Team Vitamin Shoppe - Chicago Tour de Farms 2006 150 Mile Report

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Chicago Tour de Farms 2006 150 Mile Report

Written by Administrator
Tuesday, 18 July 2006
The morning of the ride… My mother and I ate breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the starting line where the rest of the team would meet us. After getting the bike out of the vans, we were ready to ride. The women over the loud speaker said, “Watch out for Team Vitamin Shoppe, not only do they look good but they take vitamins.” We were off to conquer the farms of Illinois. My mother in law was going to ride 35 miles both days; however everyone else was going to ride 75. When we came up off the 35/75 split, she kept riding strong with all of us. The people on the course where awesome!!! The overall thankfulness of each and every one of the volunteers was amazing. From every rest stop to the people driving the SAG wagon…it was truly something I had never seen before. All of those people really cared. Around 20 miles into the ride I see Sandy, a team member who had left earlier then the rest of us, riding towards us. As it turned out she had gone the wrong way after a rest stop which is why she was riding the opposite direction. Thankfully, we saw her, otherwise who knows, she could have been pedaling all the way back to the start line. At the 60 mile mark my behind and knees where killing me. I could barley sit down anymore, so I rode standing up almost the rest of the way. I should have listened to the wrencher and got a new seat and new tires. With about 5 miles left my leg crapped up so badly that I had to get off the bike and stretch it out. There was no way I wasn’t going to cross the finish line on my bike. After a minute or so I got back on my bike and pedaled as fast as I could to catch up to my team (where was all this energy 20-30 miles ago). I finally caught up to a couple of my teammates. Riding up to NIU there where groups of people lined up cheering and congratulating us. Wow, what a feeling of accomplishment and we are only half done. We walked up to the team tent to see how the day was going for them. Joseph (store 205) and Scott (store 173) where manning the tent at the time. They informed me that only a hundred or so riders had come up to the tent in the morning and early afternoon. However, as we were up there the riders started inquiring about The Vitamin Shoppe and samples we were giving away (FYI restore, trail mix, VS bars, water, amino vital products, effervescent C, etc.) and it never slowed down until past 8pm. All the riders seemed to really appreciate all the samples and information we where giving out. I think it was a successful first year. A special thanks to Joseph (store 205), Scott (store 173), Paul (store 123) and Craig (District manger 302) for manning the tent all day. Day Two… Unfortunately, the MS staff was having everyone ride 35 miles on Sunday because of storms that were coming. Well, maybe that was a good thing for me J. I cannot remember the last time my body was this sore. In any event we all pedaled on, with the exception of my mother in law who was a trooper the day before and rode 75 miles when she should have only rode 35 miles. At the last rest stop of the day a man had cow bells ringing, yes we are in the Midwest, while his wife was shouting, “WAY TO GO VITMAMIN SHOPPE.” Pedaling up to the finish line you could see crowds of people waiting for the riders to come in…after I passed the finish line a boy, around 7 years old, handed me a medal and said, “Thank you for Riding”. The ride was amazing…the people associated with the ride were amazing!!!! Everyone should ride next year and the years after that… Finally I want to say thank you Vitamin Shoppe for letting me be apart of this. Marcus G. Norville Team Captain Chicago
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 18 July 2006 )

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