2010 Tour de Cure to Ride Through Middletown

The 2010 Tour de Cure (the signature fundraising and cycling event of the American Diabetes Association) is this Sunday, June 13. It starts at Gateway Community College in North Haven and weaves its way north into Meriden, Middletown, Middlefield and the surrounding area. The 100 mile, 100 km and 50 km routes will have their first rest stop at Hunter's Golf Course in Meriden, and then continue on Westfield St. to Country Club Rd. to Higby Rd., then cross Route 66 onto Jackson Hill Road. The riders leave New Haven as early as 6:30am and leave in staggered groups depending on their route lengths. Route details are available here.

If you've never heard of the Tour de Cure, here's some background information from the official website (tour.diabetes.org):

Since Tour de Cure's beginning in 1991, thousands of individual riders and teams have participated to support the American Diabetes Association's mission: To prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.

Now you can make a difference in the lives of more than 23.6 million Americans with diabetes by joining thousands of cyclists around the nation who are riding in Tour de Cure.

Tour de Cure is a series of fundraising cycling events held in 43 states nationwide to benefit the American Diabetes Association. The Tour is a ride, not a race, with routes designed for everyone from the occasional rider to the experienced cyclist.

I happen to know about this because my husband is riding the 50K route, and we're looking forward to cheering him on as he goes by. So please be mindful of where you're driving on Sunday morning, and if you happen upon groups of cyclists, please drive slowly and give them lots of room!

This is also the moment I'm going to take to remind everyone that the speed limit on Country Club Rd. and Higby Rd. is 25 MPH!!! It's not 50 mph and it's not OK to pass someone who's already doing 35-40 mph because they're afraid of getting rear-ended. I swear Middletown could close its budget gap and then some if a police cruiser just sat and gave people tickets for the speed that happens on those two roads (hint, hint, nudge, nudge...)! I'm even fine with blaming it on people who are just cutting over to 91 from the Middlefield area, but I won't excuse the traffic on Country Club as it passes to and from the Transportation building to Meriden. I can't say that I perfectly obey all traffic laws all the time, but it's a minor miracle that there hasn't been a major accident at the intersection of Country Club and Atkins or Country Club and Higby. I did see the results of a horrible accident at the Route 66/Higby/Jackson Hill intersection some months ago, and so I'll also point out that that light has a very short yellow for traffic crossing 66. If you're in the habit of speeding up when you see yellow, that intersection is not the place to do it.

If I can't guilt you into slowing down a bit, (and I LOVE the "drive like your kids live here" signs), please realize that school will be out in the next week and 1/2, and that means a lot more kids playing outside all the time. Please drive carefully!