Tour de CURE

Thanks to all who donated for the Tour de Cure, to raise money for Diabetes research! This is what happened on our great adventure in Brigham City, Utah, on our Tour de Cure.

We expected sunny weather, but for the first time they had terrible weather. The night before the race there were down pours after down pours and we went to Wal-Mart and bought full rain gear so we wouldn't ride all wet and freezing. We stayed the night in Plain City, at my Uncle Hoyte and Aunt Deana Allred's home. We were optimistic about the race and went to Brigham City for it the next morning.
The race was rainy, cold and so horribly windy. The wind gusts were 55-60 mph and were so hard to ride through. We would ride as hard and fast as we could in those gusts and only be going 9 mph. The first leg wasn't so bad because the wind was at our backs and it just drizzled a bit. Two miles into the ride I blew a tire and one of the race marshals stopped and taught us the proper and fast way to change a tire. I didn't get another flat the rest of the ride.
The first rest stop was good and it was much harder to the next rest stop. We reloaded up on energy with snacks and water. It rained off and on and we really started slowing down our speed because of the wind. On the up side, it was very nice to see and smell all the wonderful tulips, iris and daffodils that were in full bloom. Occasionally I would take a big deep breath of the fragrant air and get a big whiff of the manure pasture next to the flowers. Rural Utah is very beautiful. The next rest stop was lunch. There was a big hill and the wind was relentless. It was very slow going to that third rest stop and Kade was getting bad leg cramps.
At the lunch rest stop over half the participants decided they had had enough and wanted support to drive them back. Kade and I talked about it and he was so tired. He decided he had enough and had completed 35 miles. Most of the people doing the 100 miler said they felt so much better after the race last year than they do right now at 35 miles and they were calling it quits.
I wanted to keep going and Kade said he wouldn't mind if I went on. So, when Kade got into the support truck I went on with a few other bikers. I was ushered onto a path and could not see the signs for the trail I was on. About 10 miles on the path I saw my first sign and I was not on the 65 miles, I was on the 100 miler! I decided to keep on going. I was full of adrenalin and was pumped at the thought of completing 100 miles. The wind dyed down a bit and so I pushed it hard. It was exhilarating! I passed a rest stop because I felt great and didn't need the rest. I also wanted to make up some of the time I had lost.
I kept going and it was so much fun! The course circled back around to where we had stopped for lunch and I skipped that rest stop too, but that was a mistake. I should have gotten a snack and refilled my water bottle, I only had about 2 inches of water left. That next leg of the race became very hard. The headwinds were quite strong and I was on a long stretch of road without anyone in front or behind me for a very long time. I prayed to find a sign or get the feeling that I should turn around if I was in the wrong place. Soon after I found a sign letting me know I was in the right direction. I kept going and passed another rider that had decided to quit and was waiting for someone to get him.
Sometime later I saw a sign that said "3 miles" and then "1 mile" and I thought these were signs for the end. I passed a location where many people were loading bikes onto vehicles and leaving, then I saw a sign on the road that said "home" and an arrow going around the corner. I had a serge of energy in me because I tonight I was almost there and I began to speed up.
I turned the corner and passed a group of riders I rode hard to reach the end, but it did not come. I then realized that I must have passed the last rest stop and I was bummed. I keep going, trying to ration my water and feeling myself slow down.
I realized I hadn't eaten in about 2 1/2 hours and I was starving. I was out of energy. I felt a prompting then and reached my hand into my pocket to find a granola bar and half a small pack of trail mix. The wind was so strong I was afraid to let go of my handle bars so I ravenously ate though the wrapper. About 15 minutes after I started eating I felt new energy in my muscles and I was able to keep going on that last leg.
It started to rain and the wind was so strong to the side that I thought my bike would be ripped right under me. I had to decide several times that I would continue and I was going to finish.
The headwind was extremely hard to bike against.
I finally finished and it felt so good to be finished. I got some water and felt much better, along with some nuts. I went by the massage tent and I was the last they would take. It was the most amazing massage on my legs I have ever had. They bend my legs in ways I did not know they could.
Kade met up with me, he had been taking a nice nap in the car so he was refreshed and ready to drive home. I was completely exhausted. We went to my favorite restaurant, Maddox, in Perry, Utah for dinner and we ate bison. It was marvelous with homemade rolls and cornpones with raspberry butter and sarsaparilla. It was soooooo good!
I slept a good way of the trip home and we decided it would be the safest decision to sleep in Beaver for the night. Thanks to Kade's Aunt Patria we slept at their motel and got up the next morning and went home to get our kids from Grandma Beth's house. We had to speak in sacrament meeting for our 1pm church. They only asked us to speak on Friday, when we were traveling up to the race so we spoke about how life is like a race. It fit well with the topic we were given.
The Tour de Cure race was a great adventure and we are glad we did it. We will try for it again next year and hopefully it will be nicer weather.
*Side note... we found out about a sort of cure for Juvenile onset Diabetes. If you start treatment within the first three months of being diagnosed, you can get I.V. Chemotherapy and kill the T-cells that are attacking the pancrease. The T-cells think that the pancrease is a foreign substance in the body and that is why it kills it. So, the I.V. Chemo will kill the T-cells and save the pancrease. This will prevent the child from having diabetes! This is a wonderful breakthrough and may save our children from having type 1 diabetes! We will continue to raise money for diabetes research!