When I signed up for this event, I was taking 2 classes at UofL and working full time. Since I work well under pressure, the money was raised before the end of May...$2500 thanks to my generous friends and to people who sent money anonymously. Two people sent money that I still haven't identified. I liked the fact that the money went directly to Norton Healthcare Cancer Research Foundation and I was familiar with one of the people involved. It still surprises me when there are people I know from all walks of life in this little town...I lived in Dallas for most of my life before moving here and didn't know anyone.
Heather, Linda and her sister, Sherry and I met at E.P. Tom Sawyer park at 6:45am. Unlike, for the OKHT ride, I stayed at home Friday night and got to Heather's house at 6:10. There weren't any lights on in the house so I called Heather's cell phone and asked her what she was doing and she said, "sleeping, what time is it?" I said, "6:10, get your a__ out of bed and come let me in!" I get really hyper before big rides so I tried to remember others are not as nuts as I am. Heather rallied quickly and got going. We heard her Dad in the kitchen upstairs (which reassured me greatly), got our gear stowed in the van and off we went. We both had a lot of gear for the overnight stay and we both had the same cots (big ones). We did our traditional stop to get Gatorade for Heather and arrived at the park around 6:45.
I was amazed and impressed with how organized and energized everything was! There were trucks with color-coded symbols for our gear that we hit first and then we went in a gate and parked our bikes on wooden 'horses' while we went to find some grub and coffee. There was music playing and a very impressive START platform for the opening ceremonies. We had breakfast sandwiches, yogurt, fruit, coffee, juice and stuff to put in waterbottles in case we hadn't done that yet.
We found Linda Remington fairly quickly and she brought her sister Sherry along for moral support. Linda purchased a new bike for the event, had been training very hard with the RtoCC group for the good part of late spring and early summer and she was stoked!! It was her very first ride event, she had raised $2500 to earn her place and she was fearless (at least outwardly). I admire her a great deal for what she accomplished.
Heather had gotten our jerseys and packets the night before so we just hung out and waited for the sun to come up. I was able to locate Terry Rixman who is Karen's uncle and a cancer survivor. He was nervous but excited and his daughter Jennifer was there with her husband Jason. Terry had affixed his yellow flag to the back of his saddle and we all waited together. The opening ceremonies were very touching and made me very happy I had chosen this cause to focus my energies upon. There were people who were cancer survivors, people who were still battling cancer, and people riding in memory of people lost to cancer. I thought about my friend Bob who is battling bladder cancer, and of my Grandmother, who died of lung cancer. I thought about how sick Terry got and about what a joy it has been to spend time with him now. He is truly a miracle and inspiration.
There was a threat of rain for the day and it was very damp but no rain fell and it was not terribly cold. The road didn't look wet, but our tires were leaving trails so there was a lot of moisture in the air. So much, in fact, that it was very hard to get lungfuls of air.
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