Tour de Cure 2020 🩸
Tour de Cure 2020!
Ready or not, today was the day: Saturday, November 21.
In fact, I did not feel ready — At. all. In the last couple of months, I’ve felt tired a lot; too often I turned off my alarm clock and fell back asleep; and my training (such as it is) suffered as a result. By the beginning of this week, I knew it was too late to do anything to improve. If I had tried, I would only have gotten overly tired. All I could do was to plod away at it when today came.
My last long training ride was last Saturday. About 13 miles out, I saw a bald eagle land atop a post a short way ahead of me. It began to sing! I was absolutely astonished. I hadn’t know that eagles made any other sound than a screech. Nature sure is full of surprises!
As the days leading up to TdC went on, I planned my ride food. Clif Bars are a long-time go-to ride food of mine; but now I’m phasing them out.
As of February this year, my A1c level puts me in the pre-diabetic range. Clif Bars are very high in carbs; and are low in protein. Over the last few months I’ve worked with a nutritionist; and she advised me to look for ride-food bars that have at least 8-12 grams of protein. Lately I’ve taken to using RXBars; and yesterday I found a new flavor: Maple Sea Salt. I love maple; and I love salt. Talk about a win-win!
Last night I put Nuun in the fridge to chill; and mixed my post-ride recovery drink: 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk, with protein powder. I like to prepare it the night before so that the powder has plenty of time to dissolve.
The forecast showed temperatures from the low 60s to the mid-70s during the hours that I expected to be riding. I was glad that the wind wasn’t predicted to be 10-15 mph! That would have been a bit much. It was cool enough for leg warmers when I started; and I wound up leaving them on for the entire ride.
I set out shortly before 6:30 am; it was about 12:50 pm when I got back home after completing my route. Well, OK; at 50 miles I did a bit of cheating and stopped at home for a bathroom break. Then I rode to the nearby park and rode laps to finish out the 62 miles. Laps are mind-numbing; but I was tired of the headwind on top of the levee.
Incidentally, I’m not so sure that riding around and around the park was the wisest thing. Wearing a mask while riding a bicycle makes eating and drinking much harder; so I wasn’t wearing one. By late morning/early afternoon the park is usually quite crowded; and not everybody was wearing a mask. I hope I didn’t expose myself to COVID-19 that way. Or expose anybody else if I happen to have caught it since the previous Monday (when I was tested), and am asymptomatic.
Tour de Cure 2020 was a very different TdC; COVID-19 concerns pushed this year’s event into the realms of the virtual. Now I’m trying to get the link to the ride data in my Garmin to work.
Since that’s failed so far, here are the data:
Miles: 62.00 
Time: 6:01:50 ⌚︎
Speed: average 10.28/max 16.93 
Remember the fable about the tortoise and the hare?
So that’s this year’s big ride. Maybe I can do another century one of these days?
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ABOUT ME
I began this website primarily as a way to present the story of how I accomplished a century ride on an adult tricycle. Other riders of adult trikes might want to know whether it’s possible. It sure is! You can read all about it in My Story.
I live in New Orleans; and retired in January 2023. More time for cycling!
Website designed by Cecile Levert
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DISCLAIMER
I am not a cycling coach; nor a health professional. This site is based on my own experiences, opinions, etc. If you need help, please consult the appropriate professional.
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