Friday, June 19, 2009
The Ride
Riding the second year in the Ride to Conquer Cancer (Ontario) 2009 was a lot more relaxing than last year. The first year I was a little stressed about how I’d handle it. I paced myself and was generally cautious. This year I just burned out. I got to the finish line by 1 pm (beat last year by an hour). Part of the reason for that is the lunch arrived on Day 2 frozen. Really frozen solid. The potato salad could not even be separated. I gnawed off bits of the turkey sandwich and then tossed it figuring I’d get real food at the BBQ at the end. I hope the organizers didn’t pay for those frozen lunches. One rider took the lunch on their bike rack to the next pit stop. An hour later… Still frozen solid. The rest of the snacks and meals were great.
I passed an Indian (distinctive blue turban) fellow at least 3 times during Day 2. I’ve decided that finish time is mainly governed by the rest stops. He was riding a moderate pace but I think he hardly stopped at all and would pass me at the pit stops. I tried riding hard on Day 1 but I only got to camp around 3:30 pm (almost the same as last year). To make a dent in faster time, an easier bike than my mountain bike with slick tires would help but if you think of it, the speed increase can only be in the 10-20% range. Say going from 20 kph to 24 kph. On a 20 km leg you cut your time from 60 minutes to 50 minutes. Those 10 minutes can easily be burned up by running some video, having an apple and going to the washroom.
The early finish on Day 2 was probably helped by getting up early. I got up before 6 am. I went to put my camcorder on charge and noticed they were already serving breakfast. There was basically no line-up. So I ate. I looked for people I knew on the ride but didn’t see anyone. By the time I went and packed up my gear and organized my day bag, a huge line-up appeared for breakfast and coffee. I figured I better get on the road. I know last year I had to line up at the exit to the bike corral since they need to check your wristband against the bike number. I think it’s more for people who have the same model bike. The group is a pretty honest bunch.
The roads were good. No construction this year. Someone said they added some hills to Day 2. I seem to remember some of those hills from before but there was one steep uphill that many were walking. I geared right down and ended up only riding slightly faster than walking. The main advantage is you can gear up faster, as soon as it starts to flatten.
Road closures were really well handled. Many riders would say “Thank you” as they passed the people waving them through. Some were police officers and some bikers (motorcycle). I tried to think of different things to say as I passed, like “Wonderful job, excellent work, etc.” I cracked a few smiles from them. One policeman had a difficult job. It was a busy junction and the riders needed to turn left. I hate to say this but when there are 3000 riders and 30 cars, the priority has to be the riders. Anyway, one idiot driver, not sure if intentionally or not, drifted right to the edge so we’d have to ride on the unpaved shoulder. The woman ahead of me stopped to shout at the driver. Unfortunately, now she was blocking me. I decided just to ride pass her, as I heard other riders behind me already riding on the shoulder. We could have had a pile up otherwise.
Day 1 there were four of us that pretty much stayed on the same pace: Sue, Gail and Keith. We split up for a bit and then find each other at the rest stops. One stop I thought I’d get really behind. Sue and Keith left but then I stopped to video the guy who was doing the whole ride with a hand crank. He broke his back last year mountain biking and became a paraplegic. Never lost his love of riding. While I was videoing, I saw Anita who lives in my neighbourhood and volunteers for many Cancer events (or at least I seem to see her at these events). I was probably 10 minutes behind by the time I left. I rode hard and did find the group at the next rest stop.
The camcorder was fairly bulky to carry but worked out well. The sound captured is a lot better than the camera and the zoom means you can identify people easily. I tried to pan through the crowd to try to get most of the 3800 rider’s faces. Well more than last year anyway. I had a bunch of viewers last year that seemed to be random like the nephew of one of the people dancing and I had no idea who was dancing when I shot it. I also had one person stop me who had appeared on the Via train videos from last year. It sounded like he was looking forward to riding the train with me again. Riding videos were really just novelty. I wanted to get one riding down the escarpment section but I think the shot I did get is better, including the wedding party that was taking photos at the lookout.
The weather was great. Cloudy the first day and sunny on Day 2. It was fairly cool which is what I prefer for riding. I think the only thing worse than riding in the rain would be a scorching hot day. Day 2 last year must have been a bit misty or foggy. I only noticed this year while we were riding at the top of the escarpment that we could see right to Toronto. There’s a video pan of the skyline.
Carmen, Melinda and Anna (Carmen’s mom) came to pick me up at the finish line. Traffic is a little chaotic on the Niagara Parkway during the Ride but they parked up at the Skylon tower. Not too far a walk. On the way back to the car, we got a perfect view of the rainbow over the falls. I saw the rainbow last year from the bus but didn’t get any photos.
Thanks to all my supporters this year and the other riders that made the days enjoyable.
2009 Videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9x9_ZanJY0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GZ1ilOjz6Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVh9144kW5Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQbV2TLe1RA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLGkm8AGNzM
I passed an Indian (distinctive blue turban) fellow at least 3 times during Day 2. I’ve decided that finish time is mainly governed by the rest stops. He was riding a moderate pace but I think he hardly stopped at all and would pass me at the pit stops. I tried riding hard on Day 1 but I only got to camp around 3:30 pm (almost the same as last year). To make a dent in faster time, an easier bike than my mountain bike with slick tires would help but if you think of it, the speed increase can only be in the 10-20% range. Say going from 20 kph to 24 kph. On a 20 km leg you cut your time from 60 minutes to 50 minutes. Those 10 minutes can easily be burned up by running some video, having an apple and going to the washroom.
The early finish on Day 2 was probably helped by getting up early. I got up before 6 am. I went to put my camcorder on charge and noticed they were already serving breakfast. There was basically no line-up. So I ate. I looked for people I knew on the ride but didn’t see anyone. By the time I went and packed up my gear and organized my day bag, a huge line-up appeared for breakfast and coffee. I figured I better get on the road. I know last year I had to line up at the exit to the bike corral since they need to check your wristband against the bike number. I think it’s more for people who have the same model bike. The group is a pretty honest bunch.
The roads were good. No construction this year. Someone said they added some hills to Day 2. I seem to remember some of those hills from before but there was one steep uphill that many were walking. I geared right down and ended up only riding slightly faster than walking. The main advantage is you can gear up faster, as soon as it starts to flatten.
Road closures were really well handled. Many riders would say “Thank you” as they passed the people waving them through. Some were police officers and some bikers (motorcycle). I tried to think of different things to say as I passed, like “Wonderful job, excellent work, etc.” I cracked a few smiles from them. One policeman had a difficult job. It was a busy junction and the riders needed to turn left. I hate to say this but when there are 3000 riders and 30 cars, the priority has to be the riders. Anyway, one idiot driver, not sure if intentionally or not, drifted right to the edge so we’d have to ride on the unpaved shoulder. The woman ahead of me stopped to shout at the driver. Unfortunately, now she was blocking me. I decided just to ride pass her, as I heard other riders behind me already riding on the shoulder. We could have had a pile up otherwise.
Day 1 there were four of us that pretty much stayed on the same pace: Sue, Gail and Keith. We split up for a bit and then find each other at the rest stops. One stop I thought I’d get really behind. Sue and Keith left but then I stopped to video the guy who was doing the whole ride with a hand crank. He broke his back last year mountain biking and became a paraplegic. Never lost his love of riding. While I was videoing, I saw Anita who lives in my neighbourhood and volunteers for many Cancer events (or at least I seem to see her at these events). I was probably 10 minutes behind by the time I left. I rode hard and did find the group at the next rest stop.
The camcorder was fairly bulky to carry but worked out well. The sound captured is a lot better than the camera and the zoom means you can identify people easily. I tried to pan through the crowd to try to get most of the 3800 rider’s faces. Well more than last year anyway. I had a bunch of viewers last year that seemed to be random like the nephew of one of the people dancing and I had no idea who was dancing when I shot it. I also had one person stop me who had appeared on the Via train videos from last year. It sounded like he was looking forward to riding the train with me again. Riding videos were really just novelty. I wanted to get one riding down the escarpment section but I think the shot I did get is better, including the wedding party that was taking photos at the lookout.
The weather was great. Cloudy the first day and sunny on Day 2. It was fairly cool which is what I prefer for riding. I think the only thing worse than riding in the rain would be a scorching hot day. Day 2 last year must have been a bit misty or foggy. I only noticed this year while we were riding at the top of the escarpment that we could see right to Toronto. There’s a video pan of the skyline.
Carmen, Melinda and Anna (Carmen’s mom) came to pick me up at the finish line. Traffic is a little chaotic on the Niagara Parkway during the Ride but they parked up at the Skylon tower. Not too far a walk. On the way back to the car, we got a perfect view of the rainbow over the falls. I saw the rainbow last year from the bus but didn’t get any photos.
Thanks to all my supporters this year and the other riders that made the days enjoyable.
2009 Videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9x9_ZanJY0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GZ1ilOjz6Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVh9144kW5Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQbV2TLe1RA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLGkm8AGNzM
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