2013 Pelotonia

August 10/11/12 marked my fourth year participating in Pelotonia. I rode 100 miles each of the last three years, but I stepped up to 180 miles for 2013. I had considered going 180 throughout the summer and felt like I could take it on, though it was pretty much a game time decision. It was a grueling two days of riding. The sense of accomplishment is two-fold - completing the ride, and more importantly, raising funds for cancer research.

I am proud to say that I have raised over $11,000 in the last four years. Thank you to all of you for making that possible!

This year I want to describe my experience over the three days (including the Opening Ceremony on Friday evening) through a set of "awards" I will hand out below:

Best Stretch: This was the first year Pelotonia rode directly through Granville. We went through numerous other small downtowns, but in four years of riding I have not seen any small town come out to support Pelotonia quite like Granville did Saturday. The streets were lined with hundreds of people. The high school cheerleaders were out. Signs everywhere and the crowd was really into it. Thanks, Granville! (Runner Up: Pickerington)

Best Moment: We rode through Granville and on to the Granville High School rest area. In the short area in between, there was a man who had parked his van by the side of the road. He held up a sign that read something along the lines of: "Thank you for riding. You saved my wife's life." Wow. Just wow. I overheard several people saying how moved they were at Granville High School.

Best Sign: Take a look at this sign: Beyond Granville High School.

Worst Sign: Somewhere along the way there was a sign that said "Keep Peddling." Grammar Check.

Award for Resiliency: Think you can't do 100 miles? I saw at least two men older than 70 who had finished 100 miles in Gambier.

Best Meal: I am a picky eater, but Gambier just had EVERYTHING. Burgers, chicken in a lemon sauce, a basil pasta salad. I heard it was catered by whoever it is that provides food for Kenyon College and I am jealous of their college food.

Best Rest Stop: This one is determined solely by the way they did their food. I really don't have a problem with PB&J, which they had at every rest stop. But when I make PB&J on my own I make a half sandwich of just peanut butter and a half sandwich of just jelly. The Highland High School rest stop on day two was ready for me.

Best Jersey: I do not have a picture of it, but I enjoyed the Columbia Gas of Ohio jerseys.
Best Jersey Runner Up: Someone was wearing a Star Trek jersey. I might need to get one of these.

Best Playlist Song: As you probably know, I let my donors choose a couple of songs for me to listen to on the ride. I call it the Pelotonia Playlist. I really do listen to every song and I do it because it makes me reflect on how thankful I am for the support I receive. The best song I received this year was the very last one I added and it was not even a song at all. It is called A Pep Talk from Kid President to You. I had never seen this before but I was able to download it and listen for the very first time while I was riding. Good choice Erin Zelinski!

Super Troopers Award: I brought two friends to the Opening Ceremony, Ross Righter and Erin Zelinski. They are longtime supporters and I thank them for joining me. We sat next to an elderly lady who turned into my biggest fan. She was going to take a Pelotonia oatmeal cookie home to put on her mantle. As for the Opening Ceremony, I always enjoy their opening video.

That's all for this year. Anyone interested in riding next year? Let me know!

Pelotonia 2012

Pelotonia 2012 is in the books and although this cause is part of a big fight, I am going to deem this a small victory. First and foremost, I have raised $3,116 for cancer research this year. (Donations are still welcome through October 12.) That is a personal best for me and I give all the credit to you all who have supported me.

THANK YOU!!

Here are the details on my ride this year:

As I have mentioned, my work rode with the Huntington team this year. Seven of us made the trip at various distances, but all of us raised well beyond our fundraising commitment.

What was the biggest difference in Pelotonia this year? Sure, the destination changed, but the shocker of the summer is how cold it was on the day of the ride. We were hitting 100 degrees with consistency in June and July, which worried me for the ride. All day on a bike in intense heat is not advisable. But on the day of the ride, we had a high in the low-70s with an occasional drizzle. In fact, it was COLD during most of the ride.

Four of us did 100 miles (one of the others did 184 miles in two days). We stayed together for a good chunk of the day. As we took off, I shook hands with Gordon Gee, the president of Ohio State University. He gets out there every year shaking hands with riders before departure. He is no Hot Rod McDavis, but it was cool. (Just kidding, Gee is OK.)

The starting line was at the Columbus Commons this year, a huge improvement over The Fawcett Center from years past. The first several miles went through German Village and Southeast Columbus just as it had in years past. The four of us stayed together for about 60 miles, most of which seemed like a breeze. There was some occasional wind, but I feel like we had the wind behind us just as much as it was in front of us.

We split up at the 60 mile mark, with myself and one other rider electing for the route with more hills. I had driven the part the most difficult stretch of this earlier in the summer and decided it was not all that and a bag of chips. I was wrong.

The famed Reynolds Road pales in comparison to the largest hills of the Athens route, but in my opinion the 30-ish mile stretch I elected for was tougher than any equal stretch of the Athens route. The hills were continuous and I had to change my big gears on almost every down-and-up. When asked why I chose the difficult route, my answer is this: "This ride is not supposed to be easy."

As I made one of my final turns, I was told I was just three miles from the finish. I continued on and had one last hill to reckon with. One last change of the gears and I am there... And then my chain fell off. This had never happened to me before. I am the worst fix-it guy on earth, so it took me about 15 minutes to get things figured out. I got back on the bike, the two 100-mile stretches merged, and I was at the finish line. No, I do not think I beat my time from last year. The long stretch of hills challenged me, but ultimately I think the time I spent repairing my chain cost me my personal best. Oh well, there is always next year...

Keep an eye on my Facebook and Twitter accounts, as I will update my fundraising status and snap a few pictures at the Pelotonia check ceremony in October and November.

Once again, thank you to all of my supporters!

Why I'm Riding

Something happened to me in the midst of this very busy training and fundraising season. Or shall I say, some things. Just two weeks before Pelotonia I had a relative pass away following a battle with brain cancer. I am thankful to have been able to visit with him when he was doing better back in April, but my heart still aches when I think about what he and those closest to him had to endure.

No sooner did I return from that funeral than someone I know notified me that his wife, who had been in remission for breast cancer for six years, was recently diagnosed once again. They caught it early and surgery is on tap for this week. Hopefully that will take care of everything, but there is no way to know until after the surgery.

Moments after finding this out, I talked about it with another friend. I had no idea about this, but she told me that she also fought off cancer six years ago.

These are by no means the only people I have known to fight cancer, let alone those in the last year.

All of this caused my heart to sink. This disease can wield a sense of powerlessness. Sure, we know some ways to take preventative maintenance against cancer, but by and large it's a cruel game of genetics and awful, awful luck. For so many other diseases, we take a pill or get a shot. We balance our diet or we exercise more. When something happens to us, medically or not, we do something about it. In some cases there is simply nothing we can do.

Having never had cancer I choose to do this ride as a way to end both cancer and that feeling of powerlessness. In a moving opening ceremony to Pelotonia 2011, executive director Tom Lennox promised that cancer would be cured through this program. That is a bold statement. And I am holding him to it.

I truly hope that I can play some small part in making a difference with this disease. And I thank all of you who are behind me this cause with me. You are making that difference too by supporting Pelotonia.

To any other riders who might read this, let's have a great ride on Saturday!

Kicking Off 2012...

Yikes! Time is flying and I sent out my flyers before even getting a post up on here. It has been a busy year and I can't believe summer is already half way over. I have been busy with a number of things and it took a lot of effort to find the time to fit Pelotonia in.

Over the last few months I have felt too busy to ride or to fundraise. I come home from work and I'm tired. The heat is too intense this year. I moved to a new place. I've had a nightmare dealing with a car I bought... Then I realized the way I am talking reminded me of something. Check out the video that was released at the Pelotonia Opening Ceremony in 2011:



Excuses. We all have them.

At the end of the day, this ride and this cause are important to me and I want to do my part in the fight against cancer. Only three weeks ago, I had not raised a single dollar and I had only been out to ride twice. Since I decided to get over my excuses, I have ridden almost every day I have had available for a total of over 200 miles. I created my flyers and sent out about 80 of them. I have updated my Facebook and Twitter. And now I'm writing this post to get the blog rolling.

It wasn't easy to get all those things done, but then again participating in this cause is not supposed to be easy. There have been some late nights addressing envelopes and some early training mornings to beat the heat. I know it will be worth it when I cross the finish line in just under a month.

Thank you for reading and for your support!

I am almost positive I will be riding with Mayor Coleman tomorrow night in a ride that finishes at the Food Cart Festival. Look me up if you are down there...

Pelotonia Links

Here are some links to some key Pelotonia pages that may be of interest:

My Pelotonia Profile

Pelotonia's 2011 Welcome Video



I'll toot the social media horn again next year, but I provided 24 updates on the day of the ride and I know that a lot of people enjoyed being able to follow my progress on the day of Pelotonia. I also post updates on training, fundraising and events in the months leading up to the ride.

@ATPelotonia on Twitter (no login required)

@ATPelotonia on Facebook

Pelotonia 2011

My. Oh. My... Not only have I blown by the entire Pelotonia race without updating, I have also let a whole month fly by.

I'm not pointing out anything new when I say that time flies. Nor am I the only person it flies for. So let me start by thanking each of you for taking a few moments to help me reach my fundraising goal. Your support propelled me to a new fundraising standard as I will be over $2,500 when it is all said and done. That is far beyond the $1,800 I needed to raise. THANK YOU!

As for the ride, this year's preparation was not all that different from last year. Both years I fell short of the recommended training miles. In fact, this year's training efforts did not even come close to what I was supposed to do. Someone once told me that running a marathon is easier the second time because you already know you can do it. I crossed my fingers and hoped that same theory would translate to bike riding. I think it did.

Not only did I complete the ride despite my training shortfall, I knocked off about 45 minutes from my 2010 time. I rode with my coworker Jon Welty and my goal was to hang with him for no more than the first 20 miles. Instead I hung with him for 60 miles. It certainly helped riding next to someone. Aside from having a riding buddy and some extra adrenaline, the only other thing to which I can attribute my success is the riding shoes I bought a few weeks before the ride.

It was also rewarding to have Nick Joyce-Houghton (PHOTO CREDIT TO NICK!) and Ross Righter waiting for me at the finish line. Thanks guys!

A few other tidbits I'd like to add:
-The sign of the day: "Chuck Norris Didn't Ride 100 Miles"
-As the exhaustion wears in, I think riders loosen up with each other. Somewhere around mile 75, a girl asked a crowd that included me, "Does anyone want this banana that has been in my pouch for the last 50 miles?" I thought that was funny.
-The playlist laughed in my face this year. For example, I approached the second largest incline of the day and I composed myself. "OK, Anthony. You got this. Let's do it." Just then, a song intro whispered the following sweet words into my ear: "I can be your hero, baby." Let me speak directly to Enrique Iglesias for a second: Enrique, you could have been my hero if you would have magically transported me to the top of the hill at that point. But you didn't. And you really chose the wrong moment to come up on the playlist.
-On the flip side, I had a stretch a little later on where I did not have to pedal once for a whole 1.2 miles. Of course the song that played at that time was Eye of the Tiger. That's right, the song that would have made me channel my inner Rocky Balboa played when I utilized no effort whatsoever.

The most glaring difference this year was that someone I knew was fighting cancer as I trained and rode in Pelotonia and he later passed away. He only had a few months after being diagnosed. Only a week before Pelotonia, I got to share in a fun night with him, his wife and my parents. This timeline really mailed it home for me. We want to live in a cancer free world. I hope that we have made a difference in getting there.

I foresee 2012 as being slightly less hectic for me. No guarantees on that statement at all! However, I had a great fundraising idea that I would love to make a reality next year. Hopefully I can get my legs in gear (pun intended) next spring. After eclipsing both my fundraising total from 2010 and lowering my time, I hope I have set a precedent that each year will be better than the last.

Thanks again for all your support.

-Anthony

Tour de Cause

I participated in Tour de Cause last weekend and it was another rewarding experience. I found out about the ride from a work partner whose company, Gorsuch, is based in the area.

Obviously Pelotonia takes the cake in terms of grandiose events. There were over 3,000 riders in 2010, an all out concert and celebrity appearances. Also, I didn't realize how spoiled I was by having giant signs pointing me towards Athens.

Tour de Cause was a little different. It still went to a great cause. I paid $20 to enter and it went directly to homeless drug addiction awareness and prevention in Fairfield County. For those of you from out of town, that is the county directly southeast of Columbus. There was no concert, no red carpet, no celebrity. The signs that pointed me onward were painted in tiny lettering on the street. But that's probably how it is for smaller events. Still, I was impressed with the fact there were over 500 riders registered that day. I'm sure at least another 100 or so walked up just as I did.

I only have one picture located on my Facebook page: Tour de Cause

The ride took us on various county roads to the north of Lancaster. It lacked the glitz and glamour, but anyone who knows me knows I love Southeast Ohio and this was a chance to see parts of the region I had not seen before. And most people probably know I don't need glitz and glamour anyway - just as long as I don't miss one of those signs on the ground. Twenty-four miles later I was finished.

Come to think of it, they did have some things Pelotonia did not have. After I finished they offered me pizza and ice cream. I happened to be in a rush so I took just a bottle of water and bolted back to Columbus. Would have been nice to do a longer ride, which I need to be doing at this point in my training. But all in all, I was impressed. I'd say it is safe to say I will see you again next year, Tour de Cause.