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| I wear spandex to fit in with the cool kids. |
For four years, he has hosted a ride called "100 Miles of Nowhere" which is the race that goes no place. It raises money for LiveStrong, which is an awesome organization. He started fundraising for the organization when his wife Susan was battling cancer and now he raises a ridiculous amount of money each year. It was an honor to help him raise more money and to do such a ridiculous ride.
Here's the ride recap:
I knew I was going to be going slowly, so I got up early. Our race packets came with a bunch of awesome stuff. This is some ladies DZ-nuts. You put it on your lady parts so they don't get annihilated when riding an upright bike.
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| "Apply to perineum" |
Instead, I rode my Catrike.
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| This picture makes me realize we own a lot of bikes. That's awesome. |
I checked the air in my tires and headed out. Here I am at the point I felt the best in the day:
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| Maybe it's just I was really excited. |
I decided to ride a loop around Frontier Park near my house. It was about 1.5 miles long.
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| Home of the "Daddy of 'Em All" (Sounds like a Maury Povich episode...) |
The weather started off at 55 degrees and sunny.
I decided a bike race is not a bike race without a port-a-john, so I had one brought in:
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| There's also a fire hydrant for quick pit stops. |
Soon a crowd assembled to wish me well.
Dang...I'm really slow.
First step:
Second step:
Ride Totals:
I started riding.
And riding.
And riding.
Yep, still riding.
Riding.
I reached halfway and thought, "I don't know if I can do this."
So for awhile I switched to the parking lot to avoid the small hill that was on the ride. That's the small loop in the picture. I was riding along when I see this in my rearview:
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| Is that someone making an attack from the peloton?! |
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| Is he wearing flip flops?! |
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| Did he just hiss as he passed me?! |
After this, I headed back out onto the main loop. I also had a clothing change, as the sun was starting to burn me and getting burned would increase my chances of skin cancer and that would be a bummer on a LiveStrong ride.
(Image cannot be found)
(Like I took a picture of a clothing change...)
So more riding.
And riding.
And thinking.
And riding.
With 10 miles left to go, the sun was setting and I was joined by a 70-year-old on her hybrid bike. It was nice to have someone to chat with. When she first came up on me and saw my race number and asked, "Are you in a race?" and I automatically answered, "Yes, and I'm winning." She was totally baffled on why I was riding in circle alone. I think God sent her to get me through.
Finally, it was done! I headed into the house, happy to be home.
First step:
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| Turn off trusty iPod, which cranked out the tunes on speakers most of the day. |
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| Take a picture with GPS. Worry that the battery will die before I download. |
Total distance- 100.21 miles
Total time- 13 hours, 45 minutes (including breaks) (Do I win slowest century?)
Total vertical climb- 7484 feet
Which makes me the winner of the Ohmygoshhowlongdidittakeyou?! Division and also the Rocky Mountain Region Catrike 31-year-old female division. I need a medal.
Things I learned:
1. 100 miles is a long ways to ride.
2. It's even longer in a small circle alone.
3. People will not understand why anyone would do such a thing.
4. Especially not my husband.
5. A house as a rest stop is awesome.
6. Having support on such an adventure is awesome.
7. Cancer is a long journey, that's longer when done alone and that no one will ever understand until they live it, but it's easier with support. That's why LiveStrong is awesome.
If you'd like to make a donation on behalf of Team Fatty head here: http://davis2011.livestrong.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=447594&supid=220801643
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