# long beach diabetes ride



## framesti (Jan 26, 2009)

Has anyone done this? was it well-organized?


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## felix5150 (Mar 15, 2009)

I'm signed up for the century and looking forward to it  This is my first year doing it, so no clue on how well organized it is.


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## krimoc (Jul 21, 2009)

felix5150 said:


> I'm signed up for the century and looking forward to it  This is my first year doing it, so no clue on how well organized it is.


I assume you mean the "Ship to Shore Tour de Cure" on April 29th? I was thinking of doing it but I didn't realize you had to achieve a minimum fund raising amount and pay a small entry fee to participate. I wasn't prepared for the fund raising part.

I intend on doing the Long Beach Bike Fest, Tour de Cruz on May 5th to benefit Miller Children's hospital. I expect that if a rider can't finish the century "quickly" then when you come in the event organizers will be packing everything up and you may miss out on some of the festivities or in some cases get the last scraps.

I think both of these events will be reasonably well organized considering their past success. Long Beach does tout itself as a bicycle friendly city and these rides are the best way to find out how well the city planners have lived up to those ideals. 

Good luck and I hope you have a great ride.


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## Cni2i (Jun 28, 2010)

I rode the century last year and riding it again this year. 

I think it's a great century especially for first-time century riders b/c it's fairly flat with close to 4000' of elevation. Route markings were good as well. 

However, to be perfectly candid, the rest stops could've used more vendors IMO (at least compared to some of the other ones that I've done). And, it would've been nice to have vendors set up at the end of the ride also. 

All in all, it was well organized and I do it b/c it's for a great cause!

PS: I remembering only registering 98 miles on my cyclometer though  So, if you want the 100....probably need to ride another few miles.....just saying


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## tep (Nov 6, 2006)

This will be my fifth year doing the metric century. I really enjoy the ride/route, and believe it's marked quite well. Riding over the bridges is pretty cool. They don't want you to stop, for some reason, but we usually do to take pictures anyway. If you ride LBC and/or the Donut, you should be fine. IMO the rest stops are getting better each year. Though I really think they have a lot of room to improve their lunch and sponsor area. I just participated in the City of Angel's Fun ride and have always thought their after ride food/sponsor area was good for what you pay. Either way, it's a fun ride, you get to meet lots of people, there's no pressure for how fast/slow you go, due to it's a ride not a race, and it's for a good cause. It seems there are a lot of people who don't normally ride, but who push themselves to get through this ride.

Bottom line it raises a good amount of money for something that effects a lot of people.

Enjoy your ride,
-tep


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## Cni2i (Jun 28, 2010)

Have a great ride tomorrow everyone!

I am doing the century tomorrow. I'll be in the Audi Castelli team jersey and bib and will be riding my Cento Uno SL. Say hi if you see me


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## ddimick (Aug 9, 2011)

I'm doing the century ride tomorrow. The route last year was very well marked and the rest stops were well stocked. If you want the full 100, hang a left at Marymount College and go up Crest. It's not any steeper than what you'll have already done on PV East and will give you a few extra miles. Plus another 500 or 600 feet vertical. 

I'll be in a Cisco team jersey and riding a red/white Look 566 with a helmet mirror that looks like an insect antenna.


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## Cni2i (Jun 28, 2010)

ddimick said:


> I'm doing the century ride tomorrow. The route last year was very well marked and the rest stops were well stocked. If you want the full 100, hang a left at Marymount College and go up Crest. It's not any steeper than what you'll have already done on PV East and will give you a few extra miles. Plus another 500 or 600 feet vertical.
> 
> I'll be in a Cisco team jersey and riding a red/white Look 566 with a helmet mirror that looks like an insect antenna.


Good tip. Unfortunately, though I rode the ride last year, not too familiar with where Marymount College is. Where about is Marymount College in relation to the century route slip? At what mile? Thanks.....

I'll look out for you


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## Cni2i (Jun 28, 2010)

Found Crest. Definitely will go up crest 'till the end and come back down to PV east. Thanks Again for the tip.


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## Cni2i (Jun 28, 2010)

Great weather for riding! I thought the rest stops were better stocked this time around too. 

Took the climb up Crest too to add some more elevation and miles. I ended up with a total of 104.5 miles. Although I rode the majority of the century solo, I did ride the last 35 miles or so with three other cool cyclists. 

All in all, well organized event and of course, great cause!


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## felix5150 (Mar 15, 2009)

Didn't have the legs to do the additional climb, but this was my first century (well close enough to 100 miles) that i've done since i ruptured my achilles tendon last year... so i'm very happy with it. I thought the SAG stops were very well stocked even for us on the tail end of the ride


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## tep (Nov 6, 2006)

I rode the Metric Century.

Weather _was_ great! SAG support with the trucks this year vs the motorcycles only of years past seemed a lot more noticeable.....meaning better SAG support. Rest stops just as good as last year, free CLIF bars, oranges, fruit, water, and bike mech's at each one!!....very nice. Didn't get hassled to move on like years past, when stopping on top of the Vincent Thomas bridge. I liked the reroute around Anchovy quite a bit, and the biggest and most welcomed change for me was having Wahoo's sponsor the lunch.....very tasty.

I would've ridden in it next year anyway, cuz I like the route, and especially what the ride is supporting. Lost my mom to diabetes a good number of years ago. But this year definitely renewed the ride for me. 

I ride with the Southwest Airlines team, we had a small group this year, but very close knit making it that much more of a fun ride.

For those of you who rode in it, but didn't write anything....hope you all had a great ride as well, this year felt like a very upbeat year by all.

for those who are looking for a good cause and a good ride, check it out next year.

ride safely,
-tep


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## framesti (Jan 26, 2009)

*diabetes ride*



tep said:


> I rode the Metric Century.
> 
> Didn't get hassled to move on like years past, when stopping on top of the Vincent Thomas bridge. I liked the reroute around Anchovy quite a bit,
> -tep


I am not familiar with long beach. Were the directions- for the different rides obvious?


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## ddimick (Aug 9, 2011)

Each route had its own color and colored arrows on the ground marked turns for each of them. I did miss one rest stop completely somehow but I think that was more on me than them. There were some long straight sections on the back 25 miles where I would have liked a few extra reminders that I was still going the right way but that's a minor nitpick; every turn was clearly marked.

I would have liked some PB&J at the rest stops, but they did have plenty of everything else, lots of SAG vehicles and friendly wrenches at every stop. At one point I double-shifted under load and dropped my chain past my chain catcher somehow. Levered the catcher out of the way to get going again, and then at the next stop the mechanic adjusted my front derailleur & chain catcher and lubed everything in about two minutes flat. Shifts better than ever.


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## tep (Nov 6, 2006)

[


tep said:


> I rode the Metric Century.
> 
> Didn't get hassled to move on like years past, when stopping on top of the Vincent Thomas bridge.


Year round the bridge is only open to cars, it's a total novelity to ride across it (you aren't even allowed to walk across it, as far as I know). So eveyone likes to stop at the top and take pics of themselves or their group, or whatever. In past years that I have ridden in the ride, the TdC SAG crew is constantly kicking you off the bridge.....meaning don't hangout at the top, take your picture and move on. This year for the 10mins that we were on the bridge no one pushed us along. SAG vehicles came through, but without hassle.

Kind of long winded, but hope that helps.

-tep

EDIT: oops, just reread your post. I'm guessing you were referring to the reroute. There was landslide/sink hole (I think that's what it was) on a section of W. Paseo Del Mar a while ago. The route used to go down Paseo Del Mar before turning up Anchovy, but with the street closed the Tour de Cure rerouted around it......I thought the routing creating a nice flow to the ride...in both directions. 

cheers!
-tep


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## bspecmr2 (May 14, 2012)

framesti said:


> Has anyone done this? was it well-organized?


While I do not have any experience with the Long Beach event, I just came back from the Napa Valley Tour de Cure 2012. The American Diabetes Association has a long history of organizing these events. The event in Napa Valley was well organized, with 3 rest stops on my 50 mile route and plenty of SAG vehicles cruising the route to offer help. There was an ambulance on site and the CHP assisted with traffic management at certain road intersections.

While some people turn these charity related events into full on race days, many of the riders are just out to have fun, will ask you in passing if you are doing okay, and are generally a very friendly crowd, out on a mission to fundraise for a great cause and to have fun.

I would highly recommend utilizing the local Tour de Cure routes that the ADA chooses for these events. The rest stops were fully stocked and had an abundance of volunteers running around making sure that fresh fruit, sandwiches and water for refilling bottles was readily available.

The fee to register for these events is rather small ($15 in my case) and the minimum fundraising limit (in my case $225) was not hard to reach. This was my first fundraiser and I raised almost $2,000. I'm sure in the future I will have no problem raising the minimum required just so I can participate and ride. I would recommend Tour de Cure regardless of the location, given the feedback I have received from others who have participated in past years.

For those of you who would like to see the 50 mile route I did in Napa Valley on May 6 I can share the link once I reach a higher post count, or you could message me in private (searching in strava also yields some routes, but not always up to date or very accurate for the mileage posted).

Best of luck to you and I hope you do get involved at least once to try it out.


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