The Biking Fools: A weekend of biking for two good causes! Wear Yellow Nebraska ride and the Tour de Cure

We all love to bike. Weekend warrior, Monday Night Ride junkie, or just plain casual trail rider. It's all good. But last year, I realized that I'm too slow to podium finish in any bike race. I love to bike, but I like to take my time to talk to fellow riders and to snap pictures. I'm not fooling anyone, it's my chance to catch my breath!!! Nothing wrong with that. This year, there have been two sets of races and I've missed both. Was I physically ready? Maybe. Would I finish strong. Doubt it!? When I heard that Paul was doing the Tour de Cure for diabetes, I looked into it. Fifty miles? Yikes! But if others can do it, then why can't I? It wasn't a race, but go at your own pace and just finish type of deal. So I signed up and won a bicycling jacket! Next came the fundraising. I hate asking people for money, but since this went to a good cause, I wasn't too worried. I quickly raised $350 that went to the American Diabetes Association and thank you to all those that sponsored me!

Won two raffles. Got some Twin Six schwag through WYN

Won this jacket at the free registration night for Tour de Cure

I've got crabs! The WYN kind...

Natalie and Amanda enjoying some pancakes. The Tang just ended up on the table for both

Other races pop up along with various rides and charity type runs. Wear Yellow Nebraska was doing their ride the day before the Tour? Hmm...why not? I had fun last year. So I signed up for the easy 12 mile ride that went around Chalco Hills. Well funny thing is that I missed both groups going out and ended up riding alone around the lake. Got in 18 miles on Saturday. Beautiful morning, sunny and 72 degrees. I can't complain! Chris Cakes was there with pancakes and sausage for afterwards, along with a raffle. Ended up seeing Dave P and Natalie afterwards, they rode the 30 mile loop. Turns out that there were about 200 registered riders total!

Lori, myself, Paul, and Jim before the Tour

It took teamwork to get the ride numbers on each other's backs!

Some three wheeled madness!

Saturday done, feeling good. Bike is in good working order. Rest up and get ready for Sunday's big ride! Four hours of sleep later, the alarm clock was going off at 5am. Paul was picking me up at early o'clock. The Tour started off in Springfield, NE and made its way out to Elmwood. I'm thinking Elmwood? They were in the same district as us when I was in high school (Waverly, district 145). Wow, it would be a far ride! The weather was perfect and the rain held off. BUT, four things were not going as planned. The Go Pro was out of juice from the WYN ride from the day before. Didn't anticipate that. Second, there was a terrible headwind that followed us the entire first half of the ride as we made our way out west. Lots of hills to climb, you get to the top. And boom, the wind just hit you. There was no break at all! Third, I was cramping up by mile 20. I was afraid of this. I stretched and walked around a little bit at Elmwood - Murdock. Should I turn around? But after making it that far. There is no turning around. Five more miles till the turnaround point. Can't let the others, and mostly myself down. Keep pedaling! Fourth and I haven't learned my lesson yet. After you change out the cleats in your shoes. Be sure to check for loose screws! I thought my Shimano spds were just more loose compared to my Time Atacs so I didn't think anything about it. Well as soon as we exit the turnaround point, I realized that I couldn't clip back in. Not that big of a deal since it wasn't like having to stand for singletrack. So I just turned the cleat until it would fit into the pedal. Once we got back to Elmwood Murdock, I stole a screw from my bottle cage attachment on the downtube and walla! Problem fixed! I was ready to roll with the wind at my back.

It would be 4.5 hours before I would see that banner again!

We were ready and roaring to go!!!

Finally 4.5 hours and 50 miles later, the group and I made it back to Springfield. It was an awesome feat to finish considering that I have never ridden anything over 20 miles. Yes it was all paved road. But the hills and the wind was enough to make me want to turn around. Thanks to all who sponsored me and gave me the motivation to try something like this. Thanks to Paul, Jim, Lori, and Andy for waiting for me at the top of the long hills on Church Road. Cramping sucks and creeps up on you in both legs. Thanks for the stops every 10 miles that were great places to hop off the saddle and stretch. And thanks to NE Brewing Company for letting me be on their team. As a team, we raised $6,900.98!!! Way to go!