The Tour LaFitte That Was!

Our second attempt at riding in the Tour LaFitte was WAY better than the first! Two years ago, my friends and I attempted to ride the Tour LaFitte (that wasn't) and just as we arrived at the starting point, the race was cancelled due to an impending crazy storm.

Although we had to deal with a little bit of rain in this year's ride, it wasn't anything like 2 years ago and we had a blast!!

The idea of riding in the Tour again was brought up by a friend and it grew like wildfire! In the end, we had six total in our group!

We were a little nervous about this ride for a few reason - none of us had been biking (although I've been running and another one of us had been doing crossfit and others had been working out in their own way)...we all owned mountain bikes and not "real" road bikes...and we had no idea what to expect.

After arriving at the start line, we headed to the far..far...far...back. As we made our way there, we passed others who were super hard core riders and I'll admit, I felt like a fish out of water. This race offered several distances - 10 miles, 27 miles, 40 miles, 50 miles, and  64 miles, so there were riders of all calibers there (even down to kids with training wheels).

We coined ourselves the "leisure riders" and decided to just take it easy and enjoy our time out on the road.

 ...and we were off!

I wondered how we would distinguish our route from the others and soon realized that arrows had been painted on the ground. Our route was the pink one!

I also profusely thanked this guy for being at this corner because had he not, I might have accidentally followed the others and gone straight! Yikes!

Around mile 4.5, we reached our first water/food stop! They had Cane's lemonade, water, assorted cookies, bananas, and oranges available for the riders.

We might have also spotted a crawfish...and of course we had to take a picture! Y'all know I find "characters" everywhere!

After hanging out for a few minutes, we continued on our ride. My friend Kim kept her straw with her and was fussed at by a spectator for "smoking" while riding! He was joking of course but as oncology professionals, my coworker and I got a kick out of it!

With just a few miles left in the ride, the rain decided to make it's appearance. Thankfully, it wasn't a pouring rain and although it got us all pretty wet, we were still able to continue the ride and finish without any difficulty!

Home stretch...

 ...to the finish!

We had so much fun and really enjoyed the ride. Yes, we were definitely leisure riding but several of us commented how easy this ride was overall and discussed the idea of riding in the 27 miler next year! We shall see! 

All done!

In total, this route came out to 9 miles instead of 10, but who's counting? :)

After the ride, we had breakfast at a local diner (as per our usual post-race tradition)!

And of course, we sported our Tour LaFitte shirts! This race also benefited the Special Olympics which I love! It's always great to support a local race with a good cause! :)

I honestly cannot wait for next year's ride! This really was a lot of fun and a nice change up from the usual races that are offered around town!

Have you ever participated in a bike race?

Relay for Life 2018 Take 1

On Friday night, I attended the Rapides Parish Relay for Life in Alexandria, Louisiana with a fellow relay friend of mine. We love attending different relays as we gain new ideas and experiences from other's events!

This event is about a 2 hour drive or so from our home. We made great timing and even arrived early!

Our first objective was to scope out the place - check out the venue, look around at the team booths, and talk to committee members.

Their theme this year was a Louisiana based theme as "Relay on the Red" (River, that is). This booth was by far our favorite! They even had a pirouge in their tent! (Pronounced pee-row which means boat in Cajun French)

Tobacco Free Living was there with a booth and they were even handing out free shirts, promoting their Smoke Free Louisiana campaign!

One of my favorite parts of relay is the food.  Although the pastalaya looked temping (a combination between jambalya and pasta), we decided on cheeseburgers from the Target booth and frozen lemonade from one of the hospital booths!

The band. Oh my goodness the band was GREAT! They played all evening and did an awesome job!

Around 7 p.m., the survivor lap took place. This lap celebrated cancer survivors of all ages, all diagnoses, and all stages of treatment/remission. What an awesome sight to see!

One of the great things about this relay was the venue. It was located on the river, had great seating and easy access to the food!

Food? How about dessert! Ok!

So many cakeballs, I couldn't decide! I ate the funfetti one that evening and brought the strawberry one home for later! Delicious!

Around 9 p.m., the luminaria ceremony took place. This is by far the most touching part of relay and one where we spend a little time of reflection of those who have lost their fight with cancer. We also take time to honor the survivors and the reason we keep pressing on with our goal of creating a world with less cancer.

In the left hand corner of this picture, across the lake, you'll see the word "HOPE". These were luminaria bags filled with sand and a candle. I love how the fireworks took place right behind it!

Such a great end to an overall amazing evening!

We didn't stay long after the fireworks because we still had a solid 2 hour drive and I had a race to run the following morning. Come to think of it, maybe I should relay before every race from now on! Hah!

 

Thanks for the invite, Rapides! We enjoyed our evening and we especially enjoyed relaying with you!