Sunday, October 20, 2019, TeamOne riders joined in on the Champions Ride for Charities for a day of fun, sun, and wind – with a bit of riding thrown in.

The Ride

With an early start at 4 in the morning, the team started the readiness ritual. Bikes, helmets, gloves, electronics, shoes – check! All bikes on the bike rack – check! Coffee — a must – check! Now off to the ride – a 45-minute drive but well worth the effort.

All the team members checked in and picked up their packets at registration. They were ready for today’s fun. A massive number of riders started heading toward the starting line. A display of the Colors and opening ceremony made for a patriotic start, appropriate for the support of the charities today, police and firefighters.

There were 4 routes to select from 10, 36, 66, 103 miles. The century and metric century started at 7:30 am; 36 at 7:40. The TeamOne group decided on the 36-mile route. Training season hadn’t really started, so this day was filling in as a training session.

The day was bright, sunny, HOT, and HUMID! Typical Florida weather. Even though the sunrise was at 7:29 am, the day started out warm in the low 80’s. It got up to the mid-’80s — with high humidity that made it feel like the mid-’90s.

With a few minutes of instructions, the ride started and off went the crowd of riders. Lake Mary offers beautiful tree-lined roads and plenty of green grass. Even though the riders were off to a quick start, they took in the beauty surrounding them while it was still slightly cool.  A good clip, they settled in for the ride. The miles were rolling by. Not too many cars but a lot of turns.

The first (and only) SAG stop was at mile 19. There were plenty of refreshments and smiles waiting. PB&J, pickles, Gatorade, water, and assorted snacks were quickly gobbled up. While eating and drinking the refreshments all the riders tried not to fall victim to the fire ants. All the rain the day before and the water-soaked grass had those fire ants on a warpath. The team managed to not get bitten but was feeling the day’s heat. It was only 9 am and the day was already hot. It’s October why was it still so hot? Other parts of the country have already experienced snow. Welcome to Florida!

After a 15 minute stop, the group got underway for the rest of the way to the finish line. The winds were picking up. Catherine, Z, and Shawn rotated as the lead. Then, suddenly, at mile 32 – POP! It was a loud one, too. The front tire blew out. Z quickly pulled to the side. Unfortunately, his day of riding was over. The front tire had a large flap cut through. The rest of the team went on to the finish line. One of the SAG (Velofix) vehicles stopped, picked up the stranded unfortunate rider, his bike, and provided transportation to the finish line.

Once Z rejoined the team, they all enjoyed the delicious lunch together. Hamburgers, hotdogs, mac-n-cheese, meatballs, veggie balls, coffee, soda, and water were plentiful. Local representatives from Foxtail coffee offered both hot and iced coffee. It was a great success. Riders enjoyed the food and great conversation, catching up with each other.

Now…ready for next ride!!

Event Day Statistics

This is the course charted by one of the team members who participated in 36 mile route.

 

Video

Photos

Ciao,
TeamOne