GR Ride is this Weekend

Tour de Taco team ride last Sunday.

It seems really early in the season to be talking about our JDRF Ride Weekend. That's because it is. Normally we do our big ride in the fall, after a spring and summer's worth of training and fundraising. This year the ride season is kicking off in June (a month earlier than usual) here in Grand Rapids. It's great to have the whole JDRF road show here in our town, but my legs would have appreciated a couple of more months to train.

Considering the short time frame for getting prepped, Mary and I have adjusted our mileage goal for this ride. We usually attempt a century ride, which is 100 miles. In fact, our first JDRF ride ever was a century ride in Death Valley in 2005. The Grand Rapids ride will have two starting locations. The main start is at Millennium Park and the route heads out to Lake Michigan south of Grand Haven. If a rider does that entire route it's 100 miles. Also, since it's an out-and-back route, a rider is halfway done at any point. Just turn around and head back. This is how to get a metric century (100 kilometers or 62 miles), turn around when you've ridden 31 miles.The second starting line is actually on the Lake Michigan shore. Riders who start from there will ride back to Millennium Park. It is a 44 mile route, with no way to shorten it. That's the route Mary and I have decided to do. Although it's not our usual amount of miles, it will be the longest ride we've done in 2022.

We are looking forward to everyone arriving here tomorrow and riding on Saturday. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far. Watch for ride day photos soon.