Day 01999 AIDS Ride Chicago4
Day 0
Just one more day to go. My family and I arrived in Plymouth, MN a suburb just northwest of Minneapolis the day before. I am just outside the Convention Center putting together my bicycle. Today we was the day to prepare for the ride. Registration came first, then it was time to go and turn in our pledges. We were supposed to raise $2,300 to participate as a rider. I was about $250 dollars behind. I found out about this event less than two months ago, and I was proud of my hard work, and the support I received from many friends and family in such short notice. We also had a safety orientation and finally, I recieved my tent assignment.
Day 1 : Minneapolis, MN to Wabasha, MN
Woke up at 3 AM today, and packed up my gear in one bag, and headed back to the Convention Center. We had the opening ceromony at 5:30 AM, and at 6:30 we were off to start on a 100 mile day. The chart above gives the distance and elevation changes throughout the ride.
Getting out of Minneapolis was very slow. When you have over 1700 riders with you, congestion of the road ways was inevitable.
I've never done a hundred mile day. I looked at tomorrow's scheduled run, and it was a 96 mile day. Knowing all this, I was a little apprehensive. I knew that my training would help. Especially last month's FreeWheel ride in Oklahoma gave me what to expect on this ride. However, I hadn't riden my bicycle in a couple of weeks, so I was a little out of condition. I had also just purchased my new road bicycle, and I wasn't used to it's feel yet. The first 50 miles I went all out. I wanted to know how fast my bicycle was ( I managed to coax it to 35 mph for 5 minutes on level ground).
People at the rest stops were incredibly friendly. The local kids were
out in full force, cheering us on, and placing stickers on our helmets.
The rest stops were incredibly helpful, as I bonked out after the first
50 miles, and was dragging the rest of the way to camp.