The ADA has a very generous policy which says that if you're doing the 550-mile Tour de Cure in July, you can go on any of the one-day rides without raising extra money. So I took them up on the offer and went on the May 2, 2004 Portsmouth, NH Tour de Cure.

It was an early day. Check in was at 6:00 AM and Portsmouth is about an hour from here, so it was going to have to be a 4:00 AM wake up. I am not a morning person.

A friend offered to puppy sit Billy, so I took him over the night before at around 8:00 PM and got home at 8:30. Another good friend was having a housewarming for a place he just bought in Dorchester. I really wanted to go but I was running late. The housewarming was supposed to start at 8:30.

I got home and started checking the tire pressure (it's unlikely I'd be able to do it in the morning!) I must have twisted the stem or something because I got a stem flat and those are impossible to fix. So I pulled out the spare tube which was old. I was running late and got impatient and tried to put the tire back on with a tire iron. Well, that's a big no-no, so, of course, I pinch flatted. It was my last tube, so I got out the repair kit which was also old and the glue wasn't very glue-y any more. The patch wouldn't stick, so I took it back off and tried to scrape off all the goo and put on one of those pre-glued patches. I put the tire back on and pumped it up, but at about 80 pounds the patch blew and it flatted again. I took the tire off, put on another patch trying to cover more area, put the tire back on, and pumped it up. Flat. No more tubes.

The tubes in my Peugeot aren't very old so I canabalized one out of that, taking great care of it. If this one flatted, I'd have to try to find a brand new tube at 4:00 AM on a Sunday morning. The prospects of that aren't very good. That was successful, but it was almost 10:00 by then and there was no way I was going to make the house party. So I packed up my kit and went to bed. It sure is weird not having the dog in the house, though.

Up at four, got dressed and out the door by 4:45 for the one-mile ride to get the zipcar. Packed up and off. Got to Portsmouth, NH by about 6:05 for check in. The rest of the day was uneventful except that I kept waiting for another flat. I really hate riding without a spare tube.

The toe that I had broken a week or two earlier really hurt for the first 20 miles or so, but either I forgot about it or it got numb. Either way, it stopped bothering me.

The day was sunny and cold along the shore, but warm inland. A few spots of rain around the 60-mile mark, but otherwise, beautiful.

Statisics:

Date:

02-May-04

Type:

Road

Miles:

109.52

Time:

6:48:34

Avg:

16.48

Max:

35.2

[Mile 0] Everybody fresh and ready at the 7:00 AM starting line. The 100- and 75- milers started at 7, the shorter routes started later.

[Mile 48] Me at checkpoint 4: Half-way in Fremont, NH. That little kid makes killer PB sandwiches. When you ask people to take pictures of you, they never include the bike in the pictures.

[Mile 53] I wish I knew how to take pictures of hills. This is O'Dell Road in Fremont and it's brutal. I can just imagine what it's like with snow on it. That little spec is a bike at the bottom of the hill. Most people who climbed the hill had this to say: "Ugh."

[Mile 90] An overlook of Rye Beach.

[Mile 100] Yes, Mom, I slowed down to take these pictures.

[Mile 109] At ride end. Again, without the bike.

They had massages at the end of the ride. What a wonderful idea!

Someone told me you should eat protein after a ride. I passed through Saugus the home of the Hilltop Steak House on the way home. So I stopped and ate a cow. This is a 15 oz fillet mignon. It was delicious.