The mountain roads around Donner Lake are home to Whitney Hardy. The twists and turns of the roads, still lined with spring snow, are her go-to cycling spots. The sloping downgrades and challenging inclines of Donner Pass Road are now a training ground for the ride of her life.“It’s challenging and I'm somebody who's super motivated and inspired by, like, 'I dare you,’” Hardy said.Daring. Bold. Brave.Adjectives don't scratch the surface of what the Truckee woman is about to take on.She’s about to embark on a 4,300-mile, cross-country bicycle journey – from the Oregon coast to Boston – eight years after a terrible crash left her with a traumatic brain injury.Hardy will join the “Stroke Across America'' ride along with longtime family friends/team organizer and stroke awareness advocates, Steve Zuckerman and Debra Meyerson.Hardy ’s mission, as part of the team cycling across the U.S., is to shine a light on traumatic brain injury survivors and push herself cognitively and emotionally, according to the Stroke Onward organization.Cycling across the country eight to 10 hours a day averaging 50 miles a day is an impressive feat for any human.It’s a nearly unfathomable triumph over tragedy when you factor in Hardy's journey to the starting line.“When the car hit me my head hit the ground so hard that it was just like, boom!” Hardy said about the night back in 2014 when she was hit by a car while on an after-work run. “My injury was extremely traumatic.”Living in Boston at the time, doctors deemed her injuries life-threatening and gave her a slim chance at survival.“I don't remember it happening. I don't remember waking up in the hospital,” Hardy said. “I don't remember, the first time that I remember, after the injury.”In the months following the crash, there would be a series of surgeries, recovery, and physical rehabilitation for the former college athlete.Her struggle for survival was hard-fought.“I don't go backwards. I don't think, ‘I wish that never happened,’ because it's not gonna change anything,” Hardy said.The lasting effects of the traumatic brain injury she suffered, however, remain to this day.“I have a blind disability where no one can tell what my disabilities are unless they get to know me really well,” she said.Tackling day-to-day tasks in an organized way and difficulty with short-term memory are long-term challenges she manages daily.“Remember that you're gonna forget this,” Hardy explained, as she described how she approaches her daily routine now as a (traumatic brain injury) survivor. “Write it down or put it somewhere in your physical bank, not your memory bank, because that doesn't happen anymore."Her planned journey across the country is all the more meaningful given what she’s needed to overcome.“What I'm focused on right now is biking,” she said. “Getting ready for this trip.”Hardy said she’s looking forward to seeing new sights and testing her physical limits.“It's a thing I'm gonna look back on in a really long time and be like, ‘Yeah, I did that,’” she said.She’s also interested in connecting with people, just like her, along the way.“I'm kind of hopeful that I will meet others who have been through trauma, traumatic brain injury, so kind of, create a community of those who have suffered similarly to what I have.”On May 14, Hardy and the Stroke Onward cycling team will have a pre-launch event in the Bay Area where they will do a “ceremonial dip” of their bike tires in the water.After that, it’s on up to Oregon where they’ll officially start their journey to Boston, which is set to wrap up toward the end of August with numerous stops for community events along the way. Learn more about the team and track their progress at this link or at strokeonward.org.