Big Walker Charity Ride
(formerly Big Walker Century Ride)
| A fundraising event to benefit Helping Overcome Poverty's Existence, Inc. |
 BWCR on Facebook |
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Big Walker Charity Ride (formerly Big Walker Century Ride)
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Ride Stats Click here to read HOPE's 2010 BWCR newsletter (pdf). Participant input is important for improving our annual event. Thanks to the participants who completed the 2010 BWCR survey. Testimonial Prior to the Big Walker Century, I had done two flat ones in Maryland – the Seagull in October and the Six Pillars in May. I am not a particularly good climber but finding some mountains for my next century ride seemed like a good idea. Coming from Herndon, VA, I settled on the Big Walker because it is close to family in Salem, VA. After a training ride in Salem, I wrote to a friend that I had climbed Poor Mountain and was starting to feel confident for the Big Walker ride on Father’s Day weekend. He took great pleasure in rearranging my words to suggest that the headline would be “Poor Father only Walker on Big Mountain Century.” Happily, walking Big Walker was not to be in my future. Actually, the mountain itself is not the most difficult part of the Big Walker ride. For that, you just find a gear and pace that you can sustain for several miles and head up the mountain. More challenging, I found, were the ups and downs after coming off of Big Walker and before going back up it. Some of the grades, though short, were more difficult and the heat (at 95 degrees, I think) was starting to take its toll. Of course, by mile 46 I had long been riding solo for a while, trying not to think that some who had started at the same time I did had already completed the 100 miles! At mile 67, except for a lonely port-a-john, the rest stop was already packed up, so I pushed on to finish the loop back to the rest stop at mile 76. I kind of bonked through that stretch, my bike unsteady beneath me as I talked out loud to myself and wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew. Was I dehydrated? Was I not eating enough? What a relief it was to see the final rest stop before I headed back to Big Walker. And there was another rider! She had arrived about 10 minutes ahead of me. Thoughts of getting into the SAG truck danced through our heads. The rest stop volunteer was very supportive, though. “You can make it,” he said to both of us. In the end, we decided we could but I needed more rest so my companion at the rest stop made her way to Big Walker while I continued to stretch out and enjoy the shade and water-soaked towels draped over my head. After about 40 minutes of rest, I declared myself ready and made a new goal – to the finish line by 6:30 p.m. (and hoping the pool would still be open). My pace was good for the remainder of the ride, even after some road rash caused by a dog that attacked my bicycle about 5 miles from the finish. My front wheel wasn’t true anymore but wasn’t scraping the brake pads, and my derailleur was out of adjustment but still usable, so I forged on. The last of the HOPE volunteers watched me round the final corner and cheered. I accepted my medallion with pride and enjoyed the last piece of pizza after my 11 hour journey. My only disappointment? Alas, the pool had closed before I could enjoy the luxury of its comforts. HOPE is
a great cause and provided terrific support. I would recommend this ride to any
cyclist reasonably conditioned and with some mountainous century rides already
under his or her belt.
Bill Threlkeld |
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