This past weekend was the Bellringer 100, which is a charity ride put on by Georgetown University to fight cancer. I’m going to start with an ask that people consider donating to my ride since I still need quite a bit to go and every little bit helps!
Now, as for the ride itself, it was great! I don’t often go into something like this to do a fun ride, I’m always racing. This weekend, I wasn’t only riding to fight cancer but also to support a good friend of mine who wanted to complete his first century. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen for him. This is a pretty challenging course and you have to be ready for some big hills.
I was not going to stop, though and did the back half of the ride on my own. The ENTIRE ride was beautiful. It was in the countryside outside of DC up to Hagersville. The course support was truly second to none. I had a mechanical issue that was fixed on course and the aid stations had the absolute best food I’ve had at any event I’ve ever done. The hot baked pretzels at the 2nd aid station were a real surprise.
Other than being one of the prettiest rides I’ve ever done, it was also one of the hardest. We don’t have hills in New Orleans and my Garmin registered 5300ft of climbing total. While there were a few big hills, the real climb came at mile 62. This was a 2 mile long climb that was hitting around 17% grade at its max. It hurt! I loved that climb though.
If you are looking for a charity ride for cancer this is a really good one to do, in my opinion. There are shorter options as well that don’t have the really hard climbs which make it a more accessible ride for everyone and if you really want a challenge, go do the century!
