Philadelphia Live Strong Challenge 2006
Once again Heather Radcliffe and I signed up for a Lance Armstrong Cancer fundraiser, but this year we registered for the LiveStrong Challenge. The Tour of Hope ride was not being held this year. As an added bonus, another Skylands Cycling team mate joined us, Gary Worth. As a Team we raised $4440.00 in support of a cure for Cancer. The ride was scheduled for Sunday, September 10th, which turned out to be a gorgeous day (unlike the extremely wet non-ride last year). So Heather and I planned our trip with the intention of meeting up with Gary the morning of. On Saturday night I had a wedding to attend so Heather met me at my parents house and we reloaded the car with gear and bikes and headed off to Philly. At this point it was probably 10:30pm and we were both so excited about the fact that the day had finally arrived and that the weather man (who normally cannot be trusted) promised us a great day to ride for a wonderful cause. We arrived at the hotel around mid night, and although we were still excited to be there I think it is safe to say we were a bit silly with exhaustion. Heather had already packed in a full weekend in one day and me the same. So we were ready for our 4 hours of sleep. The front desk attendant at the hotel gave us our keys and pointed us to our room. He could do this because the room was maybe 50 ft from the front door. Coincidently, it was also on the outskirts of the post wedding party. So now the silly’s have worn off and the terror of not sleeping, due to drunken people, settles in. “Ok, let’s check out the sound proofing of the room and move on from there”, we said as we plowed our bikes through the crowd of well dressed intoxicated wedding guests who are now just staring at us. We open the door to our room to find a large board room table and 6 very nice leather board room swivel chairs. “I get the table” I say…..Where are the beds? Panic sets in, knowing the hotel is over booked. Heather notices a door beyond the board room and to our surprise it is a bedroom. We are saved. And it was sound proofed!!!!
4 hours later…..
Our alarm went off, the phone rang and we were up, sort of. We had laid out our gear and food the night before so we didn’t have to think too much at this point. We headed over to the restaurant for our free continental breakfast where we met a bunch of other riders preparing for the carb feast which was about to begin. After breakfast we packed up the car and headed over to the LAF parking lot. Once we unpacked the car we rode over to the registration tent where we picked up our numbers, favors and my fancy backpack (fundraiser qualification), which I love. Then we headed back to the car to reassess what we needed to bring and pin our numbers etc. All of a sudden we hear, “Blake, Heather” and we turn around and in the midst of thousands of riders, runners and walkers, Gary finds us. Ok, it helped that we were wearing our Skylands kits, but still what are the odds. So we met up again at his car and headed back over to the lineup area. Unfortunately we didn’t get further than 100 ft. when I realized I had a flat. Back to Gary’s car we went to check out my tire. Once that was fixed we headed over. The crowds were amazing. It’s 6:30am and everyone was excited and chatty. Then it was line up time for the 2900 participants that attended. They broke it down into 3 groups for the riders. Gary, Heather and I were riding the 70mile category so we were in group 2, next to the 100milers. There was what seemed like thousands to 100milers. Then the time came for us to head out. It was thrilling!
The roads were wonderful and hilly, but good hilly (Long with 5-12%grades). We actually powered up them pretty well. I never thought I would say that but I am. I don’t know if it was the company, the roads or the spirit but we had a natural high all day. In the beginning we were riding with everyone as a long huge pack. But after the first rest stop, which we passed, the group started to thin out. We rode through back roads, main roads, parks/forests and around the center of Philly. We stopped at the 2nd and 4th rest stop to refuel and deal with mechanicals. Heather got a flat at the worst part of the ride. We had just finished riding around the river, which was flat and free of traffic. After we crossed over the bridge we were back on main roads which were under construction. They were grading the road so it was somewhat scary riding on, in a large group, with people who may or may not be comfortable on a bike. Anyway, we were finally off the main road and headed up this steep, curvy residential hill. At the top was rest stop #4 which we had decided ahead of time to stop at. I reached the top first (weird right?) and waited for Gary and Heather. Now this in itself was odd to me. But then I saw Gary. Then we waited. Again, this was strange for me to be this far ahead of Heather who is much stronger than I. So now I was beginning to worry. Gary thought she may have had a mechanical. Then we saw her, she looked exhausted. It turned out that she rode the whole hill with a tire that was almost completely flat. Does she rock or what!! Anyway, the mechanic at the rest stop hooked her up with a new tube etc. while Gary and I replenished her water bottles and grabbed some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I don’t think I have ever had a better PB&J in my life. Then we were on our way to the finish line. The last part of the ride was rather hilly but fun none the less. At this point we were passing a number of people who were now pushing their bikes up the hills. I would have to say that this part of the ride was definitely too hilly for the 10/40 mile group which was said to be easier than the 70/100 mile route, but apparently ended on the same path. Everyone still had a smile on their face knowing the end justifies the means. As we crossed the finish line we were still so excited. We did it and we did it together from start to finish. We finished in about 4 hours, including rest stops.
Afterwards we had various people come over to us and compliment us on our kits. We also ran into people who knew us, the club or Bob Cary. We finally sat down with our pasta and salad and drank a free Shiner Beer and then called it a day. It was Great and I think I can speak for all of us…we will be back next year. The only bummer was NO LANCE, but it’s not about Lance is it!
Thanks to everyone who supported us!!
