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Two Very Different Organized Rides
Jun. 15th, 2016 02:14 pmBetween Naked Bike Ride Saturday and Tour de Cure on Sunday, I rode about 80 miles in two days this weekend. I'm pretty convinced that I could do 50 miles a day for an extended period at this point. I was sore after the weekend, but those were two days of non-stop forty mile rides. If I rode 25 or 30 miles, took a leisurely lunch break, and did another 25 or 30, I think I'd feel fine. I could possibly go further than that even. So that makes me feel good.
On the naked ride, I bailed from the ride at the halfway point and headed back to Evanston. I was having a fun time, but not nearly so much as during the first two years. As we stopped for the halfway break, I decided that, with a really early day on Sunday (I was getting up at 5:30), and without the energy and thrill of prior years, it would be good to head home and get to bed. I did get an official photo taken with Danae's wonderful bodypaint; I should be able to find that and share it soon. I would like to do it again next year, but only, I think, if I can find someone(s) to ride with. That would be a blast! But otherwise, I guess I just feel like I've already ridden through downtown Chicago and up through Boystown butt naked three times now; it's nothing new. I think that without the novelty, there's much less appeal; instead, I want to seek new experiences.
Tour de Cure was a good experience, and I want to again thank everyone who donated and helped make it possible. I feel deeply positive about helping fundraise for something that's not only an objectively important and valuable undertaking, but also one that's deeply personally important to me, since my father has been diabetic since he was a boy.
The supported ride was a fun experience. Having food and drinks after each ten mile leg of the route was pretty awesome. It was also not a surprise, but still made me really happy, to see that the rest stops had things like sharps disposal containers and alcohol swabs for people who need to inject. There were also groups of people congratulating arriving riders and thanking them for riding. Lots of feel-good stuff! Apart from that though, it was basically a forty mile bike ride. The route was really pretty and wooded in parts, and wound through large farm fields in others, and it was a lot of fun to see the different sights. But generally speaking, if I want to make a forty mile ride, I can just go up to the Botanic Gardens and back on my own schedule. The additional parts of the organized ride didn't really give me a thrill. I like the idea of doing fundraising work, and I might do that again when I'm in better headspace and can be more organized about it. But doing large organized rides for their own sake seems to be another thing that, unless I have people I'm doing it with, isn't really worth it to me. Anyway, I did the forty miles in about three and a half hours, mostly finding another group of riders around my own speed and traveling along with them. I liked the brief bits of chatting I did with other riders. Maybe if I'm feeling more social I could manage to make some ride-long friends at least at these things.
On the naked ride, I bailed from the ride at the halfway point and headed back to Evanston. I was having a fun time, but not nearly so much as during the first two years. As we stopped for the halfway break, I decided that, with a really early day on Sunday (I was getting up at 5:30), and without the energy and thrill of prior years, it would be good to head home and get to bed. I did get an official photo taken with Danae's wonderful bodypaint; I should be able to find that and share it soon. I would like to do it again next year, but only, I think, if I can find someone(s) to ride with. That would be a blast! But otherwise, I guess I just feel like I've already ridden through downtown Chicago and up through Boystown butt naked three times now; it's nothing new. I think that without the novelty, there's much less appeal; instead, I want to seek new experiences.
Tour de Cure was a good experience, and I want to again thank everyone who donated and helped make it possible. I feel deeply positive about helping fundraise for something that's not only an objectively important and valuable undertaking, but also one that's deeply personally important to me, since my father has been diabetic since he was a boy.
The supported ride was a fun experience. Having food and drinks after each ten mile leg of the route was pretty awesome. It was also not a surprise, but still made me really happy, to see that the rest stops had things like sharps disposal containers and alcohol swabs for people who need to inject. There were also groups of people congratulating arriving riders and thanking them for riding. Lots of feel-good stuff! Apart from that though, it was basically a forty mile bike ride. The route was really pretty and wooded in parts, and wound through large farm fields in others, and it was a lot of fun to see the different sights. But generally speaking, if I want to make a forty mile ride, I can just go up to the Botanic Gardens and back on my own schedule. The additional parts of the organized ride didn't really give me a thrill. I like the idea of doing fundraising work, and I might do that again when I'm in better headspace and can be more organized about it. But doing large organized rides for their own sake seems to be another thing that, unless I have people I'm doing it with, isn't really worth it to me. Anyway, I did the forty miles in about three and a half hours, mostly finding another group of riders around my own speed and traveling along with them. I liked the brief bits of chatting I did with other riders. Maybe if I'm feeling more social I could manage to make some ride-long friends at least at these things.
