Tour de Cure

Posted by Les On 6:00 PM
Sunday
February 28, 2010

Today was the annual Tour de Cure ride, raising money for the American Diabetes Association.  I did this ride last year as well and had a great time.  This year I entered as a part of the Florida Freewheelers team.


The day started off FREEZING!!!  Here's what I wore:
     two pairs of gloves
     ski band around my ears
     two pairs of socks
     two pairs of pants
     three shirts
     one jacket
And I was still FREEZING!!!

Since recuperating from my latest reherniation in November, 30 miles was the longest ride I had done.  Today my goal was to attempt the 61 miles.  Didn't know if I could go the distance, but the plan was to decide at the first SAG stop because the 30-milers split off from that spot.  At the beginning of the ride I hung out with my friend Martin the Fireman.


We sort of hung out at the back of the pack.  I'm still building pace and stamina and Martin hadn't been riding in a long time.  So we were the caboose!  After the first SAG stop, Martin decided not to do the 61 miles, but I was feeling pretty darn good and decided to Just Do It!  After he split off I tagged along with my FFW friends Sharon and Joanne.


We rode together until we got to the SAG stop where the split came where you had to decide if you were planning on 61 or 100 miles.  I knew 100 was way too many miles for me, but Joanne and Sharon decided to Just Do It!  At that point I started to ride with Elizabeth and Ray, two people that I kept encountering on the road that were going about the same pace as me.  The three of us were joined at the hip from that point forward.


Elizabeth and Ray live in Lake Mary, as do I.  The amazing thing is Ray two years ago had quadruple bypass surgery and here he was schlepping along on his heavy mountain bike for 61 miles.  He's amazing!

At one of the SAG stops I became bosom buddies with one of the volunteers.  See if you can figure out why.


Hook 'em Horns!

The funniest thing that happened during the ride was the route took us very close to where my friend Julie lives.  She had previously talked about meeting me at the finish line today, but I told her I had no idea when I would be getting in and there was really no need.  Anyway, I hadn't looked at the route before the ride, or I would have told her just come out when we pass by your house and cheer us on.  As we were riding near her house I heard someone calling my name.  I told Elizabeth, "I just heard my name."  She thought I was hallucinating.  So I convinced myself I was hallucinating.  Then about two miles down the road I see this woman on the side of the street taking pictures of me.  I figured it was just one of the Tour de Cure photographers that are posted around the course.  But it was Julie!!  She had been on a run with her husband and happened to be on the exact street I was on at the exact time I was riding by.  She had been running and screaming my name trying to catch my attention, but obviously I was oblivious.  She then ran back to her house, grabbed her camera, and drove past the riders until she was ahead of me and Elizabeth and Ray on the road.  Here are some of her photos she took (Elizabeth is behind me):







After visiting for a few minutes, we said goodbye to Julie and got back on the road.  The last 20 miles of the ride were really difficult for me.  It was VERY windy and I was tired, but we kept encouraging each other all the way back.  Here are the three of us crossing the finish line.



I had a blast today.  It felt like quite an accomplishment since it had been a long time since I've done a longer ride.  Plus I made two great new friends.  The three of us came, saw and conquered the course, the wind, the cold, and our own physical obstacles.  It was great coming over the final bridge, the final climb, and then racing toward the finish line where there were hundreds of supporters screaming for us and ringing bells and cheering!  It couldn't have been a better day.

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