Intro to the 2015 Tour to Tanglewood

Part 1: Intro to the Tour to Tanglewood

Part 2: The Rides

2013 Start Line

The annual NMSS Tour to Tanglewood has become a bit of a standard here in the Kiser household.  I started riding in 2011 and remember my Mom mentioning this ride to me around July.  Since she has MS (you can read about her diagnosis here), this was obviously a special ride for her.  By August, I had purchased my first road bike in preparation for riding in that year's Tour.  Since that year, I have ramped up the miles and the fundraising.  I started doing the century route on Saturday and the metric route on Sunday in 2012, and followed suit the next year as well.  These were the maximum distance routes for those years and it left me wanting more.  The following year, 2014, was the first year of the double century option with a full 100 miles on both Saturday and on Sunday.  As luck would have it, I had just gotten back into cycling at the beginning of September.  That was just enough time to work up to doing the 50 mile routes on both days, but I knew that the 100's would be out of reach.  My luck wasn't that good though, and I was quite literally knocked back off the bike in a crash just 5 days after I starting riding again.  This would be my first missed year of the Tour.

By the time 2015 rolled around, I had a pretty full plate ahead of me with scheduled rides.  I started in April with the Assault on the Carolinas.  A couple of months later I was riding a single day double century to the coast in Double Down to the Beach in June.  July marked what I thought was going to be my one big charity event, and that was A Ride to Remember in South Carolina.  This was a three day stage ride totaling 252 miles.  My plan was to have this ride be the fundraising focus of the year and skip the Tour to Tanglewood in favor of the lower key Carolina Century in October.  That was the plan at least...

I was happy after my participation in the Ride to Remember.  I had ridden 65 miles, followed by 88 miles, followed by 100 miles with some of my best times ever.  I had raised over my goal for a total of $2,550.00.  The rest of the year was all set to be quite with no more major events to train for, and nothing to raise money for.  This is a pretty big deal considering I had been raising money for the Alzheimer's Association since November, 2014!  The Carolina Century benefits the National MS Society, but there is no fundraising minimum which makes this appealing to me.  Having that one more century for the year was also a big plus.  You see, as of the end of Ride to Remember, I have completed a total of 10 centuries (100-201 miles) for the year.  My goal at the beginning of 2015 was to have 12 centuries done, representing one per month.  I was two shy of that goal.  With one more training century, and the Carolina Century, that would be my 12!

Well, things don't always work out for me in these respects.  As it turned out, after they posted the event date for the Carolina Century, I realized that it fell on the same weekend as NCA&T's Homecoming.  That is a mandatory call out for my department and I knew that at least, I would be working Saturday night.  There was no way I could ride 100 miles in the morning, and get back home in time to shower and get dressed to go sit in a police car until 6 am.  The Carolina Century was out of the question.  I was left with riding two more centuries on my own to achieve my goal.  While I do like riding alone, my two century routes were getting a bit long in the tooth for as many times as I had ridden them.

Consider donating to the NMSS!

As August approached, I started seeing more and more mentions about the Tour to Tanglewood on Facebook, and heard more about it on club rides with the Kernersville Cycling Club.  A funny thing started to happen.  I started to feel left out.  This has always been my big ride of the year, and the one that I put the most energy into.  Now, I wasn't taking part in it at all.  Unlike last year, I was in top physical shape, I had the legs to do the century routes once again, and I still do have a deep connection with the NMSS.  I tossed the idea around about what to do.

Crossing the finish line after 100 miles

I started to look at the Tour to Tanglewood site and realized that more than just the format had changed since I last participated.  In addition to the freshened look, the minimum donation had gone up from $200 to $300.  This had not been an issue except in the first year when I didn't have but about six weeks to raise the money.  I found myself in kind of the same situation this year as well.  Gone were the days of VIBE status.  I didn't have the time to raise that kind of money, and quite frankly, I had been asking for money all year from my friends and family.  I couldn't keep asking them.  Since I would be registering late in the year, the registration cost was higher than I was used to.  On the plus side, there was still a 100 mile route on Sunday which would give me two full centuries for the weekend.  That would ensure me getting my 12 centuries for the year, and with one more training century in August, that would make for 13!

It was a hard decision to make, but I felt that I had better skip this year's Tour and possibly return to it next year.  I had come to terms with that until my friend Mike Beane invited me to participate in his radio show on WQFS where we would talk about cycling as well as the Tour to Tanglewood and the Carolina Century.  I felt kind of odd talking about it when I didn't ride in it last year and wasn't going to this year either.  I'm odd like that...I feel more comfortable talking the talk when I'm walking the walk...or riding the ride as they say.

I reconsidered my plans once again.  I talked things over with Mom since this ride was a benefit ride for a disease that she has.  We came up with a plan to make sure that the money was in place for the registration and for the minimum donation level.  With only 40 days until I set off on September 19th, there was no time to aim high for donations.  This year would be about getting back into riding the Tour.

Crossing the finish line after 65 miles on the second day

This will represent my fourth event ride for 2015, totaling about 720 miles worth of riding.  This easily puts 2015 in the record books for miles logged for these events.  Not too bad for what was going to be a come back year on the bike.  In these miles, I've supported and raised money for the Pisgah Forest Rotary Club, a scholarship program through the Burlington Velo Club, the Alzheimer's Association, and the National MS Society.  I do enjoy riding with a purpose and helping others while doing it.  It will be a happy reunion with my MS family in September, and I'm really looking forward to the weekend.

A hug from Mom after my century route

If you would like to donate to sponsor me in the 2015 Tour to Tanglewood, you can click here for my donations page.  All donations will go to benefit the NC Chapter of the NMSS and people just like my Mom.