Monday, August 11, 2008

Spin Your Wheels


This Saturday I participated in a charity ride for the Childrens Center in OKC that benefits children that are faced with severe medical issues. Quite a few riders come out and support the cause, by far the biggest ride I have done so far.

This is just a small sampling of the riders.




I did this ride a couple years ago and I suffered through 50 miles but this year I decided to do 100k or 62 miles since I am gearing up for the MS150 (donate here, shameless plug). There were 5 different ride lengths, 100mi, 62mi, 50mi, 25mi and a 10 mile family ride.

The longest 3 all left together at 7:30 on the nose. It took me a few minutes to actually leave since there were so many people in front of me. I finally got out on the road and people were all over the place trying to get to a comfortable speed. All of the riders took up all 3 lanes of the road, it was pretty cool. I got into a group of guys going at a pretty good clip and tucked in behind them and we were on our way. One thing I did learn is a triathlon bike is not the best bike to have in a pack like that since the brakes and shifters are on different bars. About 6 miles in everyone was finally spaced out and I was able to get in my aero bars and go at my own pace.

I stopped at mile 25 to get more water and a couple little bites to eat to refuel and was off again. It got a little hilly at that point until the turn around which made for some really fun downhills. I got up to 35 on one. I stopped at mile 37 for another top off of water and headed for the finish.




It was pretty uneventful after that. I was able to cruise for the most part except for a couple stop lights towards the end that added on some time. I rolled into the finish at 3 hours 13 minutes and 59 seconds.



After that I got a free massage some BBQ and lots of water. Good way to end the day. I also won a door prize, a $40 gift card to a bike shop. I can do a little damage with that. It was a very good ride all in all, great weather, no crashes, free massage and I won something. I will be doing this ride again next year, hopefully the 100 mile ride.

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