2008 MS150 Report- Day Two

Ok, so I left off with the poor night's sleep that was had by all three of us. Neither of us brought any kind of a pad for the ground and we all paid for that choice by getting very little sleep. Two years ago, I had the same experience... but nobody ever said I was very smart.


Morning did come early, as predicted. We all scrambled to get our gear packed for the transfer to Austin and to get ourselves chamoised-up for the day. It was still pretty darned cool when the sun came up so I opted for the full compliment of thermal arm warmers and knee warmers. It turned out to be a good choice...

The day offered two routes to Austin- one was roughly 70+ miles and the other was roughly 60+ miles. The longer route, the Bechtel Challenge Route, took a gorgeous detour through a park (the name of which I can not remember at the moment) with tree lined rolling hills. It was beautiful! But also painful for the legs with a series of short, punchy climbs. I managed to stay in my big ring for all but the one steepest/ longest one... but it was a challenging loop for my tired legs.

Early in the first few miles, I ended up rolling off from Brian and James again- totally by accident- and settled into a pace that I hoped would keep my legs from exploding like the day before. However, it didn't take me long to realize I'd started a little harder than I really should have. Not long after getting separated from my fellas, I got into a nice rhythm and briefly thought to myself, "my legs don't feel too bad today". Shortly after that, on a short downhill, I was joined (passed) by a small group of pretty quick riders who were obviously club riders/ racers. Three different teams/ clubs were present and they all seemed hellbent for speed. Oddly, after chasing me down for a couple miles, they didn't seem interested in working with me and would not let me rotate through to take a pull. Granted, they were moving quickly enough that the pace was more than I had a right to be going so soon, but I held on and enjoyed the free ride. Not too long later, on a longer and steeper downhill section, I pulled to the front after one of the guys began sprinting the downhill... being a race dork, like I am, I chased him down and passed him... only to drop the entire group of riders and end up all alone again.

Shortly after that episode was the beautiful park section. The rolling hills through the park, though punchy, were brief and produced a beautiful ride. I stopped at the last rest stop in the park for my first stop of the day. I topped off both bottles, grabbed a couple slices of orange and headed out to the road again.

Because we'd started in a later group during the morning roll out, there was a never ending line of riders to roll through again on the second day. That morning, the announcer at the roll out said that the forecast called for much lighter winds for the day... but he was wrong! Very, very wrong. Admittedly, the winds were a touch lighter, but they were still quite significant for nearly the entire day. Like the day before, I spent the bulk of the day rolling along on my own, in my own paceline of one rider. From time to time I would be joined by a rider or a few riders, but mostly I rode alone to take in the scenery in by myself. At one point, after my second stop for water and more fruit and energy bars, I was riding along with a song in my head (though I can not not remember the song). I looked over my shoulder because I thought I heard one of the ride marshal motos pulling up and saw a line of about 20 riders behind me on my wheel. The poor, panting guy behind me said "thanks for the pull" between gasps for air. I let him know it was ok and simply kept pulling the group for a few more miles before losing them on a series of rolling hills. I'd hoped to keep them a bit longer just to be nice and provide them with a good draft, but the miles must have caught up with them.

Probably about 20 miles out from Austin, I began to fade a bit. Not bad, just a drop in power and a bit of frustration with the wind. Not long after, a "Race Dork" caught and passed me. His riding was erratic. He didn't say a word to me- like I wasn't on the road- but he was wanting me to work with him to get him to the "finish" line. We traded pulls for a bit and he was plenty strong, so I fought to stay with him a few times. But in the end I let him go as he was riding through traffic across the yellow line and riding through the pack a bit too aggressively for my comfort on a charity ride. During this time, I was joined by a young college student racer. He's a local Cat 2 and college student, so he's racing and training as much as he can between his busy class schedule. He wasn't feeling his strongest either, so we ended up riding together all the way in to Austin. We rolled through all the closing hills leading to the city, trading pulls and talking about racing and riding. I sure wish I could remember his name or the team he races for... but he's a good kid and it was a pleasure to ride with him.

In the final mile or two of the event, he and I caught and re-passed the Race Dork... much to his chagrin. Together, we "raced" to the finish line... culminating in a three man "sprint" to the line. Since it was a charity event, I didn't want to get out of the saddle for a proper sprint... so I stayed seated and let the other 2 fight it out. Still, it was an awesome experience to pour into downtown Austin with thousands of people lining the streets.

I really can not say enough good things about this event and the people behind it. It is by far one of the most professionally run events I've ever participated in. And the people participating in the event become like family. Sun & Ski has done a great job selling the bikes and I got to spend a lot of time thanking all the Masi-owners out there riding in the event.

I'll have more comments and photographs to wrap this all up tomorrow.

Tim

2008 MS150 Report- Arrival, Prep and Day One

As promised, here is the ride report for the 2008 BP-MS150 Houston to Austin ride...

I got into Houston around 5:00PM with my bags and bike all at the same time! Considering the
hectic nature of the day, I was very pleased. The fiasco with American Airlines really impacted a lot of travelers and the other airlines. San Diego was a mess, as was San Francisco. Houston was less of a mess, but the ripples were still there as well. In San Francisco, I saw several American planes sitting on the far end of the runway, looking like they were being serviced. One has to assume it really hurt them. Anyway, I got the airport in one piece and with all my pieces, but Brian and Nathan were stuck in the slow-moving Houston traffic and I settled in to a beer and some chicken wings and gumbo while I waited for them to arrive and pick me up. We got the hotel and Brian and Nathan took off to get some dinner, since they hadn't eaten all day, and while they were gone I built my bike. By the time it was all said and done, it was nearly 9:30 by the time I was done and ready to ride. Yes... I rode! I brought a taillight with me, though I didn't have a headlight, so I took off down the main drag near the hotel and went for a 45 minute ride to get my legs loosened up. After a long day of flying and airports, a ride was exactly what I needed.

Friday came early for some reason... or at least it felt like it with the two hour earlier time difference. Still, Brian and I got up and got our selves organized enough to get some breakfast in us before Nathan showed up with James and then the four of us headed out for a nice little ride out of the area of Houston we were staying in and headed out towards some slightly more "country" roads. It was cool- I saw a number of snakes (including a pretty good sized Copperhead- the mostly venomous snake in the Southeast US) and a bunch of turtles... but the wind was beginning to blow... which becomes important to this story later.

After the ride, we got cleaned up, ate some lunch and then headed over to the ride expo to get our rider packets and help the folks at Sun & Ski with the sale event there. The expo was packed with the thousands of riders doing the ride and numerous event sponsors and retailers. It was organized chaos. Later, it was a tasty dinner and bedtime since Saturday was to begin very early for us- shuttling bikes and gear to the event start at Tully Stadium (one of three different start points for the nearly 14,000 riders).

Just as we feared, Saturday morning DID come early... but we still managed to get up and get ourselves to the event start with several thousand of what were to become our very close friends. The morning was cool and clear with no signs of the winds that would meet us later in the day.


As you can see from the boys and the other folks, it was a nice start to a day that would ultimately end in La Grange- about 101 miles later.

The ride began without a single problem for us, though there were the inevitable flats and other minor mishaps for other riders. As the sun rose, the temperature got a little warmer, but it was ultimately a pretty cool day and I finished the entire ride with my arm warmers still on. We rolled along with the pack for the first little more than an hour and then at about 25 miles +/-, a small group of riders on TT/ Tri bikes rolled past me and I simply couldn't restrain my itchy legs and I took off with them... leaving Brian and James for the day (unknown to me at the time). A few miles later, I was on my own and riding through the countryside from Houston out West to La Grange (the overnight camping spot). Once out on the open roads though, the winds began to pick up until they became incredibly strong- strong enough to send some riders seeking shelter in the sag wagons early in the day. There were a few gusts that were strong enough to blow my 205 pounds across the road. Still, the ride through country was truly beautiful with all the wild flowers in bloom.

I am admittedly too competitive for my own good sometimes, especially on my bike, so once I realized I was riding reasonably well, I decided to roll on with a nice brisk pace. Since the ride starts in 3 locations and there are about 14,000 riders, no matter how fast I rode, I was going to be passing riders all day long all the way to the finish. But with the crazy winds, it was even worse- I just rode the ride as if it were a time trial and plowed away into the headwinds at near maximum effort. I stopped at two of the several food/ water/ rest stops along the way and really should have stopped at least one more time.

The last rest stop was 11 miles from the finish and since I had one half bottle of water left, I figured I'd just roll the last few miles and get in to the camp area as quick as I could. Well... about one mile later, that proved to be nearly my undoing. I rolled past that stop point and then went back into the crazy winds... and that was when I saw the Care Bears and Elmo, with Papa Smurf sitting on my handlebars trying to tell me that every thing was going to be ok once I had some Smurfberry pie. I crawled along at what seemed a snail's pace into the wind, but I managed to continue to pass other riders who looked as equally glazed and confused as me. With about 5 miles remaining, I had a partial recovery after downing another gel packet and eating half a food bar. This mini rally was enough to get me over the last couple of rollers and into the finishing shoot at the fairgrounds. It was like finishing a big time race, with people lining the finish area clapping, yelling, whistling and ringing cowbells as if I'd just won a Belgian Spring Classic. It was nothing short of spectacular. After crossing the finish line, I rolled to the Sun & Ski team tent in a total confused haze (but Papa Smurf said it would be ok).

I met the Sun& Ski folks and sat on the top tube of my bike chatting with them for a few minutes filling them in on the day's ride details... and because I was too beat to go any further. After regaining my composure, sorta, I headed to the sleeping tent and found my bags so I could shower before the huge crowds arrived. After my shower, I had a phenomenal massage (compliments of Sun & Ski- which they provided for all of their team riders) from a young woman named Alexis. It was heavenly! After arriving at the tent 5 hours after the ride start, it felt great to get my poor muscles worked on before hitting the roads again the next day.

About two hours later, Brian came rolling in- but I didn't have my camera out in time to get a picture of his arrival... though I did get him hunting for his bags... and having a recovery beverage. About an hour later, James rolled up... looking pretty good for a guy who'd never ridden a full century before. Brian, come to think of it, had never ridden a full century before either. Honestly, I was quite proud of them both. Both of them were also smart enough to partake in the massage as well... and both agreed it was heavenly!


Throughout the day, riders continued to pour in to the camping area and the lines for the showers got longer and longer... and longer. Sun & Ski kept things hopping with repair services and plenty of items for sale. Since it was quite cool in the morning, and predictions were that would be cooler the next day, arm warmers, lightweight jackets and base layers were quite popular.

The day went on with delicious, ice cold Shiner Bock beer and some of the finest tri-tip BBQ in Texas. After eating WAY more than we needed to, we went back to the main sleeping tent with a few hundred of our closest friends and tried to get some sleep. Sadly, it was a very cold night and the ground was hard and rocky... so I didn't actually get much sleep- and neither did either Brian or James...

... and morning came very early again...

More to come,

Tim

Here now...

Sitting in the hotel room with my first roomie- Brian Hayman (our Western Regional Sales Manager)- getting bikes built and ready for a short ride this morning. 2nd roomie- James Ayres (our Eastern Regional Sales Manager) shows up a bit later today.

In a few hours we'll be at the rider expo to pick up our rider packets and help the fine folks at Sun & Ski with their efforts for the day. The community of riders for the MS150 is pretty amazing- people riding for fun and for a cure to the disease that hits so many people. As I've said, I have an aunt who I am very close to with the disease- Joan- and I'm riding for her again this year. Her strength will be all I need for two days of riding. And my story is only one of more than 13,000 that will be told in the coming days. I've heard from one man who is riding in memory of his son- he rode the event for years and loved it, but was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. It is the stories like these that make this event so special for me. I look forward to seeing everybody out on the roads over the next few days.

I got my bike built up and then went for a short ride last night to loosen up the legs. It felt great to ride- even if around 10:00PM on a busy Houston street with very little shoulder- but I'd forgotten just how humid it is here. A short 45 minute ride had me drenched!

Ok, time to get ready to ride again and then get cleaned up for the expo.

Tim