What a ride and what a day. The day went without any issues. Russ and I concluded that this was the best time we had on any of the last five Courage Classic rides. Both of us felt strong all day and at our best as we climbed Stevens Pass. I made my best time ever up the pass by seven minutes.

As the ride took place, it dawn on me besides the kids who are helped by the money raised; the real story is all of the volunteers who make the ride happen. As riders we are told continuously by many volunteers “Thank you for raising money and riding for the kids.” I hope to not leave out any one but here it goes. Here are just some of the volunteer highlights and a thank you I want to pass on:
• MultiCare has seventy – five volunteers who help put on the ride. Checking in people, loading and unloading bikes, moving and putting up tables and chairs, driving SAG cars, and ect.
• All the Rotary Clubs of Pierce County were involved in buying and preparing all the food stops along the ride. Each stop had more Rotarians than you can count. How could you not when you have to feed over 700 rides in a short period of time? Thank you for the treats and the special little twist you have at each stop. STP could learn from you. We had apple cider, coffee, water, Gatorade, ice cream sundaes, fresh fruit, root beer floats, snow cones, and many other items to enjoy at the many food stops.
• John Curley for riding and being the MC for the Saturday night program.
• The Gig Harbor Rotary for a better spaghetti lunch at Snoqualmie Summit than I had at Spaghetti Factory besides the parking was easier.
• What can Brown do for you? I tell you what UPS does for the riders. UPS takes the riders luggage from them at the start of the ride and drops it off at their camp site or hotel during all three days. The bags are dropped off by the rides numbers at the finishing site. UPS also took care of my laptop by keeping it safe for me.
• Many MultiCare employees volunteered their weekend for the ride, and brought their kids along to help as well.
• The Old Town Bicycle shop fixed and worked on many bikes for a thank you or the cost of the parts. Thanks for taking care of my tire and my bike.
• The South Hill – Puyallup Rotary and Sumner Rotary for a nice lunch of sandwiches and soup.
• All the SAG drivers – Thank you for stopping and bring water, a floor pump, a kind word of encouragement, and a ride when the body or the bike gave out.
• The Lion’s Club of Leavenworth for my favorite dinner and a great breakfast. Dinner is so good I worry about embarrassing myself for eating so much, and trust me when it comes to food I don’t embarrass easy.
• The Tacoma Narrows Rotary for the baked potato lunch and the fun we had in line. Every year you add a new topping for the bakers, and I love all of the items you offer.
• Thank you for all of you who worked on Thursday and Friday to prepare the ride and those of you who will work on Tuesday getting everything back to where it goes.
• Thank you all for a special ride but be prepared the word is out so expect more riders next year.

I tried to post this on Saturday, but the hotel which claimed to have an internet connection didn't have one.

Sunday Night

This weekend’s ride reminds me of times when I was a kid where you have no worries and only good times. Remember as a child the extra fun days flew, but the days when you had to pull weeds dragged on. This weekend has been that kind of weekend; it is flying by. The only small hiccup came from during the first fifteen miles of the ride. The three readers of this blog, who are all related to me, will know my love of dehydration, IVs, and ER. I felt the need to get ahead of my hydration so I drank two large bottles of water the first ten miles. Hoping I would soon have a sign that I was fully loaded and hydrated – I wanted - NO - I needed to pee. I had the same experience Craig Hill had two years ago on STP when he needed to go. Finally, with a full bladder, I pulled over behind a tree to relieve myself. Sweet relief. The hiccup wasn’t the fact I couldn’t void, but when Todd Kelly my neighbor and Multi-Care Hospital Communications Director decided to roll up in his SAG wagon within ten feet of my tree. Todd has his soon to be a seventh grade daughter Sarah with him. He quickly threw the car in reverse, and all turned out well.

The weekend is truly a worry free weekend for the riders, but it happens by the hard work of the volunteers. I asked Todd if the weekend qualified as work – he said no he volunteered this weekend in fact he mentioned his first day of his vacation is Monday the last day of the ride. His daughter Sarah was right by his side working hard with her dad. The hours the volunteers put in are enormous – Todd started both Saturday and Sunday before 7 AM and Saturday his day finished at 9:30 PM. When Russ and I left the program last night at 7 PM, Todd with Sarah at his side was still hard at work. I talked to a couple Rotary members who came up the night before the event to set up their food stop, and woke quite early to prepare food for the many riders.

Again for my three family and friends reading the blog, the cribbage total is 10 to 10. I jumped out to a huge lead of 9 to 2 to only have Russ get on a big run and tie it up.

Monday’s ride is the toughest for me. The ride is around sixty miles with about the biggest climbing day. Today we climb Stevens Pass. The total climbing miles today is around fifteen miles of the sixty. Russ waits for me at the top of the pass, and my best time in the past has Russ only waiting for twenty-three minutes; we will see.

Twenty-two miles into today’s ride my tire made a sound like a .357 going off. Not good, I had my first flat tire on the ride and only my second for the year. Craig Hill has the record for four flats on one fifty mile ride, and he literally blew through five tubes. Russ Meyers comment “You pulled a Craig Hill.” The day started a bit dicey with rain at the start of the ride. As the good boy scout that I am, I came prepared with a long sleeve cycling jersey and my long cycling pants. My body was warm and toasty. The rain came and went as we road through day on and off on I – 90.
As I near the start of the largest hill, the tire blew. The Courage Classic has about seven sag wagons which drive the course helping people with flats, water, and bike problems. The helpful sag driver was Eric Quist. After trying to fix the tire, we tried two tubes then the tire blew again. Eric loaded the bike onto the car and took me up the hill to a waiting mechanic. Old Towne Bike Shop supplies the bike mechanics. The mechanics are outstanding in their service. The mechanic told me to go have lunch, and my bike would be ready when I returned. The bike was ready to go, and when I didn’t have enough money they allowed me to come by later to pay. The Courage Classic treats their riders like no other ride.

Hi, I am Rick Beitelspacher, and I have the opportunity to share my experiences with you concerning the Courage Classic Bike Ride. Craig Hill, one of the real writers, is camping this weekend, so I got the call from the minors to write the blog. The only real writing I have accomplished this summer is a grocery list. During the school year, I teach and coach junior high school students. Hopefully after reading the blog you don’t decide to pull your kids from public school.
I have a bias opinion of the Courage Classic Bike Ride. I LOVE IT. As I packed my bag for the three days of riding, I packed some shirts from previous rides, and those shirts brought back some memories of good times on the bike, hanging out with friends, eating some amazing food, and getting treated by the volunteers like your royalty. The ride is like an old friend. The kind of friend you don’t see for years, but after a couple of minutes of talking, you feel as if you have reconnected.
Craig Hill wrote an article in the TNT on Thursday covering the ride. Money raised from the ride goes toward a program at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. I took the next part right from the Courage Classic website (www.courageclassic.org). The Courage Classic Bicycle Tour was created as a fund raising ride to support the Rotary Endowment for the Intervention and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. This endowment will ensure that the children in our communities and their families will never be turned away from the help they might need in the case of sexual or physical abuse.
Because the riders raise funds for a great cause, the volunteers treat the riders as if they have done something special. I have ridden STP, raced triathlons, and run the Portland Marathon, but I have never experienced anything like the special treatment we receive from the many folks who put on the ride. The volunteers come from the rotaries in the area, the hospital, and folks who believe in the cause. They work many hours to put the ride, food, and logistics together, and they thank us? I told you I was bias from the start of the blog.
I want share with you my experiences, and the ride is the biggest part of the experience. The other part is some time with some good friends. I mostly hang out with Russ Meyers who is another teacher and coach. We ride together except when the hills get too steep then Russ and all of his 165 lbs go up the hill by himself. When he arrives at the top of the hill, Russ waits for me and let’s me know what a “Good Climber” I am. What a joke – I hate climbing hills. Unlike Russ I have forty extra lbs to lift up the hill. I get my revenge on Russ in our many cribbage games. We play around thirty over the weekend at a dollar a game to the winner. This usually means that Russ will be buying me dinner on Monday night. I rarely take less than fifteen dollars from Russ. Yes I do talk smack the whole time we are playing so Russ pays me back on the ride. It works for us.