An Evening At Tri-Sport

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(PS- This pic was taken with my new phone, not bad)

Tonight I went to a lecture at Tri-Sport presented by Luna Chix. The speaker was Catharina "Cat" Berge, ultracyclist. Cycling goddess IMHO. Cat gave a presentation, "How to Endure", on her 2005 RAAM experience.

For you non-cyclists out there, RAAM is Race Across AMerica- an annual transcontinental bicycle race from the west coast to the east coast. The race starts in Oceanside, CA and finishes in Atlantic City, NJ. The 2007 edition started this past Sunday.

In 2005 Cat was the only female solo cyclist, and the first female cyclist to finish since 2001. She completed the 3,052 mile race in 11 days, 11 hours, and 20 minutes. What a tough cookie! (and she did this at age 38!)

Her CV is just as impressive as her race resume. Yes, Cat has a day job- Cat is a Veterinarian! She has a DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine), a Masters of Veterinary Preventive Medicine and a PhD in Comparative Pathology (Pathology!!! Yippie!!! My cup of tea!!!) Oh, and she isn't into the cute and cuddly kittens and pups. Her bag is large animals- i.e. COWS (mooooooooooooo). Did I mention Cat is from Sweden?

As for her race resume, in 2001 Cat raced in the Furnace Creek 508 (yes, that's 508 miles). The real kicker, when she did this, she had only been cycling for a year and a half!!!!! She had the fastest rookie time of 31 hours 58 minutes. She was second overall and first female finisher. Between 2001 and 2005 she set course records for The Terrible Two, The Everest Challenge, and the Double Terrible Two, a.k.a. The Horrible Four (The Terrible Two ridden twice consecutively). She's also ridden, quite impressively, The Death Ride, and my club's own Climb to Kaiser.

Hearing her story tonight, along with a short video of her experince, was quite impressive. I hope that I will have an opportunity to ride with her in the future.

~Vet
"I am ready. The sky is not the limit."

Õ b