doctor j
05-13-07, 04:02 PM
Saturday was a great day! Good weather. Good ride.
A friend of mine has a son who was born with Down Syndrome. To raise awareness of Down Syndrome, my buddy is riding from our area, Fayetteville, AR to Jacksonville, FL. His family will accompany him on the tour.
This is his website, http://www.d-tour.net/
He invited us to ride along with him on the first leg. Toby's son Jon, to whom the tour is dedicated, rode the first few miles with us. He did a great job and then transferred to a support vehicle. We rode from downtown Fayetteville to Mountainburg, AR, and Toby and his family rode on to Ft. Smith.
The three of us who rode to Mountainburg and back got in 75 miles, which includes the 10-mile climb that handed me my derrière on a platter back in April. My 58th birthday was May 10, so this was my birthday ride as well. Do I get extra credit toward next year's birthday ride for the extra mileage???
Based on your input from a previous post on mid-ride eats, I got up the 10-mile climb without problems. Having some fellow riders with me on the climb also helped. We maintained a sane pace and some conversation, which helped pass the time without undue concentration on the remainder of the hill. (As an aside, they're having the Joe Martin Stage Race here this weekend. It consists of a road race (Friday), a time trial (Saturday), and a criterium (Sunday). I was proud of our accomplishment on getting up the mountain, but a friend of mine told me that the pro cyclists, who used the same route back on the road race, averaged around 20 mph on the same stretch!! Our average wasn't quite that high.)
Yesterday's ride gave me a new distance record and some encouragement toward the first imperial century. To top off the day, my Sunday School teacher invited me to his home for dinner, ribs which are to-die-for-good. It doesn't get much better.
Please check the d-tour website and keep this family in your prayers as they ride to Florida.
A friend of mine has a son who was born with Down Syndrome. To raise awareness of Down Syndrome, my buddy is riding from our area, Fayetteville, AR to Jacksonville, FL. His family will accompany him on the tour.
This is his website, http://www.d-tour.net/
He invited us to ride along with him on the first leg. Toby's son Jon, to whom the tour is dedicated, rode the first few miles with us. He did a great job and then transferred to a support vehicle. We rode from downtown Fayetteville to Mountainburg, AR, and Toby and his family rode on to Ft. Smith.
The three of us who rode to Mountainburg and back got in 75 miles, which includes the 10-mile climb that handed me my derrière on a platter back in April. My 58th birthday was May 10, so this was my birthday ride as well. Do I get extra credit toward next year's birthday ride for the extra mileage???
Based on your input from a previous post on mid-ride eats, I got up the 10-mile climb without problems. Having some fellow riders with me on the climb also helped. We maintained a sane pace and some conversation, which helped pass the time without undue concentration on the remainder of the hill. (As an aside, they're having the Joe Martin Stage Race here this weekend. It consists of a road race (Friday), a time trial (Saturday), and a criterium (Sunday). I was proud of our accomplishment on getting up the mountain, but a friend of mine told me that the pro cyclists, who used the same route back on the road race, averaged around 20 mph on the same stretch!! Our average wasn't quite that high.)
Yesterday's ride gave me a new distance record and some encouragement toward the first imperial century. To top off the day, my Sunday School teacher invited me to his home for dinner, ribs which are to-die-for-good. It doesn't get much better.
Please check the d-tour website and keep this family in your prayers as they ride to Florida.