Monday, July 30, 2012

Tour de Whatcom

In an effort to save some money on gas, Sean started riding his bike to work. I guess he got hooked because he started riding on weekends as well. He also found some friends who all liked to ride together.
Sean, on his single speed fixed gear
He read about the Tour de Whatcom and decided that it was something he wanted to do. The weekend before the race he went out in the pouring down rain and rode 50 miles! Prior to that he hadn't ridden more than 20. When he came home his legs were shaking and he could hardly walk, but he still wanted to ride.
We were late coming to the Deming rest stop  to cheer for Sean, he came in 1/2 hour ahead of schedule! 
It felt really weird to not be there cheering for him throughout his race but it took 5 hours and covered 105 miles, not something that was workable with the children.
We did make it to one of the pit stops and cheered him on. He called us when he was about 15 minutes away, so we hopped in the van, and rode to a spot down the road so we could yell. Unfortunately he was already past and we had to drive to the rest area to see him.
Papa and his cheering squad
 We cheered for him as he continued on his journey and decided to drive the other way so we could see him riding. That was not a good choice as Sean had already left and we had to try to catch him. which meant that we had to pass a lot of other riders on a 2 lane highway with no shoulders and lots of big trucks. It scared me and I was in our BRV (Big Red Van).
Just a little sunburn from the ride
Sean finished the105 mile ride in 5 hours, then rode from Fairhaven to Bellingham as a cool down. That guy is a nut! Anything he puts his mind to he excels at. Not only did he ride that far but he did it on on fixed gear single speed bike, much more challenging than your average bike. He went home, showered, ate and joined us at a birthday party, then ate some more. How's that for putting in a full day?

Congrats on your accomplishment honey! We are so proud of you.

3 comments:

amy said...

They went by our house! He should have stopped in for a beer. :) Go Sean!

Unknown said...

I guess he was going so fast he missed the Ferndale stop! Your house would have been much more fun!

Nicole said...

Yay Sean! It doesn't surprise me at all that he did so great. He rocks! I'm a little biased.