Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Any interest in a C/A group at the Indy Tour de Cure?

The Indianapolis edition of the Tour de Cure takes place Saturday, June 11. Road routes include 50K and 75K options, and end with a victory lap around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (on the track, not out on 16th and Georgetown ;) ). There are also options for a century on the track itself (40 laps) and a set-your-own-distance recreational ride on the track.

I'm thinking about signing up and doing the 50K at a relaxed pace. I thought the chance to join up with like-minded riders, and the opportunity to ride a lap at the Speedway might be interesting for some who are within a reasonable distance of the Circle City.

Registration is $15 until March 15th, after which it goes up to $25. Minimum fund-raising requirement is $150. Anybody think they might like to do this with me?

I wish I lived closer. Your TdC sounds cooler than mine.

Maybe we can convince the NC group to do it at the Charlotte Motor Speedway next year. Course, that's like 150 miles from where I live, but still...

The Indianapolis edition of the Tour de Cure takes place Saturday, June 11. Road routes include 50K and 75K options, and end with a victory lap around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (on the track, not out on 16th and Georgetown ;) ). There are also options for a century on the track itself (40 laps) and a set-your-own-distance recreational ride on the track.

I'm thinking about signing up and doing the 50K at a relaxed pace. I thought the chance to join up with like-minded riders, and the opportunity to ride a lap at the Speedway might be interesting for some who are within a reasonable distance of the Circle City.

Registration is $15 until March 15th, after which it goes up to $25. Minimum fund-raising requirement is $150. Anybody think they might like to do this with me?

I'm really, really tempted. Since my plans for riding cross country blew up I'm casting around for ways to be awesome. Everything is dependent on my knees, but I should know what's going to happen with my joints in the next few weeks.

It would be fun to participate, and Tom Stormcrowe and I have been trying to meet for years.

I want to do this sometime at IMS. I've dreamed my entire life of racing on that track, this is as close as I'll ever come to doing it. I would do the "set your own distance" on the track, and do as many laps as they would let me until they kicked me off!

Won't be this year though. Probably after the kids are grown. There was a group that did it a year or two ago, not C/A specific if I recall. Have you posted in the Charity Ride or Indy forums? Good luck.

I haven't posted anywhere else about this yet, because it's still a relatively new wild hare for me, and right now, my main objective in collecting a group is that it be a friendly, relaxed bunch, and you all are the friendliest bunch, and most likely to be relaxed, of anybody on the forum. ;) But I'll keep the other places in mind, should I need to drum up interest elsewhere.

I'm about 95% sure I'm gonna do this myself whether anyone else wants to or not; I just thought that since there are other folks on here from Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and points farther afield, it might be a good opportunity to bring some of us together for something that would be fun and memorable.

CraigB,

Myself, Mrs. Zoxe, and father inlaw are signed up for TdC Indy. For Mrs. Zoxe and I, this will be our 3rd year straight. Two years ago we were on Team Stormcrowe, and last year we formed our own family team (my parents and brother joined us). We do the fun ride around the track and for the past 2 years have hit our goals of 50+ miles (we're not century riders and don't intend to be).

It's great to be able to hook up with people at breakfast and smile and wave at them all day.

I was on a couple of those Team Stormcrowe rides. Fun stuff indeed! Won't be able to attend this year though. I do know 10wheels, and Philcycle are signed up again this year and always look for fellow BF folks to meet up with.

I am in for my third 100 mile ride.

You don't have to complete the 100 miles
Sign up and see have far you can last.

They have a nice lunch from 11:30 to 1:30 PM
They also have two or three rest stops for drinks or snacks on the track.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/09%20Indy%20Ride/IMG_4513.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/09%20Indy%20Ride/Dennyinback.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/09%20Indy%20Ride/PaceLines.jpg

I have inspired one of my High School Classmates to ride this year:

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/IndianaArea?px=6617223&pg=personal&fr_id=7577

hmm... I might be up for that. Bet I can get some people from my church to do this too. We are starting a weekly group ride after church on Sundays.

I'd join you but I'm already in a corporate team, as captain. I've done the 100 the last two years but this year will probably be 75k. It's a hoot to ride the track and I'd encourage anyone to do it once. There's always a snack/water stop between turns 1 & 2, and another between 3 & 4! Usually a crowd around the start/finish line cheering you on, taking photos etc. And the track is smooth, flat and fast. There is shallow banking on the turns, bit if you stay low it can be avoided.

I'm really, really tempted. Since my plans for riding cross country blew up I'm casting around for ways to be awesome. Everything is dependent on my knees, but I should know what's going to happen with my joints in the next few weeks.

It would be fun to participate, and Tom Stormcrowe and I have been trying to meet for years.

I'm out. I couldn't get the time off. Sorry!

That looks like a great time.

Looks like a number of folks are already in, for one ride or another. Maybe I'll just sign up myself, and sometime before the date we can all coordinate a meeting time and spot for the morning of the ride, and see where it all goes from there.

One question, though - if you sign up for the 100 mile track ride, but figure you won't make it the whole distance, how do you handle per-mile pledges? Isn't the money turned in at the start? Sorry, but the last time I was involved in fund-raising was when I sold boxes of butter mints for little league.

Looks like a number of folks are already in, for one ride or another. Maybe I'll just sign up myself, and sometime before the date we can all coordinate a meeting time and spot for the morning of the ride, and see where it all goes from there.

One question, though - if you sign up for the 100 mile track ride, but figure you won't make it the whole distance, how do you handle per-mile pledges? Isn't the money turned in at the start? Sorry, but the last time I was involved in fund-raising was when I sold boxes of butter mints for little league.

I don't think pledges are per mile. It's usually just a donation in your name.

I arrived at 5:30 AM. Ride around on some of the back track roads to warm up.
The track access opens about 7 AM.
The Buick and bike.

191038

No one cares how far you ride.

Just you.

They record your miles on your honor what you tell them.

I hadn't heard of Felt Bikes until I visited a MDBS (Medium Distance Bike Shop) Now I'm seeing them all the time. 10Wheels: What model is this?

I don't think pledges are per mile. It's usually just a donation in your name.

Neil is correct. You raise the funds prior via donations, and then turn them in day of at the check in area. The volunteers, track officials, and the TdC staffers have it down to a science. Once inside, you'll be very impressed with the organization they put forth.

Neil is correct. You raise the funds prior via donations, and then turn them in day of at the check in area. The volunteers, track officials, and the TdC staffers have it down to a science. Once inside, you'll be very impressed with the organization they put forth.

Also, much of the fundraising is done electronically, so you might not need to turn in anything.

I hadn't heard of Felt Bikes until I visited a MDBS (Medium Distance Bike Shop) Now I'm seeing them all the time. 10Wheels: What model is this?

2006 F-80 Aluminum 19.5 lbs

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/Bartape2.jpg

http://www.feltbicycles.com/USA.aspx

That looks like a great time.

2009 pics:
http://s256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/09%20Indy%20Ride/?albumview=slideshow

Looks like a number of folks are already in, for one ride or another. Maybe I'll just sign up myself, and sometime before the date we can all coordinate a meeting time and spot for the morning of the ride, and see where it all goes from there.

One question, though - if you sign up for the 100 mile track ride, but figure you won't make it the whole distance, how do you handle per-mile pledges? Isn't the money turned in at the start? Sorry, but the last time I was involved in fund-raising was when I sold boxes of butter mints for little league.

Posters above are correct that typically you don't raise money based on distance ridden, but in fact you could do it that way if you wanted. You can continue collecting donations for some time after the event - about a month. So you could make a deal with people to pay per mile or lap, and collect afterwards. It would be up to you to count laps, though.

Really it's about maximizing dollars raised, so use whatever technique works best to reach that end.

2009 pics:
http://s256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/09%20Indy%20Ride/?albumview=slideshow

Hey, you got me in there. Wow do I look goofy. I like the "fast rec" tag though.

I would love to, and my wife even has a sister in Indy she could see. Alas, it appears almost inevitable that I am destined to be in recovery mode for a knee.

Hopefully, next year.

Well, I registered for the ride, as an individual cyclist. As soon as I can figure out the ups, downs, ins and outs of my personal donation webpage stuff, I'll put a link in my sig here, or something. And probably do something on Facebook as well.

Should be a lot of fun!

Here's Phil and 10 wheels and trekden, finishing up their centuries in 2009

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o260/TomStormcrowe/Tuor%20de%20Cure%202009/victory.jpg

Me, out there with a fractured collarbone

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o260/TomStormcrowe/Tuor%20de%20Cure%202009/fasttom.jpg

One of the pacelines

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o260/TomStormcrowe/Tuor%20de%20Cure%202009/TourdeCure_2009034.jpg

Racer1 and scummer are in this bunch

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o260/TomStormcrowe/Tuor%20de%20Cure%202009/raceroneinpaceline.jpg

I'm going to have to completely re-equip with cycling gear, since I've been diagnosed with Lupus. I have to avoid exposure to high UV levels, and have ti get summerweight long sleeve jerseys and knickers, to avoid skin complications from the lupus, as well as triggering joint inflammation.

I won't be doing TdC this year, though, since I'm planning on taking the wife up to Michigan for a month or so.

You did it with a broken collarbone, Tom? Wow - I'm impressed by your awesomeness!

I won't be doing TdC this year, though, since I'm planning on taking the wife up to Michigan for a month or so.

First off, you're the epitome of awesome, you broken-collarbone-cycling-for-a-good-cause maniac.

Second, since you're not riding, why don't you donate what would be your registration fee to another TdC rider? That way, you'd still be helping out. :innocent:

I won't be doing TdC this year, though, since I'm planning on taking the wife up to Michigan for a month or so.

TdC for Michigan is the same day. I was thinking about doing it as my first century of the season. Any Michigan C&A's interested?

Bump, just to get my new signature line in front of everyone.

Yes, it's obnoxious, I know. ;)

Just over a week to go to Indy!

Bike riding has been slow this year for us, but with the weather clearing up and our work/personal schedules emptying out we've been able to put some miles in ... I'm getting pretty excited about the track ride.

If anyone sees a big guy on a blue Bianchi steel frame, ask them if they're Zoxe. It just might be me!

Just over a week to go to Indy!

Bike riding has been slow this year for us, but with the weather clearing up and our work/personal schedules emptying out we've been able to put some miles in ... I'm getting pretty excited about the track ride.

If anyone sees a big guy on a blue Bianchi steel frame, ask them if they're Zoxe. It just might be me!

You will have an easier time finding me. I'll be riding a white recumbent with blue fork, wearing a red Cummins jersey. Funny, the guy riding a bike sans downtube will be downtube :)

Despite a really nasty looking radar for central Indiana and Illinois at 5am, the weather held and we had a pretty fun ride.

My father inlaw hit his goal -- he's not a bike rider but did get his red rider jersey this year for being diabetic and hit the distance he was after.

I had the Bianchi up in the "fast guy" paceline for about 3/4 a lap -- 75-100 riders doing 25-26mph is quite a rush. While looking for Mrs. Zoxe, I tagged onto a line of 20 or so doing 20mph and hung with them for awhile. I am not a club rider, so having the oompah to hold my own there made me smile.

Ran into 10Wheels on his way to a century but didn't see CraigB or Downtube.

Mrs. Zoxe and I didn't start with any particular goal. In the past years we'd done 50mi, but we pulled off after 30mi year and got the Father Inlaw on the road and off to work (after 4:30am wakeup, and day at the track, the poor guy drove an hr to our place for a shower, then 3 1/2 hrs back home and then worked 7pm-7am).

I had a great ride, but only saw one person I know - an electrical engineer I used to work with, who's part of Team Nebo Ridge, the motor that propelled the fastest of the pacelines. I can't post any pics right now as Photobucket seems to be down. But here are my impressions:

As Zoxe said, the weather looked iffy at first. I major thunderstorm blew through Indy about 1:15 that morning, and it left lingering rain right up until about 4:00, when it changed to intermittent sprinkles and some nasty looking clouds right up until start time. But once we began, I never felt another drop.

I had bumped my goal from 50 miles to riding my soon-to-be age, then again to a full metric, so I knew going in I needed to do 25 laps. It's funny how once your energy gets a little tapped, higher brain functions seem to abandon you - I had trouble calculating laps and distances in my head, all morning. I finally gave up and just watched the miles click by on the computer.

I managed to get into a couple of pace lines, at first one with only about 5 or 6 riders, and we took turns at the front. Someone in the group decided that a "turn" meant pulling for one entire 2.5-mile lap, a distance I've never led out before. From my old racing days I was used to pace line leaders pulling off after 40-60 turns of the crank. So I was a little concerned that I'd poop out before my lap was complete, but surprisingly I managed to keep it going over 20 MPH, even between turns 3 and 4 where we had the worst of the headwind, at least early on. When I finished that pull at the front, it just happened to be time for the first of my two PBJ breaks in pit lane (one at 25 miles, the second at 50), so that was a bit of a relief. Altogether I was in that pace line for about 6 or 7 laps.

During my second ride segment (25-50 miles) I managed to get on a considerably larger group that was going a little faster still, one that was big enough that there wasn't any organized sharing of the lead. Which was fine by me - I was happy to sit in near the back and stay there, though it was a little nerve-racking. Most of that time I was behind a teenager on a twitchy TT bike, on which he thought the thing to do was practice riding no-hands. Turns out there were at least 3 crashes I was aware of over the course of the day, though I never saw the actual event - only the ambulances and broken bikes. Late in the morning I almost hit a kid who swerved right in front of me as I was passing him.

The big freight train - the Team Nebo Ridge group and their hangers-on - were a thing to see. All morning long there were shouts of warning as they approached along the wall, and it seemed no matter how fast I was going, they'd pass in a great whoosh of carbon, alloy and air. Once or twice I thought it would be interesting to see if I could hang onto their tail, but it didn't take long before I realized there wasn't enough energy in my legs to even try.

Random thoughts:

It wasn't nearly the psychological slog I thought it would be. I expected it to be interesting for 3 or 4 laps, then be a chore. It wasn't, at least not for me, until I had about 3 laps to go. Most of that I credit to being in pacelines for about 12 of my 25 laps.

The track is not that wide. No more than maybe 4 lanes of a multi-lane road or highway. Spooky to imagine driving 225 MPH with 32 other cars in that confined a space.

The track is not smooth. Don't get me wrong, it's nice and relatively free of bumps and artifacts, but the surface isn't smooth - it's grooved, and has enough texture that you feel it, to the point where it even soaks up a tiny little bit of your energy.

When the track warms up a little with the rising sun, it begins to smell faintly of tires.

The announcer said we had 1800 people there, representing 6 states. All kinds and shapes of riders, on all kinds and shapes of bikes. I'm surprised there weren't more accidents. One guy who lined up a couple of rows in front of me at the start was a good example of an accident waiting to happen. He was bouncing his bike up and down on the pavement, wondering why he was getting a rattling sound from the rear end when he did it. Someone near him pointed out that his quick release wasn't closed. So he tries to close it but can't because it's already just a little too tight. But instead of loosening it a quarter turn, which was all I'm sure it needed, he starts kicking it! I had to turn away and stop looking at that point. I don't know if he finally got it figured out or not.

I'll put up a few pics when I can get access to them.

Oh, and for the statistically interested, I had 63.5 miles at 3:40:49, for an average of 17.25 MPH. Total time start to finish was just about 4 hours even.

Yah, I started to type a thought on the width of the track and mixing 25mph+ riders with 8-10mph family riders. But as weird as it was, things were a lot less confrontational this year than last year.

For the most part, the pack riders did a good job of staying on the outside. The slow riders did okay at staying to the left. Last year there were groups going both ways, sometimes the paceline was taking almost the full width of the track and swarming (and yelling at) anyone not doing 25mph. This of course prompted lots of complaints about the fast riders from the slowbies and within a few laps it became adversarial. And that's really too bad. My parents and my brother opted not to ride this year because of the stress involved.

This year, I heard a lot of awe from the slower riders as the Nebo Ridge guys rode past. Sure, there are lapses of judgement in both groups, but "Now that's just cool" was said more than once by my father inlaw. And it's that type of stuff that made the event fun.

I didn't get a lot of shots, but I had a friend in the stands who took a few. This first one is where I lined up for the start (by the way, the guys at the very front in the purple, black, white and green in 10 Wheels' pics in the 50+ section are the Team Nebo Ridge gang):

http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp129/cburgess54/Tour%20de%20Cure%202011/IMG_0710.jpg

This is me, waiting for the start - I'm in the white helmet with the blue strap, leaning on my bars:

http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp129/cburgess54/Tour%20de%20Cure%202011/DSCN0017.jpg

A shot of the start, from pit lane:

http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp129/cburgess54/Tour%20de%20Cure%202011/DSCN0018.jpg

Me on one of my times across the yard of bricks:

http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp129/cburgess54/Tour%20de%20Cure%202011/DSCN0026.jpg

The Nebo Ridge freight train coming down the home straight:

http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp129/cburgess54/Tour%20de%20Cure%202011/DSCN0031.jpg

Some of the early clouds, which cleared out completely by mid-morning:

http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp129/cburgess54/Tour%20de%20Cure%202011/DSCN0040.jpg

A shot of 10 Wheels' pal Ed, chatting with another recumbent rider:

http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp129/cburgess54/Tour%20de%20Cure%202011/DSCN0044.jpg

One of the staff vehicles:

http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp129/cburgess54/Tour%20de%20Cure%202011/DSCN0050.jpg

Me coming in for a refueling break at either mile 25 or 50 - don't recall which - followed by parking the bike at the very end, and getting ready to go get some lunch:

http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp129/cburgess54/Tour%20de%20Cure%202011/DSCN0061.jpg

http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp129/cburgess54/Tour%20de%20Cure%202011/DSCN0081.jpg

Great pics,Great ride!

Wonderful, CraigB, wonderful. Congratulations on your fine result.

And you now have a bunch of fantastic photos for Bike Forums and Facebook avatars. :-)

Thanks, guys. It felt really good to accomplish it, on several levels.