Days 3 and 4: the last leg
The fourth Tour de SDI—the Ride for Red Cedar is in the books, but it wasn’t without some sunburn, snakebite, and déjà vu.

On Friday, the group that left Jeffersonville Thursday morning—J.D. Pulver, Will Rollings, Jordan Breiner, Diana Maynard, Bill Kautz, Matt Swartz, and Ricky Rollins—rode the 95 miles from Nashville to Terhune, a wide spot in the road northeast of Lebanon. Pulver’s father, Bill, drove the support vehicle that carried fluids, high-energy snacks, and tools.

“There were a lot of hills on Friday, but the weather was great, and everyone did well,” Pulver said. “Everybody got pretty sunburned, and the rub-on SDI tattoos supplied by Jeff Baumann at Jeffersonville
really got burned in. They’ll be there for a while.”

The group spent a considerable portion of Friday’s ride practicing pace-line skills. In pace lining, riders stay in tight single file to combat wind resistance. The lead rider bears the brunt of the resistance and works the hardest, but riders take turns in the lead.

The riders spent Friday night in Lebanon and were joined for Saturday’s 120-mile leg by Mark Millett, Roy Perala, and Nick Graham, Chris Graham’s teenage son. Chris took over as driver of the support vehicle.

Some equipment failures slowed down the group on Saturday. Nick Graham’s bicycle required some bearing work, and the chain on Rollins’ bike broke for the second time. After being repaired, Rollins’ chain was three links shorter than when he started out Thursday. “Ricky’s chain was at the threshold,” Pulver said. “Any shorter, and he wouldn’t have been able to reach all the gears.”

In the meantime, the group that left Pittsboro on Thursday—Bob Bly, Stan Griffin, Mike Maenle, Jason Smiley, and Ken Landau—were waiting for the other group near Salamonie Reservoir. That group had taken
on half of the tour at a pace that included two 18-hole rounds of golf along the way. John Leccia, a representative of German steel-mill equipment supplier SMS, drove the support vehicle. SMS was a corporate sponsor for the tour.

When the riders from Pittsboro learned that the group coming from Jeffersonville was running late, they struck out on their own toward corporate headquarters in Fort Wayne. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a map, and they started riding the same roads over and over—and maybe over—again.

“We must have hit every hill down by Huntington at least twice,” Bly said.

For the second straight year, Bly was involved in a mishap with another rider. Last year, Bly was riding behind Rollins near corporate when Rollins took a spill. Bly had no time to swerve and rode over Rollins. This year, when the group stopped at a railroad crossing, Bly didn’t get his feet out of the pedal toe clips fast enough and fell sideways, knocking Griffin into the weeds alongside the road.

The group from Pittsboro finally found its bearings Saturday and reached corporate about an hour before the group from Jeffersonville, which was again slowed briefly when Nick Graham had a “snakebite” flat about two miles from corporate. It’s called a snakebite flat because it’s characterized by two tiny, closely spaced holes.

Steel Dynamics’ CFO Gary Heasley presents rider Bob Bly with a $5,000 check from SDI Corporate.

At corporate, a $5,000 check from SDI—a donation to Red Cedar—awaited all the riders.

The riders were back in their own beds Saturday night, but rose early to take on the last leg of the tour from the Columbia City mill to the Butler mill. Some additional riders joined in for the last day. J.D.’s mom and dad, Ruth and Bill, and Matt Swartz’s wife, Amy, drove support vehicles.

“We had a few minor problems, but overall, this was probably the most enjoyable of our four rides so far,” Pulver said. “Everyone had fun, and we raised money for a good cause.

J.D. had a round of thank-yous to share: “I want to thank my dad, Bill, for driving the support vehicle the first two days, and Chris Graham for driving the third day. Thanks to Jeff Baumann for the tattoos—they won’t be coming off for a while. Thanks to Barry Schneider for buying our dinners and to Ricky Rollins for buying lunches at Subway. Thanks to Matt Swartz for getting a trailer for our bikes—that worked out very well. We want to thank Ken Kinsey for paying for our rooms and Bob Bly for the awesome new jerseys. We also want to thank everyone at corporate, especially Theresa and Angie, for the reception there.”

And, Pulver recognized his fellow riders: “Jordan was ‘King of the Mountain,’ and Rainman—he knows who he is—was ‘King of the Valley.’ Thanks to Bill Kautz for his sense of humor. Ricky did some great hill-climbing, and Mark Millett did a great job of pulling us east against
the wind along Route 124. Nick Graham did a heck of job on his first ride, and Roy Perala gets the perseverance award; Roy was sick for seven days, but came back to ride the 120 miles on Saturday. And, for the third straight year, Diana Maynard did a great job on the hills in the southern part of the state.

“And of course, I want to thank SDI, our other corporate sponsors, and all the individuals who contributed in our efforts to raise money for Red Cedar,” Pulver added.

Mark Millett, J.D. Pulver, and Stan Griffin take a moment to enjoy their successful finish.  

Day 2: a slight delay The group of seven riding from Jeffersonville had to wait out some heavy fog this morning (Friday) before beginning the second day of the Tour de SDI, and will arrive at the Pittsboro mill a little later than planned. Today’s 110-mile leg will take the riders to Pittsboro and on to Lebanon, where they’ll stop again for the night. The group rode about 100 miles yesterday, averaging about 15.5 miles per hour, before stopping for the night in Nashville at around 4:30 p.m. “Matt [Swartz] was really feeling it by the end of the day,” reported J.D. Pulver. “Ricky [Rollins] had some cramping after we stopped for the night, but he was fine after we got some fluids into him. “The first day was a great time,” Pulver continued. “We played ‘King of the Mountain’ on some of the hills, and Jordan [Breiner] won that competition. We also saw a lot of turtles along the roadside.” Pulver added that the group anticipated a slight headwind today, but was looking forward to a tailwind during the third leg of the tour on Saturday. True confession: “I didn’t realize that I’d forgotten my cycling shoes until we were on our way to Jeffersonville to start the ride,” Pulver said. “We had to turn around and go back to get them. That caused us to arrive in Jeffersonville about an hour-and-a-half later than we’d planned, making us all a little more tired when we started the ride. The guys are still raggin’ on me about that.”	Breiner ensures that everyone stays hydrated—including himself.
After getting a late start, the group from Jeffersonville arrived at Pittsboro at 3 p.m. on Friday.
Playing "King of the Mountain" makes the ride fly by. The riders are in good spirits as they relax at the Pittsboro mill.

Day 1: First feedback At around 9:45 a.m. today, J.D. Pulver reported that he and six other riders were cruising along SR 60 near Borden, about 20 miles north of Jeffersonville. The group will ride about 100 miles today before stopping at Nashville for the night. “It’s a little overcast, but other than that, I think it will be a great ride,” Pulver said. “It’s looking really good.” In addition to Pulver, the contingent includes Jordan Breiner, Will Rollings, Matt Swartz, Diana Maynard, Ricky Rollins, and Bill Kautz. It’s anticipated that Mark Millett and Roy Perala will join the group near Lebanon on Saturday morning. Five riders—Stan Griffin, Jason Smiley, Mike Maenle, Bob Bly, and Ken Landau—left Pittsboro this morning at a relaxed pace and will join up with the group coming from Jeffersonville near Salamonie Reservoir sometime Saturday. Smiley, who rode the entire route last year, didn’t get out of the gate without a small cut to his finger this morning, but the Pittsboro mill nurse came to the rescue with a Band-Aid.	The group gets ready for a challenging day of hills in southern Indiana.
	The riders take off from Jeffersonville in high spirits.
JEFFERSONVILLE: (left to right) Will Rollings, Matt Swartz, Ricky Rollins, Bill Kautz, Diana Maynard, J. D. Pulver, and Jordan Breiner. The nurse at the Pittsboro mill comes to Smiley’s aid. PITTSBORO: (left to right) Jason Smiley, Ken Landau, Mike Morris, Mike Maenle, Glenn Pushis, Stan Griffin, and Bob Bly.

2006 Tour de SDI—the Ride for Red Cedar: Overview

Seven riders are taking on the four-day, nearly 400-mile Tour de SDI—the Ride for Red Cedar, which began this morning at the company’s Jeffersonville facility near the Ohio River in southeastern Indiana.

The Tour de SDI is a challenging ride connecting the company’s facilities in Indiana. Through donations from SDI and its suppliers, fellow employees, and friends and family members, the riders generate money for Red Cedar, a Fort Wayne-area facility that provides outdoor recreational activities for people with and without disabilities. Red Cedar is a division of AWS, a nonprofit organization working on behalf of people with disabilities. In its first three years, the tour raised $35,000 for Red Cedar.

The group heading north from Jeffersonville is led by tour founders J.D. Pulver, Will Rollings, and Jordan Breiner, all of the flat roll mill at Butler. Jeffersonville’s Diana Maynard and Matt Swartz of Butler are back for their second complete tour. This is the first shot at the the entire route for Ricky Rollins of the Butler mill and Bill Kautz of the structural and rail mill at Columbia City.

At the same time, an additional five riders have embarked from Pittsboro. Going at a more leisurely pace—and perhaps taking in some golf along the way—that group will join the contingent coming from Jeffersonville on Saturday near Salamonie Reservoir. Riding north from Pittsboro are Stan Griffin, Jason Smiley, Mike Maenle, and Bob Bly, all from the Butler mill, and Ken Landau, a representative from SMS, a German company that supplies steel-mill equipment. Smiley rode the entire route last year.

The daily increments for this year’s ride include Jeffersonville to Nashville (about 100 miles) today; on to Lebanon by way of Pittsboro (110) on Friday; and on to Columbia City by way of corporate headquarters in Fort Wayne (135) on Saturday.

It’s anticipated that many additional riders—employees, family members, and friends—will join the group for the final 42 miles from Columbia City to Butler on Sunday. That larger entourage will leave the Columbia City mill at about 8 a.m.

Rollings, one of the founders of the tour, will take a slight detour this year. He’ll ride with the Tour de SDI group for two days before joining Team Chiro Power for the Huntington Challenge, a two-day, 140-mile, on- and off-road race for professional riders. Rollings, who has quickly risen among the ranks of pro competitors, is Chiro Power’s top rider.

In addition to raising funds for Red Cedar, the tour also raises awareness of the health benefits of cycling and other forms of exercise.