2010 Ride to Conquer Cancer

I did it! I finished the Ride to Conquer Cancer. They don't say this anywhere, but the course is actually longer than 200km. They added some extra kilometers in there, just for fun. The weather was not ideal, but considering they were predicting 2 straight days of thunderstorms, I think we got pretty lucky with how the weather turned out.

There were more bicycles than you could count at the starting area, and everyone was wearing the same black/yellow jerseys. I did see a few accidents from people either going too fast or not prepared to bike in a crowd setting. It was very unfortunate, but I saw similar things happen when I did the Ride for Heart.

One thing organizers should consider are staggered start times just to thin out the crowds at the beginning. The start was a bad mix of speed demons who think they are in the Tour de France and rookie cyclists that are clipped into bikes they are not comfortable in.

Things got better once the crowd thinned out. Faster cyclists at the front, and slower cyclists at the back. The first 25K was a walk in the park. Basically riding out of the city. It was a bit misleading because we had handled the first 25K in pretty short time. We could probably do the whole 100K before lunchtime...
The next 25K were spent biking through Mississauga and Oakville. Very quaint streets and small shops. Traffic was starting to pick up around that time, but we had officials at most intersections directing traffic.
Now the next 25K segment was hilly. Some were rolling hills, but some were long steady hills. Some cyclists had to get off their bikes and walk up. The worst mistake I saw were cyclists that zip down the downhills and lock their gears as they tried to quickly change gears for the sudden uphill. They would fall and create an obstacle for other cyclists who were coming down the hill. Thankfully we had a lot of help from course officials, first-aid specialists, bike repair specialists. This section took a lot longer that the other ones... and it burnt me out for the final 25K of the day.
The last 25K of day 1 was rainy, but I had already done most of the hills before the rain started coming down. I was biking as fast as I could through the rain to reach the finish line... and shelter. I was feeling pretty gross when I was done, but thankfully I was fully refreshed after a shower and a change of clothes.
Day 2 started off with rain, so we delayed leaving camp as long as we could. Shortly after we left, the rain stopped and gave way to partly cloudy weather. After the hills from day 1, rumour was that the 100km course for day 2 was more easy going.
The course was flat for almost all of day 2. I spent day 2 coasting as much as I could. I'd duck down low and tuck in my elbows and see how far momentum would take me. This was easily my favorite part of the whole event.
When I finished the 200K (and then some), my wife was at the finish line cheering me. Well, she was cheering for everyone else too. She had volunteered to be on the cheering squad. I was exhausted, but glad that I did this event. It was very well organized and the riders were all well taken care of. The 2010 Ride to Conquer Cancer raised over 16 million dollars for cancer research. Good job, everyone!

PS: The bike-mounted camera worked great as you can see from the photos. My camera has a setting to take a photo every minute, so I didn't have to fumble with buttons during the ride.

Recession DIY: Bicycle Camera Mount

There are only a few short days before I embark on the Ride to Conquer Cancer. It's one of those rare moments when I can say that I've trained enough for this event. I've sweated through my 90-minute spin classes. I've been running outdoors. I've been biking outside. I've even set a new record on my Wii Fit playing "Table Tilt" because I have quads of steel now.

I'm excited about the upcoming 200km bike ride this weekend. I figure that I may never do this again, so I wanted to catch it all on film. Obviously I could get photos of my teammates and I standing around, but I really wanted to get "on-the-bike" footage. I wanted to put a camera on my bike... but does such a device exist?

A quick Google search revealed that you can put a camera on your bike... and you can make such an attachment yourself! There are several ways to do this, but I've followed the method suggested by Michael Hanscom. I foraged for an old rear-mounted light attachment and purchased some nuts, bolts, and washers at Canadian Tire. Sure enough, the assembly went smoothly and my camera fits in snug and securely.

My primary concern is that my camera would fall out during my bike ride and smash onto the road in a terrible way. The camera I'm using is a light point-and-shoot. As a bonus, it's waterproof. (Pentax Optio W30) Despite my fears, I'm pretty confident the camera and mount will both make it through the long ride. We'll know for sure when I update this blog on Monday.

If you would like to construct a camera mount for your bike, you can check out the following websites:

• DIY Bicycle Camera Mount (Michael Hanscom)
• Building a Bicycle Camera Mount (Camera Hacker)
• Bicycle Camera Mount for under $1 (Indestructables)

Ride to Conquer Cancer

Taking the lead from Of No Import, I've decided to do my part to fund raise for cancer research this year. Aside from Weekend to End Breast Cancer, the Ride to Conquer Cancer is the other annual monolithic cancer research event. The two main differences are that the Ride to Conquer Cancer is a bike ride (not a walk) and that funds will go towards fighting all types of cancer (and not just breast cancer).

I'm doing the Ride to Conquer Cancer with a small team of my co-workers, including a "veteran" who has done many WEBC's and last year's RCC. She is a fund-raising machine, and the rest of our team is looking to her for guidance because... you have to raise $2500 per rider. Yes, I also balked at that requirement! It's going to be a tough feat to raise that much money, especially since most of my friends now live in Mortgageville and New Babytown.

Not all hope is lost though... I've got some creative plans for fund-raising activities. I've also got some fund-raising experience from my dragon boat days. My RCC teammates and I will collaborate and pool our collective resources together. Most of all, I have a strong suspicion that the people at my workplace will be very receptive to my efforts to fund-raise for cancer research. Just call it a hunch...