On the road to Port Clinton: 2005 Bike to the Bay....that's my bike just to the left of me.
I spent last weekend participating in the Reeves Northrup Memorial MS Bike to the Bay. A friend of mine from church, Doug, and I rode together on Saturday. Baically it's a 75 mile tour from Maumee to Port Clinton, then 75 miles back on Sunday. Saturday started out fine. We made good time. We left at 7:10 AM, and arrived in Pemberville for lunch around 10:15. After that the heat started to set in. It was 98 degrees on the official record, but being on the blacktop was a different story. It had to be weel over 100. We stopped at all the rest stops for ice, water, and sugar-filled food, but the heat was starting to get to Doug. We both finished the tour to Port Clinton, but Doug was starting to show signs of heat prostration. Since Sunday was predicted to be just as hot, Doug decided not to press his luck or health and went home that night with some friends.
We had vouchers to ride the Jet Express to Put-In-Bay, but I declined since it was so late in the day that if I left I wouldn't get back until after midnight. And besides, the only thing left to do there that late is go to the bars. I was tired, and the last thing my body needed in it was alcohol, especially since I had to ride back the next day. So I stuck around the campsite on the grounds of Port Clinton High and watched a little-league game.
The next day I woke up around 5am, packed my gear, and went for breakfast. They had someone set up making pancakes. And, get this, you had to catch them. The line was about 5 feet away from the griddle and the woman cooking would fling the pancakes at you... just what I needed first thing in the morning. You know, when you're in that groggy early morning mood where you can't suffer any TomFoolery... I wanted to walk right up and say "just put 3 on my plate please", but I played along and caught them as they flew my way. I finished breakfast and got out on the road at 7am.
I was making pretty good time, stopping at each rest area for only 3-5 minutes, just enough for ice, gatorade, and a twinkie. While I was riding I would pass the same person, and then later she would pass me. We were keeping the same pace, so we got to talking on the ride (we were both on our own for the day), so we decided to ride together the rest of the way. I found out her name is Julie and this is her 6th year doing Bike to the Bay. We did a constant 16mph the entire way (my speedometer isn't set correctly so it said 17.5... (Doug called it the "optimistic bike computer" on Saturday). the tour went through some of the back-country lanes of NW Ohio. God awful flat land with a lot of bumpy roads, but a least they are all paved. We got to the halfway point for lunch at 10am, and back on the road at 10:30. Soon enough we were back in familiar territory just south of Perrysburg, then along the Maumee River into Waterville. We finished the tour back in the Rec Center by 1pm, and were treated to a chicken dinner.
I said bye to Julie and went home for a nice warm bath. Overall I did okay, my muscles never cramped and I wasn't sore at all... except for the road rash from sitting on a bike seat for too long. I ended up sleeping for about 12 hours though, which I needed very badly.
I had left Ditzy home over the weekend with lots of water & food, and he was happy to see me, though I wasn't in much of a mood to play with him.
Overall, the tour was a nice experience. The riders are nice and friendly, the volunteers are everywhere: along the road in vans to pick up or help out people, bike shops have trucks to help fix broke-down bikes, volunteers on motorcycles to provide help, and at the rest stops with tons of goodies and ICE!
Most of all I'd like to thank everyone who sponsored me for their support for me and for the fight to cure MS. The figures at the end of the ride show that they were able to raise over $257,000 this weekend. Thanks everyone!
I had never rode more than 30miles in one stretch, let alone two days of 75! But, if I'm still in Toledo next year, I'll have to do this again.
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4 comments:
Congrats, congrats, congrats!!!! I'm so impressed! I thought about you this weekend, mostly wondering how you would survive the heat. Way to go!!! Did I ever remember to pledge money to any of you?
Yeah, you were one of my sponsors. I'll need to collect before the deadline around July 20th or so.
Thanks so much for your support!
Congratulations.
A new personal acomplisment, and helping others at the same time
win/win
Hi; I've done Bike to the Bay myself and it looks like I'll be doing it again this year after a two year absence. Should we expect to pass you (or to be passed by you, as is usually the case) sometime this year? I ride with The Team On Your Right. In 2004 we let one of our team members arrange for team tee shirts (which you know should've been tanks) and ended up with safety green shirts. There was no mistaking us, even when we were just little dots on the horizon!
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