The Summer of the 10,000

My road bike is a Cannondale SR500. I purchased it from VeloCity Cycles in Holland as we were training for our first JDRF ride late in the summer of 2005. Currently I have put 9,432 miles on that bike. My plan is to hit 10,000 miles later this summer. Every one of those miles was ridden with the purpose of finding a cure for Type 1 diabetes.

Casual bike riders in 2005 (upper left) to a dedicated cycling family today.

I've ridden in seven JDRF Rides for the Cure. I've done several other century and metric century rides. I've ridden to the post office to mail a letter. I've ridden with family and friends. I've ridden in 110 degree heat and cold soaking rain. Every time I get on that bike one thought always comes to mind. I'm doing this for Jake and all the other people suffering with Type 1 diabetes. Thousands and thousands of miles with one goal, one purpose, in mind. Find a cure for this disease. Along the way I have met some amazing people. There is nothing like the feeling of being around people who are committed to a worthy cause. They make the journey easier and more enjoyable.

568 miles to go. I'll post when the Cannondale rolls over 10,000. Most likely there will be a party.

A good week

I'm starting to get into my riding groove. I did three rides this week. 16 miles on my own on Monday night. 16 miles with Mary on Friday night. And a 23 mile team ride today. That gives me 55 miles for the week. Not fantastic but pretty good a week before Memorial Day.

On Friday Mary and I rode on the White Pine Trail from our house down to Comstock Park and back. Our plan was to stop at Vitalie's and have a beverage in their open deck area, but that was full. So we came home and had a steak dinner and red wine on our own patio instead. Today we had a team ride that left from Johnson Park. The park is located right along the Grand River situated between southwest Grand Rapids and Grandville. We rode a very nice, rolling loop of 23 miles. A few folks, including Ian, took a little longer route and ended up with 28 miles. The temperature was over 90 degrees when we started, but we had some cloud cover and lots of trees to provide shade along the route. We also had three new team mates along who will be participating in their first JDRF ride this fall.

"10,000" Learn the significance later this week.

Perfect night for a ride

The temperature was just right, mid 70's with no wind. It was after 6:00 p.m., so the heading home traffic was home. Even though it was not a very restful weekend I had plenty of energy. So I chowed a Cliff bar instead of having dinner and jumped on my bike at 6:30 for an hour ride. I kind of did a reverse loop of my normal northeasterly route. I headed north on Kuttshill and turned left to climb the Childsdale hill. It's definitely an easier climb going that direction. I jumped on the White Pine Trail for about a mile and got off as soon as I got into downtown Rockford. When it's nice outside it's downright dangerous to ride a bicycle on the trail through there. I went across town and turned onto 11 Mile at Northland Drive and headed east. Took that all the way to Meyers Lake Road and turned south.Turned back west on Kies and then to Courtland and Kroes past Rockford High School. I ended up pulling into home with 16 miles under my tires. That gives me 200 for the season. I'm looking forward to many more miles in the coming months.

Second team ride of the season

The ride from Ada Park on Sunday was the flat route out to Saranac and back. There was an optional hill climb on the way back if one so desired. I did not desire. We had 27 people from the West Michigan Ride for a Cure team there. The three of us on Team Scheidel really spread out across the course. Ian and I took off with the lead pack. I stayed with them for a little over 8 miles before I got dropped. Ian kept the pace for about 25 miles. I guess we've reached that point where the son is faster then the dad. Of course, when it comes to my speed on a bicycle beating me is not that great of an accomplishment. The large group was spread out all over the route. Mary was between the middle and rear having a great time talking to team mate LTP through most of the ride. Because we all turned around at different points we all ended up with different mileage totals. Ian was our champ with 29 miles, I had 27 miles and Mary completed 25 miles.