Ride Review

This was the first of hopefully many more Miles for Hope rides. For those who missed the ride, sorry. You missed a good one! You could quickly tell that the ride was organized by a cyclist as the organization was perfect and there were so many volunteer's helping with the event.

I arrived at 6:00am when the registration opened which was way too early. I was really surprised when I went to pickup my registration package and goody bag they were ready and waiting for everyone. I was the first pickup. Not sure what time their day started but they were setup and well prepared. At most rides they are still unboxing and setting up at the opening time.

The 100k ride started at 8:00am and we quickly formed into groups. I rode with a B+ group of 20 the entire ride with a pace of 22-26. The route was great and scenery was fantastic, especially across the bridges and along the beaches. My max speed was 41.64 which was down one of the bridges but not sure which one. It was a fast ride but we stayed together as a group and helped each other out when needed especially toward the end. There were a lot of hills on the route which everyone did at their own pace and regrouped going down or at the bottom. I thought about dropping back to the B group a few times but kept telling myself, "don't get dropped", "don't get dropped". I think that pushed me and helped a couple of time. The pace on fast rides always goes up and down. If you can maintain the bursts and hang in there for a little while it will slow with lights and turns. At least enough to drop the HR and catch your breath before the next one.

To my surprise when we arrived back, there was a ton of food and a live band playing. They had burgers and dogs on the grill and catering by the Macaroni Grill. The band played classic rock and was great.

We got to meet Bob who is the cyclist recovering from brain cancer and who initiated this ride. I certainly hope this becomes a yearly event and supported by even more of the local cyclist next year. The Suncoast Cycling Club was certainly very well represented at this event showing their support for Bob and the first Miles for Hope ride. Good job Suncoast!

We completed the 100k route with 64.74 miles in 3:32:22 with 2 brief stops and no flats in our group. Great cause, great ride and a perfect day! I did take some pictures which I will post once I take the rest of the roll. I'll add a note when I post them.

Here is the Fox New story on Bob and this event in case you missed it.

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7319641&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.5.1