What a Ride!

This post may be a little bit overdue, but it was still a great day, so why not write about it 🙂

Last Saturday was the 25th annual Trek 100 Ride for Hope- a charity ride for the MACC Fund (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer)- which raises money to support research on curing childhood cancers. The president of the company announced before the ride that, over the past 25 years, this event has raised over $5 million dollars for cancer research and has helped the cure rate go from 20% to 80%! What an amazing thing to be a part of 🙂 I am so thankful to all those who donated and everyone who supported me for the ride!

Here is Howie all ready to go! Thanks to Jake for getting him all set  🙂

One of my favorite parts of event day, whether I am running, biking, or spectating, is the national anthem. This tradition started soon after the U.S. got involved in WWI when Major League Baseball games began participating in patriotic rituals. During the seventh-inning stretch of game one of the 1918 World Series, as the band began to play “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the players turned to face the flag and stood at attention. The crowd, already on their feet, began to sing along and applauded at the end of the song (briancain.com). I love this part of the morning because it encourages everyone to pause their bodies and minds, and reminds us how fortunate we are to be in the land of the free, thanks to the brave. Last Saturday morning, as a young girl sang the anthem, the grandeur and warmth of her voice allowed us to focus on why we were gathered there- to ride for those who needed us.

Once we all re-fastened our helmets, we lined up and were eager to get riding!

This year there were far few riders on the full 100 mile course compared to when I did this ride in 2011. Therefore, I was quite spread out from the other riders for the majority of the ride, but I enjoy riding solo, so I just kept a consistent pace on the flats and into the wind, powered up the hills, and breathed in the scenery. I  felt surprisingly well energized for the majority of the ride- of course my legs felt like bricks by the time I reached the Starbucks line back at Trek Corporate 🙂

For the most part the ride was uneventful for Howie and I….thankfully. The only hinderance was a minor bee sting for me around mile 52, but Howie held up wonderfully!

 These are literally REALLY good- they were at the last aid station I stopped at and really helped me power through the head wind during the last 25 miles…yum! Fuel during a ride of this length is highly important! (Famous Dave’s at mile 30 was also quite delicious!)

Apparently somewhere near mile 82 I decided that 100 miles wasn’t enough, so I took a small detour with a couple other riders (turns out we missed an arrow that had blown over). Luckily we realized pretty quickly that the 60 mph highway was not part of the intended course experience, and we found our way back on course. At that point the clouds were rolling in, my legs were morphing into bricks, and I had one goal–get to the finish!

What a ride indeed- hard, but for a great cause- definitely some positive stress for my body 🙂

 Finisher Medal- in the car- ready for a shower!