Last Saturday was a fluke. Here we are in beautiful Colorado. Most days we still need to wear shorts and Crocs. But last Saturday - it had to be rebellious. It also happened to be the day of the Pedaling for Pennies, a benefit 128 mile ride our team does every year. Some of the money raised goes to help reduce team fees. Some of the monies are donated to a Childhood Diabetes Research fund. We knew the cold rain was coming, but we hoped that the forecasts would be wrong as they so often are, but they were not. The kids and I rolled out of bed at about 4:45 in the morning so that we could be on the road by 5:00 a.m. We had prepacked the car to make this possible. By the time the kids rolled out it was still dry, but not for long. Within the first 20 miles the weather had worked itself into a frenzy, slapping at the kids with cold rain. By the time they got farther north near Fort Collins it began to calm itself, but just for a while.
I was there to support the racers. I ended up helping Laura and Davis with their aid station. It was number 4, about 85 miles into the ride. Now, Laura does everything large and Davis is the king of making sure everyone has all that they need. Their aid station was the best. We made jokes that it was the Grisworld (National Lampoon) family aid station, but it was wonderful and so very welcome. We set up two awnings and a tarp that connected the truck with the awnings. There was a floor mat, a bunch of chairs and a huge spread of food. She had enough to feed an army, well, in fact, she was sort of expecting an army of riders, that is, but the weather kept many of them away. She had bagels with cream cheese and nutela, four kinds of large, luscious cookies, peaches, watermelon, honeydew, strawberries and grapes. If you needed protein you could munch on tuna, ham or turkey sandwiches. You could nosh on red licorice or nibbles of three kinds of chocolate. Many of the riders were experiencing leg cramps and were in need of salt. They were happy to find kettle chips and pirate bootie (sort of like cheese puffs). I might have even forgotten something.
The riders who made it to our station were hard core. The first group, the fastest riders, had mud splattered faces. Carlos joked that they all looked Brazilian (he's Brazilian and Spanish) and the all laughed. They were do dirty that they had to wipe off their hands and face before they could eat. I traded out some wet clothing for a few dry pieces I had. The next group was even more water logged. They even looked like they had crossed through a river. They were thankful for the food. Two more groups made it through. A few were picked up and sagged.
I was so proud of Ethan when he showed up at the aid station. Everyone else in his group got picked up and taken back to the start. He and James, the dad of a fellow team mate, put down the hammer and caught up with the earlier group. Later in the day they would encounter lightening on the ride. It struck a phone pole a few hundred feet from where they were riding. This caused the hair on his arms to stand on end. They quickly found an abandoned barn and waited out the storm. In the end he was one of very few to complete the entire course. We started with about 55 riders and about 15 finished without being sagged.
Ellie's ride was no so lasting. She had been sick with a fever earlier in the week. On Thursday she tripped and hurt her knee. On Friday she still had a low grade fever. I was happy she just showed up. She and Anna got about 45 miles in before quitting.
We're glad to have it over. Ethan was happy with his accomplishments. Ellie was okay with her performance since she was ill. I'm impressed with all of the people who pulled together on a cold and rainy day to show their dedication to the team.
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