Tour de Cure

Back in June Brett and I signed up to ride 33.4 miles in the Tour de Cure - a bike ride for Diabetes. Together, our team - DiaBEATERS - raised $540 and made it the whole way!

My mom and Sally took the kids for the day, and Brett and I headed out to Reston Town Center for the start of the race early in the morning. After getting our rider numbers, bananas for breakfast, and a route map, we were off!

The first 10 miles was pretty easy, and we even rode past a sign for the Gardner Family adopting the section of the W & OD trail that we were on (nice photo opt).

At the first rest stop around mile 11 I gracefully dismounted off my bike. Pretty much when we went to stop I thought I was placing my foot on flat ground, but due to over grown shrubs the fact that I stopped at the top of a slope was hidden. I put my foot down, fell off my bike and rolled down the hill, covering myself in thorns and scratches! However, at the time my pride was hurt worse than anything.



After we re-hydrated and ate our power bars we got back on the trail for the next 14 miles. This was the hardest part of the trip. The first 5 of the miles were a slight uphill that seemed to take forever. Both Brett and I debated giving up and going back, but we managed to power through by going slow and taking short breaks.

2 more stumbles off my bike later and 9 more miles and we were passing the last rest stop (10 miles from the finish line) - I had momentum, so we didn't stop and after about 4 hours of total riding (with stops) we finished!

Our friend's, Mike and Sarah Merrill, were at the finish line cheering us on and then we got to chow down on pizza!

Many thanks to friends and family who were so generous in donating to this cause:

Mary BeVard
Erin and Carlos Sanchez (Erin Marie Photography)
Steven Gardner
Danny Douglass
Sarah Newell
Patti, Tim and Grey Leonard
Mary Jane and Jon BeVard
Brett Ledder
Krennie Steenburg
Stephanie Rodelander
Ron Furgerson