We’re very proud of our employees Garrett and Michele for completing their April 2025 challenges to raise money for the American Cancer Society. They raised over $460 for the charity! Garrett had a goal of 300, but biked for over 393 miles! Michele had a goal of 100 off-road running miles, but ran 155! Michele tapered down towards the end of the month so she could do an ultramarathon in early May that saw her run 35 miles with 7500 feet of elevation! Garrett participated in the Chico Wildflower Century ride in honor of our late chairman Bradley Pearce. Here is his recap of the race:
There’s probably no perfect ride and this one wasn’t any different, but I find it thrilling to be on one of these rides, more so for one that has personal meaning. There too is some intrinsic joy that comes from a self imposed physical challenge, one that a couple thousand other people had decided that day to impose upon themselves as well. That’s basically what it felt like on Sunday April 27th, 2025, at Chico’s Wildflower bicycle fondo event.
Add to it what others referred to as grinding hill climbs in rainy conditions, and you find yourself questioning what the heck you were doing out in conditions you wouldn’t normally find yourself riding in. You’re soaking wet! You’d be cold if not for the exertion of riding a bicycle uphill and yet you’re loving the adventure and social element of the whole thing.
Sunday, I completed the Chico Wildflower Century ride and eclipsed my goal of 100 miles, while wearing the riding jersey Bradley Pearce had given to me before his passing. I thought about him several times on the ride, mostly when I’d be slogging up one of the steeper 10% – 11% grade sections, with my heart racing. What did you get me into, Mr. Pearce!? I hadn’t ridden this many steep hills since doing the Sierra Century ride a couple decades ago when I was younger and stronger. In Summer heat, that was a grinding ride!
For a measure of long distance fondo ride cycling enthusiasm, this one was similar to many others I’d ridden. It begins with most everyone starting out all smiley, talkative, and full of energy. However, their bodies are incapable of sustaining the effort their minds thought possible. By the end of the ride, if they haven’t DNF’ed by half way, you’ll find them in BONK-land, exhausted, sore, and not so talkative. It’s natural. Into the second half of the ride, most of the riders looked like they were just trying to survive until the finish.
Not being my first century ride, I gave this ride my maximum, which is to say that I started off using very little energy or only what energy I had to expend, choosing to save something in reserve when I knew my energy and strength would be at its lowest.
I know what happens on these rides and on this one I was extra in tune with myself, because I didn’t want a DNF. If I had a mechanical issue that prevented me from finishing, that would be one thing. But, I didn’t want any slip-ups for any of the other things under my control. Things like stocking up on food in my jersey so I’d have it available when I needed it, rather than riding light and depending on aid stations, which when you think about it come too late for your muscles. You need to keep pumping food and hydration into your body as it uses it BEFORE your muscles have exhausted their store of carbohydrates.
I caught some light-hearted grief from a few other riders passing me early on about how my Nature Valley cracker packs were about to fall out of one of my jersey pouches or the other comment that it wasn’t bad enough we had a 2,000 foot hill climb, I had decided I needed something more challenging, taking three full water bottles with me. LOL. Yes, my food packs were sticking out, but none were falling out. And one of the bottles was an empty spare, for later should I need it.
The ride was a challenge, but it was a manageable challenge that I think I executed very well. I never felt hungry, which meant that I was able to kick out steady power throughout the full distance. It also meant that the one or two stops planned could be and ended up being optional, rather than required. I did have to stop at the Paradise rest stop after my bicycle seat decided to point upward, and I needed help repositioning it. But after that stop at mile 24, to tighten a nut, my next stop would be the finish line.
By mile 50, the Garden Drive rest stop, the amount of riders had thinned substantially. By mile 57, when it was expected to be all fast downhill or level ground miles, I was cruising home at a decent clip, upping my energy output, focusing on consistency. That was also the point where the last rider who passed me pulled off for a rest stop break. For the next 43 miles, Bradley’s jersey and I returned the favor, rolling past one rider or group of riders after another or passing by them while they were by the side of the road taking on nutrients their bodies needed long before they had stopped. If only they filled their jersey pockets with food…
But it wasn’t about beating or racing others, it was about not quitting, not fooling myself about what I had left in reserve. I wanted to prove to myself that I could finish strong.
Having completed 5,600 feet of climbing already with virtually nothing remaining to the end, I was still feeling quite good. I realize I’m only getting older, so physiologically I’m getting weaker, as we all do with age. Before Sunday, I had never completed a century ride without stopping at least once to rest or take in supplemental food and water. Technically, other than having to stop to tighten a bolt or stop at red traffic signals, my feet hadn’t touched the ground since getting on the bike at the start and until I completed the mileage at the finish.
Yes, half the miles we covered were on wet roadways or in rainy downpours with water sheets covering the entire road and enough of what was coming down hitting me in the face that it stung. And yes, we had one mechanical setback with the seat. But overall, this was one ride that stands out in mind as one of the toughest, physically. I want to say that I wanted to finish this ride in a way that Bradley would have, without complaining or whining about things I had no control over. It would have been easy to throw in the towel when conditions soured, muscles cramped or the aches you feel at around mile 80, after 5+ hours of being on a bicycle have set in. I think that’s the way Bradley would have wanted it. I endured through the pain and the rain, coming to the finish with a grin of satisfaction on my face. We did it Brad!
