Charity Bike Event |
A week away from this event the weather looked alright and from what was forecast, it looked like we'd just miss some rain by a couple days. As the days passed, though, this slowly changed until on the night before the ride the forecast was for utter and certain doom. At some point the American Diabetes Association had included on their website a link to tips for riding in the rain. Not good. Despite all that, things looked good in the morning. It wasn't as windy as we'd feared and the skies were generally clear. Unfortunately the 4 hours or so it took Susan and I to reach the other end of the out-and-back route was plenty of time for the predicted doom to settle in. At the top of the observatory climb the sky was dark, the wind intense, and rain was clearly falling very nearby in the direction we were to be heading. A SAG truck was parked at the last checkpoint and the driver, having already loaded up one other rider, asked us if we'd like to call it a day and head back in the truck. Already struggling to keep warm and my rain gear nonexistent, I thought it a good idea. At least we'd made it to the top of the climb. As it turned out, the decision didn't matter. Moments after heading out in the truck word came over the radio that the event was being closed due to weather and that all riders must get off the road. The real shame in this was that I wouldn't be able to relive the awesomeness that was the food at the rest stops on the way back. Nor would I get to hang around with the crazy oatmeal lady... All in all it was a fun time and I would do it again next year. Though next year hopefully we can do the whole route in about the time it took us to do half of it this time. Either that, or I'm bringing a BOB trailer full of beer to better enjoy taking it easy. |
|||
The night and morning were once again very cold and despite going to bed extremely early, it was not much fun to get up. I wanted very much to be present for the start of the ride this time and to stay within view of other cyclists during the ride to some extent. As fate would have it, we were on time... and the start of the event was late.
Today was supposed to be a 50 mile ride and we felt really good for the first little bit. Riding in a large group offered a great mental distraction and the first 10 miles flew by very quickly. Our pace was definitely slower than the obviously more hardcore bike people, but we were at least in the loose trail of people towards the end. The rest stops throughout the event were impressive. Huge moving trucks were dispatched to set up tables, chairs, and shade with fruit, water, energy drink and bars, sunscreen, pain relievers, etc. It was fantastic! Susan and I quickly learned to copy others and eventually executed the difficult and elite standing bicycle parking maneuver!
Exactly at that spot my bike rolled over its 1,000th mile... woohoo!
We finished the ride tired, but not really too messed up. I'd say it went very well and of course was a new personal best for both of us! We'd debated going all in and doing the 75 mile route, but by the 35-ish mile rest stop decided it probably wasn't a good idea. Upon returning to camp we asked a man to take pictures of us, intending to pose with our bikes above our heads like crazy people. Unfortunately this person didn't really understand the concept, and took all the pictures during periods of time when I was not ready... like this.
Determined to have a crazy picture of me in this pose, Susan just took one of me back at the tent. Ha, victory!
A 'normal' picture was probably also a good idea to have, so we flagged down a nearby nice old man to take one...
Distance: 50.0 miles |
|||
Finally it was here! Bike MS 2009... Susan and I had arrived the night before, set up our tent, and slept in the park that was designated as the event headquarters. We had met up with Heidi and Josh, the rest of the AZFJ.org non-team team. There was some concern that we might go a little slow since Josh had not been on a bike in a while and was stuck with a mountain bike with fairly ridiculous off-road tires... but as it turned out, he was not the slow one by any means. Our home for the weekend...
We were a little slow rising in the morning and getting ready to go, and as a result we were amoung the very last people out onto the road. Just ahead of us were a few guys riding literally in rickshaws they'd rented... read about them here. In an act that was a combination of their awesomeness and our group's amazing lamess, they actually finished the ride well before us.
Josh, bored with the silliness of being constrained to the road, took off on many side adventures riding down unnecessary farm roads and at one point flipping head- first over the handlebars into a huge mound of dirt...
Distance: 36.4 miles |
|||
