I ride with diabetes

My first tour de cure Cleveland has come and gone and if the yardstick for success in my book is any indicator then by me signing up for next years tour means I can hardly wait for the next merry go round. The highlights from this tour, included me getting lost on the 25k trail, crashing my bike and understanding just what level of fitness I was at.

The morning was dreary and lacked any sunshine, which was perfect cycling weather. By the time we arrived at 9am, we had already come across a group of cyclists who had joined the 60k ride. As we were driving in, I could see some 10 to 12 year old kids on the road and I remember having guilty feelings because, I had decided the night before that my fitness level did not warrant me doing it and here was a bunch of kids doing it.

I was in for a treat however because this event was truly exciting.

I didn’t see this until later but I guess Re was chasing me down with the camera as I was riding down to the starting line, the result was this hilarious video

At the starting line, I was pleasantly surprised to see the guys from the over the wheel gang. I had met the doc James and Wayne at the tour kick off party and I was glad to meet the rest of the team, I had hoped to join the team, I think that’s for next year though unless, I have the poor diabetic team.

wayne from over the wheel gang

the Doc James from the over the wheel gang

I am always a little competitive and I like to push myself when I ride so it was no surprise that I was mostly riding alone, trying to chase down someone who had passed me. I was about 5 miles from the finish line when I saw the person in front w, of me suddenly grind to a stop and wait for me to catch up, as I drew along I realized in my zeal to follow, I had lost track of where I was and so did they and we had to backtrack.

Since we were not sure of the trail anymore, we kept asking anyone we saw where were supposed to be going. This volunteer guy, at the last marker pointed out the way I was supposed to go and while I had slowed down to talk to him, the path he pointed to immediately led uphill. As soon as I saw it I knew I was in trouble on the high gear, frantically I tried to  Switch to a lower gear but it was too late. I was suddenly standing still and then I was crashing to the ground.

I dusted myself off and went on to the finish line, but not before, I threw him an angry look.

The race way by far the best time I had in a long time and I cant wait till next year, matter of fact, I went ahead and signed up for it because I have grander plans like the poor diabetic team maybe. Lets cross our fingers and hope for the best.

To the ADA thanks for putting this together, and Go Red Riders Go…..TILL NEXT TIME.

Red Riders

Red Riders