A Pedel The Kettle Rest Stop Diary

Sept. 16th, 2007
Day of the Spring City Spinners fund raiser event - Pedal The Kettle

4:20AM - I woke up 10 minutes before the alarm was due to go off, oh well, it's only 10 minutes.

5:00AM - My wife and I arrive at the Spring City restaurant for the event day volunteers breakfast.

6:30AM - After breakfast we stop by North High School and help distribute a few of the PTK shirts to some of the early bird riders before heading out to our rest stop.

7:00AM - This is the early start time for the 66 and 100 mile riders.

7:30AM - We arrive at the Pond Park rest stop just outside of Rome, WI. This is a nice spot, the shelter area is brand new and there's some road construction (bridge) going on that kept the regular traffic to a bare minimum. We're Rest Stop #2 on both the 66 & 100 mile routes.

Before we start the setup

8:00AM - We start cutting bagels and bananas, as well as making Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches and of course we started unpacking all those homemade cookies and treats. I also made up the first batch of Gatorade and filled the water container, so we have 5 gallons of each available.

8:30AM - We're open and ready for business. It's a little cooler and cloudier than we had hoped, but thankfully there's no rain.

9:00AM - The first three riders pull in to the rest stop, not bad, considering that we are at the 40 mile mark and these guys started at 7:00AM, so they were averaging ~20MPH.

10:00AM - We're now on our ~50th rider through the rest stop, and we get word that just over 300 people have registered.

11:00AM - Now we're starting to worry just a bit about our food supply, we've seen ~110 riders and we know that about 150 went through the rest stop before ours. Luckily we get a re-stock of bananas, cookies, grapes and bread, (those PB&J sandwiches were very popular).

12:00PM - We've now had a ~180 riders pass through our rest stop, it looks like some of the riders skipped or missed the first rest stop.

Nearing the end, things slow down a bit

12:50PM - 189 riders went through our rest stop, the last one leaves, to continue on the 66 mile route, at 12:50PM. He's got one more rest stop ahead of him (at Ottawa Lake State Park) and about 26 total miles to reach the finish, back at North High School in Waukesha, WI. We went through somewhere around 10 gallons each of Gatorade and water, about 2 loaves worth of PB&J sandwiches, ~130 bananas, 4 dozen mini-bagels, lots of grapes, and probably 24 dozen cookies.

1:00PM - We're now on our way to the Ottawa rest stop to drop off what was left of our food. Ottawa gets the leftovers as they get riders from all the routes: 33/66/100.

2:00PM - Arrive at North High School and have some food, same post ride meal as the riders (Chili, chicken salad sandwiches, some veggies and of course a couple of cookies). I also drop off the Rest Stop "kit", empty water bottles and signage. It's time to go home and get a nap.

A special thanks to the friends and supporters of the Spring City Spinners Bicycle Club; Transition Cycle, Kurt's Steak House, Wisconsin State and City parks and North High School.