Deanna Dares Epilepsy

2011 Europe Tour

2011-06-26T01:21:00.000-07:00

Deanna is currently in Europe daring to bike 10, 000 miles in 3 months. We will post updates in the left hand column when we receive them.

Who is this girl

2009-07-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

Deanna Adams is a crazy vegan bike riding 20-year-old who has a passion to be the youngest female to accomplish many different ultra races! She wants to send the message that having epilepsy shouldn't hold you back from fulfilling your goals and dreams. The wrist band she wears sums up her outlook on life that "Doubt Kills Dreams". These "Doubt Kills Dreams" wrist bands were made as an on-going attempt to raise money so that she can have the means to participate in races.

(If interested in owning one just leave a comment with your e-mail!)

At 10-years-old she was diagnosed with epilepsy having grand mal seizures at school, at home, in the shower, etc. Her grand mal seizures can last anywhere between 1-5 minutes where she has a loss of consciousness and has violent muscle contractions. Having Epilepsy has affected her in many different ways from the first Neurologist suggesting that she might grow out of it during puberty and that not happening. To her current Epitologist who explains that it is the way her brain is wired. The tormenting question of why me? Then the embarrassment and anxiety that occurred hoping it wouldn't happen at school. In middle school she got called "seizure shaking girl" because her classmates were present while she had seizures with a bloody mouth afterward. And then in high school she was remembered as the "weirdo epileptic bike girl" since she chose to ride her bike 20 miles a day from the house to school. (She still chooses to not have a driver's license because she doesn't want to take a chance of hurting someone.)

In High School Deanna was on the cross country running team, and was introduced to mountain biking by one of her friends. The opportunities to mountain bike are plentiful living in Prescott, AZ so it was a great place for her passion to bloom and she began to race competitively. After she graduated from High School she raced in a few adventure mountain bike races while running cross county for Mesa Community College.

Then in August 2007, Deanna entered her first road race cycle event, the 200 miles Desperado Dual. Notice her one-of-a-kind outfit in the photo below..she wore her jansport school backpack for water, a lime green bandana, mountain bike clip-in shoes that were held together with duck tape, and running shorts. (To this day she still refuses to wear tight spandex shorts with butt padding.) I asked her, "Um are you sure you got this? You have never ridden 200 miles before....(she knods her head). Well, I guess we will see you at lunch if they have anything you can eat (she is a vegan who eat no meat and dairy, or uses any by-product of an animal). Good luck riding 200 miles!" She finished with a time of 13:57 not pace lining or drafting. I was so impressed that my sister would have the desire to ride her bike for that long and that far! But that was just the beginning....

She keeps going

2009-07-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

Deanna's passion for long ultra endurance events begin to grow very quickly after her first 200 mile event. The next race that peaked her interest was the furnace creek 508 knowing that she would be going through some really hot places, like Death Valley. The half of a winter she spent in Utah was the last winter she ever wanted to experience! So she moved back home with the parents in the Arizona to save money for a bike, gear, entry fees, and the cost associated with simply participating in the race (ie: van rental, food, lodging for herself and the crew). She got a job at "the Walmarts" to earn money and have a flexible work schedule to be able to train.

She attempted the Furnace Creek 508 "Toughest 48 hours in Sport" in October 2007 and DNF (did not finish) to "not understanding how to deal with hallucination & intense dizziness" she stopped at 426 miles. Even though this could have been seen as a set back Deanna saw it as a great achievement to ride the farthest she ever had. Then 8 months later she did the first ever Race Across the West which is 1032 miles of the Race Across America. She did 821 miles in 88 hours to Durango, CO where she crashed and got a concussion. Then the next month Deanna did the Race Across Oregon but got a bad bee sting which caused her Achilles tendon to be very painful so she DNF at 275 miles in 23 hours.

These DNFs did not stop her from doing the Furnace Creek 508 again which happened to be one month after the Race Across Oregon. She crossed the finish line of the 508 miles in 43 hours and 17 minutes with a sword in hand and currently holds the record for youngest female soloist finish!

Deanna's complete racing resume

She's currently doing what??

2009-07-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

About 8 months ago my sister started looking into fixed gear bikes. (A "fixie" only has one gear that is fixed, meaning you can never coast because the pedals are always moving. You can't shift up or down if you have a big mountain to climb or are descending fast.) She would call up enthusiastically every time she placed a new bid on a bike posted on ebay. She eventually got a fixie that was an old Shogun 10-speed from the 1980s that got turned into a fixed gear in the winter of 2008-2009, she named it "Phoenix" because it's an old bicycle being born into new life.

With her new fixed gear obsession she decided what could more fitting than to ride the great Continental Divide between Canada and Mexico, and become the first ever to finish all 2, 745 miles on this type of bike. Riding on the Continental Divide is a completely self-supported race where the rider is responsible for finding their own food, water, and place to sleep each day. It is 2,745 miles of rain, snow, mud, huge head winds, intense heat, animal encounters, drunk driver run ins, etc. It is viewed as the hardest self-supported mountain bike race possible, not to mention that nobody has ever successfully completed it riding a fixie. This was the type of challenge that beckoned her to go and test her ultra endurance limits both emotionally and physically.

Now she has been riding for more 20 days and had ridden farther than anyone before on a fixie! We can't wait to see her cross the finish line in Antelope Wells, New Mexico!

To keep updated on her progress check out:

http://mtbcast.com/wordpress/?page_id=578 (To hear all of her call-ins)

Update as of Tues Jul 07

Deanna has about 50 more miles into Abiquiu, New Mexico. Once she arrives there her total count of miles will be about 2,100.

Her last call in was from Del Norte, CO where she rode into electrical wiring near the cattle guard, she was upset about it, but has no injuries.

Update as of Wed Jul 08

She called in late last night saying she got lost and is somewhere near El Rito. She didn't make it to Abiquiu which was the plan and will head off this morning. It sounded like she stayed at someone's house in a small town north of El Rito.

She mentioned that she had some rough days in Colorado as she came into New Mexico.

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Deanna's Mom ended up talking to the couple she stayed with last night, Mr. and Mrs. Suazo. They were really happy to have met Deanna. They said they have never seen anyone eat 5 peanut butter sandwiches in one sitting! She ate, showered and slept like a baby. Then early this morning they loaded her up with dried apples, oreo cookies and the best well water around.

Update as of Thurs Jul 09

Deanna called in from Cuba this morning and said she spent last night with the baked rainbow gatherers in the forest. They offered her dinner of rice noodles, refried beans, and stir-fry vegetables, a weird combo, but hey free food. She enjoyed hanging out with the hippies listening to their views, "They are cleaning up the forest being stoned". These vintage hippies are alive and well! She then left really early in the morning headed to Grants.

A few nights ago as she came from CO border into New Mexico she ran into some drunk teenagers and got lost for a certain amount of miles...this began her "suffer fest". The suffer fest continued as she ate year old stale oreo cookies that she paid $2.30 at the last gas station, needed water and found some standing water with some with sick particles floating around with cow hair mixed in. Then she got lost in Placitas not knowing if she needed to make a turn by the new or old post office. Her suffer fest did get better once she asked Mr. and Mrs. Suazo about the post offices and they offered her to stay with them for the night, "they were really nice".

She left her glasses at the camp spot last night, "I have to be kinda close to signs to be able to read them, but I'll be fine." She also has a slow leak in her front tube that sometimes keeps air and sometimes doesn't that she hopes will be okay until Grants.

Update as of Fri July 10

Deanna rode 150 miles yesterday making in time to eat 5 burritos at Taco Bell in Grants before they closed. She was able to make up some time from being lost since those 95% of those 150 miles were pavement and the ratio she is running 46x17 was perfect for that terrain. She met up with Brad and other GDR racer. On her way into Grants she almost crashed into a horse from the Indian res. She thought it was just going to stay by the fence and eat grass but it moved 10 feet in front of her and she had to hurry and brake. She's glad that she didn't hit the horse and die. Her adrenaline was pumping hard after the close encounter!

She is going to drink a lot of water and ride into Pie Town today.

Update as of Sat Jul 11

Deanna left Pie Town this morning and arrived at the Beaverhead Work Center (free camping, water, coke machine, and restrooms) about 7:30pm MST. Deanna rode with Brad Mattingly about 100 miles today. They have about 80 miles to Silver City, which is the next destination. Then we will see if she decides to camp there or will push through the night to Antelope Wells. Only time will tell...the finish line is only 200 miles away!