Sunday with Jimmy V

Yesterday was the third annual Jimmy V Ride for Research. I've participated in the event all three years. Each year, more and more people have participated. I think that it's become one of the top five or six cycling Raleigh-area cycling events of the year. I think some people come more for the social aspect than the riding.

Before the ride started, Nick Valvano, CEO of The V Foundation, said a few words. He said that he had forgotten that people in the Triangle are very sensitive to colors and indicated that the V Foundation might reconsider the light blue -- almost UNC blue -- color of the jersey. Since Jim Valvano was the NC State Wolfpack basketball coach and NCSU is a more of a red school, that's important!

The event is very well organized. This year they did much better with cycling-specific rest stops.

I met Chris at the start area and we rode the first leg with some folks from Team CBC until about the hill to Davis Drive. After that, we were with David, Larry and the Cheetahs. At Wilsonville, we lost Larry and gained Fred. Most of our group was going on the "75 mile" (aka 68.something mile) route and we kept going at Apex Firestation but David pulled off to wait for Larry. Our group continued on to the end of the first loop and picked up an woman who has done a few Ironman competions along the way. For a short time, Tom was with us as well. We were down to eight riders in our group for the second loop which took us to the hills and traffic of Lake Wheeler Road.

As always, I enjoyed riding with Fred and Chris. This was our second week in a row with the Cheetahs. We're going to have to consider formal introductions!

I find the routes to be somewhat unremarkable. After finishing the my ride yesterday I said, "I still don't like Lake Wheeler!"

The only negative that I have, other than my grumblings about Lake Wheeler Road, is that if the route is 70 miles why call it 75 and if the shorter loop is 46 miles, why call it 50?