Success! Pain! Victory! The Tour de Cure, 2008

The Tour de Cure is a once a year cycling event to raise money for the American Diabetes Association. This year's Tour de Cure was held yesterday in Brighton, MI and it was my most difficult Tour yet. Some of it was the new route, most of it was the weather.

I set an ambitious fund raising goal and thanks to some very generous, wonderful, and amazing people I was able to bring in just over $500 for the ADA this year. Huge thanks to everyone that sponsored me. You all rock! Success!

Registration started at 7am. I hauled my carcass out of bed before 6 to get some breakfast, pack up my bike and gear and get to Island Lake State Recreation Area by 7. If you know me you know that I find 6am to be an ungodly wicked and horrible hour for any human being to be pulled from a peaceful slumber, especially on the weekend. It was an act of sheer will combined with love for my cause and my bicycle that got me to registration on time.

That photo was taken after the lines had died down. The start time for "50 and 70 mile" riders was 7:30am. There were a lot of "50 and 70 mile" riders this year. I put that in quotes because the "50 mile" route was only 48 miles and the "70 mile" route was just shy of 63 miles. This discrepancy was noted on my comment card along with a note that the ride is getting too big for a group start.
The group start meant long lines at registration and a peloton at the start of the ride. A peloton (big bunch of riders all packed together) might look fun on tv, but it's actually super scary and dangerous, especially when you're sharing the road with cars and most of the riders have very little experience with cooperative riding.

Having aired my complaints, I must tell you, the volunteers and organizers really did a wonderful job. The route was challenging (which is usually a good thing if the weather isn't terribly hot, muggy, and windy -- something they certainly couldn't have predicted) , the rest stops were well spaced and well stocked, and the volunteers were friendly and helpful and all around wonderful.

The ride began with several miles of rolling hills through Kensington Metropark.

A pretty way to start the day. It was still under 80°F and the wind hadn't kicked up yet but the big rain storms Saturday night left the air heavy and wet.

Kent Lake (above) is the main attraction at Kensington Metropark. It's very pretty in the morning.

After Kensington we headed up past the GM proving grounds, then north and west to Highland State Recreation Area. Then we turned south toward Proud Lake and west, back again to the proving grounds. And then we headed further south returning to Island Lake where an out-and-back in the park brought us to 63 miles and the finish line.

As the day wore on the temperature and humidity climbed and so did the wind speed. It seemed like every corner we turned pointed us uphill or into the wind. I think I drank my weight in gatorade and my brain still felt like a fried egg before we finished. Pain!


We hit this rest stop near the proving grounds twice: once at 17 miles and again at 40 miles. By the second stop here I was sore and feeling dehydrated, though I was drinking water and gatorade by the gallon. And I was pretty sure I'd suffered sunscreen failure -- luckily I was wrong on that front and ended up with nothing more than a darker tan and a pink nose.

There were an unusual number of flat tires on this ride. The gentleman I ended up riding most of the ride with got one (his first flat tire ever), and we passed probably ten other riders changing flats. I wonder if weather was to blame? Or little bit of extra sand and gravel on the roads from Saturday night's rain? Somehow I escaped a flat this time, but I harbor no illusions about my tire luck. I've had not a single flat all last year or so far this season. I'm seriously overdue.

The last rest stop on the tour was at about 58 miles. A volunteer there insisted that we take off our helmets and handed us cold wet paper towels. Ahhh! Yes, the brain definitely felt like an overcooked egg at that point, but the little bit of cooling helped and it felt great to wash the salt off my face and neck. Somehow this, along with more cold gatorade, gave me enough strength to make it the last 5 miles to the finish.


When I finally reached the finish (Victory!!) I stashed my bike and made a beeline for food. Carrabba's Italian Grill provided lunch. They have this chicken and mushroom masala stuff that is super duper amazingly yummy. I think it would still be tasty even if I hadn't just burned 4000 calories (I'm not exaggerating -- that's what my heart rate monitor actually reported) riding a bicycle 63 miles uphill and into the steamy wind.

I headed home for some ibuprofen and a shower. A solid ten minutes under cold spray and I was finally able to stop imagining that my brain aught to be served up with toast and bacon. For the rest of the day I napped and watched tv and knitted socks (there's a blog post about those coming soon) and drank tons of water and ate every healthy thing in my fridge and pantry, and a few not so healthy things, too.

The wind, high temperatures, and humidity joined forces with a hilly route to make this the single most difficult ride I've done since I started road biking. Thanks again to the wonderful people that sponsored me. I'm very proud to have completed such an enormously challenging ride and I'm equally proud to have friends and family that made it possible for me to bring the ADA over $500.

I woke up still sore this morning but I'm feeling better and better as the day goes on. I think I have some work to do before I'm ready for DALMAC (5 days, 338 miles) at the end of August. Hopefully the weather will be more kind!