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September 10-11, 2005 Columbia, Missouri
Friday, September 9th Once we got onto I-70 we saw that we were not alone. Car after car had bikes attached to them so we travelled along with the herd. Head west young man! Ok, so I'm not so young anymore but I can still tell which direction I'm going! We stopped at a McDonald's along the way to grab a bite to eat. Not my most favorite place to eat but it worked in this case. We finished dinner and headed back to rejoin the herd of other riders. We finally got to the hotel, somewhere between 8:30-9:00pm. In typical hotel fashion there were mixups with the rooms. Don't ask me why, probably with all the work on putting together the Shareware Industry Conference, I knew this was going to happen. With a mighty "Hi-Ho-Silver", Jerry and Mary Beth were there to save the day! After a short bit we got our room and headed up with our gear and crashed out. We had to get up at 5am and meet in the lobby at 6. Believe me, 5am came way to early!
Saturday, September 10th We parked and gathered our gear and met up at the Team IBM tent that we had set up. Thanks IBM!!! At 7:00 someone reminded me that I was suppose to go to the safety patrol meeting. Not knowing where it was I wandered down to the starting line where they told several of us it was back at the top of the hill in another tent. So I climbed back up this monstrous hill(this was to be what they call "foreshadowing"!) and searched for the tent. I found someone that said that they had cancelled the meeting. I went back to the team tent and we all gave each other last rights, er I mean votes of encouragements! As a group we left the safety and comfort of the tent and headed for the starting line. Along the way we stopped for a team picture. It was a beautiful morning. Cool, light breeze and a lifting fog blanketed the area. Finally, the time had arrived and we were off! It was about 7:50. The herd of cars we had ridden to Columbia with had shed their outer steel covering and were now riding on just two wheels and some tubing! The lucky ones had brakes too.<G> I didn't look at a map before I left, figured it would make the ride seem longer if I actually knew where I was going. I did know that there were rest stops about every 10 miles or so. After about 8 miles my legs found their groove and it was pretty smooth sailing. I passed the first two stops, weaving between all the riders that did stop. At the 30 mile mark I stopped to refill my camel pouch and my water bottle and to stretch a little. There were a couple Team IBMers there and we chatted about how nice the weather was and that it was a pretty decent ride. I never saw anyone with the safety armbands on so they must have cancelled the safety meeting. I had always planned on doing the Century Ride, which is the 100 mile trek, but when I turned off on to the Century route and saw this VERY daunting hill I had to question myself! But the questioning didn't last long, I knew I wanted to do this and so I peddled on, all the way up this hill! It wasn't the last big hill but I'll always remember this one! Moral of the story is don't be afraid to take the big hills, you'll be better off on the other side. Like Jerry always says, what doesn't kill you makes you better<G>! The ride was laid out pretty good, except for one spot the markers weren't real visible and a few people started going the wrong way. I had been pretty much riding on my own for most of the ride once I broke off for the Century route. Other team members either took the 75 mile route or were WAY past me on the 100 mile route. I hit some flat country and a team of 5 riders came buy and I fell into a groove and rode with them awhile. We cranked for about 4-5 miles at a brisk 17-18MPH. It was good to ride behind someone and draft for a while, makes it much easier! Finally made it to the 50 mile rest area! I made it there before noon too! My computer showed that I had averaged 14.5MPH. I was thrilled, I thought wow, I'll be done by 4ish! I talked with Robin and Steve from our team. That would be my last contact with anyone from our team for the next 50 miles. I refilled my water/gaterade called my wife to let her know where I was and that I was still alive. After a couple stretches I was off again. Did I mention the hills? At the 55 mile count the ride turned into some hard work. The cool breeze that we had in the morning was gone, replaced by a mean old head wind! At this point it was more of a cross wind but it was enough to make the ride harder. From here on out I did stop at every rest stop and I was drinking more and more fluids. After 25 miles, or 75 total miles it was 3:30, I was slowing down for sure. I was doing half the miles in the time it took me to do the first 50. I called Captain Jerry to let him know that I really was alive and just taking it one mile at a time. He wasn't there so I left him a message. Called my wife to let her know let her know I was alive, I tried not to show it to much but she could tell I was wearing down. Somewhere along the way we got to eat lunch, Lion's Choice was brought out to the rest stop for us. I'm thinking this was at the 75 mile mark but by now everything is just a blur, one mile lead to another and I knew somewhere down the road was the end. I looked forward to each rest stop, at the lunch stop they said the next rest area was in 3.2 miles. They were wrong, it was 10 miles! Which would have been fine if they said it from the start but when you are ticking away miles thinking only 3.2 you know something is wrong when you are hitting 5, 7 and 9 miles and there is no stop! Somewhere before lunch I met up with Tom. Tom was from O'Fallon and rode about the same speed as I did so we hooked up for a while and motivated each other into continuing on. He took off from lunch a few minutes before I did because I was talking to my wife. I caught up with Tom a short while later feeling rejuvenating and thinking that it was only 3.2 miles to the next stop! We rode on. The cross wind we had earlier was now a full on headwind. It took everything I had to make any progress at times. In the beginning I loved zipping down the hills, feeling the wind in my face, passing other riders, it was fun. With my extra weight I didn't really need to pedal faster down the hills to pass people, I could do it naturally. That was were the benefit of being overweight ended because once at the bottom of the hill I had to pull all that extra weight back up the other side of the hill. All those people I passed before, were now passing me! hahahahaha At some point after lunch, though it could have been before I don't remember real well now! Anyway at some point I got to the top of a hill and just pulled over and collapsed under a shady oak tree. Thought I was done for at this point. God was watching out for me here because it just so happened that a member of the Crash Test Dummies team had his wife working as their personal SAG wagon and he stopped about 30 seconds after me under the same shady tree and offered an ice cold towel to wrap around my head and neck. Truly a lifesaver! Never got your name pal but many thanks to you and your wife!! :-) Well, now at the +75 mile mark, the down hills weren't even fun any more because I knew at the bottom of every cool zippy hill was the start of a mean ole grinder hill! Tom and I worked through the agony and made the hills, one at a time. Earlier I was taking it one mile at a time, now it was just one hill at a time. At the last rest stop we were served ice cream. Not the best thing for me to eat but it was cold so I ate! There were a group of us sitting around talking about how at each rest stop we hit, they were closing up. So we were the last ones we thought! Conversations were pretty funny, here we are, a group of strangers, and one guy asked it if was normal for him not to be peeing! We all laughed and felt relieved because we all were wondering the same thing! Here I'm drinking litres of fluids and I just can't go. Of course my wife the nurse says well yeah, you were sweating it all out! Makes sense now!<G> As we left, a lady from Team MasterCard hooked up with us so our small group had grown and we encouraged each other to make it to the end. 10 miles to go! So our small group saddled up and we took off for more hills and a bigger headwind! SAG wagons were getting pretty busy by this point, picking up riders that were spent. No harm in that, we came out here to raise money and make new friends and meet personal goals, not to prepare us for our own funerals! No pride in being dead! With 10 miles to go my bike stopped shifting the front 3 gears. It stayed in the high gear which was great since it was easier to climb hills but I couldn't get any speed up going down a hill. If I forced it I could get it to go into 2nd but it was tough and I thought I might break something so I didn't do it very much. Believe me, it made for a VERY long 10 miles! The last 3 miles were pretty much all down hill. Finally! Our small group made it to the end! No groups of cheering volunteers, no hoopla or fanfair. Just...we made it. Just as I started up the hill I saw my wife and son! They came down to met me at the finish line! :-) Perfect timing! I don't know who was more excited to see who! hahahhaa I went back to the team tent where there was a pool and refreshments. There was lasagna, salad and breadsticks in the MS Food tent too! I ate and drank more water. Everyone was chatting but I was just exhausted so I probably sat there with a blank stare, or maybe a slight smile knowing what I had just accomplished! Up until now my longest ride had been 60 miles along the Katy trail. A flat ride that doesn't even come close to comparing to this one. Thankfully, Captain Jerry had us riding 30-40 miles every Saturday before the ride, during the summer. It was tough getting up and meeting at 7am on a Saturday morning but it was a huge help, absolutely necessary. We left the tent and headed back to the hotel. On the way I grabbed some much needed food. I ate and ate, had a burrito supreme and 3 soft taco supremes. I couldn't eat any more, but I could sleep, so I did......until around midnight when my body woke me up screaming "give me water!". So I did, I drank some more. Oh and I could finally pee now! hahahaha
Sunday, September 11th At the rest stops I would catch up to the other riders on our team. At some point we separated and I didn't see them again. Being the slowest member of the team they were probably way ahead of me by now. I stopped for a lunch stop where you could make a deli sandwich and sat at the school for a while. I inflated my tires and checked over my bike. Only 17 more miles to go, I think! The headwind was back and the sun was coming down hot and heavy now. Fully inflated tires did help, but not as much as I would have hoped!<G> After 7 miles I hit the last rest stop, which happened to be the same place as the very first rest stop. 10 miles to go! This meant one thing to me, the fun hills we came down first thing in the morning, had to be climbed up on the way out! We had doubled back and were now heading out the same way we came back in. Oh joy..... By now the SAG wagons were in full swing, it wasn't uncommon to see 4 bikers in the back. The heat from yesterday was taking its toll on riders today. Exhaustion reared its ugly head. With the sun getting higher in sky so was the temperatures. I was getting pretty tired. I decided that I would make my own rest stop at the 5 miles to go spot. Along the way a rider had blazed passed me and then had gotten off to walk up the hill. I rode past him now, riding my bike up the hill just slightly, very slightly faster than he was walking up it. At the top of the hill, at 6 miles to go, someone else had scoped out a nice shady tree so I joined him there. The man walking up the hill joined us as did another member of Team IBM. We rested for quite a while, with many other riders stopping to join us. 6 miles to go, time to press on. Our group of 4 that started the makeshift rest stop took off, down the other side of the hill. Four more miles ahead of our makeshift rest stop we made another one, this time at the bottom of a big old grinder hill. Many riders had gotten off their bike and just walked up it. One of our group of 4 had left his water bottle at the last makeshift stop. He was hurt'n. I offered him what I had left but he declined. We took off again, to tackle what would be our last "real" hill. I made it half way up and had to stop and walk. I was proud of myself, I had only walked 3 hills the whole weekend! Our group made it to the top and in the distance we could see yet another hill and we just sighed. But part way down we realized that the hill we saw was on the other side of the Interstate! We were almost home! The slope of the on ramp was pretty much our last incline, hooray! Our small contingency crossed the finish line, this time to the cheering sounds of the volunteers that helped put this event on. Cheers that most of us missed the previous day because we didn't arrive till near the end. Next time I hope that they keep the volunteers there till the end to give us late arrivers something to encourage us. It was kind of a let down to just show up and nobody be there. Not that that is why we ride, but it sure helps with the encouragement factor! Wrapping it up.... During the later parts of the ride I kept thinking "what on earth does Lance see in this that he races every year, better yet, why on earth am I doing this for in the first place!" The answer hit home when I got home and had a nice letter written from my "Pedal Partner" Robbie Ann. She is why we ride, why we raise money, why this ride matters. We need to find a cure! I'll be back next year and hopefully in better shape! :-) Thanks Jerry for putting the team together. From experience I know that these types of events are brutal on your time and I appreciate the time you put in to make this happen! And to your wife Theresa for letting you spend your time on it too. ;-) And a special thanks to all of you that sponsored me for this ride! Your pledges and encouragment has really meant a lot to me! :-) |
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Last modified: September 13 2005 11:58:29.
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The following is a diary, or blog, of my time riding in the 2005