Indiana- Warm reception
Indiana Shore Is Nice
Indiana shores.
Today was a “live” event with the ride. It was a good one because I was well rested from the night before. Scot and I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Chesterton, IN. Michelle Pentecost set us up with a great room and an even better basket of energy foods and water. This might have been the most welcoming hotel yet. Thanks to everyone the service was AMAZING!!
After waking up rested and heading out to the event, Scot went out to set up our table and I got the bike ready. Time to ride…..Today I saw the beach. Not a normal beach with salt water and sharks. But a beach on a lake that was enormous. It sure is a great lake…. Lake Michigan. The ride today meandered through some rollers and through some sand dunes… never would have expected that in Indiana. I was very fortunate to enjoy the ride today thanks to Bobbie, the event director, and her team of volunteers. The course was well marked, well staffed, well stocked with food, and generally awesome.
A big thanks to the city cyclists. These guys helped make this my fastest century ride in 23 days…. Thanks to Jim, he pulled us the whole way. The whole group was pulling strong. I joked and said that on the brochure for the ride it looked a lot different…. They didn’t have uber athletes asking me to catch the wheel of the guy in front of me to keep the pack together. Then as I explained I had ridden 2257 miles to that point they eased up the comments. J These guys race, rode cross country in 23 days, do ironman races, and are just generally strong riders… Thanks guys.
The highlight of the day was when we tried to rely on technology and use the GPS to get to a hotel in Chicago… However, It proved useless. After it told us to make a U-turn on a state highway, we decided it might not be the most reliable method of navigation for today. The funny part was that Scot actually thought about making the U-turn… maybe the chili from lunch went to his brain or he didn’t have enough Red Bull today.
Other thanks go out to the Red Bull girls- Amy and Ashley. Thanks girls- Now Scot can drive without sleeping…the “wings” you gave him were much appreciated.
One more point to note is that as we left Indiana Scot reminded me- we have 27 rides to go…then at dinner- a woman told me, “Oh honey you are on 23. You are almost done.” I loved her positivism. It was refreshing while I play number games every day. I guess it depends if we look at things as half full or half empty… either way- as Yogi Berra said. “It’s not over till it’s over.”
Either way we made it to a hotel and here we are, and there you are as I reflect on what we are doing out here on the road.
Overall, we had an awesome day, we raised over $100 and that will count towards our goal. Although it might not seem like a lot. It is. Every bit counts and more importantly, we can’t put a numeric value on the people we met. Survivors, athletes, people doing their first group ride and families affected by cancer. It was exciting and energizing. Scot also had a great time as this was his first “live” event, he successfully and quickly set up the table, got our products and information out and got involved engaging cyclists immediately. People were commenting on his positive energy.
Overall, we had a great Ride For Your Life Day at the Lake Shore Century in Indiana. It was a great place to visit and a great ride. We met a lot of great people and ate a lot of great food (as usual) including some really awesome chili at the ride this afternoon. We even had a good dinner when we got to Chicago. We hit a buffet. Surprise! Saundra at the Old Country Buffet hooked us up with all the eating we could possibly do, and also some very intriguing conversation about walking for cancer and cultural awareness.
Off to the hot tub to soak for a few-
Ride 24 tomorrow Illinois—here we come.
~Gary G