A Bike Ride to Save Lives
By: Lucca Mazzie
The rain was pouring. My legs were burning, and I couldn’t pedal anymore. I worried that my tire was going to slip, and I was going to fall. “One mile left, just one mile,” I told myself. I could see the park where we started with a 10 foot arch and people all around cheering for me. It's the finish line I've so desperately wanted to cross. I could almost feel it. I started going harder, speeding up with each pedal. I got closer to the end: 500 feet, 400, 300, 200, 100...
“Wake up! We're leaving in 10 minutes,” my dad said. The luminous face of my clock displayed the digits 6:00 am on the screen. I wanted to go back to sleep, but we had to leave soon. The bike race started at 8:30 and was in Sonoma, a two hour drive. The race would be 23 miles through the middle of the farmlands and cornfields of Northern California. My mom had breakfast ready when my friend Mateo and I got upstairs, but my dad refused. “We gotta get going; we're gonna miss the race!” he said.
The first hour of driving was fine and we were really excited for the ride, but suddenly we heard thumping on the ceiling. We opened the window to quickly realize it was raining. Very hard. We started making jokes about what would happen, but although we were laughing about it, under my smile was a big nervous face. We finally got out of the car, and into the parking lot. Somehow it was 10 times colder than we thought.
The race was for a disease called Multiple Sclerosis. It is incurable, and doctors are in desperate need of money for research to find a cure. A family friend was recently diagnosed and was hospitalized for months. I am very thankful that they made a big donation to support me during the race.
We got our bike clothes on and walked over to the start line. About two minutes later, someone started to talk. “Welcome,” she said. “We are really glad to have you here today.” She talked for five more minutes and then told us that we would start in five seconds. She proceeds to count down. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!” she screamed.
We all started and quickly realized that the ground was incredibly wet. My tire started to slip, but I kept going. We went for a mile, and my hands started to freeze. The 40 degree weather was not doing me any favors as my whole body was piercing. The pouring rain was not helping either. A couple miles in, I started to get a little tired. It was around nine in the morning and the sun was starting to peek out from behind the mountains, yet it was still only 45 degrees. When I first signed up, I assumed that this would be a scenic ride with interesting sights to look at, but no. The whole ride consisted of nothing but farmland.
It was 10 o’clock by the time we reached the stop. At the halfway point there was a place for snacks and drinks for the athletes competing. As we rode into the parking lot, we saw other people from other companies. My dad, Mateo, and I were biking for EY, the company my dad works at. We saw people from many different companies: Clorox, Google, Sales Force. We got into the lot and placed our bikes on the concrete before going to the food and drink table. The volunteers were very nice and we were really grateful that they took time out of their days to help the bikers. By now, the rain had settled, and the sun started to shine bright in the sky. After about 20 minutes, we got back on the road.
We had passed the 15 mile mark and started to get tired. We had a steep hill approaching that looked like a mountain. We started to climb. We got to the top a couple minutes later, but there was another hill. I started to pant. We climbed up the second hill and my legs almost stopped working. Then there was a third hill. All of these hills were devastating to climb and it took half an hour, but it felt like much longer. I was gasping during each breath by the time we reached the final peak.
After 11 o’clock, we started to see civilization again. We kept pushing, despite how tired we were. We finally saw the finish when we were two miles away. It was in a massive park, and I couldn’t wait to cross the finish line. I saw the big arch and the crowd of spectators. We came within 500 feet and raced for the finish line. I zoomed by Mateo and my dad, 50 feet from the finish line. All of a sudden, my dad passed by me going faster than I had seen before, crossing the finish line just before me.
I was able to finish a 23 mile race, raising $1,300 in the process. I really appreciate everyone who supported me through the whole process. I smiled and hugged my dad, who pushed me through the whole race. I was also grateful that Mateo did the race with me, because I don’t think I wouldn’t have finished without his support. The feeling of the accomplishment was unexplainable, and I am really proud of myself for finishing the race that I never thought I could achieve.
