My bicycling experiences route directly through my 112 pound, 5 foot 7, wife Jennifer. Our second date, at her suggestion, was a 5 AM, one-hour long spin class at her athletic club. At 55 years of age, and in questionable condition, I won the privilege to keep on dating her by completing that class, though I felt like coughing up a lung. I kept up the spin classes with her for about 6 months, but I came to realize that on spin days, I couldn’t keep up on the job site. So, I bailed, but she still said yes to marrying me in 2014.
Jenny’s passion for cycling grew to endurance riding with cycling clubs and friends while my cycling stopped at riding the length of Lake Annecy in France with her, though I was on an E-bike. She has gone on to ride many century rides- yes, that’s 100 miles- including the Death Ride in Alpine County. That’s 300 miles, 3 mountain passes, and 14,000 feet of climbing at elevations ranging from 5500 to 8700 feet. Air gets pretty thin up there!
She didn’t stop there. Jenny also completed a couple of double centuries- yes, that’s 200 freaking miles!- the last of which was the Davis Double in 2024, just three days before she began chemo and radiation treatments for throat cancer. And as if 200 miles isn’t enough, you get the added feature of over 9,000 feet of climbing. At the age of 61, she finished that event after 16 hours in the saddle. She didn’t finish first, but she will always be my hero.
It is 2 years later now, and while no longer able to ride her beloved bikes “Sage” and “Simone”- yes, she names her bicycles- she’s the only person I know in her incredible level of pain, and under hospice care, to go down to the gym to clip in and do an hour on the spin bike amongst her other exercises. I am proud of my little warrior, and we look forward to our dinner reservations with you next week.
Douglas Mcconnell
