Tour de Cure July 28, 2012

[DarcyInOregon]

Your training rides sound fun. I signed up for the Tour De Cure here in NY but there are no training rides. You are lucky.

Savra, I wish you could participate in training rides in your area. It takes a lot of volunteer effort. On your Tour de Cure event page, there should be a contact, someone like the Event Director, and you might email and ask why there are no regularly scheduled group training rides. Perhaps there are rides, and you are not getting notified, or maybe your TDC plans on starting training rides soon.

[DarcyInOregon]

The training ride on April 21 was up the Historic Columbia River Highway, which entailed continuous miles of climbing, including one Category 4 climb and one Category 5 climb. This highway is a recreational road, winding into the heart of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. At the top, the views were spectacular. The descent was exhilerating. All levels of cyclists participated, and the beginner cyclists rode as far as they could, then turned around.

This Saturday the training group participates in the Salem Bicycle Club's first metric century of the year, though newer cyclists might opt to ride only half of the metric. Most of the members will be wearing a Tour de Cure jersey while riding. The cyclists with diabetes will be wearing either a Red Rider jersey or a team jersey. The non-diabetics will be wearing either a Tour de Cure jersey or a team jersey. If anyone sees a Team Red jersey on Saturday, that is my team!

[DarcyInOregon]

The Tour de Cure resumed Saturday training rides after two Saturdays of biking in the local bike club event rides. Today 55 cyclists joined together to ride in Vancouver, Washington. The longer route biked quite a few hills, and the shorter route was an out-and-back along the Padden Bikeway. After the rides there was a congregation of most cyclists at the Event Director's house for a backyard picnic. I wasn't able to attend because a rail on my Brooks saddle snapped, I had to take a SAG ride back to the start, and I drove off to get to my LBS for a fix so I can ride again tomorrow. :-(

[DarcyInOregon]

Over 60 cyclists showed up to ride the two routes on Saturday. This time we didn't have enough volunteers. Our Ride Director and Event Director were at the first Tour de Cure in Spokane, Washington, and some of the ride assists were missing. I volunteered to be the Ride Leader for the short ride of 14 miles. However on the 34-mile route there were not enough Ride Assists in the middle of the pack to stop and direct cyclists at the correct turns, and two packs of cyclists took wrong turns and ended up having some extra miles. The Ride Director will proably write an email memo on how to read cue sheets. :-)

It was a great day, in the low 60s on the bike, all sunshine, and no wind.

Next week is Memorial Day Weekend, so there isn't a training ride scheduled, and the following week is the Portland Century, and members of the training group have the option to ride one of the routes. There will be members who will put together rides though, and anyone can join, there just won't be any SAG or volunteer help.

[DarcyInOregon]

The Tour de Cure training rides continue. There was a hiatus over Memorial Day Weekend of official TDC rides, but several individuals lead separate group rides with great success. On June 2, Tour de Cure members joined the Pioneer Century, a club event hosted by the Portland Wheelmen, with routes of varying distance and elevation gain. On June 9, the official training rides resumed, and 28 cyclists biked 25 miles of steep rollers in rural Yamhill County. On June 16, 55 group members biked the Banks-Vernonia Trail.

This coming Saturday the group training rides are out of Hillsboro. The 43-mile route goes into the Helvetia Hills and has two Category 5 climbs. The shorter 26-mile route provides cyclists an opportunity to focus on speed or slow down to enjoy the scenery, rather than exert themselves on the steep grades of the Helvetia Hills.

Here is a photo of one of our members at the start of the ride on June 16. He is a Red Rider on Team Red, meaning he rides with diabetes, posing with his new bike, a Trek road bike. A few weeks earlier he was out on a solo ride, a car hit him, and his prior bike was snapped in half. As you can see, he made a full recovery, and on Saturday he biked 44 miles with the Tour de Cure.

[bmccasland]

Here is a photo of one of our members at the start of the ride on June 16. He is a Red Rider on Team Red, meaning he rides with diabetes, posing with his new bike, a Trek road bike. A few weeks earlier he was out on a solo ride, a car hit him, and his prior bike was snapped in half. As you can see, he made a full recovery, and on Saturday he biked 44 miles with the Tour de Cure.

Wow! Glad he wasn't hurt bad. Hope said driver paid for the new bike.

You go Darcy!! Have fun on the ride.

[DarcyInOregon]

Saturday's ride was pretty wet, a lot of rain yesterday. The two routes were two of the preview routes for the Event Rides on July 28. The shorter route of 26 miles is over gently rolling terrain; the longer route of 43 miles has two category 5 climbs with some steep grades over 10%. If a cyclist can bike the 43 miles, then they can bike the metric on July 28, and perhaps the full century.

We were not expecting too many cyclists to show up because of the heavy rain, but there were about 20 of us. I was the Ride Leader for the short route, the first time I rode this route, and I could tell through the rain that it is a scenic route. We didn't have enough volunteers for the shorter route to have a sweep too, so I let the faster cyclists go ahead, and I did regroups with the cyclists in the rear, just to make sure no one made a wrong turn and got lost; a regroup is basically making sure the cyclists knew how to read the cue sheet, told them where and when to turn because they really don't read the cue sheet, and at which turn I would wait for them; waiting was about 5-10 minutes each time. It was about 48 to 50 degrees on the bike for most of the ride, so wet and cold.

We put the rest of the volunteers into the hilly longer route as some cyclists were attempting category climbs for the first time and more assistance was needed in the middle and rear. There were two vehicles for SAG, food and water and picking up cyclists who had mechanical failures, plus a volunteer on a motorcyle to assist with the turns.

[DarcyInOregon]

It was a really good ride on Saturday. Rain and thunder showers were in the forecast, however it didn't start to rain until I had completed the 40-mile route. There were 30-40 cyclists over two routes, 40 miles and 18 miles. I was the Ride Volunteer who mapped these two routes, and I chose undulating terrain, which the elite cyclists think of as flat since there are no category climbs. However undulating terrain is real fun to ride, the roads promise speed and one can get a real good cardio workout. I was a Ride Assist in the back stopping at the critical turns so that the cyclists in the rear didn't get lost or feel forgotten, so didn't get to partake of the speed; the front group on the 40 miles finished with a 16.7 mph average and the middle group finished with a 15.7 mph average.

The next ride is a repeat, where the group members do all climbing up the Old Columbia River Historic Hwy. I believe it is a category 5 and a category 4 climb just to get to the first possible turnaround point. Some cyclists will continue up Larch Mountain to the top, which is steep climbing ending with a category one climb. I prefer to ride to the Women's Forum, enjoy the view, then ride the long descent back to the state park, though this year I might bike up Larch Mt at least a little ways, until the grade starts going over 10%, then turn around.

We are seeing people turn up for the group rides who are finally getting on a bike to try to reverse or correct health issues. I talked with one nice lady pre-ride who is struggling with bad knees. She rides a step-through comfort bike and does the short routes. She told me that riding the bike has strengthened the muscles, tendons and ligaments around her knees with the result that she is now able to walk better and longer, without as much pain as she used to experience. I love hearing these stories, to confirm that it isn't just about raising money for the American Diabetes Association, but that we are actually helping people at all levels of fitness and on all types of bikes.