By Melanie Brooks
It's Friday afternoon and it's pouring out. POURING. At this very minute, thousands of cyclists (professional and not-so-professional) are riding their bikes 180 miles across the state, raising money for the American Lung Association of Maine.
I did this bike ride last year along with my sister Jenn, brother-in-law John, and friends Kristen and Merri-Beth. Only two of us are doing it this year...it's not anyone I'm related to.
Let me start out by saying that I am not an avid cycler. In fact, I had never ridden my bike further than 3 miles at a stretch when I decided I wanted to do the Trek. Somehow I roped Jenn and John into doing it with me though none of us had a road bike. To say that I was unprepared for the three-day ride would be a gigantic understatement. I think Jenn and I rode the 8 miles from downtown Bangor to her house in Orono a couple of times but that was it. Clearly I had no idea how hard it was going to be.
Let me take you on a short journey thorough the events of this same weekend in 2008. Here is our team, Two Wrong Turns. Don't we look happy and excited? The weather was nice and we were ready to go!
Left to right: John, Jenn, Kristen, Me, Merri-Beth.
Here's a photo of Jenn and Kristen at the start gate. Aren't they cute? Don't they look happy? This is before Jenn got sunstroke and cried herself to sleep that night. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
We had spent the night in tents at Sunday River which wasn't too uncomfortable. We got up bright and early, ate some breakfast, and got ready to go. They released us in groups and the first part of the trek was all downhill. Sweet! The first ride was the longest of the day...28 miles or so before we hit a rest stop. In that short amount of time a man who had flown in from Detroit had fallen off his bike and broken his arm. I had a slight disaster of my own involving a small chipmunk. To this day I still have no idea if he survived the collision with both my front and back tire.
The rest stops were by far my favorite part of the whole trek. Not only did I get to get off my bike and rest, but the volunteers had all sorts of snacks for us to eat like fruit, peanut butter sandwiches, chips, veggies, gorp, and crackers. They had lots to drink, too! I dare say I have never eaten so well as I did over these three days.
Like I said earlier, my sister got sunstroke. It was so hot out and she wasn't getting enough water. Lucky for her there were SAG trucks that drove the course and picked up anyone who was having trouble. I can't remember what SAG really stood for but Jenn and I figured they stood for Sad As* Girls. It took Jenn, John, Kristen and I most of the day to reach Farmington -- our first stop. At the finish line we met up with the only real cyclist of our group, MB, and ate baked potatoes before setting up camp and taking a dip in the nearby river. Refreshing since most of us had forgotten to put sunscreen on our knees and were burnt to a crisp! Ouch!
Morning came too quickly. We packed up our stuff, threw them in the appropriate moving vans that drove them from camp to camp for us, and had a great breakfast. At this point I realized that I had never been so sore before in my entire life. It was painful to walk, to sit, to do pretty much anything concerning a bicycle. But I had 120 more miles to go. Jenn and I let the in-shape part of our team ride ahead of us and we petered along in pain.
Here we are taking a break on an abandoned couch at the top of some hill. We had a couple of women on a bicycle-built-for-two take our photo. I could have sat there all day. Jenn and I took turns giving each other enouragement on the hills. We were being passed by grandmas, grandpas, moms toting two kids, and dads toting four kids. It would have been embarrassing had I not been in so much pain and could actually care. Day two between Farmington and Waterville was long. MB pedaled ahead alone; John and Kristen rode together; and Jenn and I took up the caboose. John and Kristen met us at every rest stop to chat and eat and rest. MB was hours ahead of us.
This is a photo of Merri-Beth. She got this nifty cycling shirt because she raised over $1,000!
I was so sore in my tent at Colby on Saturday night that I thought I was going to die. I couldn't get comfortable. Everything ached including muscles I didn't even know I had. I slept like a rock and don't believe I moved an inch all night.
The last third of the Trek from Colby to Belfast was a doozy. Instead of the sun and 80 degree weather it was raining and freezing...much like the weather is today. I was prepared for the rain but not for the cold. I spent every descent of every hill shivering in my slicker. Jenn's bike chain began to fall off half way up every hill and I would stop and help her and we'd continue on. A little more than half way we stopped at a rest stop to warm up.
By this time I had had it. I was soaked from head to toe. My knees were bothering me so that it hurt to pedal. Though I was drinking tea and wrapped from head to toe in blankets I couldn't get warm. I was ready to give up and Jenn was, too. We called our parents to come find us as they were heading down to Belfast to pick Jenn and John up. Miraculously their bright yellow truck showed up at our rest stop. My dad took one look at my blue lips and gave me his warm jacket. We instructed them to drive us to
almost the end of the race so we could victoriously ride across the finish line. We skipped at least 20 miles of the race but we finished, got our medal, and headed off to take a nice hot shower and put on some dry clothes.
We had a lovely meal with my parents and Jenn and John's daughter and all headed our separate ways back home. It took a good week for my body to stop being sore. While I probably wont ever do the trek again, I would be a volunteer. It was a really fun weekend despite all the strenuous bike riding...
Here's a photo of all of us in Belfast. My heart goes out to all the 2009 Trekkers who are pedaling through this rainy weekend. Good job guys!
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