NAMI 50 Mile Bike Tour

When I first learned of the NAMI Bikes ride, a local cycling event that was recently generated to raise funds for the mentally ill, I envisioned a ride that would benefit most of our area’s population. Can you tell that I have a negative, slanted opinion of our dumbed-down masses?

All kidding aside, I was anxious to saddle up to assist however I could, even if I wasn’t in good bike shape. I figured that fifty miles in the flatlands would be achievable even in the worst of conditions, meaning the strong wind that was coming from the north and my questionable fitness.

NAMI, translation National Alliance on Mental Illness, went all out to make their first annual event attractive to all cyclists. Included in the $35.00 registration fee was a Friday evening pasta dinner and packet pickup located at the South Florida Mental Hospital at Pembroke Road & University Drive in Pembroke Pines.

I attended the small dinner and so did my oldest daughter, who happens to be a non-biker. An additional donation towards the cause acquired her a dinner as well as an event t-shirt. She was overly pleased with both.

Some of our Team Memorial Group prior to the cycling event.

I wouldn’t expect anything less at the beginning of a Davie, Florida (horse country) bike ride than a Davie Cowboy and his horse leading all bikers out of Davie's Vista View Park. Because there was such a small contingent of cyclists, maybe 40 to 50 maxium, I found myself not 20 feet behind the horse as it and its rider galloped out of the park followed by the throng of cyclists. Good fortune must have been with me and the others close by because the horse chose not to discharge during his park exit.

Despite perfect signage along the beginning of the course, we still found a way to drift off course. Riding along in a fragmented peloton, I personally played follow-the-leader instead of paying attention to the directional signs. Others in the back-of-the-pack must have done the same.

Once out of the City of Davie and into the City of Weston, there were no longer any directional signs. Directions were nonexistent. Weston reportedly did not allow the NAMI folks to erect signs along the roads, leaving us with nothing more than a sheet of paper with directions. Have you ever tried biking while holding onto a sheet of paper, in a strong wind? Trust me, it doesn’t work well.

That being the case, knowing the area quite well, I basically made up my own course during the second half of the ride. I also chose not to ride with the already fragmented peloton during the second half of the ride. Past cycling experience told me that I do much better at my own speed and not the speed of others who view bicycle touring as a bike race and not a tour. Having two knees that were basically destroyed three weeks earlier while running a half marathon in Disney World didn't exactly help matters.

The northerly 15 to 20 mph wind was brutal. And since the other bikers from the very beginning of the ride chose not to ride in a tight pace line, alternating the lead every minute or two, my legs and knees were burned out after the first 15 to 20 miles. With 30+ miles remaining, that was not a good thing.

Ready to drop out at mile marker 40 because of muscle fatigue, I hesitantly talked myself into not quitting while taking a much needed break on a roadside bus bench. That one five-minute break was the only time I got off the bike during the entire three hour and forty-five minute ride.

Thanks to pure determination, two packets of GU and my two bottles of on-board Gatorade, I managed the fifty miles despite my infirm condition. The entrance to Vista View Park never looked so good.

Under such dire conditions, the steady wind and my lack of conditioning,  I was well pleased with my average pace of 13.5 mph.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/428686 

The only regret I had was that more cyclists didn’t sign up for NAMI's inaugural event. Putting aside the lack of directional signs in Weston, it was a nicely laid out course on relatively safe streets. The police escort during the beginning of the ride was a nice touch. But like all police escorts during biking events, only the lead bikers benefit.

I cannot say enough good things about the folks who put on the cycling event and the pre-event dinner. Lord willing, I’ll do this ride again next year.