The Valero Ride to the River is a two-day cycling event to raise money for research for a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. This was the third time I’ve ridden in it, but what made this year different is that this is the first time that Mother Nature didn’t completely wash out one of the days. We had gorgeous weather, with temperatures cool in the morning, and only climbing to the low 80sF (around 25-27C) in the afternoon.
The ride starts in San Antonio, and wanders east and north until it reaches New Braunfels. This route is about 71 miles, but near the end there is a choice: turn left, and finish your ride. Or, you can turn right, and go up the Guadalupe River for 15 miles, turn around, and return back, making the total ride 100 miles. As I had done a full century on my last ride, I didn’t feel the need to push myself to prove anything. I had told everyone that I was only doing the 71. But as the ride progressed, I continued to feel fresh. This was most likely due to the very mild weather: temperatures never rose very high, and there were enough clouds so that you weren’t baking in the sun the entire time. By the time I reached the lunch rest stop (50 miles in), I started thinking seriously about going for the century, but I told my wife I’d wait until the last rest stop before the decision point.
When I reached that stop, at around mile 65, I knew that I wanted to do the full century. I remembered the only other time that I did this course, and what a struggle those last 30 miles were, so I braced myself for the ride. I was very surprised to find that, while definitely an effort, it was nowhere near as exhausting as it had been the previous time. Either they smoothed the hills out, or I was in much better shape! ? So while I didn’t set any speed records, I finished the century much easier than my previous two. Here’s the record of my ride, thanks to the Runkeeper app.
The next day offered a choice of two looping routes: 61 miles or 38 miles through the Texas Hill Country. I had done the 61 mile route a couple of years ago, and remembered how grueling the hills were on that ride, so I chose to only do the 38. For comparison, the route for Day 1 was through areas to the east of San Antonio, which is relatively flat. I had about 4,300′ of total climb (43 ft/mile). This route took us to the northwest of New Braunfels, which is much hillier by far. The total climb was about 2,700′, or over 71 ft/mile! And as you can see from the graph below, most of that climb was in the first half of the ride. There isn’t much else to say about the Day 2 ride. The weather was once again perfect, and while the ride was difficult at times, it felt good overall. Here’s the Runkeeper summary for Day 2.
Of course, I can’t take all the credit. The ride was extremely well-organized by the MS Society, with well-staffed rest stops every 12-15 miles. They also arranged for police support for traffic management, so that riders didn’t get stuck (or struck!) at busy intersections. My belated apologies to the drivers who were made to wait while 2,000 riders passed through!
I also don’t think I would have been able to accomplish this without the loving support of my wife Linda, who gives me the motivation to stay healthy so that I can live a long life with her! Three years ago I thought it was a pretty amazing accomplishment to complete a century at age 55, but now to have done two centuries this year at age 58 is really more than I ever expected to achieve, and I have Linda to thank for that.
