigslist in the first part of December. And even more of a coincidence, they are both 2009 Fuji Roubaixs. Hers is the RC model, and mine is the one notch below Pro model.

Read more: 2012 Cycling Events

The NAS project I started awhile ago was settled when we picked the Netgear ReadyNAS line. Or so I thought. The issue was recently reopened when our HQ turned on mandatory SMB Signing and "broke" our NAS units out in the field. I was tasked to come up with a fix and that is where it got complicated.

When we noticed the new security standard had been added to our Group Policies, we contacted HQ and asked for it to be turned off. This prompted them to ask questions about our field setup. Unfortunately, our HQ really doesn't understand our requirements and think we all live in a perfect world with a datacenter in the same building and WAN connectivity.

Read more: NAS Project Update

My teammates and I rode over 100 miles last Saturday in the Moab Century Ride. It was tough, but our training really did prepare us for success. Nothing can match the emotion of watching our team cross the finish line with our Team Hero and other cancer survivors leading us in. It is a moment I will cherish the rest of my life.

I want to thank everyone that has made a contribution.  So far, I have raised just over $2,000 and we have until October for me to reach my goal of $2,500. I am also pleased to announce that the Rocky Mountain team raised over $55,000 and that all of the participants at the Moab event raised over $483,000 for cancer survivorship programs.

I started this season with 0 miles on a road bike, and hadn’t even ridden any type of bicycle in years. With the help of our coach and my teammates, I slowly built up the strength to do 100 miles. But I learned that the biggest part of this challenge was mental. There were many doubts in my mind in the early parts of the season, but I always just looked to others for inspiration.

Sometimes it was my teammates that inspired me with stories about loved ones fighting cancer. Several of my teammates are survivors and that was truly inspiring to see. But I was always most inspired by my own Dad. He showed me what courage and perseverance can do. 

On the trip to Moab, I carried one of my Dad’s business cards. It had the title of Product Design Engineer. It may not seem hugely glamorous, but it made me proud to carry that. My Dad was an orphan and did not have the opportunity to even finish high school. But he studied on his own and learned the skills to be an engineer. That challenge and the others I saw my Dad face are what truly inspired me.

My Dad did not get to see me finish 100 miles in his honor because of Leukemia. But I had him in my thoughts the whole day. I imagined myself telling him about it after crossing the finish line. I could hear him say, “I knew you would do it.” And that sums it up. My Dad always encouraged me to set my goals high, and when I achieved them, he didn’t act surprised.

Read more: We did it!

This week we were scheduled to take a “taper” ride. After weeks of long miles and lots of climbing, the idea was to taper off the effort so we would be ready for Moab on September 17th. As we assembled in the Target parking lot in Glendale, our coach made a joke about doing Lookout. I responded that we should do it, and we did.

Coach says he wasn’t planning on doing Lookout again until I said I wanted to, but I don’t believe him. As a fellow teammate says, “Steve is a mean, mean man.” Of course, we are really just teasing about this. Steve like to push us, but it is just to get us ready for the 105 miles in Moab.

Yep, I did say 105 miles. This year, the 100 mile course does not include the challenge of the Big Nasty. Because our Team Hero (Mark Williams) was adamant about doing the Big Nasty, Steve and Mark contacted the event organizers to find a way. Now, the whole team has the option of combining the 65 mile Big Nasty course with the 40 mile River Cruise for a 105 miler. Most of our team is going for the 105 mile Big Nasty option and we feel prepared after the climbing we have been doing for the past couple of months.

Read more: Team Ride #17 - Taper Ride - 48 miles