I keep my promise
A little background:
So, if you’ve been following along with my blog or at a minimum my Tour de Cure Colorado updates, you know that I made a promise to Molly back in March to ride with her in the 20k ride. You may also know that I did the 100k ride before I got back to ride with Molly in the 20k. If you didn’t know all that, hopefully you’re caught up now 
So, I finish the 100k ride, which I cut dangerously close and almost didn’t make it back in time to start the 20k ride. But with the thought of Molly in my head, I make it back, even though I had a rough patch on my longer ride. I get back, go say hi to Grams, who tells me I better get in line because they’re getting ready to go. I say hi to Sue Glass (who, i can’t remember what her position is with the Colorado ADA, but she’s important) and then I got get in line. Now, I didn’t ever find Molly in this line and I was bummed. There were so many people and I don’t know what I was thinking, thinking that I’d recognize her in her helmet. But I looked anyways.
ready to go again for round 2, ding ding, blood sugar of 157
The Ride:
Now, I’ve never been on the shortest of the rides in all the Tour de Cures I’ve done (8 up to this point) so this was a new experience for me. Talk about traffic jam, once we got going, it was difficult to not run over little kids, or adults pulling little kids, it was a struggle for me. So, once we left the fairgrounds, and got across the street to the park where we’d be riding, I pulled off to the side and let everyone. EVERYONE! pass me, for 2 reasons.
1) I still hadn’t found Molly
2) It was too frustrating for me to be in the pack of slow people
When everyone had passed me, I still hadn’t seen Molly. But I figured she could still be out there so I was going to ride this ride. And I got out there, and I rode, pedaling once every 10 minutes (at least that’s what it felt like) I had to stay unclipped so that I didn’t fall over, because traveling at 3 miles an hour on a flat, I was sure I was going to fall over.
I went traveling with the pack all the way past the photographer, where, as luck would have it, some lady decided she was going to speed past me, and all the slow people in front of me, so I had to go for a second shot with the photographer because I didn’t pass the photographers on the other routes because I had gone out early.
But, she did get a good picture of me on the second pass (she commented that I looked too happy, and all I could think was, what, should I look mad, crazed, what??? Happy fit, what can I say).
Now, because I went for the second loop I got separated from the extremely slow pack, and as I was riding along, I passed Molly. I was so excited. And she remembered me, that was even more exciting. I went along with her for 6 miles and she chatted my ear off. I heard about everything from how excited she was to be back in school, to how gymnastics is her favorite sport, to how her cousins were riding as well. It was great.
When we got to the half way point, I was not well, this is where all the gatorade from the 100k (my first mistake) caught up with me. My stomach was cramping bad, and I knew it was the gatorade because none of my usual stuff does that to me. So I checked my blood, it was 70. I treated it. I talked with Molly’s dad a bit about cycling and what it does to my blood sugars. And then, after almost crawling to the restroom, I decided I needed to hurry back to the start.
I got lost, because I missed a sign, that didn’t exist (while the path to the half way point was well marked, the return path wasn’t, and so if you weren’t looking for the original “hey go this way” arrows, you’d easily get lost), but when I got to the road, I knew I was lost because Tami had told us that if we found the road, we had gone the wrong way at the very beginning. So I turned around and found the right way. I caught up with Molly again and rode with her for a bit longer, but then eventually my stomach started cramping again so I told her I’d see her at the end and I sped back to the finish going 16mph.
About 40 minutes after I made it to the finish, Molly made it back and we got this picture:
Let me tell you, it was worth fighting the fight with the first 100k for me to get back and ride with Molly.
I went really really really fast
Some background history
In March when I made my promise to Molly that I’d ride with her in the 20k ride, I set myself up for quite a challenge. You see, 20k (or 12 miles) wasn’t going to be near enough of a ride for me. Last year, I had done the 50k (32ish miles) and that still didn’t seem like enough of a ride for me. And so, since I knew I couldn’t do 100 miles and get back in time to ride with Molly, I was going to do the 100k (62.5 miles) speed back to the finish and then go out and ride another 12 miles with Molly. That decision was made back in March, and I was going to stick to it. Keep this in mind because it’s the driving factor for my entire day.
The Metric Century (aka 100k, aka 62.5 miles)
My day started early because in order for me to be sure that I made it back to the starting line to ride with Molly I had to start my ride not with all the other 100k peeps (a 7am), but with the 100 mile (at 6am) peeps. This would give me 5 hrs to ride the 62.5 miles. That was more than plenty of time (or so I thought). So I was up early, 4:45. Got dressed, loaded my gear, and Grams and I headed to the Boulder County Fairgrounds. We got to park in VIP parking because, with the help of many friends and family, I was able to meet my $1000 fundraising goal. The VIP parking was right next to the start finish line.
Once there I did my usual put together and check my bike ritual. Once I was sure my bike was good to go, I went and got my number sticker for my helmet, made my rounds and said good morning to the peeps I knew and then some peeps I didn’t know. At some point, I assumed my position in line at the start. We were supposed to go at 6 but we didn’t, by my watch it was 6:25 so I must’ve wandered over to the start at about 6.
At The Start, blood sugar of 211 (after shoving half a powerbar into my system, it’s all i could handle)
Now, this is where things get cool, because after we sang our National Anthem, it was like the Olympics, the front of the line went off, and they set the pace, and we stayed together in a pack for a while. It was very cool. I’d like to be able to comment on how fast we were going, but I can’t, because something wonderful happened to me, my speedometer wasn’t working. Now, if you’re wondering why this was wonderful, it’s because there was nothing for me to worry about. I had no clue how far I’d gone or how fast I’d gotten there, but I was moving. We were to the first rest stop in no time, it was about a half hour to that first rest stop, and that was 9-10 miles, so I know I was moving fast. It was funny when we got there because the volunteers were yelling at us “only 90 more miles to go” and all of us were like “we’re not sure that’s what we want to hear” and we all laughed.
So here I am at the first rest stop, I was a happy camper! blood sugar was 214, ate a GU washed it down with cytomax
This next portion of the ride was my suspected favorite because I knew about the hill that we had to climb, but then all about the hill that we got to descend. Last year, my goal was to reach 30mph going down this hill, except I chickened out because there was a curve in it. This year, I went all out, and I got to 32mph on the downhill, it was very very exciting for me. I was just so very ecstatic. That I didn’t really care what else came along during the ride. I had gone faster than I had wanted to and that was enough (until something better came along).
The next rest stop didn’t seem so far from the first but I stopped anyways because I didn’t know where exactly the next one was.
still going strong, blood sugar of 189, downed a GU with some Cytomax
Ok, this next part, was a little tough, I was moving along happy go lucky when all of the sudden I’m faced with switchbacks. Do you think I paid much attention to these when I was looking at the route info, *shakes head*, no, none at all. So I start riding up them and seriously, my heart was going to beat right out of my chest, so I decided, I wasn’t going to quit, so I was going to walk. The other cyclists were real nice about it and made sure I was ok before they moved along. I’d walk a little ride a little. Let me tell you, I was so happy to get to the top of those things (even if I wasn’t done climbing, yes, there was still a little climb). The view to my left was nice though, lake Carter was there and there were boats on it. If I wasn’t in a hurry to get to the finish, I seriously would’ve though twice about taking a swim, it looked so nice and inviting.
I was happy to get to the third reststop because that meant that it was almost time for me to head back towards the start (remember, I’m still under a time crunch because I gotta make it back to ride with Molly).
I bet you wanna know why there’s still a smile on my face after the switchbacks, stay tuned, you’ll find out in a minute. My blood sugar was 137, dropping a little much for me, ate 2 GUs, washed it down with Cytomax, refilled my bottle with Gatorade (BIG MISTAKE!!!)
Ok, this is where I encounter the opening scene to the BEST part of my ride.
That sign there, “Steep Descent Ahead” made me wish that I could climb those switchbacks again just so that I could go FAST! down that hill. I asked if we should take bets on how fast we could go down that hill and people warned me to be careful because of a turn at the bottom. Do you think I listened, no, I didn’t, I almost crashed, but first, let me tell you about the best and worst part of the 100k ride.
The best part: I went speeding down that hill at 48.4mph
The worst part: The idiot in front of me that insisted on riding in the middle of the road thus inhibiting me from going over 50mph because I’m a responsible (*cough*) cyclist and refused to pass him on his right (because that’s just wrong in cycling rules) and I refused to pass him on his left because that put me dangerously close to being road kill. Stupid idiot cyclist…
So, yes, I almost crashed because I was going way to fast when I got to the curve in the road, and I felt my rear tire slip out from under me and so what did I do. I closed my eyes and said “please don’t crash please don’t crash please don’t crash” until I straightened out and was sure I wasn’t going to crash. (I know, closing my eyes, smart right). So here’s the thing about if I had crashed, I would’ve gone across the road into on coming traffic and been road kill. I’m very lucky I didn’t crash.
I rode a little bit further out of the mountains and then, I split off from the rest of the group. Because, remember, they’re going to do 100 miles, and I’m only doing 100k, so I split off from them, they went left, I went right. This was the first time where I was all by myself. And typically, I’d be scared to death, but because I was in Colorado, doing the Tour de Cure Colorado, I had confidence nothing was going to happen to me because
1) the routes were VERY WELL marked
2) there were cars driving the routes to cheer us on and make sure we were doing good
If something was going to happen to me, it wouldn’t be long before I was found, so I kept cycling. Now, I made a mistake, and that was, I flew passed the 4th rest stop, I decided I didn’t need it. I decided that I was ok. Now, I know full well that this is not something I can do. I need to stop no matter how well I’m feeling and I need to check my blood and eat GU. Here we are at mistake number 2. Mistake number 3 didn’t take long to come along either. I flew past rest stop 5. I decided that since I knew where the 6th rest stop was and I didn’t deem it too far along, that I didn’t need to stop. Call me stupid again. I paid for it, over and over again.
This next leg of the ride was painful to me last year when I did the 50k route, it was painful for me this year too. The uphills just killed me, what I did decide though, is that I can respect hills because they reward me. I go up one, I get to go down one. I did come upon that thought process as I was moving up them. But because I didn’t stop at the prior two rest stops, I was beat, I was sapped for energy, and I really was just fighting to keep going.
About 2 miles out from the final rest stop, I found a tree that had created some shade and I stopped. This was not exactly something I had done on this final trek of the ride, I had gotten off my bike and walked up the hills, but I had not stopped. This time I stopped. And for the first time in over 20 miles, I did the smart thing and checked my blood. I was 71. That was a problem there. I ate some GU (x2) and washed it down with the Gatorade. And then I let my body get ahold of my brain and I seriously thought about just lying down there in the shade and taking a nap. I was done for. (Yes, I seriously thought that.)
At this point, I knew I had to battle everything. I kept telling myself, “Courtney, you can’t give up this fight, Molly is waiting for you. You’ve got to get to the finish so that you can ride with her, you made that promise and you want to keep it. You need to keep it. You can do this.”
On that note, I slowly rolled into the last rest stop. When I got there they just looked at me and said “you look like you need something what do you need?” I said “I don’t know” and I checked my blood. It was 98. I was on the rise again. And then I asked for a Kleenex. The looks on these people’s faces…of all the things I could ask for I ask for a Kleenex. I blew my nose, ate another GU, got some more Gatorade, and when I had myself together, I smiled and captured this shot:
And then off I went. I had 45 minutes to get back and 10 miles to go. At this point, the only thing driving me was the thought of disappointing a little girl if I didn’t make it back in time to ride with her. That was not something I wanted to be responsible for. Plus, a guy asked if he could ride with me back to the start and so I had someone to ride with and that was another push for me too. His name was Dan and he had just been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes back in November and him and I chatted for a bit while we rode. It was an awesome last 10 miles. We averaged 17mph and I made it back to the start with time to spare.
Stay tuned for part 2 of my ride in the 2008 Tour de Cure Colorado, in which, I keep a promise…
Will the diabetics please stand up
Friday night was the VIP dinner for the Tour de Cure Colorado riders that raised upwards of $1000. Going to this dinner, well, going to Denver was very much like going home, I know enough people that it’s like going home to family after moving far away and then coming back to visit. I got to see many faces that I haven’t seen in a while, some since May, some since March, and some that I’ve not seen since last August.
This was the first VIP dinner that I’ve ever gone to for a Tour de Cure. I bypassed last year’s VIP dinner at the Colorado Tour de Cure to go spend time with my Grandma. This year she was with me again, but the dinner allowed for me +1, so Grams came with me.
I had to dress business casual, and while that’s not one of my favorite ways to dress, I do clean up nicely (if I do say so myself) and I did look much better than if I’d shown up in surf shorts and a polo shirt. There was lots of mingling, visiting with people I hadn’t seen in a while, and meeting new people. I didn’t pay much attention to the food because I’m not much of a buffet type of person, so I just took some cooked veggies, some fruit, and some yummily covered (most likely full of sugar) chicken (I had no clue what it was, but it was good).
There was an ice breaker at the tables, little cards laid out with questions that we could all answer. My table got hung up chatting fairly early so I’m not exactly sure that we ever got around to really reading what was on the little cards. But in my opinion, that’s a good thing. I’d say that I got lucky sitting at a chatty table, plus we sat with Steve and Linda which gave me a leg up because I already knew them.
Eventually, we got down to business and speakers came up, etc. Tami told us all about the numbers, she’s big on numbers but that’s really a good thing because we (the Tour de Cure Colorado) have the goal of becoming the number 1 Tour de Cure in the country. Last year we were number 4 and it’s kindof a crime for me to speak of the number 1 tour (ahem, Napa), but one day (one day soon), we’ll surpass them. As of the VIP dinner, we had already made it to the 3rd spot. We were over $550,000 and had almost 2000 riders I think. So Tami encouraged us to keep on raising (because we still have 2 weeks and we’re a highly competitive group) so that we could beat the current second place tour…(But I don’t remember what the amount was).
Then (and this is very important) we recognized our committee members. Now, here’s what I’ve learned, behind every great Tour de Cure, is a great committee, it is the committee members that pull these things together. I had the opportunity to sit in on a committee meeting back in May and the amount of stuff that these people are doing, it’s amazing. I didn’t realize all that goes into making a Tour de Cure happen, and I know that I still don’t have the full picture, but I have a small one:
(I’d even go so far as to say that these people are the backbone of the Tour de Cure.)
Oh, at some point, we got medals depending on how much we had raised. I got a pretty nice medal, it’s silver. I was part of the “silver spokes” peeps for raising a grand. I don’t have pictures yet, but when I do, I’ll write about that. In the meantime, there’s more important stuff to write about 
After we watched this movie:
Mari got up and talked a little about herself and the Red Rider program, but really, that is all a blur because she did something at the end that left me with goosebumps for a good 5 or so minutes and really made me a bit emotional.
She asked that if we were a diabetic we stand up, and we did, there were quite a few of us, at least one at each table, and sometimes 2 or 3. And then, everyone clapped for us. It was the strangest thing ever. It’s not the kind of thing that you typically get recognized for, having diabetes. But we were recognized and honored. And that is very much the essence of the Red Riders. I still get goosebumps just thinking about those few minutes.
And then Matt and Joe from Team Type 1 got up and talked a bit about the team and what they’re doing. They’ve got a lot going on, but you can read all about that on their blog.
I did get a picture with Matt Vogel (a fellow diabetic), Dan Holt (not a diabetic because he can’t get anyone to take his pancreas out but I did offer), and Joe (another fellow diabetic and also one of my heroes).
It was a good night and when it was all said and done, I was so wound up, that I had to go for a short jog to get all my energy out before I could go to bed and finish preparing for my ride in the 2008 Tour de Cure Colorado!
13 Things I Love about Riding In the Tour de Cure Colorado
This is my first edition of Thursday Thirteen and it seemed appropriate, that since I just rode in my last Tour de Cure of the season (well, my Tour de Cure season, there’s still a few more tours around the country happening all the way through October I think) on Saturday, that I mention what I love about riding in them. Actually, I’m going to mention what I love about riding in the Tour de Cure Colorado (because it is my favorite after all).
Note: these are in no particular order because it’d be too hard for me to arrange them from bestest to bester to best
1) The peeps of Colorado know how to do things right, there are no disappointments (thanks Sara, Tami, and committee members and all the volunteers!)
2) The people of Colorado are way friendly, you can show up to the ride knowing no one and walk away knowing more people than you’ll remember (sorry new peeps, I’m really bad with names, but if I see you next year, I’ll remember your face)
3) There are people there, with smiles one their faces, at the rest stops, willing to make you a pb&j sammich before you head off for the next leg of the ride (that’s my favorite part) but they also make sure that we’re ok if we show up looking no ok (they take care of us!)
4) You won’t get more support on a ride than that in the Colorado Tour de Cure (of course that’s based on my experience of having ridden in Tour de Cure’s in 7 different states). There are rest stops every 10 or so miles, there are people driving around making sure the riders are all ok, and all us riders support each other and make sure that we’re all ok if someone goes down or stops to rest or fix a flat.
5) They have an announcer when we come into the finish so that everyone knows we returned, (thanks Sandria) it’s just cool to hear them announce their riders and recognize that “hey, these peeps went out there and rode!”
6) This Tour, is the home of the Red Riders, it’s where it all began, it’s the Tour that has brought all other Tours the most greatest thing, bonding us all together and recognizing the diabetics. Making the ride even more friendly with all the hooting and hollering that goes on for those people in the magical red jerseys. The Red Riders really help bring to the forefront of our minds exactly what it is we’re riding for. (thanks Mari)
7) There is always plenty of food for the riders when we’re done riding. Good food too!
There are plenty of tables with umbrellas for shade for us to sit at when we’re all done riding.
9) Things don’t start getting tore down until late in the day, so it gives riders the opportunity to all come back, get fed, and mingle a bit. Plus, there are still people out by the finish line to ring the cow bells and let the riders know that they did great.
10) Each year it gets better, and each year, I know that when I go the next year, it will exceed the goodness from the prior year (and they kindof set the standard against which I measure all other rides, so really it drives improvement across the board for all Tour de Cures)
11) The routes are well marked (well, the longer routes, 50k, 100k, 100mi) there’s really no possibility of getting lost (which from an out of towner’s stand point, is very very very important, I don’t like to be scared that I’m going to get lost)
12) It’s one of the bigger Tour de Cure’s that I’ve ridden in, it might possibly be the biggest, this year there was 1990 riders, so no matter where in the pack you are, even if you get dropped to the back of the pack, you’re still with a pack of people.
13) The big routes (50k, 100k, 100mi) have big hills, but the hills reward you because you get to go flying down them, last year my goal was to break 30mph, which I did on a hill, this year down that same hill I was ecstatic to go fast, but then there was a FAR LARGER! hill that I almost broke 50mph going down (48.4mph to be exact)
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Eight is Great - Colorado Tour de Cure
In four weeks I’ll be riding in what will be the last Tour de Cure of this/my season. It’ll be the fifth one that I’ve ridden in this year. But overall, in my goal of riding in all the Tour de Cures in the country, it will be my 8th. I take that back, this particular ride doesn’t add to my overall total because I’ve already ridden in the Colorado Tour de Cure.
The Colorado Tour de Cure was the 2nd Tour de Cure that I rode in and out of the seven that I’ve done to date, it remains my favorite (although, Phoenix, AZ came in as a fairly close second this year). I’m returning to CO because, it is my favorite, it’s where I’ve had the best experience riding in the various Tour de Cure’s that I’ve ridden in.
If you’re just now hearing about me riding in the Tour de Cure and having done 7 in the last year, let me tell you what’s going on. When diagnosed with diabetes at age 11 back in 1992, I was pretty much told that exercise and diabetes didn’t quite mix. As a result, I spent the better part of 15 years not being the athletic person that I was/am. Last year, I rebelled against everything I knew and decided to start cycling. Being both the scientist and the guinea pig, I experimented with my diabetes and cycling and figured out how to cycle with my diabetes accompanying me.
I rode in my first Tour de Cure in May 2007 and was immediately hooked to the idea of riding in a Tour de Cure in every state. It became a goal to ride in every state. This year I discovered that there are currently 84 Tour de Cure’s held each year within the US. I changed my goal to ride in every Tour de Cure. Of course, there’s always the hope that I won’t get the opportunity to ride in all the Tours. There’s the hope that a cure for diabetes will come along far sooner than it does later; but until that cure presents it self, I will ride.
I ride for myself, for my family members with diabetes, for all my friends with diabetes, for those with diabetes that I don’t know, and for those that will be saved from the torment of diabetes when a cure is found.
As I prepare for the 75 miles that I’ll be riding, I need your help in reaching my goal of raising at least $1000.00 this year. Each mile I ride, each dollar I raise will be used in the fight to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.
If you would like to donate, you can do so by clicking here, or on the “Help Support Me in the Colorado Tour de Cure” image in the sidebar to your right.
No matter how small or large, your generous gift will help improve the lives of more than 24 million Americans who suffer from diabetes, in the hope that future generations can live in a world without this disease. Together, we can all make a difference!
Rather Disappointing
I’ve been dragging my feet on writing this entry. A large piece of me just doesn’t want to write it because it’s about a Tour de Cure and it’s not a good review of one. The other day I wrote of my ride in the New Mexico Tour de Cure and I purposely left out the parts about the event itself. It was just such a disappointment compared to the 6 other tours that I’ve ridden in. Even the Ft Worth, TX Tour de Cure was better than this one and last year it’s the one that I was the least happy with (because I was scared of getting lost and it had the least people of all the rides so I couldn’t always see people in front or behind me).
I took Grandma to this ride because it was in our home state and I would’ve been an ass to not have asked her to come. This was her third Tour de Cure with me, she accompanied me last year to the Colorado Tour de Cure and the Ft Worth, TX Tour de Cure. She had seen what I called my most favorite (CO, they spoiled me and ruined me for every other tour) and my least favorite (Ft Worth, TX because I was scared to death of getting lost).
I had asked Mom and Dad to come and several friends so that I could see what I was doing when I was talking about all my rides. It was rather embarrassing for them to show up to this event. Their minds will be forever tainted. They probably wonder what it is I see in these rides besides the cure for diabetes because the one they saw wasn’t that great.
When Grams and I drove up she asked where the start was, I said I don’t know because I couldn’t find the balloons. Turns out there were no balloons to mark the start/finish. CO doesn’t do balloons because they have their big sign, but CO is special and not everyone is as great as CO, so balloons are the standard in my mind. There were no balloons. We had no clue where the start was.
Even though I had checked in and gotten my number the night before the ride, I had to check in the day of the ride. They marked us off saying we had showed up and gave us a raffle ticket. I have no clue what was being raffled because I wasn’t there when the numbers were called. Not that that’s important.
After check in, I went and did my usual, “hey can you look over my bike?” REI was there and I got to talk to Chris. I see Chris from time to time in the store when I’m looking at new bike parts. He wasn’t particularly impressed with my rear brake set up. I guess the cable was out of whack. I had had to have part of it fixed when I was in CO but what Chris showed me I think was the way the bike came. I can’t remember. I told him I’d bring it in this week and he let me go.
I went an congregated where everyone else was congregated which happened to be the stage where Betsy/Lisa the tour coordinators were giving us last minute information.
Then they told us to line up by the porta potties. We all kindof looked at each other and then towards the porta potties and they had to repeat themselves before they actually got us to move. We lined up there, and then they said “ok you can go”. There was no riling us up or anything. It was kind of strange. There’s usually some kind of hooting and hollering going on at these events.
So we went off, there wasn’t much of a pack of us, and I can’t count when I ride and I’d venture to say that 50 is too high of a number and 20 is too low so we’ll go with 35. (There were probably more riders on the 75 mile route than that, but like I said, I can’t count when I ride). I got dropped from the pack fairly early (on the 4 mile up hill part) and since it was a small group to start out with it was a long while before I got passed and actually had people to ride with. It is for this reason that I like the tour’s in the bigger cities, with lots of people, lots of people on bikes. (I’m getting dangerously close to writing about my ride, so I’m gonna halt here, this is about the tour itself. If you’d like to read about my ride, you may, I’ve already written about it. It was my longest distance yet and it was a good ride.)
The first rest stop was about 22 miles out. This was a bit discomforting. In the past the longest I’ve ever had to go for a rest stop is 12-15 miles. 22 miles was a bit too far. The next following one was 15 miles out from the first one. They were decently stocked. PB&J, water, gatorade, power bars, fruits. Not the best stocked rest stops I’ve ever had (I’d say those were at the Phoenix Tour de Cure) but not the worse (I’d say those were at the Las Vegas Tour de Cure). The NM Tour de Cure was middle of the line.
On the way to the second rest stop I almost missed the turn off. I’m a bit familiar with the Jemez mountains but having never been to the Gilman Tunnels, I didn’t know where to turn. The signs were so dispersed that a couple times I was concerned I had missed my turn (there was really only 2 turns on the whole route but with the curves on the second leg it was easy to think the turn had been missed.) There were a couple people that had missed the signs for the turn and went 10 miles out of the way. I almost missed the sign because the wind was blowing so it was folded over a bit. I don’t like not being able to see signs. There (in my opinion) needs to be signs every 5 miles just to assure us riders that we’re still heading in the right direction (even if it is on a straight away). The Phoenix Tour de Cure had the best marked roads out of 7 tours and they had the nice little arrows on the road to let us know where we were headed and when to turn.
After returning to the 1st rest stop which doubled as the third rest stop I was homeward bound, well, finish line bound. But just as there was no start line, there was no finish line. It was rough going the last 22 miles. It was over 90 degrees (93 I believe) wherever the Albuquerque thermometer is (at the airport on some high pole). The temperature coming off the pavement was well over 100. Most of us that came in had little to no water in our water bottles. There was no yelling and clapping and hooting and hollering and cowbell ringing at the finish line. I came in second to last (it wasn’t a race, but that fact is important). So with my parents and Grams, and friends we brought Eddie back in. My parents said that when they got there at 10 (that’s when the first rider from the 75 mile route came back in) that there was no one at the finish line for him either. And so my crew became the finish line peeps and mom & dad said that occasionally other people would come join them and they said that maybe for every 1 out of 10 riders that went past my crew was there a hoot session for as they went into the main crowd. Mom said it was very disappointing. I wasn’t there but I have to agree with her.
When I got there there was slim pickins for food and tents were mostly tore down. This was disturbing because when we received the final instructions the day before the ride they said “Lunch and entertainment will take place from 11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Boxed lunches will be available for riders returning after 2:00 p.m.”
Now coming in at 1:30, I expect that there would’ve been slim pickins, but the box lunches should’ve already been there too. My family was there so we went to lunch, but Betsy did offer to go pick it up so that was nice of her.
The coolest thing about this event (beyond all the people I met and will probably ride with in the future) was the Red Rider t-shirt. It is by far the coolest t-shirt I have ever gotten from a Tour de Cure.
Longest Distance Yet and It Was A Good Ride
A few years ago in one of those mailer magazines you get every now and then about the city and area around you was an article about a beautiful bike ride. That beautiful bike ride took one to the Gilman Tunnels. I saved that article for a long time but never went out and rode it. There were two options from this article, one was an out and back by road and one was a loop that could be done on mountain bike.
Today, I rode the out and back path. I did my longest ride ever 74.1 miles. I rode from Santa Ana Star Casino to the Gilman Tunnels as part of the New Mexico Tour de Cure (normally I’d combine my ride with the tour review, but this time I’m separating them. My ride was good but the event was bad and thus I’m going to cover the happier part of it this time around).
This ride was monumental for me because:
1) I rode my longest distance ever
2) My blood sugar never went low (which in the past has never happened)
3) I had a good attitude throughout the entire ride (even with all the hills I tackled, I really never copped an attitude)
My morning began at 4:30 when I awoke to set my basal rates (the insulin that’s given to me hourly) to 50% of the usual amount. At this point I’m still a rat in my own experiment as I try to determine what kinds of food and insulin rates serve me best when cycling.
At 5:15 Grandma and I arrived at iHOP for my very bad ritual of pancakes in the morning before the ride. At 5:30 I was chowing down on 3 buttermilk pancakes, 2 fried egg whites, 2 bacon strips, and 2 sausage links. I bolused (the insulin that’s given at meal and blood sugar correction times) my usual amount. My blood sugar was 173.
At 6:00 we arrived, got my bike all put together, pressure in my tires checked and aired properly, drinks mixed: 1 bottle of water, 1 bottle of cytomax, bag loaded with lots of Gu and I was ready to go. My blood sugar was 227 and so I bypassed my usual Clif bar.
So before this ride my longest ride was a metric century, 62.5 miles, that I had ridden in the Phoenix, AZ Tour de Cure. I figured “hey, what’s another 12 miles”. The 12 miles really wasn’t all that much. The ride started with a 4 mile hill climb. There wasn’t much more than maybe a quarter mile of flat before the hill climb and so I was extra slow going up it. I averaged between 7-10mph going up it. Not too bad but still slow for me. Normally I’d be cursing the hills mentally and once in a while saying “I hate hills”. I’m really not a fan of them (during cycling anyways, running them is fun). But not this time.
This time, while riding the hills I thought of Mari and her telling me about Leo (I think that was his name, if it’s not it is now) and him being 80 some odd years old telling her to “feel the mountain”. Now, in the beginning I wasn’t in the mountains, not the first 20 miles, but then I got into the mountains and it was ok. I was good with the hills. I felt the hills and I did well. I also discovered that I do a lot better if I don’t keep looking for the end of the hill but rather I just look down at the ground in front of me and look up every now and then to see if I’m encroaching upon another rider’s space. Being that I had been dropped from the pack fairly early, there really was no chance of me running into anyone else.
At about 10 or so miles I get passed by two women as I had stopped to check my blood. My numbers were a little on the rise that I didn’t need anything and I opted not to bolus for my sugar of 245. So I got going again and caught up to Stephanie and Misty. Stephanie had a picture on her backpack and that struck up a conversation. Her dad died from complications caused by diabetes and she’s a high risk candidate for diabetes so that’s why she was riding. Misty was doing this ride as training for an Ironman she’s competing in this month. It was cool to talk to them they participate in triathlons. Being that I’m beginning to get into the triathlon scene it was fun to talk to them and learn the lingo and whatnot. I rode behind them for a bit until we got to a decent down hill and I went speeding along (because that’s what I like to do on the down hills).
When I got to the first rest stop and checked my blood I was at 227. It wasn’t quite as normal as I would’ve liked, but I wasn’t low either so I was excited. I refilled my water bottles, put cytomax in one of them, ate a Gu and a peanut butter and jelly sammich. That put me at 55 carbs and I was comfortable with that. It was less carbs than I usually consume at a rest point. I didn’t bolus for them, I made sure I had plenty of water with the Gu, I took a few moments to relax because I had 15 miles to go before the next rest stop and there were plenty of hills to climb. While I was chillaxing and making sure I was ready, I met Barb and Monica. Both their sons have diabetes so they were out riding. When we went off we were keeping a pace of 17mph. I couldn’t hold it for long, not but maybe 4-5 miles. They did check to see if I was ok and I just told them I was slow and I fell back.
At about 8 miles out, half way to the next rest stop I checked my blood while I was at the top of a hill (no better place to stop, because it was downhill in the next little leg until the next uphill) I was 176. I was happy with that number. I headed onto the next rest stop. There were 6 tough miles, all uphill, but I kept myself together and never fell to my usual attitude on the hills, I kept going. Slow and steady.
I liked the second half of the second leg because you could hear the running water. As I went up one hill you could hear the water falls, it was beautiful. I had to stop and take some pictures. I got all excited when I saw the tunnels. They were just cool looking.
When I got to the second rest stop, I relieved myself, checked my blood which came in at 160, ate a Gu and a peanut butter and jelly sammich, made sure I drank plenty of water, filled my bottles, mixed the cytomax. At this rest stop I met Tom, Eddie and Joy. I went off with the three of them and stuck with them through the end of the ride.
Before I got back on the main road out of the Jemez mountains I stopped and checked my blood. It was at 262. That was expected because I was only 6 miles from the last rest stop and it had all been downhill so I hadn’t done much work.
When I got to the third rest stop, I checked my blood and refilled my water bottles but I didn’t eat anything. My blood sugar was 244 and I didn’t see a reason to eat anything. That was stupid on my part because I ended up not having the energy I needed for the last 10 miles. I did make sure I was hydrated because it was insanely hot and there was no more water for 21 miles beyond what was in my bottles.
I did well for a long while on the last leg. I pushed myself probably harder than I should’ve. It was a slight uphill for a good 10 miles and I was pushing myself at 16-18 mph. I stopped to check my blood at 10 miles, I was 215 so I feel as though I made a good choice not eating anything at the last rest stop but I still had 12 miles to go and 7 of them were up huge hills. I was lacking energy at this point from having not ate.
At about 8 miles I just couldn’t go any further, I was struggling, I couldn’t take a deep breath I was almost hyperventilating. I got passed by 2 more people, I knew that Eddie was behind me and that was it. I couldn’t see him. I took a moment to relax and started heading up the hill. I had to stop often and re-relax just to make it up the hill. I was beat. I didn’t want to quit, I didn’t want to be picked up by the SAG vehicle, I didn’t want to walk up the hill. I talked myself through it, I listened to my body, I stopped when I needed to.
And I made it to the end. I was very excited when I got there, not because I had finished, but because not only was my Grandma there, but my parents where there and so were several of my friends. And they were cheering and yelling and clapping. It was a good ride.
I rode 73.73 miles. My ride time was 5 hrs 42 min and 37 seconds. My time including my stops was just under 7 hrs. I averaged a speed of 12.9 mph and I had a max of 34.9 mph. My blood sugar never went low. I met new people. And my family was there when I came in. I had a good ride.
Lucky Number Seven
Last year when I decided to ride in the Tour de Cure, I was unable to ride in my home state because the ride was the same day as my college graduation.
Last year when I went and rode in the SoCal Tour de Cure, I kindof thought that I’d ride in NM this year. What I didn’t know was that after finishing my ride in Long Beach I’d decide to ride in a Tour de Cure in every state.
Since June of last year, I’ve ridden in 6 Tour de Cures in 6 different states. Number 7 finally brings me home. For the first time I’m riding in a Tour de Cure on my turf.
I’ll be riding 70 miles this ride and I’m very excited to be doing so. I’ll be one state closer to reaching my personal goal of riding in every state. But really, my goals are nothing compared to the primary reason that I ride - for the cure to diabetes.
One day, diabetes will be cured. Until then, I ride for myself, for my family members with diabetes, for all my friends with diabetes, for those with diabetes that I don’t know, and for those that will be saved from the torment of diabetes when a cure is found. And I will continue to ride until that cure is found, whether it be before I’ve ridden in all 50 states or long afterwards.
The 70 miles will become the longest ride I’ve ever ridden. 62.5 miles (a metric century) is my current longest ride and I did that at the Phoenix Tour de Cure in March.
Actually, I’m looking at the ride route and they’re calculating the milage to be 74.4 miles, so my goal for this ride is to finish it in 5 hrs, so I’m looking at a speed of 14.88 miles an hour. There’s going to be some challenges along the way, I’m already thinking about how to handle them, the rest stops are about 15-20 miles apart, that’s half as many rest stops as I had in Phoenix, so it’s going to be a bit of a challenge. I’m gonna have to figure out how to check my blood while riding, or just wing it and eat shot bloks while I’m riding. I think I could manage to eat shot bloks while riding, checking my blood may be a little harder. With only 3 rest stops, I can still afford to spend 10 minutes at them, making 30 minutes in rest stops plus my 5 hrs for riding a total of 5 and a half hours for total tour time. That’s my goal.
My other goal is to raise $500 for this ride. If you’d like to donate, your donation is welcome.
Six Rides Under
With each Tour de Cure that I participate in I know that we’re getting closer to a cure. With each ride, I like to think that the life of diabetes becomes increasingly shortened. One day I know that I will get to bury my diabetes and that at it’s funeral, there will be a joyous celebration. The only tears shed will be tears of happiness.
I’ve shed a lot of tears over the last 16 years where my diabetes is concerned, but last year I said “NO MORE!” (Well, not exactly, but close enough. There’s still been tears, but not as many) Last year, after 15 years of battling diabetes, the disease that had controlled and changed my life, I decided that I was going to control and change it. What began as a goal to ride in one ride to show that I was ready to be in control of my diabetes quickly expanded.
When I was finished with my first Tour de Cure in Long Beach, CA, I knew that one ride wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to fulfill my craving of being an athlete, it wasn’t enough just to show once that I could take care of and control my diabetes, it wasn’t enough to bring a cure to the disease. It was only hours after my first ride that I decided that I would be riding in a Tour de Cure in every state.
My sixth ride takes me to Las Vegas, NV. And while I know that my personal goals are secondary to the primary reason I ride - for the cure to diabetes - I consider them an important part of fighting this atrocious disease.
I ride for myself, for my family members with diabetes, for all my friends with diabetes, for those with diabetes that I don’t know, and for those that will be saved from the torment of diabetes when a cure is found. And I will continue to ride until that cure is found, whether it be before I’ve ridden in all 50 states or long afterwards.
For the Las Vegas, NV Tour de Cure, I’m going to do another Metric Century, just like I did in Phoenix, AZ two weeks ago. For those of you that aren’t familiar with metrics (that would be most of us that were educated in the US), a metric century is 62.5 miles. I know that the elevation is a little higher in Vegas than it was in Phoenix, and being near lake mead there’s likely to be a lot of hills, but I believe that I can do it.
My goal is to have my ride time come in at no more than the 4 hours 30 minutes and 27 seconds that it took me to complete the Phoenix, AZ Tour de Cure. I would also like to cut my break time down from 10 minutes to 5 minutes if that’s possible. If I can do that, I’ll be completely done with the ride in about 5 hours. That’s my goal.
My other goal is to raise $200 for this ride, I’m already at $150 so I’m fairly close. If you’d like to donate, your donation is welcome.
New Feature: Past Rides
Ok, maybe it isn’t a new feature, but even on the old layout the map stopped working a short while after it came into existence. As such, I’m proud to announce that y’all can once again keep track of my rides in one easy location, the Past Rides page.
Each little marker on the map will take you to the page where I wrote about all that I thought about the ride (or most of what I thought). As an added bonus, you can see pictures of the ride as well, it’s exciting stuff!
I’m very excited myself to have this page back. I’m really liking that new markers are getting added regularly now that we’re back in cycling season. It excites me to see all the places I’ve traveled and ridden.