Tour de Cure Day 1

The Tour is finally here! The excitement has culminated in a huge mass of riders ready to ride. I was prepared for just about anything I could imagine. We got our jerseys and were well represented with almost 25 riders. Being the largest fundraising team from last year we got the honor of starting at the front of the pack.


The first position for starting did not last long. The police escort, which was supposed to be going at 12-15 mph, took off at about 20-25mph and the fast riders were off right behind it. I was doing pretty well and keeping fairly close to the lead pack and the escort for about 3 miles until my chain got stuck and I had to wait for ALL the riders to pass me to get assistance from the support vehicle. Support was in the form of getting a ride to the first rest stop about 4 miles down the road. My luck being so wonderful, the support driver got lost and then I was stuck still at the end of the riders at the rest stop. Fortunately for me, the mechanic at rest stop 1 was my good mechanic from the Bicycle Chain who got me fixed up in no time flat.

Off to the races again I hit the road with enthusiasm and actually passed quite a few riders on the way to the next rest stop. I was kicking into high gear and cruising along a a good clip and then I see people heading in the opposite direction! I was like, did we all go the wrong way? I soon asked a passing teammate who said to keep going I was on the right track. When I finally got to rest stop 2 I found out that those people were turning around and going back, they were doing the 40 mile ride. I got to stand in line and wait 5 minutes to use one of the 2 port-a-pottys that was at this stop. I realized that it would probably be a good idea for the future to have lots of toilets at the first 2 rest stops since, 1) there are more riders with the 40 mile riders using these stops, 2) the pack is closer together and will get more spread out as the day progresses, 3) everybody starts the day overly hydrated and needs to get rid of that extra liquid fast.

So After a long wait for some much needed relief and a quick refill on the water, I was off to the races. I started recognizing familiar stuff from my backroads trek to work and realized where I was riding. I was on Old US 1 near the New Hill-Olive Chapel Rd entrance to the Tobacco Trail. Ah the memories of those training rides... now I'm actually doing the ride. Woo Hoo! Keep pedaling. Well I really am liking the trail for this ride so far. There are nice forested areas all around and it is quite scenic. I figured after seeing the next rest stop that I didn't really want to slow down so I kept going. Kick it into gear for rest stop 4! Wow, I turned onto a nicely paved road. What county is this? They do good roads, I should consider riding here more. Still lots of nice trees and scenery and even a few streams and rivers that I'm crossing over. Cruising along... holy crap I'm in Sanford! How the hell did I get here? well I guess I should watch out for the cars since there is actually quite a bit of traffic in Sanford. Oh, there's a bunch of people up there, should be the rest stop. How do I cross all this traffic to get there... oh wait, they're selling crap. Just a crap sale, keep riding. Here we go, school on the right with some riders and tents for lunch. I met up with some of Team Campbell here and actually got some food to chow on and sat down for a few minutes.

Onto the races for rest stop 5! I left with about 5 other members of team Campbell. We did a very fast clip for a while. I was a good back position with the only mirror and being able to call out warnings for cars being behind us. We at some points hit about 30mph. It was all pretty good until we hit a huge hill. It was more like a cliff about 500 ft straight up with a road on it. Somehow everyone else on team Campbell managed up it with some effort. My climb was much slower. I stopped. Then I started and stopped again. Then again. And one more time. Finally I made it to the top, but I was wiped out! My computer stopped working at some point on the climb which also was helpful in demoralizing me after the huge hill. Shortly after the cliff I climbed was rest stop 5. The mechanic at rest stop 5 was very helpful and wasn't able to fix my computer (it was a moving magnet) but he was able to rig it to work with a lot of electrical tape. The magnet isn't moving now.

Off toward rest stop 6, the water tower. Starting to cramp a bit. Aching, but keep pedaling through it. People with diabetes can't just stop having diabetes, so I should just suck it up like them. With everything that came up making me want to stop I kept telling myself, diabetics can't stop, so keep going. The scenery isn't as nice at this point, but I keep pedaling. At rest stop 6 my lovely wife is there cheering me on. I stopped and hung out for a while with her and Ashley. It's mile 50, I'm exhausted... but diabetics can just stop being diabetic when they're exhausted!

Off towards rest stop 7. Pedal pedal pedal. There were some guys riding not far behind me on this leg which had some setup with music playing. They were hilarious older men who were glad to stop where ever I made a stop and set up a mock rest stop. The stops were becoming more and more frequently with the hills getting longer and longer. My cramps were happening more often and I kept stopping to stretch them out. I was guzzling gatoraide by this point and finally I saw the rest stop 7. Lots of stretching, chugging gatoraide, and more stretching. I can do this, because diabetics don't stop. (sooner or later this horrible comparison had to stop, but it didn't at this point I really kept saying it to myself and it worked to keep me pedaling)

On towards the final rest stop. Rest stop number 8 just on the horizon... 10 miles away. Each little hill is like a mountain. I stop every half mile or so to stretch out my cramps. I'm in bad shape. I am going to have to stop soon, but not yet. I keep pedaling. Finally I cramp and can't stretch it out. A SAG (support) truck comes up and offers me a ride. Reluctantly I accept the offer and 2 other riders join me on the ride to rest stop 8. This SAG driver is very nice and offers to take us to the finish line, but all of us riders say that we'd like to try and keep going from stop 8. Rest stop 8, I join up with many team Campbell members and decide to continue on with them. I stretch out as much as I can and drink as much gatoraide as possible.

I soon leave with team Campbell for the finish line. OUCH!!!!!!!!!!! My right leg starts cramping something crazy! I stop near the top of the first hill, a couple hundred yards from the rest stop (bad sign). I stretch out that leg. I finish up the hill and at the very top of the hill my left leg cramps. It is cramped straight. I can't bend it at all. I can't move. Dr Cisneros offers to ride down the hill and get SAG help. I tell him to keep going I'll make it back down. I turned around and still couldn't get my leg on the bike because it couldn't bend at all! I rode down the hill with one leg sticking straight out. The day is done for me. I can't do any more. I get back to the rest stop and a SAG picked me and another member of Team Campbell up for the finish. We were given a ride to the finish line, but were allowed to get out and walk our bikes through the finish line ourselves.


I finished the day with 60 miles completed. Upset that I didn't get it all done, but happy to have gone more than I'd ever ridden before.

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