In the summer of 2014 I went on two tours and a dare.

Since seriously taking up road bicycling about ten years ago, I have gone on many small-group rides and persistently biked on my own. Still, I was reluctant to see how I could perform on my bike in a large, more organized setting. That changed this summer. After mustering the courage to test myself and match others in a semi-competitive atmosphere, I spent much of my summer break training for, and then participating in, three organized “century” (100 miles) rides.

The first of these was the Tour de Cure-Corridor Classic in Coralville, Iowa on June 28.  As with most organized rides, this was for a good cause: the American Diabetes Association's fight against an increasingly common disease. All riders were required to raise money for the ADA through pledges and donations. The ride itself was a great trip through east-central Iowa: mostly flat terrain with occasional medium-sized hills. It was quite windy that day and a threat of thunderstorms was in the air, but the rain held off until later in the evening. I finished the 95-mile course with a time of 5:56:04, including the elapsed time spent at several rest areas.  My average speed came out to be 16.9 miles per hour—quite good for me considering how strong the wind was that day.  I was able to pour it on in the last 20 miles or so: the best part of my ride.

My second ride took me to Princeton, Illinois on July 19.  The Z-Tour was an impressively large ride (577 bicyclists) dedicated to raising money for Princeton's Zearing Child Enrichment Center.  The weather conditions could not have been better: only a slight wind and a temperature in the 60s and 70s during the morning ride.  The route went through some very scenic countryside accented with occasional wind turbines visible for tens of miles.  While there were a few notable hills on the route, like the Tour de Cure it was a flat enough ride so that a cyclist like me could maintain a steady, strong speed.  I finished with an elapsed time of 5:53:58 for the 103 miles.  On average my speed was 17.5 miles per hour, but not counting the stops I averaged 17.9 miles per hour.  Not bad for this geezer!

The third and final ride was truly a killer and in a category all its own. Held in Dodgeville, Wisconsin on August 9, the Dairyland Dare was also a ride with many participants and different distances (50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 kilometers).  I chose to try the 150-kilometer route. It was more competitive and more demanding than the other two rides and the terrain was dramatically different. The first two-thirds of the course (100 kilometers or about 63 miles) featured the kind of long, high hills often found in the driftless corner of southwestern Wisconsin.  But the last third of the race is what killed me. On that 50-kilometer leg there was mile after mile of short but very steep hills.  Against the sage advice of ride organizers, I had decided to use a normal crankset (pedal arms, front chainwheels, bottom bracket) instead of a compact crankset. A big mistake for which I paid dearly!  Beset with problems involving my rear derailleur for much of the day and blowing out one of my pedals near the end, I hobbled to the finish line with an elapsed time of 6:43:32 for the 97-mile ride, making my average speed 15.6 miles per hour. Of course I knew that there would be many hills on the ride and I trained accordingly. But it was somewhat akin to my experience with parenting; while you can prepare for the challenge, you never know what it’s really like until you do it.