The 500

It feels somewhat ironic that after living in the Racing Capital of the World that this year I can actually watch the Indianapolis 500 as it happens.

The race is tape-delayed in Indy.  So, you can attend the race and come home to watch it in the evening.  Or, as we did once, gather with friends at a backyard barbecue and listen to the race on the radio.

If you haven't lived there, it's hard to explain the importance of the track to the city's identity.  Even as a short-timer, it's something I took pride in and over time I became a bigger fan than I was at the beginning.

I watched the last Formula One race at the Speedway and attended several Indy practice days and one of the Time Trails.

I even raced around it myself.  Really.

As part of the Tour de Cure in 2010 I signed up for the 100 mile challenge.  The path to 100 miles was in 40 trips around the 2-1/2 mile oval.

How cool would that be, riding my bike across the bricks at the start/finish line?  I had to do this.

The morning of the ride in early June was one of the muggiest mornings ever.  More than 80 degrees at 7am and the sky dripping like a used bath towel.

That was challenge number one.

The second was the track itself.  It is much bigger in person.

While today cars will zip around the oval in under a minute... it is much longer for a fast bicycle to cover the same amount of ground.  The first time I pointed down the home-stretch, it occurred to me - there was a whole mile to get to the other end!

Wow.

The banked corners are cool to ride up into on the bike - their own mini-hills.  Most of the time, I stayed along the white line at the bottom of the track.

I didn't meet the challenge.  It was all I could do to make it through 21 - getting at least 52 in before practically collapsing into the pits, laying on the ground in 'recovery' mode for ten minutes before I could walk my bike to the car, find something to eat, and call it a day.

While failing to make it to the goal - friends and family helped raise more than $500 to fight diabetes.

I'm happy about that and the fact that I can watch the race today, in real time, and remember my time pumping down the track at 20 miles an hour feeling like Mario Andretti.