Lake Nona – Ride4Ronald 2015: A Personal Story

On Sunday, September 20th, I participated in the Ride4Ronald and road with the David’s World Cycle (DWC) group. A bicycle ride to benefit the 1,700 children and families served each year with rest stops throughout your chosen route of 10, 30, 60, or 100 miles. This year there were over 500 cyclists who raised over $225,000.

The day started early (4:30) as all these rides do. All the weather channels predicted the day to be beautiful. At 4:30 am it was a cool 68 degrees which crept up to 89 degrees by 9 am. I think this time of the year is the start of the most beautiful days in Orlando. It didn’t disappoint.

We kick it off in a bit of a cluster because the event coordinator started the 30, 60, and 100 miles routes at the same time. This placed experienced and novice riders together at the start. So plenty of caution had to be taken as I moved to the front of the pack with the DWC group.

Let me warn you that when an avid cyclist tells you they are going to take it easy don’t believe them. All avid cyclists bend the truth. We started so fast (19.7 mph) that I forgot to turn on my Garmin until a mile into the ride. Then they pushed it to 24 mph and I was still feeling pretty strong and comfortable. My heart rate was elevated more than when I do my training rides but I was not losing my breath. We rolled past a rest stop, then another, and another while maintaining a 23 mpg average. Finally, after 35 miles everyone stopped for 5 minutes. Then we took off again at about 22 mph.

At the 40 mile marker, someone in the front must have been bored because the pace was cranked up to 25 mph. Needless to say, I was not feeling as fresh so I was dropped as the pack disappeared into the sunset, literally.

Then I was riding solo and the notorious wind was pounding on me from the front. It took everything I had to get to the 50 miles. I was out of water with my hamstrings burning as I stop at a 7-eleven to restock my water and stretch my hamstrings. While recovering from the last 10 brutal miles a rider stopped at the 7eleven and asked would I like to ride with him. That was a no brainer. He wasn’t part of the event he was just riding 40 miles on his own and was only 13 miles into it. We got back on the road and with him blocking the wind we kicked up to a decent 19 – 20 mph. About a mile out from the finish line we started talking while cruising at 15.4 mph.

This is my anniversary ride actually because it has been a couple of years since I have road this route and it was an average of 14.8 mph. It nice to see some growth.

All in all, it was a great day to ride. If you are reading this you should come out next year and feel the burn and joy of participating in this event.