100 miles of Tour de Cure

Nintendo this year is a sponsor of "Tour de Cure", which is a bicycle ride to "benefit the American Diabetes Association."

Ironically, not too many people at Nintendo ride bicycles and video game companies in general don't tend to attract athletic people. At least in the programming departments. Still, the ride was more about fund raising than bicycling, I guess. Hitomi and I happened to get in because we weren't required to raise the requisite hundreds of dollars ($500?) to ride the event. And as a bonus, I got a coveted "Nintendo jersey, or actually Hitomi didn't receive her Small so received a Large she gave to me.

I planned to do about 100 miles, even though I still haven't fully recovered. I did ride on Thursday and Friday, about 30 and 20 miles respectively. But my upper respiratory system's been fairly congested so maybe taking it easier would have been smart? Hitomi was obviously not so well, so she decided on 45 miles.

The route was hilly. Nearly 6000 feet of elevation gain, and thus a serious climb every 10 miles or so. I paced myself at around 18-20 miles per hour on the flats but had an increasingly difficult time at the end, thanks to the heat and reduced energy. I looked at disdain at my odometer.

I started the ride late and therefore no Nintendo BBQ party at the end for me, just leftover sandwiches. It felt like I was slow but there were not so many 100 milers who left when I did. Hitomi waited for me, obviously, as well as Chris, a co-worker who also did 45 miles. They had BBQ.

I did enjoy the route, which went through a lot of mossy trees and around lakes and had views of snowy mountains. No jerk drivers. The route was well planned and avoided most of the busy roads which seem to be always widening and gathering more traffic as development and population spreads eastward towards the Cascades. There's still plenty of farm country to enjoy. The stops had simple food and friendly local volunteers. (I would have liked it if they used coolers rather than bottles of water. Most of us use reusable bottles and bottled water isn't much tastier.) Other riders were friendly and rode safely, for the most part.

Hitomi might have a few pictures up later, and I'll update this post at that time.

Until then, it's off to eat dinner.