http://lisabliss.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-ultrarunner-on-wheels-truth-about.html

I am shaken, she was (and still is) such a great inspiration to me. I can't believe this happened to her.

I hope she'll find the cause, and a cure to recover again.

I sincerely hope she recovers and runs strong again. She seems like a gem of a person.

From the 'list:

"I know this list is for ultrarunning, but I just want to mention that Lisa
Bliss, who many of you know for her ultrarunning accomplishments, just
completed the Furnace Creek 508 endurance bicycle race.  Because of an
injury, she has been working very hard on bicycling, and this long event in
Death Valley is her coming out  party as a cyclist.  I'm fuzzy on the
details--the race may have been shortened from the original 508 miles
because of road washouts and, maybe, the government shutdown, and the
information on the race website was hard for me to decipher--but it looks
like she finished in 27:20 and finished third in her category (all women,
or her age group).

Whatever the details, congratulations to Lisa for a great performance, and
I hope she'll share with this list what her experience was like."

--------------------------

Yay Lisa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (She is really good for being a short person.)

Lisa Bliss' story about her pedal...[copied with her permission and because it is just so open and encouraging and stuff]

"Yes, this post has NURC, but I am finding, despite the great differences in ultracycling and ultrarunning, there are many UC similarities.  I will write just a bit, but if anyone is turned off by the cycling content, now is your chance to delete this before reading on.

I trained hard for six months for this event, the first of its kind for me.  I have cycled before, and because of my running fitness, was always able to jump on a bike and ride a century in decent time.  However, I had never cycled regularly nor raced nor tried to be competitive, so this was all new to me.

It's been an interesting journey, letting go of one sport (for now) and diving into another.  The process was not always welcomed nor easy, but I do gotta say, it was quite refreshing to be a newbie in a sport again.  I had the opportunity to be a sponge for information once again, learning as much as I could in a short amount of time.  I did have a coach to help me, and he was very helpful.  Many people though (including some ultrarunners who also ultracycle) mentored me.  I liked it.  It was physically and mentally stimulating.

I can say, without a doubt for me, that the biggest difference between ultrarunning and ultracycling is the time commitment for training.  It takes MUCH more time to get decent back-to-back workouts in cycling than it does for running.  The other obvious difference is the machine between your body and the road.  That took some getting used to, and I still am adjusting to the fact that you can't just throw a bike in a carry-on for a road trip or go for an hour ride at a convenient break during otherwise committed time.

But anyway, back to the race... the Furnace Creek 508 was indeed shortened because of the closure of Death Valley National Park. As riders, it was difficult for us to wait until two days before the event to know for sure what was going to be our actual course.  In the end, it was the expected out-and-back course from Santa Clarita, CA to Trona and back, a total of 353 miles.  At least we had some gorgeous desert miles and climbs to ride.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the first 176 of those miles were into a monster head wind.  And I'm not kidding, that wind was fierce, with the gusts stopping you completely for second and often tossing the cyclists side to side.  By 100 miles, my arms were my sorest limbs from gripping the bars, trying to stay upright and moving forward.  It felt like a 12-hour, 176-mile hill with varying steepness.

Riding through the night was different than running through the night as the crew vans followed 10-15 feet behind to light the way.  Perhaps it was not so bad for them on the climbs, but the downhill sections were sometimes simply frightful for them.  I had a 3-person team before the race, and 2 days prior, had only a 2-person team due to a family tragedy.  We carried on, but it was much more work for my husband and for Katrina Mumaw, who took on the duties of navigating in addition to being the alchemist (drink mixer and nutritionist).  Tim and Katrina worked non-stop, literally, for 27 hours.  Hand-offs during the first day were by crew leap-frogging ahead, a seemingly easy process until you have 30 mph winds interfering with the 2-seconds of communication while riding by.  At night, hand-offs were made out the passenger side of the van while driving, and then the van would fall back and resume the "shadowing" role of following close behind the rider.

So, anyway, being that this is an ultrarunning list, I will just say that the ultra part is the same across the sports.  I liked that.  And when all was done, I felt satisfied in finishing the event, which was my main goal.  My strengths were the climbs and the distance, the endurance.  My weaknesses were the wind and the cold (an entirely different animal on the bike than in running), and it got unusually bitter cold at night during the race, requiring stops to put on enough clothes that probably could have got me to the top of Everest.

Overall, I am satisfied with my finish and with placing 3rd among the women with a finish time of 27:20 (which includes a 15 minute time penalty for blowing a stop sign, which I honestly did not see through the mayhem of a train, the cars and people).  Most importantly, I am happy to be left with the feeling that I could do better "next time," whatever that may mean.  

It was invigorating to be new in the sport, wonderful to meet new people, comforting to realize the similarities among the athletes (and many are ultrarunners who also cycle), and exciting to be a part of the spirit of endurance competition.

There is no pacing or drafting in events like these, so there are no worries about that.  However, crews are essential, making it sort of a team sport.  Tim and Katrina rocked the crewing, which was a very difficult job for only 2 people.  Together, we did it and it was a fun adventure.

Thank you for letting me share my story and for letting me stay on the list even though I haven't run an ultra in 2 years.  

And thank you, David, for your steadfast encouragement.

Lisa Bliss (looking forward to returning the crew favor for Tim at the BYU in 10 days)
Spokane, WA"