Day 2 Recap

Today we started the morning a little bit later than we did when we left Chicago, with breakfast after we loaded our luggage into the vehicles.

Around 7:45am Eastern, we were able to have a video call with my son Felix, who was able to tell us a bit of his perspective of his chemotherapy journey with cancer as a 7-year-old, halfway through his first grade year. A special moment was when he was able to bond about how he didn't like the needles and how he fought with his mom — and a fellow writer, 32-year-old (2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist🥈) Kevin McDowell, shared a similar sentiment and they compared their port scar on their chest. 

It was a bit brisker than when we left Chicago but we northbound towards Muskegon. The night before, we discussed working together as a unified peloton, or a group of riders in proximity. This helps the stronger

riders make a wind break for less experienced or less strong riders. To quantify this, you can save between 20 and sometimes upwards of 40% energy in a group. That means when you're pedaling and you can ride 15 mph with wind, you can actually achieve 18 mph with equal or less energy. As we were riding near the end of the day on day one, I asked my colleague Jason, what our average watt was, and he said that while we were pulling 18.2 mph in the middle of the peloton, he was only running 130W; Solo that would have been at least near 200W. Teamwork matters, especially for long distance endurance work, which is definitely a parallel towards the effort needed with families who are supporting those who are enduring chemotherapy and radiation for cancer.

We all reflected on the day, and a few moments between lunch and the second rest stop or a chance for us to have fun. We agreed that the writers who wanted to ride 18mph would ride in the "A" group, where other folks would opt for the "B" group closer to 16mph. About an hour into the ride, I pushed towards the front to help relieve the people who were running hammerhead and breaking the wind and breaking the wind. At the same time, it appears my colleague Kyle, with a very strong Rider and has ridden for at least 20 years, was on a breakaway chase against Kyle, our Olympian and cancer survivor with another rider, Mike, who is using a gravel bike. The three of them punched away at nearly 24 or 25 mph — unbeknownst to me. As I approached Rick and Jack, Rick told me to give it a chase; I put the hammer down — for three solid minutes, I pedaled at 28 or 29 mph, which was at least 10 mph more than I was riding in the peloton. I don't have a power meter on my crank so I couldn't tell you the Watts I was putting out but it was definitely hard. Rick joined me a bit later and he told me to tuck behind him but I couldn't keep up with him after about a half an hour and he broke away. It was clear that Speed demons were on their own — and I fell back by myself between the "A" group and the "A+" group.

At an intersection about 12 mi. From our last rest stop, we caught up with the Speed demons and we agreed to keep together 😉 and when we got moving again, I could hang with them for about 800 meters. It was clear that "hanging together" had a different meaning and I couldn't keep pulling 24 mph even behind someone going over rolling hills. A minute or two later, I heard my colleague Jason behind me. We were in a similar mindset and we agreed to work together rotating for the last 45 minutes until the break. About 3 minutes from the last rest stop at mile 87, we ran into Jack and Kyle, both of whom are strong riders but could not keep up with our Olympian, Kevin, and our strong gravel rider, Mike.

We made a shift because the Culver's we planned on stopping didn't have a large enough parking lot so we ended up at a Home Depot across the street. After a quick refueling, we got on the road and headed to the hotel on the lakefront of Lake Michigan in the cute city of Muskegon. About 2 miles out, we hit a boardwalk , which led us along the boardwalk and give us some beautiful sights of the dunes, sea birds in the water, and other industrial buildings along the front. The group allowed me to lead the group on the ride in — as we are riding in honor of my son Felix, along other cancer survivors.

After dinner we grouped to talk about the day, reflect on the ride, and let Kevin speak about his journey with cycling, with triathlon, and his journey with Hodgkin's lymphoma which he was diagnosed in his senior year of high school. 

Kevin met Cal's Angels and received a wish, which gave him an iPad in 2011. He said it was a lifeline while he was going for treatment to keep in touch with his family and friends and to keep them entertained during the therapy. I can relate, as my son heavily relied on his Pixel Tablet during the numerous hours of his doctor visits and chemotherapy infusions.

We rode just over 104 miles, and we agreed the night before to have our snack stops at 15 minutes, and our lunch no longer than 30 minutes.

While our average time was just under 17 mph, it was a success to make sure every one of the riders arrived healthy and on time.