Full Pelotonia 10 Recap

We enjoyed an amazing weekend at Pelotonia that started in Columbus and ended in Athens.  Pelotonia is a non profit organization that has one goal: to end cancer.  It is is a grassroots bicycle tour projected to raise over 8 millions dollars this year.  One hundred percent of donations go directly to The James Hospital at OSU to fund cancer research.

Highlights of the opening ceremony, reported by Morgan and Alex, were Chris Spielman’s speech and the Counting Crows Concert. Check out the opening ceremony video.  Morgan is in the video around the 4:00 minute mark.

As usual we documented the weekend with photos.  Here is Morgan giving Alex some last minute instructions and a banana before the 7am start.  Always good to eat “something” before a 100 mile ride. That is Alex’s “I’m looking at you, but not really listening” face.
Morgan got Goofy tattoos for Alex’s group because our pop was…well a little “goofy”.
 
The starting gate.  It took over 4000 riders 45 minutes to get out of the gate.

Morgan waiting for Alex at the gate.  Morgan was a Pelotonia intern for the summer and did an amazing job.
 
Alex coming through the start!
  
Check out Alex’s bike!  Let me tell you a little about the bike that made his ride even more challenging than it already was. He’s a college student and went to a bike shop and purchased the cheapest road bike in the shop.  A circa 1980 bright yellow Schwwin. It was heavy, had two gears and a bent rim until the day before the ride.  He put $80 bucks into it and got full working gears and a new rim. 

Morgan got him the “I love my bike” bell and a water bottle carrier which he taped to his bike right before the ride started.
   Alex reported that several riders commented on his bike…”Man your bike is old.” “I can’t believe you are riding that?.”  Poor guy.  I didn’t realize how old it really was until I saw the other 4046 bikes that were actually produced in the 21st century!  But he made it and is maybe a little more proud of himself and a lot lucky considering the wheels he had.

Alex is cool as a cucumber at mile 43!

Time to refuel with some water, Gatorade, pretzels and turkey wraps.

It is raining by mile 70, but Alex is still going strong!
 
Alex riding through the finish line shute!

Post race debriefing.  Alex was explaining that he, as well as many others, had to walk their bikes up four huge hills.  He said that was the most difficult part of the ride. Notice how white and prune like Alex’s hand is.  That’s from the rain and gripping the handle bars for almost 8 hours! 
 
This is my favorite pic of the weekend.  Morgan and Alex share a congratulatory hug after Alex crossed the finish line.  They both worked so hard, in different ways, for one organization…to be a part of finding a cure for cancer. I couldn’t be more proud!  Well done.