On July 15-17, 2011, I participated in the Tour for Kids supporting the Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta. This was my second year riding for this awesome cause - the minute I rode through the finish line last year, I knew I had to do it again! My goals for the Tour for Kids: 1. Raise lots of $ and awareness for KCCFA, 2. Ride strong, 3. Have fun, 4. Don't forget about the kids.
Goal #1: With Bill (my fiance) and a couple of friends, our team of four more than achieved our $1000 per person fundraising goal. This is my fourth year of raising money for a charity, and it gets harder to keep asking the same people so we had to be pretty creative about our fundraisers, but after lots of hard work, it all worked out.
Goal #2: The Tour for Kids is pretty much a "roadie" event. Right in the Ride Guidelines it says to bring a road bike, lose the aerobars, and prepare to ride in peloton. Last year Bill and I mostly meandered along on our own stopping to take pictures and overeating at all the rest stops (and there are lots! - with awesome food). So this year with the goal of riding strong, that strategy was not going to work. There are multiple distance choices each day (you can decide each morning depending on how you feel): Day 1 was 100 km or 170 km; Day 2 was 107, 156 or 214 km, and Day 3 was 93 or 120 km. Each distance has "Fast", "Faster" and "Fastest" pace groups (the "fastest" guys are the hardcores who can maintain an average of 35-40 kph despite the hilly and mountainous terrain, "faster" is probably 28-32 kph, and "fast" is for slower riders. Needless to say, last year with our average of around 20 kph, that is where we fit). I figured that because I hadn't done much riding two days back-to-back, I hadn't ever done more than about 120 km at a time, and because I had had a sore back and a tweaked knee that kept me from doing much of anything the whole previous week, I would choose the shortest distance and probably ride with the slowest group.
Day 1: The four of us started out with the "fast" (slowest) group, but within 10 minutes caught up to the stragglers falling off the back of the intermediate group. After our first rest stop we knew we wanted to ride faster than the slow group, so we took off with the "faster" intermediate group, which quickly split into 3 packs. We ended up riding with two of the intermediate packs the rest of the day, and had a fabulous ride: 101 km in 3:22 which felt super strong and fast for me.
Day 2: Took off with the faster group of the slow riders and mostly took it easy. We did lots of "double social peleton" riding and got to know other riders, many of them who were affiliated with KCCFA either as childhood cancer survivors, or as parents and relatives. Nice relaxing day: 110 km in 4:40.
Day 3: Took off with the slow group, but three of us (Bill, Bruce and I) broke away on a climb, rode strong and effective as a team, and quickly overtook the slower intermediate speed riders, and then (so thrilling!!) even overtook the fast intermediate speed riders! But not for too long...we pulled them up a hill and then we got assimilated into their group for a while. After lunch the four of us rode the last 40+ km as a team together, and pulled into the finish happy and pumped. It was by far the most challenging day in terms of super steep hills so it took 4:19 for 97 km (but I would have loved to see the split before lunch - we were hammering!)
Goal #3: well, you pull into camp each night and there's free massages, beer, awesome food and hospitality, music and festivities. Hard not to have fun!
Goal #4: on the second night we stayed at Camp Kindle, the KCCFA camp for kids living with (and beyond) cancer. It was absolutely inspirational to see what these kids and families live through, and it was wonderful to see in person the camp that we helped build through our ride. Kids with cancer have it really rough - not just because they are sick. It's hard to be a kid when you have a disease like that. Many of them miss tons of time from school and end up being older than other kids in their grade, some of them walk funny, some talk funny, some are bald, and other kids who don't understand (and just see the differences) can be really cruel. Camp Kindle is a place where these kids (and their siblings) can go where it doesn't matter that they have no hair, IVs, prosthetic limbs, or any of the other challenges that come with (and after) cancer. There is this super awesome ropes course, horseback riding, climbing, campfires, and companionship with other kids who are just like them. It was amazing...and needless to say there were lots of kleenexes being passed around.
I have to thank Todd for all the coaching and encouragement over the last 7 months - that's what kept me strong and healthy this weekend, as well as the Saturday morning brick class that encouraged me to start training for this event way back in January. I also can't speak highly enough of the KCCFA and Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation; once again it was a wonderful event - well organized with truly tangible benefits.
How about a No Limits team for 2012?? Something to think about...
(PS: if anyone is looking for more information about the ride, or is interested in donating, check out http://www.tourforkids.com/)
Thanks again!!
Karen
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