Last Friday morning at sunrise, my wife and I joined over 400 cyclists on a journey from Miami to Key West. This is the fifth year we have made the 165 mile trek and by far it was the hardest.
SmartRide is a charity event that raises money for those suffering with HIV/Aids. This year we raised 1.1 million dollars and that will be distributed to seven organizations, all in Florida. One hundred percent of the money raised goes to the charities. In fact, as a rider, I will decide where 50% of the money I raised goes.
It is a great event and the need is even greater. However, for the purpose of this blog, I would like to focus on the health aspects of the ride.
Typically, we train for 3-4 months prior to the ride. That involves a long ride each weekend and a couple of spinning classes during the week. We start with a 26 mile ride as a base and build from there. By the time the ride is over, we’ve ridden over 1500 miles in preparation for the event.
This past year, I tried to ride offseason as well and was able to log an additional 1000 miles on the bike. Our base began with a 40 mile ride, rather than 26, and we fared better than most riders during the event.
For the past four years, the ride was difficult for the first 50 miles as we work our way south and east to Key Largo against a strong head wind. However, once we made the turn west on Card Sound Road, that head wind became a tail wind and carried us all the way to Key West.
