Tour de Summerlin Review
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
This is going to seem a little out of place. It wasn’t a race and I wasn’t running – well sort of.
This past weekend was the 10th annual Tour de Summerlin, a non-competitive bike ride in Las Vegas with bike routes of 40- and 80-miles. For the last several years I’ve volunteered at this event (I work for one of the companies that puts the event on: TeamAMC) but I’ve never really been able to get into cycling – until now.
Over the past year our company purchased an ElliptiGO that we take turns sharing. As I’ve put more miles on it, we thought it would be fun to bring a runner into the cyclist world by having me ride in the event. Although I hadn’t had a lot of time to train, I eagerly accepted the challenge. There’s always been that tension between runners and cyclists and I wanted to see if I could bridge that gap a little by proving my mettle out on their course.
The event started/finished at the Trails Community Park in Summerlin. Here nearly 500 riders gathered with temps in the high 40º with winds gusting to 25 mph. Not the ideal conditions for a bike event but making my way thru the crowd, I heard few complaints. The 80-mile riders took off at 7 am while the 40-mile participants would leave the start area at 8:30 am to bring both groups to the finish a little closer together.
To say the ElliptiGO garnered a little attention among the cyclists would be a gross understatement. When at all possible, I was able to bow out of photos but was not able to escape all of them. Even during the ride, I would have cyclists pull up beside me and want to get the lowdown on the bike and pose for pictures (mid-race). The funniest moment came when a car nearly slammed on its breaks, pulled a u-turn and then scrambled out of the car with no less than 3 people getting out to take photos of me on this crazy machine. The start line was pretty cool with a truss system provided by sponsor, Land Rover of Las Vegas. They also had a pretty tricked out vehicle providing music as well.
Even though I was there to ride, I was still wearing my volunteer hat. I was asked to lead the 40-mile group out (with a head start) so I could hold traffic at the first traffic circle early in the route. To the older woman who rolled down here window to curse me out for a full 3-minutes…I love you!!!
Anyone who has rode the Red Rock loop and State Route 159 knows there are some climbs out on the course. I have run out here hundreds of times so I wasn’t too concerned about riding these same hills. The ElliptiGO has 8 gears so hills aren’t too much of a problem – they can be leg burning though and that was definitely the case this Saturday morning.
The ride out to the turnaround point (the Blue Diamond Bike Outpost from our friends McGhie’s Ski Bike and Board) was aided by the fact that the wind was at our back. Just like Boston, my record speed of 33 mph is null and void. The Outpost was cool. Imagine running a marathon and then at the halfway point there was a party with tons of food from Trader Joe’s, music and people milling about just having fun and enjoying the day…that’s what this was like.
The rest of the ride (for me) was a fight to the finish. Not being aerodynamic by having to stand erect made it extremely difficult battling the wind. Even on the downhills I had to keep the legs going to continue moving forward. I have to admit that after returning closer to where we started, I had serious thoughts of cutting the ride short. Remembering that I was here to prove myself and not one to quit easily, I don’t think it was ever really a serious thought…just one of those mental roadblocks we have to overcome.
At the start of the ride, I was worried about what the true cyclists would think of me out on the roads with them. At the finish, I was sincerely grateful for all the positive support and comments I received from them during the ride. Not only were the generally interested in the bike but they were truly supportive in getting me to the finish. By mile 25, my glutes and upper hamstrings were nearly numb from the wind and climbs. Using the adage “just keep moving” was the only thing that kept me going. Knowing I was ever nearer the finish a regained some feeling and was able to put in a solid effort in the last climbs at complete the 40 miles in 3 hours and 31 minutes.
The finish area food was out of line!!! How many races do you know of that you can get a steak burrito from Qdoba? It’s not all about the food but after 3 1/2 hours, it is!!!
Without the impact of running, my muscles were exhausted but not sore. One of the best workouts I think I’ve ever had running/ellipting and there’s already talk about me doing the 80-mile route next year. Time will only tell about the mileage but oh yeah…I’ll be there again next year!!!
RMFR
