The Tip to Tip Bike Ride

08 April 2006

I hadn’t been doing much for last couple of weeks, or months for that matter, and in result I was getting quite bored. So For some serendipitous reason I decided it would be appropriate for me to join some of my more “in condition” shall we say friends on a 36 mile bike ride. It now seems in retrospect that I should have taken the opportunity to work up to such a ride. Being in less then my best condition ever, and not having ridden my bike more than a mile or two for the several months preceding this enterprise would seem, to not be the appropriate method by which to prepare. The ride itself is an annual ride that is made from one tip of the island to the other tip. The island itself being shaped somewhat like a horseshoe, and the ride is therefore appropriately named the Tip to Tip Bike Ride. The trip starts out at our marina which is about 2 miles from the tip of the island that we all live at, and where we will be ridding back to. From there we are all ferried with our bikes to the opposite end of the island by LCM (those boats you see in all WW II movies going onto the beaches that the front drops down) where we are dropped off on the beach next to a mostly overgrown dirt trail. The first 10 miles of our ride will be will be on this dirt trail, which proves to be sand for about the first two miles. I was with a pretty good group of people, and as I see it we had the good sense to not try to ride through the sand, but rather push our bikes until we could find ground solid enough ground on which to ride. Others stubbornly insisted it was a bike ride and so lowered there gears and peddled on through the sand crashing here or there as the sand got the best of them. After this first two miles the trial became much more rideable, but still proved challenging. There were roots to ride over or around, broken branches and palm fronds to contend with, dive bombing birds, falling, and fallen coconuts, killer crabs and the holes they dug up to 2 feet deep that doted the length of the trail. The trail ends at what used to be an old coconut harvesting plantation that is now mostly crumbling stone and iron buildings. I didn’t really have the time to stop and take pictures, and play amongst the buildings the way I would want too, but that was ok as I knew I would come back out the next weekend. There is also a crashed WWII plane out there somewhere but that is also a venture for another time. As you enter the plantation the trail becomes a dirt road and so the riding becomes much easier, unless of course you’re getting a little tired after ten miles, in which case it just seems less bumpy and wider, with less shade from the now late morning sun. For the next 8 miles or so the ride is mostly uneventful broken only by the water stops every 4 miles until the road becomes paved. Here there was set up an awning tent for the weary bikers to take a rest and refresh themselves with drinks and some light snacks. Unfortunately for me now being in the rear echelon the snacks were gone as were any drinks except water, which I quite happily accepted. A number of people had decided that this was there final riding destination and sought the shade of the tent and the coolness of the grass on their backs, and the comfort of a cushy ride back in a van. I was tired and a little tempted, but not tired enough to quit yet, and this being the last chance I was likely to get to make this bike trip I wanted to finish it. I had come about 18 miles so that meant only 18 more to go, I was halfway done and with smooth paved road all the way back, and then my nice cool room at the end of it all. I decided things were looking good, the rest of it should be easy enough. Well it was about 2 more miles down the road when I realized that I was flat worn out and it no longer mattered how smooth the road was. We passed Turtle Cove so named for the many Sea Turtles that live there, I knew it is about 16 miles out from previous biking excursions when I had actually been riding my bike, and thus had been previously much better prepared than I was today. I was also starting to get rather hungry as I had eaten an early breakfast and it was now about one in the afternoon. At this point there are very few people riding that are this far behind the pack, most have either given up or are way ahead, at any rate the only people in site is my group, which consist of me and the two other people that I set out with, Ill call them Eugene and Traci because that’s their names. Needless to say both of them are in much better form than I am and are just taking it easy as I slowly trudge on. I could continue to relate to you the rest of the trip mile by mile as that is certainly for me how they passed. Each one being a grater challenge, and each being a sorrier, and slower accomplishment. By the time you reach the 12 mile mark the miles are painted on the road every quarter mile so you can count them down, these as well as my companions (and the mocking they would do of me if I quit) provided a great deal of encouragement to me. I did eventually make it back after 5 hours and 40 some minutes. And so now I can claim that I have seen the whole island, yes all 36 miles of it, from one tip to the very other. Though grueling to the unprepared cyclist the enterprise was not without its rewards. For one I considered it an accomplishment, two I got a free t-shirt out of it, and three I may have gotten some good pictures out of it. But of the greatest importance is the satisfaction that I didn’t come in last, yes there was one poor fellow after me. As I sat at the finish line drinking pineapple juice, thinking that I was the last, but not fretting overly much about it, I had after all finished; Number 170 something out of 180 something. The last person crossed the finish line, about 10 minutes after myself. I was utterly shocked and surprised that anyone could possibly have gone slower than I did and still finish. How did he go that slow and not tip over? Well chock it up as an accomplishment for the both of us, we still did better then all those that quit at the half way mark.