Friday, May 1, 2009

MIA?


Ok....those of you who have been following my blog (Daniel) have realized that it's been quite some time since I last posted. Day 2 of the ride found all 5 bikers on Team Tutu Much riding out together and heading south to Key West. It was another hot day...thankfully the first part of the ride was on a bike path, with some tree cover for shade. And then we hit Route 1. No shade. No nice bike path. Obnoxious drivers. Oh joy. After spreading out a bit, we all joined up again at the water stop before the 7 mile bridge.

In theory, biking over the 7 mile bridge should be really cool. Well, neat. Definitely not cool. Freakin' hot. No shade. No cool ocean breezes. Now the scenery to my right was kind of cool -- the old 7 mile bridge, beautiful blue water, fishies. I tried not to look to my left as that was lots of traffic. Not so pretty to look at. I swear it got hotter and hotter as we cycled along the bridge. When we reached the end of the bridge there was a parking lot with an unofficial pit stop. Kathy and I rode in and found Tom, Ron and Ron. Ron W's 59 year old knee had said "ENOUGH!" So he was stopping. Me, my face was beet red and you could feel the heat pouring off me. So I was walking to the van when one of the medical crew stopped me and asked if I was riding more. I said that I didn't think it would be wise as I couldn't cool off. He said "good answer." They made me a ziploc bag ice pack which I put on my head, my wrists, the back of my neck. Ron and I rode in one van to pit 2, where we saw Kathy, Ron and Tom ride in. Switched to another car which took us to Key West and the holding area. I'd been drinking non-stop and still no need to pee. I visited the Medical tent and got some more ice for my ziploc bag. Drank yet another bottle of water and voila!! The need to pee!!

The whole Tutu team reunited and had lunch at the pit and keep in touch with our cheering crew. Biking through Key West was pretty neat -- people lined the streets and cheered us on. I have no idea what route we took from holding, but we ended up at the AIDS Memorial at the White Street Pier. As we were turning right to get onto the pier, I saw my mom, Liz and other friends there cheering for us....all decked out in their rainbow tutu visors!

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