The morning of our 100-mile bike ride in Amherst, Massachusetts was filled with excitement. Participants were chatting with friends, making new ones, preparing their bikes, and grabbing some of the breakfast items set up.
Four levels of riding
There were four levels of riding: 25, 50, 75 or 100 miles. My wife, Donna & I were set on riding 100 miles, which there were only a dozen of us plus the ‘guide”. We left at 8:30 am, much later than we wanted to start, but we thought it better to be with a group.
Mind you, I knew beforehand that we would be separated from the crowd as, being a tandem bike, we would be riding a lot slower. You may ask why, since the perception is two people will be faster, but in reality, there is more weight and drag, thus slower. We anxiously awaited with our group while the temperature and humidity levels rose. Now, it was around 78 degrees with a 60-plus humidity level.
The start of the ride
We started the ride through part of the U of Mass campus and told it was a ‘mostly’ flat ride, yea right! We did this ride ten years ago. But we totally forgot about the hills!
OMG, the start was ‘small’ inclines and then a hill….no excuses here. We are 71 & 72 years old, we don’t have the power we used to have, but honestly we had to get off the bike and walk to the crest. We had encountered several of these hills along the way whereas there was no way we could accomplish this peddling. We averaged around 11-15 miles per hour, for us that was pretty good, we were definitly riding ‘alone’ as the others on single bikes were probably doing 20-28 mph and far ahead of us.
A disability doesn’t stop this rider!
For those of you who don’t me, I’m blind and hard of hearing. This has no affect on my riding ability, but it can be quite boring on a long distance ride like this.
Donna & I both had blue tooth compatible helmets, we could talk to each other without shouting and listen to music or anything else. I listened to music but Donna, as the person steering, had to pay attention and watch for the route signs and pink directionals painted on the road to make sure we were heading the right way. We passed many farms with veggies growing, pastures with cows (oh that smell—Phew!) waterfalls and forests. We were on rural roads and highways, from time to time many, and I mean many cars passing us by, so loud and annoying.
First goal
So, our first goal was the 25 mile stop to get refreshments and food but quite honestly, Donna did not look at the print instructions. Well…. had we reviewed it first, we’d have found out it was at mile marker 21,
Sigh, so at 25 miles we had a banana for energy and our electrolytes to boost us some. Both of us had hydro packs filled with gatorade, or water which made it easiter and we could drink while we rode. We did look at the paperwork and determined the next pit stop was at the 41 mile marker.
At noon…
At noon, the temps were up to around 86, with a real feel of 90+. The humidity levels were in the high 70’s or 80’s.
Imagine riding, it’s the 36 mile mark, sweating and riding with hardly a breeze in lots of sunshine and heat.
We were exhausted! We did 10 miles the day before and three days before that we did 20. We had the stamina in my opinion but the elements were dragging us down.
Pulling over
We pulled into a town. There was a lot of traffic and it was hard to find the directional signs. Donna saw someone else who looked just as confused. Then, we saw an ice cream place!
I recalled from 10 years ago that at 75 miles there was a free ice cream stop and I was confused because we only did 40 miles so far. There were many others from the ride enjoying ice cream. We learned that we could continue on the route to complete the 100 or split off and do 50 miles.
I must say in all honesty, there was nothing to tell us that as I believe even looking at the printed directions we’d have missed a turn or no turn as route markings did not indicate this. I will say though, the ride organizers did a great job putting this together and route markings were pretty darn good overall.
What do we do?
So there was no 41 mile marker food stops on this route but two scoops of ice cream beat that anytime.
After some lengthy discussions with some other folks, it was now about 2pm and we found out it was only 10 miles to the end to reach the U of Mass campus.
It was continue forward and do 100 miles or cut our losses and only do a total of 50. Donna & I were actually beat, not only were our legs starting to hurt a little, I repeat that the heat and humidity was taking it’s toll on us. So off we went again, with only 10 more miles to go. This was mostly flat and we made it back to where we started.
51 Miles… Cutting it short
Yes, 51 miles in brutal heat & humidity, pretty darn good considering. Did we feel bad about not doing the 100 miles? We did three 100 milers in the past so we knew firsthand what it’s like to do this.
Let me put it this way, sometimes you can be more realistic based on circumstances — our health and well being as a major factor.
Could we have done the 100 miles? Most definitely if the weather had been more favorable. Again, no excuses as many of the other riders told us the same thing. They too planned on longer rides but cut it short.
And that was that…
So, after loading the bike onto our truck, we found a shady spot and enjoyed the after ride assortment of foods and drink. It was a nice spread of salads, hamburgers, chicken and watermelon.
I’d like to add, we did feel cheated not doing the full ride. Things happen for a reason. The elements forced us to shorten the trip which had we continued may have caused heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
We also set a goal to raise $10,000 for the colleen Scarisbrick Help America Hear Scholarship fund. We raised $9,000. Close but no cigar.
Satisfied? Fulfilled? You bet as it was still a huge accomplishment considering. We will make it up to the many folks who were cheering us on from afar and we will do another ride here on Long Island to make up for the missing 49 miles. Count on it!
P.S. If you want to donate to Mitch’s cause go to www.helpamericahear.org/bike-100.