62.33 miles
545.33 total miles
5:05:47 bicycling time
12.2 mph average speed
Home!
It was nice to sleep in my own bed last night, after a nice, hot shower and flushing the toilet several times. I stayed up till 9:30, but it was tough. Matt's being very nice to me; he went out to pick up dinner because I was much too tired to leave the house.
Yesterday morning started off well enough; the rain had stopped, so Sue and I got dressed and went to breakfast. Then the rain started again. Luckily, this tent was more waterproof than the previous night's, so we were able to pack our bags in relative comfort. We didn't hurry, on the off-chance that the rain would stop, but it had settled in for the duration. So we finally put on our rain jackets and packed up the tent and got on our bikes.
It was about 15 miles to the first pit stop and was cold and rainy the whole time. Everyone was pretty bunched up, which also wasn't much fun. The pit stop was muddy, so we didn't stay very long but rode off.
At Pit 2 we hooked up with Sue's friend Lisa. The three of us headed off to lunch. The rain had let up occasionally, but mostly it was still coming down, and everyone was completely water-logged. We were getting into areas with more traffic than we'd seen all week. I really wasn't enjoying the ride at all and was very cranky, but it had to be done, and I wanted to stick with Sue so we'd get to the holding area at the same time. We finally got to lunch in Highland Park, and headed out again after just 30 minutes.
After lunch Lisa's friend Jean caught up with us. Jean is a racer--one of the riders who would leave camp at 8:00 a.m. and arrive at the new camp before it opened at 2:00 p.m. After a while she pulled in front of the other three of us. She kept to a manageable pace but was much more aggressive than I about passing other riders and dealing with cars. Riding with her took so much concentration that it wasn't fun at all--not that the day had been much fun to start with--and I felt like I was taking my life into my hands several times. But we did cover the 12 miles relatively efficiently.
The good news is, it had finally stopped raining at lunch, and by the time we got to Pit 3, in Evanston, the sun was out. It felt wonderful for a while. At Pit 3 we ran into John and Jeanette, and Sue and I said we'd ride to the holding area with them after Janine arrived.
(Note: What happens at the holding area is this: As riders pull in they leave their bikes in bike parking. When it's time to line up for the closing ceremony, they release the riders by bike parking row. So if you want to ride into the closing ceremony with someone, you have to park your bike hear his, which means you have to arrive at the holding area at the same time.)
Sue decided to ride to the holding area with some other friends, but she said she'd wait for the Knills and me at the entrance. So the four of us headed off down Sheridan Road. People had been cheering ever since we got to Evanston, but after we left Pit 3 it got much more frequent. When they started yelling, "Welcome home!" I pretty much lost it and spent most of the rest of the ride in tears. It just felt so good to know that the ride was almost over and that so many people appreciated what we'd done. By the time we turned onto the lakefront bike path--and it was heaven to get off of those streets--people were pretty much lining the path, cheering and waving. It was an absolutely incredible feeling.
So we got to the holding area, but there was no sign of Sue. Luckily,
she tracked us down later; it turns out Lisa had had a flat on the way
in from Evanston. Sue was able to move her bike over by ours, so
we could all leave together. But, meanwhile, we had a nice, long
wait in the holding area. The sun was definitely out, and it was
very hot. So we all sat in the shade for a rather tedious
two hours. I got up to cheer the incoming riders for a while, but
it was too hot to stay out long. The sun had really got to me on Friday.
They had the usual pit stop food--bagels, crackers, raisins, peanut
butter, etc.--but I just couldn't face it any more. Luckily, some guy
was selling ice cream from a cart; he was doing a ton of business.Finally it was time to leave. First the crew walked out, and we gave them a rousing send-off. They did such a fantastic job all week.
Actually, I don't know how much I've said about the crew, but they're an incredible group of people who basically gave up a week of their time to make sure that the riders didn't have to worry about anything except riding. They were always cheerful and helpful and supportive. They would cheer us up hills and when we got into camp. And they did little things along the route to perk us up--some of the traffic crew would sing and dance while they gave directions, and one of the sweep crews was leaving messages on the road in chalk. Unfortunately, since crew members weren't required to raise money, having such a large crew was one of the reasons for the high expenses of producing the AIDS Rides, but it wouldn't have been nearly as good an experience without them.
Once the crew had left, we all put on our new red shirts and headed to
our bikes. They released us one row at a time, and we headed out
on the access road. We walked the bikes for a while, then we got
on them, but we never got up enough speed to pedal. My right calf
got pretty well beaten up during this. We kept moving forward slowly,
and finally we rode into the closing ceremony area. People were all
over, cheering and waving and holding up signs, and we cheered and waved
back. I didn't see Matt--it turned out he'd been on the opposite side
from me.
I don't remember how the ceremony went--everyone cheered in the very
last rider, which was fun. Oh, before that, everyone lifted up his
or her bike. I skipped that part because my bike is just plain heavy,
and I was afraid the bags would fall off. Maybe I should practice.
The empty bike was escorted in by positive pedalers, and this time
I cried along with everyone else. There were speeches by representatives
from the three beneficiaries (all umbrella organizations) from the HAR,
and the man from Madison said a lot of what I've been thinking--that the
AIDS Rides provided a lot of non-monetary benefits to the participants,
the beneficiaries and their clientele. I can understand that the percentage
of funds returned to the agencies has been too low, but I still think the
AIDS Rides were a good thing for many reasons, and I just can't feel as
negatively about Pallotta as some people do. And I feel very, very
lucky to have had the chance to participate in something so incredible.
Right after the ceremony Matt came over to me, which was fabulous, since
I had no idea where the meet-and-greet was. It was wonderful to see
him. We found my bag and began the long trek to the car, Matt chivalrously
carrying my bag. We finally got home, and I pretty much collapsed.I'm trying to come up with something profound to say to wrap things up, but I think it's all too fresh to sum up just yet. I still can't really believe I did it. One week ago I'd never ridden more than 78 miles in a day; now I've ridden more than that on five consecutive days. I kept going when I thought I couldn't--OK, except for Tuesday, when I really couldn't--and I finished on Thursday, when half the riders didn't. And I met people who are much more personally involved in the fight against AIDS and was reminded of how important it is to keep educating people about this disease and supporting the people who have it. It's been an incredible week, and I'm very blessed to have been part of it.
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