Saturday morning looked a lot like a race morning. There was the insomnia, the 4:30 am alarm, the oatmeal, banana, and peanut butter breakfast, and all the gear laid out the night before. There were butterflies in my stomach, and a nagging voice in the back of my head saying, “Are you sure you want to do this?” As it does on real race mornings, that voice had a point. You have to be a little crazy if you’re totally gung ho about biking 100 miles.
But Saturday was different from any of the races I’ve done in one important way. This time, there would be no clock. The only “winners” would be participants who fundraised the most, and the only thing we were trying to beat was the stormy forecast. That thought pushed me out the door, wheels rolling at 5:32.
The Prouty is a major fundraiser for the Friends of Norris Cotton Cancer Center that takes place in Hanover every year. Thousands of participants set fundraising goals and can bike, hike, row, or golf. There are incredible volunteers, generous sponsorships from local businesses, and good vibes all around. Since it began in 1982, the Prouty has raised over $30 million for cancer research and patient supportive services.
This was my second year doing the Prouty’s century (100-mile) bike ride, and I was excited to be back with a lot more experience, a great bike, and a (hopefully) better forecast. Before the 2016 Prouty, I had never biked more than 35 miles at once, and I was using a hand-me-down bike from Walmart. It also poured rain for the first 30 miles, which left our group nearly hypothermic for the rest of the ride. This year, I had biked a lot more on a new bike in preparation for a Half Ironman in June (check out our Patriot Blog Post!). The forecast was still iffy, but it looked like the rain would hold off until midday. I felt about as prepared as I could be to finish the ride.
Early in the week, however, we were bummed to find out that during a huge thunderstorm, many of the roads along the route were completely washed out. The 100-mile route became a 76-mile loop that avoided the damage. We heard that some riders were planning to repeat parts of the course to make it to 100 miles, though, so we kept that in the back of our minds as we set off.
I rode with Sonia and Catherine (congrats to Tucker and Emma M., other team members who participated as well!) and we made it through 67 miles of partly cloudy and not-too-hot weather, beautiful rural roads and rolling hills, several SAG (stop-and-go) snack stops with fresh fruit, water, awesome homemade granola bars, and less-awesome chickpea/coconut oil brownies, and great conversation. We took turns pulling (riding in the front so everyone else can draft behind and use less energy), and said hello to the hundreds of bikers we encountered along the way. When we made it back to the SAG in Lyme, NH, nine miles from the finish, we overheard someone saying that the storms wouldn’t start until the late afternoon. We felt great, so we headed straight back out the opposite direction, invented our own loop around the beautiful Lake Morey, and made it back to the Lyme SAG again at just over 90 miles. We were 100 bound!
Now, would a Triathlon team blog post be complete without a shocking turn of events? Obviously not. As we started our ascent out of Lyme, the skies opened up and we got caught in a torrential downpour, complete with thunder and lightning. Catherine had to pull over because the sunscreen running into her eyes was blinding, and Sonia couldn’t see through her contacts either. We spent a few minutes huddled under someone’s porch in an attempt to wait out the storm, but the rain was only coming down harder, and we were getting cold. We told each other that we just needed to get to the finish line, where we would hop off our bikes, take a quick picture, hop right back on, bike the mile back to campus, and head straight into hot showers. We weren’t even going to stop for the amazing post-race lunch. Determined, we set off again.
Miraculously, as we passed the Dartmouth organic farm and reached the “one mile to the finish” sign at the bottom of a huge hill, the rain stopped. Possibly in surprise, Sonia changed gears too fast and her bike chain popped off. Luckily, she did some quick roadside bike maintenance and fixed the chain, turning her hands completely black with grease in the process. Starting with no momentum whatsoever, we climbed that final hill and rolled across the finish.
We took our post-race picture, told each other we would do a “quick lap” around the food tent, and proceeded to eat almost everything in sight before riding back to campus at a walker’s pace. There were no age-group awards to stick around for and no times to analyze, but the awesome post-race feeling that’s equal parts accomplishment and total body soreness was still there. And this time, we got to experience that feeling after spending six hours bonding with each other, enjoying beautiful scenery, and meeting new people. So even though there was no official winner this time around, I think we can all agree that events like the Prouty are a win-win for everyone.
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Katie
About the Author
Katie Clayton ('18) is a tri team captain studying Government and French. She loves cooking, the color purple, Maine wild blueberries, and summer.
