Hero for a day...or for at least 57 miles

This past weekend, I participated in the annual Young's Dairy Charity Bike Tour. Truth be told, this event was the reason I bought my bike last year. I just had a feeling this was something I should do. So I got the bike, lost about 50 pounds, started eating better and got to the point this year where I thought I could do the one day event; all 56 miles of it.

It was set to be a packed weekend, because my lovely wife was planning our son's second birthday that same weekend (on Sunday) and the bike tour was on Saturday. She had many plans to make, decorations to order, things to stress out about, meanwhile I undertook the task of collecting donations for the charity, training for the event and stressing out that I would actually survive. Since my regular training ride is between 21 and 23 miles, taking the 56 mile option seemed to be nearly impossible. My mother was helpful, she said that the typical thumb rule is that you can ride approximately three times your regular comfortable ride. That eased my mind a bit even if I couldn't find any other supporting advice. But her being my mommy, I had to trust that she knew what she was talking about. That helped a little bit, but at work, I had to contend with Dan.

Dan is the guy in the office we all love to hate. And when I say hate, I mean pick on very intensely to the point where a lesser man would want to cry. But he's not defenseless, he gives as good as he gets. And he was reminding me that 56 miles was a long way to go if I never even went half that before. I reminded him that there would be rest stops along the way and stop signs, trains, etc that would give me time to rest a bit. But he insisted that I respect the distance and my lack of experience with it. I admit that he got inside my head a bit.

The day of the event arrived and I showed up with my $532 I had raised for the four charities. After checking in, getting my map and bib number, I went back to my vehicle to watch the other riders do their thing, so I could pretend I knew what I was doing too. I met a lady that had also come to the event alone and I was trying to read the back of her shirt. She snapped her head around and said "Are you looking at my butt?" I was a little shocked, but I answered that I was just reading her shirt...honest. And which point she said, "Would you please look at it? I've never worn cycling shorts with a thick pad before, does it look like I'm wearing a diaper?" I told her that no one looks good in cycling shorts and turned around myself to show her my Lycra and chamois pad rump. We had a good laugh and discovered that it was the first bike tour for each of us. I also met a nice couple that promised to show me the ropes if I could keep up with them. I did for the most part and did learn quite a bit in that time. Thank you Donni and Jennine!

So, what does it feel like to ride 56 miles? Well, the first 14 (the distance to the first rest stop) was pretty good. Everyone was together and I got passed by a lot of people, but for the most part, we were a big peleton encouraging each other, pointing out sharp things in the road and having a blast. That first stop was at a small firehouse and I thought about turning around and heading back. I knew that no one would think less of me, and 28 miles was still longer than I had ridden before. But I decided that if I could do 28 miles, I might as well go to the second rest stop and then make the decision to quit if I needed to. Thanks to Dan for getting in my head.

The second leg was awesome! I managed to hit a top speed of 27.4 mph, and do a mile in 2:41 seconds. Those hills were a lot of fun since each one was higher than the next one. By the time I got to the second stop, I was feeling pretty rested and ready for more. So I stopped, ate a banana and some peanuts and refilled my water and sports drink. The Alzheimer's Association was sponsoring this stop and were playing Christmas music and displaying decorations all over the shelter. One lady complained about it and said she didn't like it, but I chimed in by saying these are the Alzheimer's people...maybe they forgot when Christmas was. Turns out, this was one of the better Alzheimer's jokes the staff had heard that day. After a stop by the porta-potty, I was ready to head out. There were maybe three dozen people behind me when I left that stop. Many went on to Ada, while a few of us made the return trip to Young's.

Remember those hills that were so fun to go down? Well, going up was not a pleasurable experience since, as logic would present, each hill was taller than the last. The ladies that complained about the Christmas decorations were ahead of me and I managed to pass the weaker climber at one point. Her friend stopped to wait for her a few times which allowed me to have open road and no traffic, but more hills than I knew how to handle. My speed wasn't all that fast heading back to the firehouse. I was feeling very weary and my body was complaining about every bump, jitter and headwind. Did I mention the headwind? Yeah, not only did I have to climb massive hills, I had to do it with the wind in my face most of the way. And just when I was about to stop on the side of the road for a little break, I heard it...the noon testing of the firehouse siren. It was only 11:55 by my GPS, but when I heard it, I knew that I was very close and muscled on for the next half mile until I could pull in and take a break.

This third stop was pretty much deserted. There were a few people there, but they left shortly after I arrived. The staffing was very polite and gave me more bananas, peanuts and cookies. Again, I refilled all my bottles and thought long and hard about asking them to call me in for SAG. The Christmas in July haters arrived and dismounted for a break as well. They too filled up and ate a few things and then hopped right back on for the return trip. I was 43 miles into the tour by this point. Only 13 to go. They left and I had to either ride out with them so I had someone to follow or tell the staff to radio me in. I knocked Dan off my shoulder and followed the ladies.

This final leg was quite surreal. I went past churches and cemeteries and other landmarks I remembered and couldn't believe that it had been so long that I had first gone by them. Had I really done over 40 miles since I last saw that beat up combine? I guess so! Again, the weaker climber hung back and again I passed her. Her friend had stopped to wait for her at the I-70 crossing and I passed her as well...barely. I was all alone again on the road. About mile fifty, I started to feel a cramping in my left knee. Soon, a group of ladies that had arrived at the rest stop after us caught up to me and soon that gals that stopped on I-70 caught up to us as well. I don't know how they did it, but the group of five ladies managed to talk to each other the entire route. I rode with them for a short while, but they were clearly in better condition and managed to get about 1000 feet ahead of me. By mile 52, I talked myself out of the cramp, but at mile 55, my right knee started to feel sore. I tried the same trick of drinking a lot of water and Gatorade to try and flush it down, but this wasn't a muscle cramp, it was the creaking of the joint. But it was mile 55. Only one more to go!

Well, not really. Ya see, the first rest stop had been at mile 13.75. The second pit stop was around 15 miles from there. 28.75 x 2 = 57.5 miles. With two and a half miles left to go, I was having trouble keeping my pace. I found a low gear I could turn and just did my cadence as best I could. I was slow, but I was consistent. I saw the ladies up ahead turn left and saw many fast moving cars beyond them. "Please let that be Route 68!" I said out loud. Then I took a quick glance at my map and realized that we would actually turn right on 68, not left. And then I heard the most exhilarating sound of all. The roar and fury of an F-16 fighter jet blasting through the clear sky. Young's Dairy is less than a mile away from an Air National Guard base, and the boys were taking advantage of the great weather to put in some flight time. When I realized that I was only about a half mile away from the finish, I started to pedal a little faster and with more conviction. Once I got on 68, the fighters again flew over me, and I raised my arm toward them, thanking them for the NASCAR-like greeting. They didn't know I was there, I'm sure, but I'm still going to believe the fly-over was just for me.

I pulled into the Young's parking lot at 1:17pm. Five and a quarter hours after I left in the morning. My GPS told me that I had been moving for just over four and a half hours, so that meant I stayed at each rest stop about 15 minutes. I met the young lady with the bike shorts as she was just leaving. We congratulated each other on our accomplishments and she reminded me that there was food and a place to sit my entire bottom down instead of just on a saddle. And then she reminded me of the most wonderful thing of all. FREE ICE-CREAM!!! So I bid her farewell and went on to meet up with the Christmas haters and the hen party and the few others that had pulled in right before me. Just as I was checking in, they were calling the radios to alert them to the people who were still out on the course and might need to be swept in. The route was to close at 2:00, but I had beaten that by over forty minutes.

The food was good, the water was cold and the ice cream was absolutely awesome. I thanked our hosts for a great event and started to leave. As I was walking away, one of the ladies shouted "Hey! Just so you know, you guys raised over $30,000 for the charities at check-in!". That was just at check-in! We still have a month to collect contributions and have our companies match our donations before the final number is determined. We were supporting the Alzheimer's Association, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Wellness Connection, and United Rehabilitation Services. To these people, and the those they support, I was a hero. With the money we raised, other were able to have a better life. Maybe steps would be made to finding cures. And without question, we were DOING something to help and not just talking about it.

What did I learn? Well, when they say 56 miles, they might mean up to 2 miles more than that. Bike trail miles are much different than country road miles. While I managed to maintain a respectable pedal spin of 63.5 cranks per minute, I really should have trained myself to spin faster using muscles that wear out slower. Eat more carbohydrates the week of the event. Ignore the negativity of your friends. When it's hot, you're tired and someone plays Christmas music...thank them for they are just trying to put a smile on your face. And it's OK to Listen for the sirens and the jets and believe they are harking your triumphant arrival!