the ride to conquer cancer the ride of a lifetime

What an amazing weekend.

2 days, 2200 other bike riders, 200+ kilometers.

Calgary, Chain Lakes Provincial Park, Longview, Turner Valley, Black Diamond, Spruce Meadows, friends, wind, rain, dust and way too much sun...and some fun even!

The Ride to Conquer Cancer.

That's what it was. I won't lie, there were points where I wondered what the heck I was doing, There were points that were harsh. As someone pointed out to me though, it is, what it is. And it was what it was. Memorable.

The beginning, the first day began with us, the riders, family, volunteers, and organizers gathering together at Spruce Meadows Park in Calgary. Yep the horse jumping place - and it was on this weekend too, which was really cool to see - but on Saturday morning, we were getting ready and prepped to ride.

Unlike the beginning of a triathlon or marathon, this was way more relaxed. Yep I noted some very strong looking riders, and some that looked like they wanted to race, or wished that they could, but that's not the point of this ride. It's a fun ride. A fund raising ride. It's for others. A ride for others. To inspire, to support and to raise $$ for research, for treatments, for a cure. A cure for cancer.

For some reason, as always, I always forget the most important part of a ride. FOOD! Yep there was food waiting for us, lots of it. Fruit, ham and egg sandwiches, juice, coffee, whatever. Me, I grabbed something, quickly, an egg mcmuffin type thingy, and a coffee, and that was it. What the hey, I was there to ride, not to eat. And, well, it's only 100K, food isn't all that important. Well maybe i should rethink that I guess, but I never do (someday, honest. Maybe after the next time I faint.)

From the start the ride, I knew it was gonna be special. My wife and 2 of my kids were there to watch me begin. Then I hooked up with 2 new friends that i met thru the ride - at a couple of training rides -at the start line.

One lady spoke. A fighter, fighting to survive stage 4 breast cancer. An emotional life story, an emotional lift, that moved all of us, and reinforced the reason why we were there. Then the moment that cemented that thought. A bike is walked thru the crowd. A bike without a rider. A bike that had a rider on it a year ago, but no longer. It's impossible to not to have been moved, and not to think of that moment throughout the days ahead.

I knew what was ahead. Of course I did. I'd studied the map of that course. A lot of it was familiar. I'd been on most of it in 2010, but still, I'd forgotten about some of the hills. Okay all of the hills. I guess that's why it's called the foot hills...hills, foot, hills....I now understand that whole Alberta's coat of arms so much better....ohh, foothills.

BUT, unlike 2010, this year, I was the total opposite of trained, untrained defined. In 2010, I was training for a full-on Ironman Triathlon, so I was riding my heart out. This year, well, I just took things easy, maybe too easy. But, well, I wanted a fun year, and I guess this was it. Fun. 200+k of fun. Seriously. Serious fun. This was fun.

That didn't really matter though, at all, because it was a sunny, warm and beautiful day. Lots of bikes in front of us, bikes behind us, bikes everywhere, volunteers and ordinary folks cheering us on. The snow topped rocky mountains on one side of us, and fields of the prairies on the other. And again, those $#@! footzhills!

The first stretch from Spruce Meadows thru Okotoks wasn't that bad. The weather was incredible, the scenery stunning, and the speed was great. I kept hooking up with different groups and justkept on hanging on to the train (I recall, I think I began with, Phoebe from St Albert), and we had at least one helicopter following us along for the first half of the ride as well. Spectacular.

Even down into Longview the ride was nothin' but cool.

Then it got harder, but so what? It was every positive adjective in my thesarus. Lucky for me I was able to hang onto others stronger then me to power up some hills and I have to thank Carla from Calgary and a lady with a Team Garmin jersey on for dragging me into camp at Chain Lakes. I was hurtin', my hamstrings had cramped and uncramped, and even though I kept standing to peddle up the climbs, my quads were doing the same. But what amazing definition!

I was in and done at 1:15, and with an 8-ish start, I was fine with that. Fine that I was able to get in and shower and get a massage with plenty of time to cheer my amazing teammates in, and everyone else. All incredible people that soon populated a great camp site. Wow! blue tents everywhere, semi trucks full of showers, and food food and drink everywhere (FREE BEER!)

The weather on the end of day one was amazing, we couldn't have asked for anything better. Sure there was some wind, okay a lot of strong winds, but that's part of the joy of riding (no really), but the sun was shinning, it was warm way into the night, and, well it was the end to an amazing day. Maybe too amazing. Man did the sun did an amazing job on me, And lucky for me I went for 2 days without a mirror, cause most of me was sun burnt, beet red on red. Farmer tan red.

Of course we should have figured that didn't mean day 2 were gonna be the same. It wasn't OMG!

The first problem was, well, neither my tent mate, nor myself bothered to bring an alarm clock. I just figured, well, you know, I'd just wake up when everyone else did. Everyone else said they'd planned on being up by, hmm, 6:15 maybe. We could be on the bikes and riding by 7, didn't really have to be until 8, so i figured sure, I'd hear them. Good plan, great plan huh? I was in snore loudly village (the ear plugs helped a bit, but just a bit...a gun would have helped better, and would have been quieter!)

So, why was i awake at 5:30! I mean, that was okay, i woke up, looked outside, sure it was overcast, but it looked clear to the north (where we were headed), and fresh (and my head was wet, why was my hair wet?).

After a hot shower, a good small breakfast (that eating thingie again) and some coffee, well, baby the rain must fall. Must fall. And fall. It was rolling off of the top of food tents, and off of our tent. Being the big tuff guys we were, well, we went back to bed to wait for the rain to let up, and get some more sleep. Oh well, that was the plan, and well, plan b sucked.

It was raining just as hard, okay harder. There was rain, there was mud, and there was volunteers. Those wonderful volunteers digging mud out of our cleats so that we could get on our bikes, and to just ride. They just did it. They cheered us into camp. They cheered us out, they did everything they could, everything. What a wonderful troop. They also deserve a huge applause!

And you know what? it wasn't half bad.

I started off slow, thinking I'd just get thru this, until I tagged onto a group of 4 or 5 riders from Calgary and just hung on until they slowed down for our pit stop back into Longview (and my Lisa, that is a cute bike!), and then clicked into another strong group all the way into lunch in downtown beautiful (even in the rain) Turner Valley. It was a challenge to eat in the rain, but I got over that quickly..and a turkey sandwich, a Naniamo bar and a cup of gatorade later, I was in out and gone baby, just gone.

The route to the next pit stop was great, and flat. Though the rain was coming down harder, it seemed to be slowing down a bit, and we could see the sun breaking thru.

The final stop had no name (it probably did, but it was a spot at the top of another hill!), and, well, we were only 25K from the finish.

An amazing 25k. I was all but dead coming up that last climb. I followed the wheel of Matthew from, Calgary, and then passed him so he could do the same...which is when I also noticed we were both riding the same gear, the last one we had. But as soon as I rode out of that stop, the sun broke thru, we turned eastward in Hwy 22x, a 4 lane black topped wonder, and just flew.

And yep it was emotional.

I kept thinking of the folks that donated cash to this effort, that supported me, and for the lady, that special friend, Jill, who inspired us to ride in 201o, and in who's honor and memory we rode again in, well this year.

What can I say about that finish. I passed a few people, and swapped encouraging words, and rode in with someone who said, over and over again, just one word, wonderful.

I heard that cheer, I heard my name, and that was that. My wife, 2 of my kids, and hundreds cheering us all in to the finish.

As always, I usually, always walk away from these things thinking, is that it? And i did ask myself that yet again. The ride is the reason, the race is the reason, the finish is just that, for me it's always about the training and the journey. But then,this was different, this wasn't for me, this wasn't about me, it was something else, that was way more important, way special dude.

I have no idea what my future holds, I have no idea what my next ride will be, or will be like, or if I'll be back again for another serving in 2012. All i know is, this is one of those times, I'll never forget. This was special.

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