Saturday, June 13, 2009
12:30AM – I couldn’t fall asleep, so I’m counting down the hours of sleep that I’m going to get and starting to worry a little bit. I really don’t want to have another seizure while I’m riding especially with a pack of 2800 other riders around me. I take another gravol and manage to fall asleep right after that.5:20AM – the alarm goes off and I’m out of bed raring to go. I get all of my gear packed up for camping. I was definitely hoping for more than 5 hours of sleep that night. I ate a very carbohydrate filled breaky of a chocolate banana chip muffin and a Clif bar.
6:00AM - Hit the road to pick my partner in crime for the weekend Bryan in Etobicoke.
7:00AM – We exit onto Jameson and immediately see a ton of cars with bikes on them. I was definitely getting excited at this point, just wanting to gout of the car and get onto my bike and ride to the check in. We get directed to the drop off and Bryan and I get our gear and our bikes and try and figure out where to go. It was a chaotic mass of yellow jerseys walking around. We did an online check in which made things easier. I had to hand in some more cheques and trade in my yellow jersey for a white ambassador jersey. I was a Silver Ambassador this year due to your generous donations (a Silver Ambassador means that you’ve exceeded $10,000 in donations or recruited 8 or more riders, and Gold means that you’ve exceeded $25,000 in donations or recruited 12 or more riders). Bryan got the daunting task of standing around and watching our luggage.
Once I was done running around, we dropped our luggage off on one of the trucks headed for camp. Bryan was calling to meet up with a friend of his from work so we could start the race off together, who we met at the breakfast tables. I have to say – we definitely did not go hungry on this ride. There was a ton of food! I actually have put on weight after this weekend!
8:45AM The start time was supposed to be at 8:00AM, and I guess for the people at the start of the line, they would have been accurate. We were at the back of the line though and everyone was leaving through the Princess Gates, which seemed too small for the first time in my life. All of us were waddling along as we straddled our bikes inching closer and closer to the Start line. It was nice to finally get out and on the roads, although it was a little stressful as well. It was a really congested ride for quite a while where I think we were averaging about 18 k/h all the way through Lakeshore. It started to open up a bit once we hit Cawthra Rd in Mississauga. I was getting a little worried about the time because I told my family to meet us at a spot around 10:00AM, but it was pretty clear that we wouldn’t be making that time. Bryan and I picked up the pace a little and started to make some headway as we went north on Cawthra and west on the Queensway. It was nice to get out of the crowds a bit as we didn’t have to be as aware of people that were immediately around us. We made it up to the first pitstop at Credit Woodlands feeling strong.
10:00AM – the first pitstop! It actually didn’t start off that well – I ended up tipping over – which I’d love to plame on my buddy B, but I’m not sure I can. I was following him into the pitstop probably too closely and he stopped. I wasn’t expecting that so I jammed on my brakes, while trying to unclip, but my multiple efforts to unclip just didn’t go, so I knew I was falling over. I looked down and knew that I was falling on a good side (there was pavement on one side, grass on the other) - so I had a soft landing. After a couple of people asked me if I was ok, and the embarrassment subsided. B went over to get some Gatorade, and I called Karen to let her know that we were a bit behind schedule. After a quick rest, we were back out on the road.
11:00AM – We were heading up to the spot where my family was going to be. Reflecting back on the ride, we were going right past B’s house, right past B’s brother’s house, right past my grade school, past the house where I grew up, past my current house – camp was 10 minutes from my extended family’s house (Karen’s aunt and uncle). All of this was a huge bonus for everyone involved. Riding past my house and the Delfin Family Cheering Station was actually the most emotional part for me. I was expecting that leaving the CNE grounds would be emotional, but I was too worried about not hitting anyone; I thought that the finish would be emotional, but I don’t think I had the energy or the liquid in my body to spare tears. This Delfin family Cheering Station was it. I couldn’t even contain myself riding up to them as I saw them all there cheering for us. My niece Isabelle was holding a sign that she did and hugs and tears were plentiful as we said our hellos. Karen and I hugged for a while as we got lost in the moment. We have put a lot of ourselves into the planning for the weekend. From events, to worrying about my health – I really have to hand it to my wife, she’s really put herself into the Ride to Conquer Cancer this year. She’s definitely a fighter. The nice thing – as always – she’s doing everything she can to help the cause. Personally, there are things that are motivations for me – I got an amazing bike and an amazing experience for motivation, so while I’m doing this for the overall cause, there’s little perks in it for me. Karen, on the other hand, has just done all of this for the cause and in support of me – just unselfish and giving, but if you know her, that’s Karen. I’m proud of her for that.
After that we were back on our way. There was another pit stop relatively close to our house where B stopped and loaded up on Gatorade again. He also picked up some snacks and we were back on the way. That point was probably the 50KM mark of the route. I have to say it was nice to get out of the city riding and get into the country again.
12:30PM – Lunchtime! We officially made it into Hamilton and lunch was at a place called “Parkside Farm”. There were some pretty big hills coming into Hamilton that were pretty challenging – we knew going in though that towards the end of the day there were going to be bigger tougher hills to come. We were at the 70KM mark at that point and relaxed with some Swiss Chalet chicken wraps and some Blonde Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Brownies. We actually had seconds of the BBCCBs. And thirds. And then we packed three extra BBCCBs. Each. I may have to track down that recipe.
With full stomachs we got on our way and were cruising through the back roads leading into the city of Hamilton. It was a beautiful ride – until the hills/mountains. First – we went down a massive hill. I think that B and I both clocked ourselves at 64 km/h going down then we chickened out and starting riding our brakes the rest of the way. The bottom of the hill was actually the town of Dundas and the start of the biggest climb of the day. Remember the hill that we just came down? The one where some guys reached 80km/h? We had to climb up the other side of that valley on to Hamilton Mountain. I was pretty pumped for it though and the actually climb was easier than it looked once I started climbing. There were a ton of people walking up the hill though. Once at the top, it was really close to camp. We were riding through a really scenic part of Hamilton with a view on top of the escarpment and some really nice houses.
3:00PM Camp was on Mohawk College – coming into Mohawk was awesome there was a small crowd cheering everyone in as we arrived. I parked my bike and walked around camp for a bit, taking some pictures of camp. I also checked out the massage booth, but there was a pretty big line up for just a 15 minute massage, and it didn’t really seem like a relaxing place either with everyone crammed in the tent (oi – have I been hanging out with Karen the spa queen too much?). There was also free Steam Whistle and wine, as well as tons of giveaways for the riders. There were yoga classes, free internet, and of course food all over the place. Camp had hundreds of tents jammed packed together; it made me wonder what kind of sleep we were going to have. A nice thing was we were on the complete opposite side of the port a potties. B and I stretched for a while (I think it was more lying in the grass than stretching), then we decided to get up and get moving. I went to explore the camp a little more and Bryan went to find his friend Heather. We had about an hour before Karen came to pick us up, we were being treated to a “power dinner” by Jane (Karen’s aunt) who’s a marathon runner. B and I were both looking forward to that meal.
5:00PM Karen calls and she’s ready to go. I was in the bike parking taking pictures of literally hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bikes and bike equipment. There was 24 hour security though, which was amazing. We could leave our bikes and know that they were safe. I called B up and we all converged in the parking lot and hopped into the car. I think that I might have mentioned that Alex and Jane’s place was 10 minutes away. B and I took full advantage and used the facilities and Alex and Jane’s getting everything that we needed to do to get comfortable for dinner (I won’t get into any details :-) ).
Jane prepared us an amazing meal of whole wheat linguine with shrimp and red pepper cream sauce, buns, salad, and to top it off bumble berry pie with gelato and frozen yogurt. Yum – it was one of the best tasting meals I’ve ever had. While we were eating, we were rehydrating with a seemingly endless supply of Gatorade, juice, water, and tonic water. It was exactly what we needed to replenish our bodies. Jane would know she’s a marathon runner supreme and a nurse to boot.
8:40PM After some good food and some good company, B and I were ready to pass out. Karen and Steve (Karen’s cousin) brought us back to camp. When we got back, the band was rocking and there was quite a crowd moshing it up on the dance floor. We grabbed some beers and walked around a bit and Steve and Bryan signed up for next year. I’ve already signed up for the 200 mile ride as a goal for next year. At $25 it was a much cheaper price than the $75 that I paid in December to sign up for this year. More on this after...
9:00PM We noticed that the band stopped playing promptly at 9:00PM and everyone started heading for camp. I was wondering what was going to happen – with free alcohol, I thought that things could get out of hand, but it seems that everyone was focused on the next morning. We said goodbye to Karen and Steve and headed off to camp to get ready for probably the worst sleep that we’ve ever had.
Day 2 to follow...
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