I bought a roadbike
This morning I woke up and told mom I was buying a new bike. She asked why and I responded because I wanted a road bike. This has been coming for a while…well, a week. A week ago I decided I needed a road bike. Heck, it’s not even been a week. And actually, the deciding factor was the Longmont, CO Tour de Cure. It’s all due to all the people that told me I was crazy for 1) riding my mountain bike for that ride, and 2) riding it (the mountain bike) with nubby tires.
So today, not quite a week from the ride, I’ve decided I’m buying a road bike. And I did a little research and asked around and went to Performance Bicycle yesterday and they’re holding a bike for me. That bike happens to be a Fuji Finest 2.0. It’s not pink like in the picture though, it’s more of a lavender color.
Here, it loves to model, from the left:
and from the right:
So, I went and bought that bike, and I’m so excited. I can’t wait to take it out for a ride. This week has been crazy at work so a nice long 30 mile bike ride should do me well. And completing that ride on a brand new bike, it makes me even more excited 
Let the good times roll
Whoop! For the RED Riders
While I much expected the Longmont, CO Tour de Cure to follow suit of the SoCal Tour de Cure that I did in May, I was much surprised to see that this one was better organized from the moment I walked onto the fairgrounds, actually, let’s back up, to the moment I drove onto the fairgrounds. There were people directing the traffic instead of making us fend for ourselves in the parking lot (which is what we did in CA, we parked wherever we wanted because there was nobody out there directing us in any kind of civilized matter, of course I didn’t blog about the parking in CA because it wasn’t important at that time, but now that I have something to compare it to and CO’s parking situation was much better. I feel the need to mention it. But I digress.)
When we got out of the car and got my bike put together I noticed that my front tire needed some air. It had been a long time (several years) since I had to use the hand held pump and I couldn’t remember how attach the pump nozzle onto the valve. I had it backwards. When I was a kid the pump we had the lever had to be up and when you put it on the valve you pushed the lever down. That’s the thinking I had when I tried to attach the nozzle of the hand held pump to my tire valve. It wasn’t happening and I knew that they would have bike technicians to help me out. Sure enough, as soon as we entered the fair grounds there was a young man servicing bikes at the Schwab Cycles Tent. I told him that I needed air in my front tire, he lifted the bike to his work stand, added air to the front tire and then proceeded to check the air in the back tire and check and adjust the brakes on both tires as well as check that the gears were changing properly.
When I had my act together, we walked through the entrance of the Tour de Cure official entrance place (*shrugs* I don’t know what it’s officially called)
And into a world of friendliness. People had no problems talking to you. People I didn’t know. I knew my grandmother she was with me. And I had met like 3-4 others that I actually remembered their names the night before at early check in. I’m going to say that this friendliness spawned from two things: first, it was CO and not CA so people weren’t as full of themselves; and second, I was a RED Rider and I had the jersey, so people knew I was riding with diabetes (I blame that on Mari Ruddy).
Since I had gone through the registration process the night before the ride (preregistration is a great thing) there was no need for me to visit the registration table on the day of the ride. Which was great, because the lines, well, there were lines and who wants to stand in line 
Although, I do have to say this, their registration process was very organized compared to CA’s registration process. Here they had all the stuff we needed in envelopes, our numbers, our maps, etc. We just told them what team we were on (because that’s how they had us organized) They asked us for our emergency form and our fundraising envelope and they gave me my envelope and I was on my way. (And this was the way it was on ride day too, anyone who had registered online they had an envelope for.)
Since I had previously checked in (previously being the night before) all I had to do was get my goody bag and t-shirt. What was cool about this is that before they would give me either, they wanted to know that I had, 1) checked in and 2) that my bib was properly attached to me. They marked it off and gave me my goodies and sent me on my way
Grams and I walked around for a bit after checking my bike into the valet parking lot (something only available in CA to those of us that had raised $1k or more) But it was cool to be able to put my bike somewhere and not have to watch after it while I’m waiting for start time.
After having parked my bike we went and checked out the RED Rider tent to see if there was anything that Grams could help with (I mean, it was going to be at least 2.5-3 hrs before I returned back to her and she didn’t have much to do except read a book and crochet)
The RED Riders tent was right next to the start line so of course I had to go stand there and have a picture taken.
10am was start time and at about 9:45 we all started to congregate and line up. I was able to start a conversation with a nice man named Ross, actually, he started a conversation with me. The whole nubs on the mountain bike that I shouldn’t be riding in the first place on the road…yeah, that starts conversations (note to all: if your riding on the road with your mountain bike, get slicks)…
When it was all said and done, and we were allowed to go, it was about 10:15. The coolest thing about them taking their time to get us started (they had a lot to say) was that they told us to recognize the RED Riders. If there was someone in the special jersey (see me in my jersey above) we were supposed to “Whoop! For the RED Riders” I think this really drew us all together. It was cool to be riding along and as I was being passed I’d hear that. It was like each of us had our own cheerleaders riding along with us and cheering for us.
Ross and I rode together and talked for about 4 or 5 miles, which was where I met with my first hill of the ride and couldn’t any longer keep up with him (of course, had I been able to keep up with him at that hill, I would’ve fell behind later on because he didn’t stop at any of the rest stops.)
The first rest stop was at approximately 9 miles into the ride. I didn’t waste any time, I got off my bike, took a picture, checked my blood, ate a hammer gel, drank some water and went on my way.
What sucked about this stop was that immediately after this stop I had to go uphill. What was great about going uphill is that I got to go downhill (and I would’ve tried for my 30mph except that there was a curve in the downhill). The bad about that downhill was that I then had to go back up a hill. That hill, I checked, I was going up at 3mph, it sucked, but not as bad as this other hill, that I’ll discuss in a bit.
At 14.5 miles I got to stop again (at the top of a hill of course). I did the routine rest stop stuff: took a picture, checked my blood, ate a hammer gel, drank some water and went on my way. And actually, it was at this rest stop that I picked up a new group of cheerleaders. They took my picture and whenever they would pass me they would encourage me by saying, “come on Albuquerque, you gotta make it to the end so we can say that you rode the entire way”. They were cool, I’d pass them at stops but they’d quickly pass me (as was the case with all stops and people that passed me and I likewise passed)
This leg of the ride between the 2nd and 3rd rest stops was the roughest for me. The hills were brutal. There was this one hill, it was awful, I couldn’t have been in a lower gear (cause there was no lower gear to go into). I was pedaling so hard and I was barely moving, but I was moving. There was this one lady, another diabetic. I didn’t ever get her name, but she encouraged me all the way up that hill, she was awesome. What was cool about this hill was the down hill that preceded it. I almost got to 30mph, I got to 29.9 mph, and had I not arched my back to look down at my speedometer, I probably could have made it to 30 mph, I was so close.
The 3rd rest stop was at approximately 22 miles. I didn’t get a photo here. I was exhausted. I did my stuff, had to get more water because I had gone through my entire camelbak, and my water bottle. I wanted to get back to the start as quick as possible, this was probably my shortest rest stop at less than 2 minutes (where the other stops I maybe was there 2-2.5 minutes)
The last stretch wasn’t too bad, it was about as good as the first stretch. It was cool to see skydivers on the way back, of course at about the time I yelled out “oooh skydivers”, my cheerleaders rode past me and yelled “focus Albuquerque, you’re on a bike, you don’t have time to stop and watch”
I finished the ride in 2 hrs 44 minutes (and 24 seconds if you must know) actually, that was my ride time, so if you factor in my 2 minute stops and what not I think I was at 2 hrs 50 minutes. The total distance was 32.01 miles. My avg speed was 11.6 mph my fastest speed (as I previously mentioned) was 29.9 mph. It was a very good ride. Much more enjoyable than my CA ride. And I think that was totally due to the the “Whoop! For the RED Rider”
Pre-Packet Pickup
The Early Bird Check-In Party (as it was called for the SoCal Tour de Cure) was not something that I got to attend. It was the Wednesday before the ride and we weren’t arriving in CA until Thursday night. For the Longmont, CO Tour de Cure, there were originally two dates scheduled for Pre-Packet Pickup. The Wednesday before the ride was one of those times as was the Friday before the ride. The Wednesday date got canceled and I’m glad that it was the Wednesday date instead of the Friday date.
We got into Longmont, CO with plenty of time to go to the pre-packet pickup event for the Tour de Cure. It was awesome to get to get checked-in the night before the ride. I didn’t have to deal with any lines the morning of the ride.
They had a line going on with multiple people handing out our packets. All I had to do was tell them what team I was on (because that’s how they had us organized) They asked us for our emergency form and our fundraising envelope and they gave me my envelope and I was on my way.
They were very nice and friendly and they had their acts together. Our packets contained a map of the fairgrounds so we knew where everything was located, maps of our routes, our bibs with our numbers on them. It was all very well organized (something I couldn’t say for the check-in the morning of the SoCal Tour de Cure but I also don’t know how their Early Bird Check-In Party went as I couldn’t attend.) But CO even had the packets if you didn’t pick them up early, so they still 1-up’d CA in that respect.
The Pre-Packet Pickup was at the Radisson in Longmont CO where the people that raised $1k or more were going to have dinner with Greg Lemond. Even though I had the funds to take me to 1k I decided not to do it because grandma was with me and for her to have dinner with me while I was having dinner with Greg Lemond was going to cost another 1k (which I thought was a bummer because Gram’s wasn’t even riding.) In not giving my extra $500 (which is going towards my next ride instead) I also forfeited my opportunity to meet him on ride day and I also forfeited my entrance into the VIP tent and my membership in the Trail Blazers Club. I was kindof bummed but I didn’t let Gram’s know because she was so excited to be there with me and be spending time with me and that was important to her (plus, she now gets to accompany me on another ride this year because I have the cash for sponsorship).
The coolest thing to me about the Pre-Packet Pickup was when I walked in there was this lady (these poor people, I just don’t remember their names) said hi and asked if I was a RED Rider. I said I believe I am and told her that I was supposed to be switched to that team earlier in the week. Another lady, who happened to be Mari Ruddy (the brains behind the RED Riders) asked me my name and when I told her she said “yes, you most definately are a RED Rider” They told me to get my packet first and then come back to their table because they had a jersey, t-shirt, and water bottle for me.
Lisa was who I had the fortunate of talking to when picking up my packet. I had had several conversations with her prior to me registering for the ride when I was wanting to get information. She seemed like a really nice lady and sent me everything I needed and she was just as nice when I met her, CO has some great people working for the ADA and just meeting them and seeing the things that they had done to make the ride easier for us really just made me want to make the Longmont, CO Tour de Cure an annual event.
When I went back to talk to Mari she gave me the shirt and jersey and water bottle, tried to give me a One Touch Ultra Mini blood glucose monitoring machine (they wanted to make sure that all diabetics were testing their blood along the ride). She told me about the RED Riders tent and how a couple of the riders from Team Type 1 were going to be there. Mari was so nice and so excited, it was incredibly encouraging. She told Gram’s that she could help out if she wanted (which was good for Gram’s because I really didn’t want her to sit around for 2.5-3 hrs bored out of her mind).
Even thought I was only at the Pre-Packet Pickup for maybe 10 minutes it was awesome and it really set the stage for a great ride the next day
Riding with the RED Riders
I got a phone call from a guy (who’s name escapes me) from the ADA headquarters in Longmont, CO to talk to me about the Tour de Cure. This is the usual, “hey you’re a team captain” call. (At least I think that’s what it is. I mean, that’s what I think it is, I did get the same type of call from a guy in CA about a week before that ride.) I told him that my team had fallen apart and that I was riding solo. He said he was sorry and I said that’s ok, “is it ok if I switch to the RED riders?” He said sure, are you a diabetic and I told him the story: I’m a diabetic I was diagnosed when I was 11. I decided this year that I was going to be proactive about having diabetes and trying to get rid of it and thus I was going to ride in a Tour de Cure in every state. He said that was cool, that he’d get me switched to the RED Riders and that he’d see me at the ride.
I have to take a moment to explain the RED Riders to you, it’s monumental to me. I saw the team when I registered and thought that it was way cool, but I also thought I had a team so I registered with my own team. I digress, back to the RED Riders we go.
Mari Ruddy came up with the idea of RED riders, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a better idea when it comes to battling diabetes, I don’t know her personally, I’ve never met her, she’s in CO and I’m here in NM, I’ve not talked to her, but I’m on her team, because she’s onto something BIG!!! and I want to be part of it.
This is what Mari had to say about it on her TdC page:
“I decided to walk my talk, or rather in the case of the Tour de Cure, to ride my talk. This year I’m on the organizing committee and my area is diabetic rider recognition!!! Plus, I want to have the BIGGEST family and friends team… so come one, come all, join the Red Riders…
What does Red Riders mean? Well…
R=riders
E=eliminating/eradicating/evicting
D=diabetes
Or, like superheros, together we are wearing our red capes as we sail on our bikes to celebrate the courage it takes to live every day as an athlete or person with diabetes.
And, well, I just like the color red, and as luck would have it, it’s the diabetes “color” much like pink is the breast cancer color. ”
Just as Mari decided to “ride” her talk in the case of the Tour de Cure, I’m following suit. I’m following suit, because yeah, I can ride to help fund the the search for a cure to my disease, but people don’t know when I’m riding that I actually have what we’re all riding for.
Mari told us “If you are a person surviving diabetes, I implore you to ride this year and do everything you can to declare your status, so others on the course and in the wider community have the opportunity to celebrate and be inspired by you… This year, and from here on out, we must be visible and proud. You did not ask for your membership into the diabetic fellowship, but here you are and how you activate your membership is up to you. I ask you to get on your bike and ride strong and sure. The ride itself is the affirmation of your courage and perseverance.“
I’m riding and I will show that I can ride with diabetes and be strong and live life to the fullest. That’s what riding means to me, that meaning is strengthened as I ride as a RED Rider on August 25th in the Longmont, CO Tour de Cure.
My Jersey Came!
I was so excited to go to the mailbox today. My jersey came (and my socks too but they’re not as important). This is my first real official jersey and I’m excited to have it and I’ll be riding in it in the CO Tour de Cure in August. Here’s some pictures:
The Front of the Jersey:
The Back of the Jersey:
2007 Tour de Cure Jersey
I received my redemption certificate today for my participation reward from the Tour de Cure. I’m so excited as I’ve been waiting for it. Like I mentioned when I filled out the SoCal Tour de Cure feedback form a month ago, I wanted nothing else other than a jersey and my time has come. I’m getting my jersey. It’s really exciting. I just can’t express that enough. I should be getting it soon, when I do, I’ll post some pics. In the mean time, feast your eyes on this:
