New England Classic Tour de Cure 2010 Days 1-3

Hello All,

I realize it's been a while since I last posted. I've just had so much going on lately, I haven't had time to post. Currently, I am in a hotel room at the Attitash Grand Summit Resort Hotel in New Hampshire. Now why is this? This is because I am riding in the New England Classic Tour de Cure. It's a bike ride for diabetes research. There are two rides for the NEC Tour de Cure. One is a 2-day 150-mile bike ride from Woburn, MA to the University of New England in Maine. The other ride is the 7-day 550-mile ride through MA, NH, VT and ME. Some ask how I got involved with the Tour de Cure? Mr. Cousineau's co-worker was the team captain of "Sweet Support." She tried getting him to do the ride, and his response was, "Are you kidding me?!? I work on computers. I'm not gonna kill myself riding a bike for so many miles, but I know someone who might." He referred me, so I went and signed up for the 7-day 550-mile ride. Everyone thought it was a mistake and that I meant to sign up for the 2-day 150-mile ride. It was no mistake. I want to push myself to do my very best. Now, I ride a 10-speed Motobecane Mirage, which is about 35-years old, made in France, that I bought last year at a used bike shop in Amherst, MA, for $142 after my 10-speed Columbia USA was stolen from school. Let me tell you a little about my ride, so far...

Day 1

On Friday, July 9, 2010, I woke up right around noon and then headed to Dick's Sporting Goods to buy bike shorts, jerseys a tool kit, and some tube patch kits and spare tubes. I then headed to work in Agawam to work at Bridgeport National Bindery 3:30pm-midnight. Once I got out, I headed home and got about 2 hours of interrupted sleep. Yes, I said "interrupted" sleep, not UNinterrupted sleep. I then got up and drove myself out to Woburn, MA at 4am. We signed in right around 6am, got our jerseys and NEC Tour de Cure t-shirts, and met with our teams. We left Woburn on our bikes around 8:30am and didn't stop until we hit the University of New Hampshire, 82.37miles away. When we left Chomerics in Woburn, I was riding with the front of the pack. I was feeling really good, being able to keep up with everyone riding. But that didn't last for long. We hit a downhill not even to the first rest area and my chain fell off. I was in the middle of the pack and had to pull off to the side to put it back on, and turn my nice clean hands and brand new cycling gloves black. I put it back on and continued on. I caught up with a few people that passed me, and eventually started riding with a group of riders. We all took turns leading and kept each other going at a nice pace. Later on in the ride though, it felt like the muscles in my thighs exploded and sucked all of the energy out. It hurt so bad and I couldn't keep riding. I pulled off to the side and pulled some energy chews out of my back pocket, that I had picked up at the last rest area. Somewhere during that day, another rider saw me falling behind, so he gave me a packet of energy gel and that really helped me out a LOT! I love the stuff now and try not to ride without it! The day was great and I was glad when it was over. There was a strong feeling of accomplishment finishing the 82.37miles, seeing as how before the Tour de Cure my longest bike ride was about 40-60miles long :-P. Everyone was soaked in sweat and rain (from the thunderstorm we got caught in). We had dinner at UNH around 5pm, and then I headed to bed. Fell asleep before 7pm and woke up around 4:45am. Dang that was a good night's sleep :-).

Day 2

We had an amazing breakfast at 6am in the University of New Hampshire dining hall. After I finished packing, I found one of the riders I had been riding with the day before, and started talking to him. We ended up riding together in a group and left campus around 8:30am. Day 2 was a BEAUTIFUL day. We rode by so many beaches in our 69.78-mile ride from the University of New Hampshire to the University of New England in Maine. My favorite part was riding through York, Maine because I haven't been there in too many years. We stopped at a rest area not to far from York Beach, ME. Our group hung out there for a good 45-minutes. The weather was nice and cool, with a slight rain. The scenery was beautiful and we all had our pictures taken together in the groups we were riding with. Finally, without falling behind our group at all (until the home-stretch about 1/4mile long), we arrived in Maine at the University of New England just after 2pm. That gave us plenty of time to get ready to watch Spain defeat the Netherlands 1-0 and become the 2010 World Cup Champions!!! At dinner that night, I wasn't too hungry so I only had some pasta and rice. I headed to bed after talking on the phone with family. But the room was so stuffy and hot, I couldn't get to sleep and ended up waking up 3 times in the middle of the night, sick as a dog and sweating like crazy. I did not sleep well at all that night.

Day 3

When I finally woke up, it was so difficult to pack up and go eat breakfast because I felt so sick. I didn't think I was going to make it across campus to the dining hall for breakfast without passing out or vomiting. I ended up riding my bike to breakfast, but only eating half of a pancake and a bowl of fruit loops. That was the worst breakfast I've ever had. I then went to the mechanic, had my front derailleur adjusted, and found a cyclist slowly straggling out for the day's ride. His name is Bella (sp?). He's been riding in the Tour de Cure for a couple of years now, and we rode and talked together for a little bit before I picked up my pace and made my way to the first rest area a bit quicker. About 4-5miles before the rest area, I met Tim. He coached me along, got me to pick up my pace and encouraged me to keep going. Later on in the day, I came to find out that he's a soccer referee!! He and I had a great long conversation as we made our way up the hills and to the Attitash Grand Summit Resort Hotel in New Hampshire. When checking in, the hotel didn't have my name on the list (just like the day before at the University of New England). So Tim went to get Ryan, the coordinator of the NEC Tour de Cure, and even used his own credit card to verify me checking into a room! I ended up getting a room all to myself, with 2 couches, a big flat screen TV, a refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher and stove, and a bed that folds down out of the wall!! This hotel is amazing!!

I've met so many awesome people while on this ride! Most of them I haven't mentioned in the previous paragraphs, but it doesn't mean I don't appreciate all they've done for me. These people are AMAZING! They helped me clean up my bike (actually, they did it for me while I took a nap), fixed my bike (made adjustments), and give me the motivation to keep moving forward. Everyone has told me that I'm unbelievable for riding a heavy, old bike with no clip-in pedals and riding in only indoor soccer shoes. My seat post is frozen and can't be moved, so my seat is too low, putting a lot of strain on my knees and thighs. And somehow, I'm still able to keep up with the riders that paid thousands of dollars for their bikes! Everyone has told me how impressed they are with me and that I'm doing twice as much work as everyone else and am out-riding my bike. Most have said that if I had a new bike and the right gear, I'd be a monster flying down the road! They've told me plenty of times that I'm crazy, but they're so proud of me for doing what I am; riding 550-miles for diabetes, keeping up with the rest of the riders on an antique bike. Tonight, one guy actually offered to sell me one of his old bikes that he bought back in 1994 for over $1,000, for only $50!! I'm going to have to get his number and take him up on that offer!!

Well, it's time to go down to the laundry room and get my clothes out of the dryer. Then I have to rest up for tomorrow's 97.03-mile ride from Attitash Grand Summit Resort Hotel in New Hampshire to Capitol Plaza Hotel & Conference Center in Vermont. I'm really not looking forward to tomorrow's LONG journey up what they call Crawdord Notch (sp?). I here it's killer and not many will make it up. If I'm still living tomorrow night, I'll try to get back on here and post about the day's ride. Wish me luck!!

Oh, one last thing.... If anyone wants to sponsor me for riding (pledge money for American Diabetes Association), you can do so at http://main.diabetes.org/goto/manning_rides. I'm still a couple hundred dollars short of my goal to raise $2,500 for the ADA and I need to raise the rest of the money and turn it in by August 15, 2010, or I'll have to pay it out of pocket, and I just can't afford that. Thank you to all those who support me on this ride!!