Yesterday, Matt and I successfully completed our annual Climb to the Clouds training ride! Over the course of the week, we watched with dismay as the forecast for Sunday got increasingly hot. By Saturday, temperatures were forecast to be in the 90s, and that turned out to be spot on.
Because we knew it would be hot, and because we had not done any 80+ mile rides yet this summer, we decided to prepare well. We carb-loaded and hydrated the day before and went to bed as early as we were able. We met up with our friend Rachel in Concord at 7:45 am (in retrospect we maybe should have tried for an earlier start but it’s almost a 40 minute drive for us to get there, so). Unfortunately, some of our team was unable to join us due to injuries, but we ran into some other riders we know, so that was great.
Rachel and I decided to take it pretty easy to start (or I decided to, and Rachel was kind enough to stick with me). I had big problems on this ride last year, when it was even hotter, with leg cramping, and I was determined to avoid those and finish the ride this year. Basically, I needed a success more than I need to have an especially fast ride. Thankfully, the electrolyte pills I’ve been taking on rides this year continued to work their magic, and I didn’t have a single muscle cramp up!
That said, the ride was definitely tough. The ride splits about 30 miles into the route, at which point the riders can choose to do the 80, or to do the 90/100. Matt couldn’t help himself and decided to try for at least the 90. And when the 90 split from the 100, he again could not resist the siren call of Mt. Wachusett and Mile Hill Road, and went for the 100.* Rachel and I decided at the split to just do the 80. Had the day been less oppressively hot, I think my body could have handled the 90, but like I said, I really needed a successful ride to regain my confidence.
And despite the heat, and the hills it was a great ride. Rachel and I did almost get taken out by a large squirrel, but otherwise we keep a steady and strong pace throughout, drank boatloads of water, and actually finished an hour ahead of Matt (he is much faster than us and we thought he would catch us, which meant we were actually going at a good clip!). The hills were grueling in the heat, but we had good company throughout to keep us motivated.
We have two more weekends before the PMC! Time to kick the fundraising into high gear. We’re about halfway to the minimum we need to raise as a team: $16,800. You can donate here, or you can mail a check (just ask us how). Very single donation helps – most of our donor give less than $50 and that gets us to the $4200 each minimum very quickly! To steal an idea from our friend Jared, here are some suggested donations based on our Climb to the Clouds ride:
$14.00 – 14 miles per hour, Jen’s average ride speed (donate $15.60 for Matt’s 15.6)
$23.50 – Matt rode 23.5 miles more than Jen!
$35.40 – Jen’s max speed (or donate $46 for Matt’s max speed of 46 mph!)
$53.70 – Five hours, 37 minutes Jen’s butt was on the bike
$78.84 – 78.84 miles that Jen rode!
$100.55 – 100.55 miles that Matt rode!
$3,107 – 3,107 miles of climbing (worth a shot!)
In all seriousness, the money we raise for the PMC goes directly to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund in the form of unrestricted funds. That means those organizations can spend it where they need it most – on researching new treatments, on helping families get through a difficult time, and on curing kids. Each year, nearly 1.4 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed in the United States, a figure that does not include the 900,000 cases of skin cancer diagnosed annually. That is a crazy and awful number. That means over 2 million individuals, along with their families and friends, receive incredibly scary news every year. Dana-Farber is doing research that might help make those diagnoses a little less terrifying, and is ultimately working to eradicate cancer in all of its forms. Please help us if you can!
*For the data nerds – Matt doesn’t have a data-tracking bike computer, but his ride looked like this: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/498927. The 80 looks like this: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/498925 and the actual ride data from my computer is linked above. But on these Ride With GPS links you can see the hill grades. In fact, for any cycling Tour nerds (all, like, 1 of you) the 80 mile ride has three Category 5 rated climbs, while the 100 has four of those and one Category 3 (Mile Hill Road up to the Mt. Wachusett visitors’ center).
