What a wonderful decade to ride! Yes it has been 10 years since I started participating in the Orlando area. I have been participating in the ADA for a total of 14 years if I count my San Diego Tour de Cure event involvement.
Thank you all for making the 2020 Tour de Cure Orlando great! You did an amazing job assisting me in raising $1,396 for the American Diabetes Association. This is a crazy and tough year to ask for donations considering all the major tragedies that happened throughout the nation. This is why I really appreciate you for what you do!
You were part of Orlando’s TeamOne’s efforts which raised over $11,657. TeamOne 2020 consisted of 16 individual riders. Considering everything everyone was going through this year, I’m always humbled and grateful for the donations we have received thus far because every penny counts. I have an ADA Tour de Cure shirt sticker for display on my cubicle in honor of every donor. You can see these in the image of yellow jerseys to the right that displays the names of my friends who donated and assisted in my climb to being a 
Champion for Diabetes. Every team member made it to Champion.
On Saturday, June 13th, I participated in the American Diabetes Association Lake Nona Tour de Cure – Virtual Tour. The temperature started in the high 70’s. Today was advertised to be a beautifully hot day with the notorious Florida wind not being a problem at only 2 – 8 mph with 9-mile gusts.
The group was going to participate in the metric century (69 miles) this year but because of not having SAG stops we decided on an impromptu 36-mile ride starting at 8:45 am.
The ride began in TeamOne fashion, all together in a group, as we crossed the imaginary starting line. The day started as a warm morning 78 degrees, Mother Nature was warming the morning up an expectedly 87 degrees. We welcomed the light breeze which began to blow at an average of 3 – 6 mph provided some cooling. This light breeze kept the temperature at an average of 80 degrees which was good for riding.
We started at a nice slowed warmup pace of 13 – 14 mph for about 8 miles, 6 miles longer than a warm should be for a 36-mile ride but we were enjoying the scenery. At on or about the 8-mile mark we took off with only one rest stop on this ride which was 12 miles away. We approached the first and final rest stop at 21 mph for 10 min break. While at the rest stop we attempted to do a live streaming interview with the ADA team but had trouble with connectivity. We recorded a video and transferred it to play at a later time so we can get back on the road.
When we left the rest knowing we were on the home stretch with only 16 miles remaining. Of course, how would you have a great ride if not into a headwind on the return? The winds picked up to 5 – 10 mph coming from the northeast which incidentally is the direction we are heading into, Fantastic!!! 🙁 🙂
Today, the rest of the team finished strong by charging down Lake Nona Blvd while fighting the headwind with a sense of accomplishment.
We rode once again as a team, in a line, and it looked great to see the “SAIC” jerseys all lined up moving down the street for the sixth year. We were five riders strong on this event. A sight to see as team members riding together across the finish line. A perfect day without incident!!! 🙂
I believe that “A person’s true wealth, is measured by the good they do in this world!” … for this, you should feel wealthy and very good about yourself!
Images of the day can be seen on the team story page: https://teamonecycle.com/2020/06/lake-nona-fl-ada-tour-de-cure-14/
Event Day Statistics
This is the course charted for the 50-mile route.
Consumption (during the ride)
- 0 pcs – Pickles slices
- 0 oz – Pickle Juice
- 24 oz – Water
- 24 oz – INFINIT* Sports Drink
*INFINIT (ifinitnutrition.us) Sports Drink is a powder that mixes with water and provides a customizable amount of amino acids, caffeine, calories, electrolytes, flavor, protein, and/or sodium.
