Our First Metric Century

Twenty days until "The Ride" and 114 days since we registered and started training, it is certainly hard to believe! Today, Jessica and I competed in the American Diabetes Association's (ADA - "competitor" of JDRF, don't tell anyone) Tour de Cure. This was our first actual cycling event and one that we were looking to for a little motivation and confidence as we move into the last week of training. Fortunately, we had great weather and met some good people on the road as we finished 65 miles and our first metric century (62 mile, 100 k).

The day started with a wake up call at 5:30am, a Panera Bagel, a quick shower to wake up, two glasses of water, and then off we went to register and stretch at the event starting point in Loudon, TN (20 min. west of Knoxville). We certainly did not feel as alone as we do from time to time when it is just the two of us along with some rabid dogs barking and chasing as we ride through rural East Tennessee. These types of rides have been all too common during our training!

The finish line for today's ride was filled with a large group of folks cheering us on. We had a great catered lunch and then even enjoyed a short massage thanks to one of the sponsors of today's event. However, the most humorous point of the day came when Jessica "mooed" at a field of cows as we passed by and then at least a dozen big cows stampeded towards us. Fortunately a barbed wire fence kept them at bay!

We move into this last week of training with excitement and anxiety as the big event is 3 weeks from today. Our bikes ship out on the 18th and we arrive in Sonoma on the 25th. I will try to do a better job of posting entries between now and then. A picture from today's event should be available soon as well.

Final Note of Interest: Thanks to the generous support of friends, family, and even a few strangers, we have successfully raised over $8500 for diabetes research. We try to always remember this number when climbs get long and temps get hot. Thank you!