St Jude 30 mile ride

[Gary Stolt]

I haven't posted in the bike threads but do ride on occasion.
Got an email from St Jude about a 30 mile ride over the Mississippi River so I signed up and started training. Our normal ride is 12 to 15 miles and usually a casual ride. I thought I should train a little and have some confidence that I could actually make it 30 miles. After about 6 weeks, I deemed myself ready to compete and then got a call that the Mississippi is flooding in Memphis and that the ride is cancelled. Bummer - we (Candy was going to ride as well - 10 miles) are disappointed.
The event was/is a fund raiser as are all St Jude events and nothing has been said about returning entry fee, etc. I know that the donations are just that and not to be refunded but I thought the entry fee might be refunded and still hoping to get the swag that is to accompany the donation.
May have to wait till next year.
I miss skiing.

 

[coskigirl]

Nice job on training to get there. Often rides have a no refund policy because so much of their costs can’t be recouped if it cancels. Some will let you do next year’s ride for free. Otherwise, I would check on whether the fee would now be tax deductible as a non-profit donation.

 

[tball]

Thanks for the nudge to sign up for something! Having an event on the calendar always motivates me to train. There's nothing scheduled and I'm not training much. I'm going to change that this weekend.

 

[Tricia]

Hi Gary

Good on you for doing the ride and donating to such an amazing cause. I hope you get your swag
We miss you. Come on out and we'll ski Mammoth!!
We can do the usual tourist things around Lake Tahoe which is feeling summery, while Squaw and Mammoth are crazy good spring skiing.

 

[Ron]

Im on the BOD for the Tour De Steamboat, we don't do refunds and fortunately we haven't had to cancel but we have to commit so many dollars to the different NPO's we pledged to and there are also the many sponsors who pay for advertising so its a bit more complicated than it seems. Our swag bas are super important to our riders so we really try to make those as special as possible and we have all of the items far in advance and several items we give away are promotional trial items and such that the companies want the riders to have, so your Tour should be able to make those available.

 

[Tony S]

@Gary Stolt , eventually you'll finish one of these charity rides and then the sweet feeling will last for years - especially if you sometimes ride with other charity ride participants. Speaking from a couple of experiences.

Maine is huge into charity rides. (Trek Across Maine, MS Ride, Tri For a Cure, Dempsey Challenge, and more.) So practically everyone you see on a bike has done a couple. Part of the local culture. Come on up.

 

[scott43]

I've done some charity rides and done tech support for charity rides as well. It's a great day out. I try not to think too hard about the charity aspect and just enjoy being around people with positive energy.

 

[Gary Stolt]

St Jude has become our charity of choice as they don't charge for their medical service, most, if not all directed to kids. They don't advertise the research part of St Jude as much as the support for kids but most of the Campus is composed of medical research buildings.

 

[Living Proof]

Years ago, I did the ride across Iowa, and, it ended at the very southern tip in a town called Keokuk. The last 15 miles were along the Mississippi, beautiful to look at, but, nothing other than the road..no homes, no businesses, just trees. The last mile had a fairly steep climb to get to the town. Turns out, the next year the Old Man River was flooded and the road we road in on was under 20 feet of water.

Gary, glad to see you riding. Starting training for 30 miles is not hard on the legs or aerobic system, but, your BUTT will be in revolt for a while, maybe your hands and wrists too.

Ya gave to a good cause.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Years ago, I did the ride across Iowa, and, it ended at the very southern tip in a town called Keokuk. The last 15 miles were along the Mississippi, beautiful to look at, but, nothing other than the road..no homes, no businesses, just trees. The last mile had a fairly steep climb to get to the town. Turns out, the next year the Old Man River was flooded and the road we road in on was under 20 feet of water.

Gary, glad to see you riding. Starting training for 30 miles is not hard on the legs or aerobic system, but, your BUTT will be in revolt for a while, maybe your hands and wrists too.

Ya gave to a good cause.

I wonder which year. I have ridden a RAGBRAI into Koekuk also. Love a good RAGBRAI. Where else do you get to have pork chops for breakfast? Iowa baby!

 

[Jim Kenney]

A childhood friend of mine is riding across the US right now at age 64. Believe he's in Pueblo, CO today. Started near San Francisco and finishes in NH. He's keeping a neat blog HERE.

 

[Gary Stolt]

WOW, you guys are talking about hundreds of miles and in the case of Jim's friend, thousands of miles. That's really remarkable.
Yes Mike, my butt is pretty sore, but I also get worn out by the time I get back to the truck. Ready for a rest.

 

[Gary Stolt]

@Gary Stolt , eventually you'll finish one of these charity rides and then the sweet feeling will last for years - especially if you sometimes ride with other charity ride participants. Speaking from a couple of experiences.

I can't yet comment on the good feeling lasting for years, but I can comment on the sore butt lasting for days.

 

[Tony S]

sore

Next time ...

 

[Living Proof]

I wonder which year. I have ridden a RAGBRAI into Koekuk also. Love a good RAGBRAI. Where else do you get to have pork chops for breakfast? Iowa baby!

Pretty much the southern route. For the XX, DesMoines threw a great party night. In the tiny town of Bedford, the riders outnumbered the population. Nothing beats the sweet smell of a pig farm, but, the chops are great

RAGBRAI XX
July 19-25, 1992
For the fourth time in RAGBRAI history Glenwood was the setting when the 1992 ride began on July 19. The riders pedaled from Glenwood to Shenandoah for their second visit, then on to first-time overnight hosts, the tiny towns of Bedford (to this point the smallest town on RAGBRAI) and Osceola, both of which did a marvelous job of hosting the ride. After an exhausting ride in rain and headwinds when the riders left Osceola, they entered ‘ Emerald City,’ Des Moines’ nickname and theme during its second time as host of the ride. After bidding farewell to Toto, Dorothy and the Scarecrow, riders pedaled on to Oskaloosa for their second visit there, stayed in Mt. Pleasant (a town that hosts Threshers and Old Settlers Day and is used to crowds) and ended in Keokuk (for the second time) on July 25.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

I think we were on XX. If you remember the “Adams County Alps” going into Corning, that went right past my grandmothers house. My uncle flew over in his helicopter and later used his tractor and three hay wagons to sag wagon the last stragglers into town. I remember the corn flowers being brilliant that day, and my brother and I trying to hang with these twin girls on Bianchis.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

WOW, you guys are talking about hundreds of miles and in the case of Jim's friend, thousands of miles. That's really remarkable.
Yes Mike, my butt is pretty sore, but I also get worn out by the time I get back to the truck. Ready for a rest.

You would be amazed at what YOU can do. RAGBRAI is about 500 miles. Usually shortest day might be a a mere 40 miles, there is always an optional century day. You can start at dawn and finish at dusk. As long as you start moving and keep moving, you will get there. I remember seeing a guy riding an old Schwann single speed with a little cardboard sign that said "1940 Schwann, 1930 Man" Or something to that effect. He looked like he had just come out of a corn field. He was there on the last day. On the other end of the spectrum would be someone like Bob Breedlove who would do the entire ride in a single day instead of the 7 we all did. My wide Bonnie did it when we were dating, and i think her longest ride ever at that point was maybe 20 miles (she did not take well to my training advice), she skipped the century loop, but she rode the whole thing.

 

[Living Proof]

I think we were on XX. If you remember the “Adams County Alps” going into Corning, that went right past my grandmothers house. My uncle flew over in his helicopter and later used his tractor and three hay wagons to sag wagon the last stragglers into town. I remember the corn flowers being brilliant that day, and my brother and I trying to hang with these twin girls on Bianchis.

Too many years have passed to remember a specific town, nice that you did have family in Iowa, it makes it a lot more personal. I do remember all the "land sharks" swimming around any unattached female. Small world that we did the same ride, but, 10,000 people do that ride each day. Is it still the largest organized bike ride in America?

I agree it is amazing what people think of as a lot of miles, is not that difficult to do on a bike. A good road bike rides pretty easily at 15 mph, so, the miles disappear quickly. The difficult part of the Iowa ride is the logistics of 1) getting into the ride, 2) getting there and back, 3) living in a tent for a week in Iowa heat. We would start the ride as the sun was rising which is very early in July. @Gary Stolt 's ride has the same issues, only just for 1 day, the actual ride will seem easy.

I'm thinking a Pugski eastern one day organized ride sometime late summer or early fall might be a great experience, with the caveat that not too much climbing be involved.

 

[Tricia]

Now I'm getting this google Adsense ad.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

I'm thinking a Pugski eastern one day organized ride sometime late summer or early fall might be a great experience, with the caveat that not too much climbing be involved.

So... not the D2R2?