The Ride

Every year, Mercy Health Partners puts on an indoor stationary bike race to increase awareness of cardiovascular fitness through exercise and healthy lifestyle choices. Teams of eight cyclists ride bikes on mounted trainers for 25-minute intervals and compete for team trophies and individual medals. There are trophies for various categories from the most spirited team, best theme or costumes, oldest team and, of course, most miles ridden. This year fifty eight teams competed. Our team's theme was Construction Workers (for the heart).

There are some professional teams that ride, also. They are separated from the novice teams.

We have done this since 2005 and have raised over $250,000 for the HEART Center. The money goes toward educational equipment, health fairs, exercise equipment and for patients who need cardiac rehab but have limited financial resources. The Ride takes place at the local mall and is a lot of fun.

I have ridden in The Ride with other staff members from the HEART Center for 6 of the past 7 years. This year, however, I had a specific goal to reach. One of my patients has been egging me on for the last year about how he wanted to race me. He wanted me to bring my A-game because he was bringing his. I had to beat him this year, unless I wanted to listen to his grief for the next 12 months. Thankfully, he rode before me so I knew the mileage I had to have. I beat him by .3 miles.

The sad thing about this is that he is 12 years older than me and has had coronary artery bypass surgery. I should be able to beat him by a lot, but I had to go for all I was worth today. Our bikes weren't the same, so it wasn't totally equal, but still. This has shown me I need to work a little harder in my workouts. No more lolligagging around. Just wait until next year, Luke.