As my first mountain bike race, the Prescott Sixer, is approaching in just 3 weeks, I have started to add on the miles. This past weekend, Aaron and I took a trip south to Tucson to check out the famous, Mt. Lemon. With the weather finally cooling off, we didn't have to leave so early to start our ride. We arrived at the base around 9:30am, parked, kitted up, and started our ride up the mountain. We had heard stories of a famous giant cookie at the top. It was our motivation to keep going along this long climb.

Aaron was scheduled to ride at a harder pace, so he took off at a faster pace than me and I continued on my own. The scenery was beautiful and it wasn't but a few miles before we were high above the city below. Thank goodness, the weather was getting cooler as we gained altitude. I watched the mile markers chip away as the hour went by. As I rode alone, I thought of Mrs. Jeanne Henry, laying in a hospital in Framingham, MA. I had never really know Mrs. Henry, but met her a few times at the Landry's Christmas parties. She was part owner of Landry's Bicycles and had helped create the small bicycle shop in Easton, MA with her husband Peter, and brother in-law, into one of the largest shops in the Boston area. Many people don't know about this soft spoken and incredible woman, but she was the mother behind the store and a second mom to Aaron. He was terribly saddened when he got the news about her long-time cancer quickly spreading.

"This is for you Jeanne," I thought as I rode up the climb.

It was at hour two that I reached the ranger station. I thought it might be the top, but soon noticed that there was almost 7 miles to go! I was low on water and realized that there was nowhere to get it...or if there was, I didn't know the secret spot to find it yet. I rationed the last bit in my bottles and kept climbing. I reached 8,000ft and finally started to descend for awhile before going back up. The short descent was the break I needed. Finally, I reached the turn-off for the ski area and called Aaron to see where I needed to go. "Keep riding down the road," he said. I kept going and it was funny, I only needed to ride another 100yards and I was there!! I saw some cute buildings, a general store, and then Aaron riding up the road to get me.

We rode just a few yards down the hill to the Cookie House. It was the moment we had waited for. The line was out the door as this was a very popular attraction. When it was our turn, the lady behind the counter kindly grabbed some ice water to fill our bottles. We ordered a coke, lemonaid, and a giant oatmeal raisin cookie that we shared. It was still warm from the oven and oh so delicious!

After we had recuperated, we started our decent back, first climbing a couple of miles before the best part of the whole ride: a 20 mile decent!! The bends in the road were just wide enough that I didn't have to press my brakes but 5 times the whole way down. Aaron was a speedster and caught the draft behind a train of cars and sped down the mountain. I was shooting for the STRAVA QOM that was held by Olympian Clara Hughes, but missed it by a few minutes. It took about 40 minutes to descend the mountain. The temperature rose as we dropped in altitude and soon we were back to the car. This is an ode to you Mrs. Henry...for being so special to my Aaron.