ZenLinux Blog

I successfully completed the 75 mile Tour de Cure charity bike ride yesterday, but it was quite an ordeal, mostly due to the weather. The forecast called for rain and temps in the 40s, and boy did it deliver.

The ride started shortly after 7am from the Portsmouth Middle School, and the rain was very light. I thought to myself, “this isn’t so bad” and was helped along with a nice tailwind heading south on the NH seacoast. However, the rain picked up quickly, and by the 20 mile mark I was pretty soaked over most of my body. From then on it was staying warm that was critical, and that was a struggle.

Miles 30-40 were the worst in terms of rain, as it came down heavily and my glasses became perpetually fogged, so I had to put them away. This made it very difficult to take advantage of the descents, because I couldn’t see well with the rain pelting me at higher speeds.

For a while I rode and chatted with a woman who was also doing the 75 mile ride, but was getting chilled. She confessed that she was miserable and considering switching to the 50 mile route instead. A number of riders ended up doing this, and the thought crossed my mind on numerous occasions when the rain picked up. But I told myself that as long as I stayed reasonably warm I was going to stick with the 75 miler.

When she broke off the route, I found myself riding alone for nearly the remainder of the ride. I managed to get lost a couple of times and padded on a few extra miles to my trip, but the good news is after about 50 miles the rain scaled back quite a bit and even offered a reprieve here and there. There were some moderate climbs in the 50-60 mile range that seemed more difficult than they should have been. In retrospect, I think my soaked clothing weighed me down more than I had anticipated.

Eventually I found myself heading back up the seacoast. Remember the “nice tailwind” I mentioned above? Well now it became a headwind. I struggled to maintain 10 MPH on perfectly flat road. I was getting tired and this was definitely the most demoralizing part of the ride. After what seemed like forever, I finally turned inland and realized how bad that headwind was.

When I reached the finish I assumed I was one of the last riders to complete the course. But in fact many of the people who did the 75 or 100 mile routes turned around well before completing them and there were many others still to complete their rides.

Due to getting lost a couple of times I ended the ride having done 82.9 miles in 6 hours, 32 minutes on the bike. To give you some perspective, I completed my first century ride (100 miles) last September in 6:35! The weather really made it difficult, but I am glad i stuck through it and finished the full route I had set out to do. Here is a photo from just before I started the ride.

A special thanks to everyone who helped to sponsor my ride and donated to the American Diabetes Association. Your support was a major factor in keeping me motivated not to give up!

I feel reasonably prepared for the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure ride next weekend, where I will be riding my bike 75 miles to help raise funds for the ADA. I’ve been ramping up my mileage over the past month, and completed two 50 mile rides during the past two weekends. It’s really remarkable how the human body can adapt when it’s put under physical stress – for that first 50-miler I was just about in agony for the last 10 miles, but for yesterday’s ride I felt great at the end. Here are a couple of photos from yesterday’s ride, where the weather was absolutely perfect.

There’s plenty of rain in the forecast for this week, so I’ll probably be doing some easy work on the indoor trainer. I sure hope the weather is dry for the ride itself – I’ll still be riding if it’s raining, but it makes things much more difficult.

If you’ve been thinking about making a donation to sponsor my ride and haven’t yet, I can still accept donations online this week.

The Tour de Cure is a fundraising event for the American Diabetes Association. This year I will be riding my bike 75 miles to support the efforts to prevent and cure diabetes, as well as improve the quality of life for those impacted by this increasingly common disease. I would greatly appreciate sponsorship donations of any amount. Please visit my Tour de Cure web page for more info and how to sponsor my ride. Thank you!