Monday, June 25, 2012

Ride to Conquer Cancer 2012 Conquered?


I did it. I rode my bike 145km (90miles) in about 8 1/2 hours over two days. I was able to finish the first day-120km then the next morning I felt ok but then when I started it was like picking up from where I left off the day before. Ouch. It was a hard ride, mostly uphill in rain. Thankfully the wind wasn't very bad...light for southern Alberta actually.

Then we camp. In mud. And rain. Ahh nothing like putting on damp clothing in the morning. We (DH & I) fared better than others as our tent barely leaked while others had pools of water in their's.
We had a downpour Saturday evening so the entire campsite was a mudfest.
People wore grocery bags, torn polymer emergency blankets or garbage bags on their feet. Some compared it to Woodstock.
On the upside, over $8million dollars was raised for the Alberta Cancer Foundation for Cancer research. Pretty cool.
1854 people started the ride on all types of bicycles: road bikes (even saw a couple of vintage 10-speeds!), mountain bikes (all types!), hybrids, a recumbent, a single speed, and striders -which they look like elliptical trainers on wheels.  I was so amazed to be passed by people riding heavy bikes...talk about shear muscle work!
I rode until my body said no more. But I rode over the finish line and so I'm ready for the next adventure...
and thanks to Ride With GPS, I'm going to do their Tour de France Challenge.  I'm doing their 1/4TdF: 874.25km (543.25mi) done between June 30 & July 22.
 Check it out here: http://ridewithgps.com/competitions/tour-de-france

No comments:

Post a Comment