Tour de Furniture

The weather for the ride this morning was absolutely perfect as we lined up at the mall to begin. I have no idea what the exact number of riders participating in the Tour de Furniture turned out to be but I would guess there were at least several hundred. They divided us up into four groups (100K, 50 mile, 50K, and 10 mile riders) and had a staggered start to allow the 100K riders to leave before the rest of us. When the 50 milers (my group) left I tried to stay with the main group. My goal was to simply finish but I wanted to best my previous time by at least 15 minutes. I do not consider myself a competitive person, but I could not help trying hard to stay near the middle of the group.

Once we left the mall parking lot and started up Johnson Street, I started looking for someone in the group who seemed to be in about the same physical shape as I was. I figured if I did that, and stuck with them, I might fair better. So, using this strategy, I picked out the old gentleman I saw hobbling across the parking lot during check-in. He looked to be about 95 years old. I set myself to the task of staying right on his rear wheel. This worked well for the first ten miles. Then, ever so slowly, I started slipping towards the back of the main pack. Before I knew it the main group, and my 95 year old lead man, were slipping away. I never did see that guy again after that.

As rider after rider began to fall off the back of the group, I ended up riding in a long string of about 20 riders. I would pass a few going down the hills (thanks to gravity and an extra few pounds) but they always passed me back before we crested the always accompanying climb on the other side. Each time it seemed like I would slip back another spot or two in the line of riders. Soon we reached the first rest-stop. A sight for sore... well anyway they had cold water. I refilled my water bottle with cold water and took about 5 minutes to catch my breath. Most of the 50 milers stopped in here and the rest-stop was pretty crowded. I decided not to doddle and used this as a chance to get ahead of some of the riders who had passed me earlier during the ride. Big mistake...

The route was fairly well marked (thanks to the local Boy Scouts) but the arrows were very small, about 3-4 inches long, so you really had to pay attention to keep from missing one. Not missing a turn while riding with the group was easy, you simply turned where they turned. Riding this ride alone was more akin to a scavenger hunt and, of course, I missed a turn. I only went about a tenth of a mile out of the way because luckily I remembered seeing the name of the road we were to turn on and stopped to checked my cue sheet to make sure. Anyway, once back on track, I forged onward.

As the morning wore on, the Sun stayed out and the temp stayed in the lower 80's. Very nice. To bad the head-winds didn't stay away. I never thought the wind would make that much difference, but riding head long into it will drain your energy worse than most hills. By this time the group was fairly well spread out. I could see a few in the distance ahead and a few more in the distance in my rear-view mirror. We were about 40 miles in and I was making decent time (avg about 16 mph so far). Then the clicking started...

I tried to ignore it, thinking it was just my over active imagination and fatigue but it kept getting louder. I found a nice place to stop (the church at the intersection of Bunker Hill road and Hwy 66) and pulled over about mile 42. I didn't see it at first but while sitting on the cobble stone wall finishing the last of my plain water, I saw the spoke sticking out. I tried to reinstall it but the little cap had fallen into the interior of the wheel and I couldn't get to it. 42 miles, 8 to go.

Within minutes a ride volunteer stopped and asked if I needed help. He called a SAG wagon and I waited for them to come get me. They offered to take me the last few miles to the finish so we loaded up the bike and headed back towards the mall, stopping at the intersections along the way to deliver cold water to the policemen working traffic for the ride. After arriving at the mall and unloading everything, I got my free Subway sub and enjoyed the ending of another great event. I am not disappointed that I did not finish the full distance. I had reach my goal of 50 miles a few weeks ago during the Operation Red Sleigh ride and I had a great time today.


Life is not a race. Enjoy the ride.

Time to get serious...

There are 8 weeks until I start my week long "Mountains to Coast" cycling adventure across the wonderful state of North Carolina and with summer classes coming to an end, the time to start getting everything ready has come. There are reservations to make, camping equipment to purchase, supplies to gather, and training plans to follow to make sure that I not only complete this epic adventure, but enjoy it as well. I have put off doing most of this until now so that I could concentrate on school and work and so that I could research equipment, supply lists, and just ride. We are still raising money in memory of Jimmy Meris. You can find more information and make donations here. Between this site and sign-up sheets at work, we have raised about $300 so far.

I have compiled a 8 week training plan from the materials available online at Cyclo-CLUB and plan to drop at least another 25 pounds before the ride. I am not interested to how fast I ride from town to town, but I certainly need to work on my climbing ability or I will not even make it out of Asheville, so a big part of my training will be working on hills. I guess I should know Caraway mountain fairly well by the end of the summer. :-)

As for the schedule of the ride, the first day, Sept 25th, we will spend enjoying the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC and spend the night camped on the estate grounds. Then, on Sunday, we start riding towards the coast, covering from 40 miles to as much as 80-85 miles on the longer days. After leaving Asheville and tackling the mountains, we will spend the next night in Marion. From Marion we go to Hickory and leave the larger climbs behind, settling into the foothills. After Hickory, we stay in Mooresville, Albemarle, Laurinburg, and lastly Whiteville. Finally, on Saturday Oct 2nd, we will arrive at Ocean Isle Beach for the end of the ride. The organizers of this ride and the towns themselves have worked had to make sure that it is a safe and fun event. Depending on the town, we will be staying at YMCAs, high school gyms, college campuses, or even rec centers. There are also options for hotels every night but that takes away from the adventure.

The plan is for Joy to drive me to Asheville and spend the day with me touring Biltmore Estate and the surrounding area. Then she will return home for the week and then meet me the following weekend in Ocean Isle. We have not spent that much time apart in a very long time. I think that might just be the hardest part of this trip.

What am I expecting? I am certain I will see the state in a new light and I plan to use this time alone on the bike to learn more about myself and the time in camp to make new friends. I expect at times to be exhausted. I expect at times to be elated. I expect in the end to be changed.