Sunflowers to Roses Bike Tour - August 15, 2010 LifeTrek.Eroe.com

I participated in the Sunflowers to Roses Bike Tour today with the Quivira Park Bike Group as we put a team together for the ride.  This is the 8th annual event and it is a fundraiser for the LIVESTRONG Foundation, Cancer Action, and the University of Kansas Cancer Center.  Our team included Carlo, Chris, Greg, Jake, Joe, John, Larry, Marshall, Patrick, Rob, Ron, Wayne, and I.   The link for making donations can be found at the Quivira Park Bike Group's Fundraiser Page.  We would certainly appreciate your support as we still have not met our goal as of this post and would like to do so to benefit cancer research.

I have to apologize in advance to our team as things were crowded before, during, and after the ride so I was not able to find everyone to get a group shot or even a small group or individual photo.  I did see everyone except Rob, however, as I ran into Marshall at the SAG in Spring Hill, Larry several times on the course, Wayne at the start, and rode at some time or another with everyone else.  Sorry I did not get pictures of Greg, Jake, Marshall, Patrick, Rob, and Wayne.  The picture to the left is before the ride right after the sun came up.  Pictured from left to right are Carlo, Joe, and John.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day and especially since we had been on another long streak of very hot and humid weather with heat index warnings for the last week - so a welcome relief.  I heard from race organizers that many riders signed up on the day of the race because of the nice weather.  Temperatures were in the low 70's at the start and low 80's at the end with humidity only around 50%.  We had about a 10 MPH wind from the north but had a nice pace line coming back and it was actually refreshing to have a cool wind for a change.  Pictured to the left after the ride are Joe, Larry, and Jon who rides on the Wednesday rides with Larry and me.  Pictured below are Joe, myself, and Ron also after the ride.

The event was very well organized with SAG stops well placed and stocked.  I heard, because of the influx of riders at the last minute, that they ran out of maps but I never even pulled mine out during the ride.  It was helpful to have an overview, however.  Posting on the website in advance of the ride could have prevented this issue. The course was fairly well marked but some of the signs on the turns were missing so that could have been a problem for some of the slower riders.  We were always in site of others so we basically just went with the flow.  I heard some of the signs were stolen.  My only suggestions to improve the ride would be to use paint on the road at all turns and intersections as the Johnson County Bike Club does for their rides.  Additionally it is a real pet peeve of mine that distances are not correct.  I signed up for the 72 mile ride (116 kilometers) and my Garmin only showed 65.28 miles or 105.06 kilometers.  I can't understand why the distance can not be exact especially since I have very accurate distances for the Quivira Park Bike Group rides by just uploading my Garmin.

All in all, however, a wonderful ride and none of it could happen without a great group of volunteers.  There were several and all were very helpful before the ride, at all the SAGs, and at the end with all the food and drink that was provided to riders.  Pictured to the left is Ron who leads the Wednesday ride.  In talking to him he thought the best way to support this important fundraiser was to volunteer and that he did.  He was at registration at the start and assisting the food distribution at the end.  Also a big thanks to my son, Jake and his friend Evan who helped setup tables and with the children's area while riders were out.  Jake is on the left and Evan on the right in the picture below.

The ride started and ended at BikeSource of Kansas City in Overland Park at 135th and Quivira. Race package pick up was also held a the store and they provided a 20% discount on certain items for riders which was very nice.  I purchased some new tires for Jake's bike as part of this program. A map of the 72 Mile Course can be uploaded from my Garmin.  Total distance was just over a 105K and average speed was about 26.1 KPH.

A very special thanks to my sister and brother-in-law, Gretchen and Doug; my parents; fellow cyclists, Steve and Carlo; and high school friend, David for their generous support of my ride and for all those that sponsored other members of the Quivira Park Bike Group.