#ThisIsMy Ride – Enfant Soleil 200km
“This Is My Ride” is a series where we share the most memorable, unique, or challenging rides from our community. Maybe it’s a first century ride, an epic climb, or a regular Sunday ride with friends: we want to hear about that special something which makes this particular ride epic for you – and your Argon 18. Want to share your ride? Email us at marketing.web@argon18.com.
Why would you ride 100km on your trainer on one of the first warm spring days, when your friends ask you to join a group ride? Because it’s for a good cause.
When my colleague Marc-Olivier posted about the Gran Fondo Operation Enfant Soleil I immediately wanted to take part. I think it’s always worth it to participate in something with a social cause if you can. I feel like sometimes we're too intimidated and feel like we need to leave a big impact, so we forget how every little contribution has its effect. No matter if it's collecting donations, spreading the word or showing appreciation for an organization like Enfant Soleil, and also show the people they serve that they are seen and thought of.
Opération Enfant Soleil is a non-profit organization that raises funds to develop high-quality paediatrics for all the children in Quebec, Canada, Argon 18’s home province. The Gran Fondo is an annual indoor cycling challenge to raise money for the cause. Argon 18 staff took part in the event, which was run over three stages of around 100km each.
Since I work from home and naturally miss out on social interactions in the office, I enjoy taking part in employee activities when I can. I also like taking on challenges as a team - even if we're riding in different time zones and on different continents!
I had actually never ridden more than 100km on the Kickr and I usually had good excuses when friends wanted to ride “Mega Pretzle” or comparable rides in the winter. It just took the right motivation to sign up for the first stage of Gran Fondo Operation Enfant Soleil - 105km - and I got really excited about it.
Prior to the ride I had a short vacation Portugal, which included lots of local sweets - but not my bike! The first day back home on the Kickr shattered the trust I had in myself that I could complete the Gran Fondo. It felt like I had lost all my power - but there was no way I was going to back out of the event.
The day of the Gran Fondo was just a perfect spring day. I decided to set up my Kickr outside, put some short bibs on and enjoy the ride in the fresh air. We had set up a Teams call with everyone participating from Argon 18. It was really nice to get the chance to chat a bit and participate in an event like this together. The first 60km flew by quite quickly and we just enjoyed ourselves. But it got harder and harder – and warmer and warmer without the headwind you would usually get outside. I had a hard time pushing through the last hour but my boyfriend kept providing me with more water and snacks and even set a fan up.
It was a rewarding feeling finishing the 105km but I knew that the other guys were up for the second stage also. I wasn’t fully satisfied with “only” riding the first stage and started to think about joining them for another 100km. I had 50 min left till the second ride would start. I got off the bike, inhaled three quesadillas, and changed into a fresh jersey while my boyfriend was moving the Kickr inside. Due to the time difference, it was already 4pm in Germany and would get too cold and dark to finish the second ride outside. I was texting a friend and he told me that he was going to livestream a DJ session, so I listed to his music for a while and just pedaled though the next 50km easier than I had expected. I hadn’t told the other riders I was joining the second stage, so I got back into our Teams call and surprised them. It was all fun and games until, again, the last 30 km. We had to cheer each other on and push each other through. The guys were quite a few kilometres ahead of me and after I pushed a bit too much in the first ride I was taking it easy to get through the second one. I was quite jealous when I saw them finishing, knowing that I still had another 15km to go but it was a great team feeling to get their support while I was on my last kilometre.
After 3:10 on the first ride and 3:30 on the second ride my legs were so sore, everything hurt and I had the biggest craving for a massive bowl of spaghetti carbona! But I definitely felt the satisfaction that I was missing after just the first stage. Besides the personal challenge I mastered, it was even more rewarding to know that were doing this for a good cause and as a team.
