"When eating fruit, remember
the one who planted the tree."
Vietnamese Proverb
It seems only right on this, the conclusion of the twentieth year of the Tour de Mad Dog, to pay homage to the creator of the tour: Tim Chilton. Thank you, Tim. While Tim no longer rides with the LBC and the tour has changed to the point where it is nothing like the original, still it survives. I suppose that to survive, it had to do what all of us do to survive: be amenable to change. As Kahil Gibran once said, "For life goes not backward or tarries with yesterday." So, Tim, I hope that somehow you know that your creation lives on, however different it may have become, and that those who completed the tour now and in the past owe you a debt of gratitude. For to complete the tour means something. If it didn't, people would not include it in their obituaries, as at least two of our past riders have done. It is not something that changes the world in any way, but perhaps it changes something in ourselves.
While it seems rather immodest because it includes myself, I would be remiss not to bring up that there are three of us who have completed the tour all twenty years since it's inception: Mike Kamenish, Dave King, and myself. Thanks for the competition gentlemen. There were many times it got me out the door when I was reluctant to ride.
The tour is, perhaps, more than just a series of bike rides. It is a chance to test yourself and your resolve, for to ride 10 centuries in a season is no mean feat. And the majority of you rode more than the required ten. It means facing hills that make your legs cry and wind that slaps you around. It means standing up to sun that scorches you and threatens to drain you dry of all bodily fluids and rain that often chills you to the bone even on the hottest of days. It means going on at times when your mind is screaming at you to stop and your muscles ache and beg for rest and your butt hurts. It means giving up sleeping in on Saturday mornings and a leisurely breakfast and instead rolling out onto strange roads where you don't know what might meet you around the next bend. It means paying attention to your eating and your hydration and to the bicycle that carries you. It means commitment to planning and executing a goal. In the end, it means mastering not only the course, but mastering yourself.
Of course, and maybe most importantly, it also means fun. There is nothing like being free to spend the day with friends on a bicycle. For the tour brings with it a chance to make friends, friends that encourage you or challenge you to be stronger and better than you ever thought you could be, to endure and to finish even when you are tired or feeling poorly, to give those bad times the finger, move on and finish. It means being with people who share your passion and who can give you advice and make you laugh until your sides hurt and you find the smile you thought you had lost somewhere along the way. Honestly, most of these friendships will fade if you stop riding, but they will give you memories to hold onto when the world just seems too cold and scary to face it alone. And it is a chance to learn things about yourself, that you are tougher than you thought, that you have what it takes to finish.
This tour has been especially meaningful for me because it is the first time I have had the privilege to be one of the Tour Directors. I am so thankful to Fritz for sharing that position with me and for the many contributions he has made to make the year a success. And of course I am thankful for the people who stepped up to captain. The tour could not happen without you. Jon Wineland, Thomas Nance, Bob Grable, Mike Kamenish, Larry Preble, Amelia Dauer, Susan Pyron, John Pyron, John Pelligrino, Bekki Livingston, Tom Askew, Christian Juckett, Dee Schreur, and Paula Pierce, we owe you a debt of gratitude for stepping up to the plate. Some of you had to make other arrangements due to circumstances beyond your control, but the fact that you volunteered meant a lot. What is most amazing to me is that some of you did it despite having no intention of completing the tour. Thank you! And special thanks to Dave King as well who organized the time trial.
This years tour had 22 stages and one time trial. There were no cancellations, though I know there were some ride captains that had to make very tough calls a couple of times. That is one of the difficult things about captaining. You don't want to take people out in weather that is dangerous, but you don't want to cancel and find that there was no need. I remind anyone that is critical of our captains that they are often in a lose/lose situation. If they cancel some are upset and if they don't others are upset. It ranks right up there with the, "Does this dress make me look fat?" question. You can't win no matter your answer. So please, be gentle with our ride captains and remember it is not a paid position.
This year also saw the return of the traditional overnight back to back centuries though it was a new course and a new destination rather than the traditional trek to Mammoth Cave. It had quite the turn out and while it turned out to be one tough week-end with the heat and endless hills, it was a ride those who completed will, I dare say, always remember because of the terrible heat and the difficulty of the courses. Those rides, the rides that challenge us, are the ones we tend to remember because they show us what it means to endure and conquer. I hope everyone felt the same sense of pride upon finishing that I did because I know it was a struggle. Would I do it again.....heck yeah. So glad I didn't miss the adventure and the challenge.
We also saw a couple of old centuries dragged out of the closet: Pottershop and Buckner Riverdance. If you captain next year, please remember there is a list and GPS files for many of the centuries that have been done as tour stages in the past on the club web site. A few riders had not met Pottershop before and now know what the fuss was all about. I can't mention Pottershop without mentioning Stewart Prather, now at rest. Stewart was, if I remember correctly, the one who first found Pottershop and introduced it to the club.
This year also saw a new point system. I will be suggesting a few changes to Fritz that I think will make it more fair, but it will, of course, be up to him. It also is the first year where winners are unable to win for another three years. This change was based upon survey results and was what the majority wanted. Congratulations to Larry Preble who soundly spanked everyone in the competition.
This year there were 19 finishers and roughly 70 club members who completed at least one stage. There were participating riders from Southern Indiana Wheelmen, Madison Bicycle Club, Major Taylor Bicycle Club and Ridenfaden (some riders were joint members of clubs) who joined us as well as others that had no club affiliation or whose club affiliation I don't know about. The oldest person riding one of the stages was Paul Battle and the youngest was Zeke Ledford (still in high school I believe). Finishers were as follows:
To the finishers: Please be on the look out in the near future for the order form for your award jersey. The more quickly everyone responds, the more quickly the order can be placed.
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