The Prouty

My Dear Family and Friends...This will be a special post for you. So many of you have become personally and financially involved with my Prouty cancer fundraiser ride. Well, this was the weekend.

As JJ, Chris, and I worked on Friday, Alice began her Prouty ride and completed 100 miles before the three of us ever touched the saddle. You see...she did the Prouty ultimate, a two day, 200 mile ride! JJ and Chris arrived on Friday evening. After introductions, the three of us headed over to register and grab our numbers. We returned to Sachem where Kolene had prepared us a personal feast. It was an epic pasta dinner that left the guys asking for nothing. Amazing. Thank you Kolene. The three of us headed back to my place to get the bikes tuned up for the big day. Test rides around Sachem were taken. All was well. Sleep was the priority.

Prouty 100 riders usually roll out very early. Alice wanted to go before 6:30, and given the sketchy weather forecast, I agreed. I had tons of trouble sleeping due to the intensity of rushing to get everything ready the night before. I also had some major pain in my calf from an incredibly hard group ride on Thursday. So, I was worried about that. I ended up being awake before our 5am wake up. Chamois creme was applied liberally, and we rolled out to Alice's house. Her mom was cooking up a storm, so we sat down and gorged ourselves on pancakes. Many others go to the Nelson's for breakfast before the Prouty too. After a final fuel up and bathroom trips, we rolled out at 6:15.

The ride itself was awesome. The weather ended up being perfect. The views were incredible. My calf settled down after the first thirty miles. It was great paceline practice for JJ and Chris. We, of course, made sure to coddle Alice as much as possible. Even though she's clearly a beast, she would get a personal escort back to the peleton if she fell off the back. Generally, we stopped every other SAG (food) stop to fuel up and rest. There was one fifteen mile stretch that we had a massive tailwind and sat in behind Alice's family friends on a tandem. It was like being pulled by a freight train. We averaged over 28 mph for that section, and I know that I did no work. Chris pinch flatted on a booby-trap pothole that was disguised by a local car wash. It was quickly changed, and we were off again. Overall, the group was strong, even into the later miles. Though a stupid school bus pulled out just as we were finishing and the finish line was on grass, I still managed to do a bit of "the robot" as we crossed the line and get a few laughs. Chris, JJ, and I totaled 106 miles at an average of 18 mph. That is quite rapide. Kolene, Nancy, and Darcy met us at the finish, as did more food that we could imagine. After gorging ourselves and saying goodbye to Alice, the three boys headed home to shower and do some serious laying/sitting around.

Personally, I felt very, very strong. I felt like I could have ridden quite a bit more when we were done, and I did almost all of the pulling. I just can't imagine saying that a year ago. I feel as though I'm finally feeling real metabolic benefits of my unilateral orchiectomy, whether placebo or not. And as with most things, the people were what made the Prouty special. The actual 100 seemed kind of peripheral to meeting JJ, Chris, and Alice. It was so great to reconnect with the current state of the team and offer advice/help. It was also a wonderful reminder of how awesome Williams kids are. I can't wait to go down to Williamstown to ride with the guys.

More pics to come.

In other news, I've joined Ed in the ranks of riders who have broken their rigid mountain bike fork. I was finally able to isolate the clicking noise on my mountain bike to my fork. And though it hurts me to think about buying a new one, it is cheaper than a new set of teeth. So, it goes...