I just want to thank everyone, once again, for donating to my ride Saturday!
The day started early for me, around 4:30am, because I had to arrive early to register as a rider between 5-6:30am. I caught a ride to the Pelotonia with my friend Grant, who was also doing the ride with me. The closer we go to the starting gate at Chemical Abstracts off Olentangy, the more excited I began to get about getting things started for the day. There were people everywhere! I knew there were a little over 4,000 riders showing up, but it's hard to grasp how many riders that really is until you see all of them in front of you. Everyone was organized at the gate by how fast you believed you'd ride. Fastest in the front would go first, casual riders in the middle, and slow in the rear. I would say I was somewhere in between casual and slow when I joined the large group.
After doing a one-last look over my bike and having someone double check the air in my tires, I popped a couple pain killers, vitamins, and chugged some Gatorade after I helped myself to the catered food at the starting gate. By this time I had adrenalin going and couldn't wait to get going. It was a matter of minutes before they let the fast riders begin, and slowly people started moving and I could finally hop on my bike. Suprisingly everyone got started without any hiccups- no riders down, causing a domino effect, thank god.
Riding through the starting gate and through the closed streets of downtown were hundreds of people clapping, shouting, and ringing cow-bells with nothing but encouraging words to say. I don't think I've ever felt so important taking part in something, ever. The first couple miles were a blur simply because of all the excitement going on. Grant and I had kept a pretty good pace from the beginning and before I knew it, we had our first 20-some-odd miles down and made it to the first stopping point for riders in Groveport, OH. The next 23 miles were challenging to say the least. I didn't feel tired at this point but if you know 221 and 674, you know they aren't the flattest of roads. Going up some of these steep hills I told myself I would NOT give up and walk the bike at any point in this ride; This was my own personal goal. Somehow I found the strength to jump in with a couple riders and kept a pretty good pace which led me to the 43 mile finish.
After a little under 3 hours I made it to the finish at the High School in Amanda, OH, which was also littered with people screaming and ringing cow-bells, thanking and congratulating me for my ride. Tents were set up with more catered food which I happily helped myself to, and people taking pictures everywhere. It was hard for me to believe at this point that I had really ridden that far, I had no idea if I could actually make 43 miles like that, or not. I had ridden much further than 43 miles before, but never this many miles with as many elevation changes.
I feel like I can accomplish anything after doing this ride, and can't explain the feeling of taking part of something with such an impact. I met some great people during the ride, and heard some moving and emotional stories from both riders and people who donated. I'm glad I had this chance to do my part for everyone and I hope that I can do this again next year!
some quick pictures:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs180.ash2/44273_1453765430933_1437210220_31399271_5345361_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs392.snc4/45562_1453734750166_1437210220_31399198_5408207_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs392.snc4/45562_1453734990172_1437210220_31399204_2281840_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs384.snc4/44728_1454132840118_1437210220_31400541_6273884_n.jpg
FINISH!
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs396.snc4/45913_595957180377_50609503_33850266_177268_n.jpg