Tour de Cure 2008

Let me preface by saying if I'd driven my car through the 15 mile course of the Tour de Cure this past week, I would have said there was no way in heaven that I would have attempted to pedal my Old School bicycle through the 15 miles.  It was uphill all the way.  But I persevered, and made it through the 15 miles on a bicycle without gears.  In fact, a few people that passed me by mentioned something about me riding on an "old school" bike. 

The day started out at 5:50 when I woke up, and progressed with a 30 mile trip hauling my Old School bike out to the park where the ride would begin.  Let me first say that I was not intimidated in the least by all of the other people wearing their cycling jerseys and padded Spandex shorts and cycling shoes. I got my Old School bike off of my carrier on the back of the Blazer and set out pedaling just like the other hundred or so cyclists on the Tour. 

I'm not going to sugar-coat it - I'll be the first to admit it was hard pedaling up all of the hills on a bike with no gears but I did it, and proudly wore a sign on my shirt that said I was riding for my mother who has diabetes.  I must have did something right in all of my training the past few months, because I was the first person in the 15 mile route to finish.  It took me awhile to get my legs from being wobbly, but I can proudly say that I rode 15 miles through many hills, and lived to tell about it.  And I raised over $800 for the ADA, too.

I got home, walked around a bit to shake out the wobbles that were in my legs and had a turkey sandwich and a glass of iced tea while sitting in the Lazy Boy.  Then I had the energy to run a few errands.  Other than napping for about 15 minutes while watching the Food Network, I haven't slept or crashed; I'm going to the Bats game later tonight and I want to keep my momentum going so I'm going to try and stay awake and coherent till then.

I can't say that I will do it again next year - I hope I do, but after what I experienced today the jury is still out.  But who knows?  That's a year away.  If you said in August of 2007 that in a year's time I would be riding my bike 15 miles up hills, I would have said you're crazy.  So I'll keep you posted.