This was my third Tour de Cure and again, I’m blown away by the generosity of my extended teammates (donors), we fundraised over $1,135 while you helped me in becoming Achived Champion Level Champion for diabetes a third time!

When we started this Tour de Cure year, we had about 14 people signed up for the 50-mile ride.  As we got closer to the event, my training was seriously disrupted by illness and I began to question whether or not I should even be riding 50 miles at all.  I couldn’t make myself cut back to 25 miles and then other people started to drop back to 25 miles.  I wasn’t worried, however, Bob had said that he wasn’t feeling up to a fast pace, Z wasn’t feeling well, and it seemed like everyone was looking forward to a relatively easy pace.

On the day of the ride, everything changed.  There were only 7 of us who showed up to ride the 50-mile course and we immediately became a Peloton of 6! I still don’t know what happened to our seventh!?  It was a perfect day to ride.  Not too warm, not too windy, and no rain.  Bob started leading out at a swift pace.  Not blistering but I knew immediately that this wasn’t going to be an easy pace day.  We decided to skip the first rest stop and once we got past it, the volume of riders competing for road space dropped precipitously and our pace picked right up.  Bob took us up to around 18 or 19 miles an hour and we started trading lead on the peloton.  For the first time, I pulled for people that I hadn’t ridden with since the last Tour de Cure and I worked hard to keep my pace steady (Z told me I did well, some minor tweaks are still needed, but much improved since the last time I took lead on Veteran’s Day).

We held a pace of 18 -20 miles an hour for the rest of the ride.  We met up with the 25 milers at our 34 mile rest stop…which was their 4 mile rest stop.  Chet caught up to us at 45 mile rest stop and we finished the ride as a group.  Despite my lack of training, the pace was exhilirating!  We adopted riders whom we didn’t know into our peloton every time we passed someone who seemed like they could use a pull, which was really in the spirit of the ride.  And when we passed the finish line, my family was there waiting for me!  We enjoyed the food, fun, and camaraderie at the event site until we decided to head home.  It was truly a wonderful ride on an amazing day.  I can’t wait to do it again next year!  🙂

Stats for the day

This was recorded by one of my team member’s who rode the 50-mile course with the group.

 

More important, your contributions help the many with diabetes. You know it’s one thing for diseases to affect older people who have learned to cope with adversity but a disease that affects youngsters is especially cruel. Just the name “juvenile diabetes” is a reason why we have to push for a cure. In addition, for your help, all I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you!

Next year, I may try riding the metric century course. Hopefully, you will still lend your support. I will ride on behalf of those who can’t and in memory of many.

Again thanks for your support. Regards,

Shawn
TeamOne