Vu Nguyen rode in the Livestrong Challenge in Portland Oregon on June 29th. Read about Vu's experience and his short lived attack on Lance. For readers who do not cycle, "attack" is a cycling term that describes a sudden acceleration of one's bicycle rather than a physical altercation.
I’ve done many bike rides and LiveStrong wasn’t a ride, it was an event. There were of course a lot of bikers and runners, but that didn’t really define the event. It was everyone coming together to remember their love ones and celebrate their lives, a showcase of how you can take back your life after cancer, and of course a fundraiser to help survivors. I’ve lived in the Portland area for many years and have fond memories of visiting friends at Nike during their Friday unwinders. As a patient at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, myself, and coming back to Portland for the ride, it felt a bit like completeness. But the weekend was a roller coaster of emotion and labor.
My wife and I had a hectic week. She told me she had the hardest work week in her life and on the Friday night before the event, it wasn’t over. She had to work really late, think several hours into the AM on Saturday, which meant we didn’t leave town until the afternoon on Saturday. We barely made it to registration and we had errands to do, including a bunch of bike maintenance on my part. I ended up sleeping late, think again AM, after catching up with friends we were staying with. The next morning, I underestimated what it would take to get into Nike campus for such an event. I got to the campus an hour early, or should I say on the road next to campus an hour early. After 30 minutes of waiting in a left turn lane, where only 3 cars made it through the light because the traffic into Nike was backed up, I called Darol. Who told me I should meet them on the ride course. I was thinking man, I guess this is going to be solo day representing Starbucks and SCCA.
I quickly learned that the guy I’m riding with is Lance Armstrong. I rode next to Lance and his buddy for several miles. I didn’t try to talk to him, since he was talking to his friend and people who were trying to get his attention. I just thought, how luck was I. I was soft pedaling and found myself probably a good 10 feet off the front of the entire pack. Then I see some guy shoot by me and I said hi and got on his wheel. This was where it gets fun. Lance has an entourage of police motorbikes as his motorcade, where one crashed almost immediately out of the gate. From what I can tell their job was to stay ahead of Lance and block off streets as he rode by. Me and this guy were now probably a few hundred feet in front of the pack and Lance. I did the classic Lance look back, hoping to see him chase us down, but alas no. But now the motorcade of motorcycles also had to block off the streets for us and since we were so far ahead it caused them some logistic issues I was guessing. However, for a few minutes I was able to feel how the king of cycling felt, streets being blocked and traffic stopped as you past. Ahhhh, the life. Not too long after that I looked back and Lance’s group was chasing us down. They quickly caught us, but another guy shot by to ride with the guy who originally shot forward and they stayed ahead for a while. I was in the fold again and riding within a bike distance from Lance. I was just enjoying the pace that picked up and riding in a peloton with Lance Armstrong leading it. Can’t complain about that. But alas all good things have to come to an end. Lance took an immediate right that made the peloton scramble to figure what way they were suppose to go. I guess he was riding out with the 100 milers but was only doing the 70 mile ride. I was anxious to try my first season climbing legs against the 7 time winner for the Tour de France, but that was not meant to be.
After that the peloton was unleashed. It was casual at first with some joking and small talk about Lance Armstrong then one or two people shot ahead and drawn back. At the first little bump, the peloton was decimated and the racers asserted themselves. The hills were solid hills with great 1000+ climbs on average for the two major hills for the course. I was likely one of the first twenty people to crest the top of the second hill. I was hoping to see some Starbucks arrive, but didn’t see any. When I took off on the course again, there was no one to ride with as most people where just beginning to get to the top. It was an extremely fast decent, reaching speeds of around 50 mph. I was lectured by a friendly guy who said I was going too fast especially on roads I didn’t know. He couldn’t believe that I was continuing to gap him on the decent. It was funny because he was obviously trying to chase me down and was upset it took longer. I was glad to have the company and road with him for 10 miles until I stopped to get my cleats fixed. Off on my own again, I road until I notice a bunch more people. Finally the route lined up with the 40/70 mile loops. I caught some people and rode with them for a while, but one after another dropped off on the hills of Hagg Lake until I was alone again. My only consolation was that I met Deb, one of our survivor team members. I apologize for not having the opportunity to meet her before. She was doing really well and was really strong. We departed a few minutes later, hoping to see her at the finish line. The day was getting blistering and I can’t take the heat (and wanted to get out of the kitchen).
With 25 miles left to go, the sun was oppressive and I was beginning to suffer a little from heat exhaustion and dehydration. I drank tons more water than normal and the max my body would take in, but not fast enough to counter that water loss. I never do well in the heat. It was about 95 degrees with a dry wind that vaporized any moister almost instantaneously. At the power stops, there were people spraying us down with water and I would stand there until I was completely soaked, but only a few minutes on the bike and it was completely dry. I was fortunate to have a guy pull me for the majority of the last miles. It helped motivate me to finish sooner. He was also the guy who lectured me earlier about descending too fast on unknown roads. I finished a little over six hours total time. At the end of day after a bunch of food and drink, I was still down by 7 lbs, which was amazing.
Immediately after the ride as with during the ride, I was approached by other bikers asking if my teammate was OK. I was really confused because I’ve not ridden with other Starbucks rider all day. So I didn’t have any information to give them. At first, I thought it was a mistake, but after the 4th person asked me about it I was sure it wasn’t a mistake. After the ride I was able to get the whole story. It was a Starbucks rider that went down. Fortunately, nothing a few weeks of recovery can’t heal up, but it did involve a broken bone, a major laceration, and a bunch of road rash.
I personally would like to thank all the people who sponsored me in such short notice, with my registration setup less than a week before the event, I was able to push pass my personal goal of $400, hitting $465. Thanks for helping out the survivors!
