Biking for a Cause
Mateo Sosnik
I was in the middle of a deep sleep when I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and into my room. I heard that there was someone in my room, but I was too tired to even bother or stand up. I heard a hushed voice right next to me, and it went on for a long time. I woke up a little bit more just to hear my dad tell me that I have to wake up. I was really confused until I understood that we were 2 days away from a 23-mile bike race with my best friend Lucca, and we had to bike together to get in shape. My dad, Lucca, and I biked around the dish for 10 miles two days before the big race and I remember feeling super excited and up for the challenge.
We finished the 10-mile biking practice at Lucca’s house, and we were talking for a while about the formation that makes it easiest to ride and a little about what the strategies were. After we strategized out 20 minutes, my dad and I hopped into his car and went back home.
On the car ride back home, my dad and I were talking about the fact that, when I was going to race, my dad was not going to be there, and he was going to be in Spain. I was sad, but that was not going to stop me from racing. We went home that day, and I was motivated. I spent the whole day thinking and planning about how I thought it was going to go. I was feeling a lot of mixed emotions because I got tired from biking 10 miles, and I would have to ride 23. I thought I was not going to make it.
The next day, before going back home from soccer practice, I went to the bike shop with my mom to get everything I needed for the race, including a spare tube in case I got a flat tire, water, etc. When we finished, we went home and had everything ready because after school on Friday, Lucca would take me to his house, and I could not forget anything.
When I was done with the school day, it seemed like Lucca also invited other people to his house that night. I was kind of nervous, but all of my friends being in the same car was making the nervousness go away. After a long afternoon at Lucca’s house, everyone left and I remember Phil (Lucca’s dad) told us, “Guys, we need to go to sleep early because we are going to need to wake up early in the morning.” Lucca and I were planning to go to a high school football game but Phil told us that we couldn’t. We went to sleep at about 8:30. The next morning, I woke up at about 5 a.m., changed, and went downstairs. Lydia (Lucca’s mom) had made us breakfast, but Phil told us that he needed to get in the car as fast as possible.
20 minutes into the car ride, Phil realized that he had left my bike light charging at home. We turned the car and started to make our way back home. It took us about 20 minutes longer than we thought it would. We got to the starting line at 7:52 and the race started at 8. The second we stepped out of the car, Lucca and I were freezing and we went back in the car immediately. It took us about 5 minutes to get used to the weather because we had short sleeve shirts and bike shorts.
Ten minutes into the race, I felt something dripping on my helmet. I didn’t worry about it until I saw that there was ice on my hand! I had a moment of realization that it was hailing!! This was good and bad news at the same time. It was good because it rarely hails around this area, and I thought it was kind of cool, but it was not that great because every time it hit me, it was hurt a little bit. We were mostly riding on the road, but we would pass farms, stores, houses, and it smelled really bad most of the time.
After a long, sweaty, and tiring 18 miles, there were only 5 to go. I was super relieved that we were about to end, but I had no regrets about doing it. Phil had a mile tracker on the front of his bike that would tell him how much we have biked so far. Lucca and I would ask him every minute to tell us how much time was left. Every time he counted down, things started to get even more real… Since we all knew that we were almost done, everyone started speeding up and things got competitive. At this point, there was nothing to lose, and I put everything I had into finishing strong. I hear Phil’s voice saying “5 miles, 4 miles, 3 miles, 2 miles, 1 mile...” As I said, things were getting competitive slowly, but when it got to 1 mile left, no one was messing around anymore.
I looked forward while biking as fast as I could, and I saw the finish line with a lot of people there congratulating me! We were about 100 feet away from the finish line, and Lucca’s dad started talking in a voice that made him sound like a sports commentator. He would say, “Oh wow, here goes Lucca and Mateo, approaching the finish line about to about to beat the one and only Phil Mazzie.” Lucca and I were laughing a little because of it, but that didn’t make us slow down. Or so we thought… We were 20 seconds away from the finish line and I hear Phil say, “Oh my god what is happening? Phil Mazzie, approaching the finish line, almost Passing Mateo and Lucca.” We were 2 inches away from the line, and there was Lucca, Phil, and me, one a centimeter from the other. At this moment, my life is running in slow motion. I looked in front of me and we all passed the finish line at about the same time. As my vision started going back to normal again, I saw that Phil had won by sticking out his tongue!!
I remember the feeling of pride and relief inside of me that I had finished. We got off our bikes,f and we were all tired to death. We huddled up, and we all congratulated each other and thanked each other for coming, and we were all proud of each other. I was sweating, tired, catching up with my breath, and I was soaked. It was hard to even walk normally because my quads and overall every part of my legs were aching. We left our bikes on a bike stand next to other people’s bikes, and we walked inside of the building where it was super warm and there was food for us to eat.
The first thing that I did once I finished was call my parents saying that I made it, and I was super proud of myself. I talked to them both for a solid 5 minutes. As I walked inside, I saw A LOT of snacks and lunches that we could eat. We were eating snacks for like 2 hours. Lucca and I were making a joke that went, “We biked 23 miles and still managed to get fatter.” We were not only eating, but we were also watching a college football game.
After a long time of waiting, we asked Phil if we could leave yet. He said that we had to wait for 2 people that were doing the same bike ride as us, but 103 miles instead of 23, and he told us that they were halfway there. Lucca and I started to get worried because Lucca had to play a basketball game at 6:30, and it was about 45 minutes to get back home. Since Lucca had a game so late, and I had nothing to do the next day, I asked my parents if I could spend the night again, and I could go to Lucca’s basketball game. 30 minutes later, Phil booked a bus ticket for the people that were biking 103 miles, and we ended up taking 2 people that biked 73 miles.
We were in the car about to leave when they arrived. We saw 2 people walk up to our car. Phil went outside of the car, talked to them for a little, and helped them both load their bikes in the car rack on the back of the car. Lucca and I waited for a few minutes for them to finish packing everything.
We were all in the car and talking about how to experience was for everyone. Lucca and I were looking at each other once in a while cracking up a little bit. At first, I didn’t know why he was laughing, but it was contagious, so I laughed too. I whispered in his ear, “What are you laughing about?” He told me that he was laughing because the person that was sitting in the back with us should have been sitting in the front. I didn’t understand. I observed for a little while just to realize that THE PERSON IN THE BACK WAS LIKE 6’2 AND THE PERSON IN THE FRONT WAS LIKE 5’8!!! We were both laughing the whole car ride until we dropped them both off at the sports basement because that is where their car was parked.
We got back to Lucca’s house quickly so he could change, and so we would not be late to Lucca’s basketball game. The game was amazing, then we went back home and fell asleep. The next morning we talked and played for a little while until my parents picked me up from Lucca’s house, and I couldn’t wait to tell my parents about everything that happened!
In conclusion, I loved the bike ride and I am excited to do the 43 miles next year!
