Today I did the big ride. Tour de Cure 2018!

I got up at the unearthly hour of 4:10 am, so I could make my final preparations at leisure. The Camel-Bak reservoir needed to be filled. I cut up some Clif Bars for easy on-bike eating. Then I got dressed for the ride.

I did the long route. My Garmin showed the distance to be 61.40 miles. Roll time, 5:00:05; average speed, 12.28 mph. 

At the start, it was cool enough for leg warmers, vest + cycling jacket, and skull cap. By the time I reached the halfway point, I could remove the leg warmers, cycling jacket, and skull cap. Of course that meant I needed to use more sunblock!

By then the breeze had picked up. It made pedaling back to the start quite a chore! As if the headwind weren\’t enough, I ran into some kind of walk that was taking up the entire path. It seemed to take forever to struggle past it. With 3-4 miles left to go, I suddenly felt extremely tired. Bonking, I figured, and I had to stop to take a breather and eat something.

And then, a mile or so before the finish, I got caught by a train! If not for those delays, I would have finished 15-20 minutes sooner. As it was, I made it with just two minutes to spare.

But I made it! So what if that makes me the Lanterne Rouge? So what if being the Lanterne Rouge is a dubious honor? I MADE IT!!

Speaking of rouge, let\’s not forget to give a big hurrah for the Red Riders; TdC riders who have diabetes. And thanks to the volunteers who check in participants, staff the rest stops, and so on. They make it possible for us riders to just do the big ride!