Tour de Fun Recap

Today was the Tour de Fun event which included several bike rides and even a 5K run/walk.  I was able to talk my friend Kelly into doing the 25 mile bike ride with me.  The ride started at 7:30 AM and it was already well into the upper 70's and humid at the start.  This is a non-competitive event so we just planned to have fun and get in a good workout.  We were running a little late and rode through the parking lot just as the riders were rolling out.  It was perfect timing and we just merged right in with them.  The course meanders through some neighborhood streets and country highways and is just an out and back. 

Kelly filling up on water at the rest stop

There were quite a few funny moments during the ride...

1. Pink Patrol - somehow we both managed to wear pink tops and black bike shorts...great minds think alike! 
2. Cheering Fans - probably not the kind you would expect.  As we passed a small family farm, there were cow pens right next to the road.  I, always being friendly, called out a good morning to the cows.  They returned the cheer with lots of mooing and a few tail flips too.  My friend Kelly reassured them that we were not stopping for any milk stops and we cycled on by!
3. Rest Stops? - being a non-competitive, supported, charity ride we both expected to see rest stops along the way.  We hit 10 miles before seeing one and just assumed that surely they would have one at the turn around.  I had gotten a voicemail while we were riding and stopped at the turnaround to check the message.  They had one, lone volunteer working the turnaround.  Kelly bummed the only bottle of water that he had.  Very strange to not have a stop at the turn and others must have thought so too because about 5 other people stopped there too.
4. Rest Stops part two - we headed back and planned to stop at the actual rest stop to refill our bottles.  All the rest stop had was water and some Gatorade...nothing for nutrition.  One girl that stopped after us was in need of calories...her hands were pretty shaky...so I offered her some of my PowerBar Energy Chews.  I just love those!



Me enjoying the rest!

5. Friendly Competition- as we started the ride there were a couple of people that we passed.  We weren't rude or anything just going slightly faster and so we passed on the outside.  One guy, we'll call him blue shorts, didn't seem to like that and we played leap frog throughout the course.  We gave blue shorts a big head start from the rest stop and took our time riding back.  About 4 miles out, I started setting targets for us to pass (for motivation).  Kelly told me to go ahead, she would hold down the fort while I passed people.  I told her to stay on my wheel and let's have some fun.  Blue Shorts was about 1/4 mile ahead of us and we were going to catch him at the start of another set of rolling hills.  We passed on the hill and then hit a busier road with a stop light.  Mr. Blue Shorts buzzed past all of us who had  stopped at a red light.  Oh well, guess he wanted to win pretty badly.
6. After Party - we finished up the race and were treated to quite the after party.  They had awesome hamburgers and hot dogs and even Popsicles.  There was a band playing and a silent auction.  I won something in the silent auction that I'm going to use as a gift. 

Overall, it was a fun event and 25 miles was the perfect distance for today.  I could have probably gone a little further but 50 would have been too much.  The course was pretty and full of rolling hills...it should probably be called the Tour de Hills instead of the Tour de Fun!