MS 150 PART 1

Well folks, I made it. Apparently there was an 80 year old man who crossed the finish line before me ... but I don't care. I freakin' made it. It was one of the most rewarding things I've done in a long time and was well worth the time, money and effort that went into training, not to mention the wind, rain and hills we all suffered through during the course of the weekend. I don't know that I've ever pushed my body that far for that period of time and although it really hurts, it is at the same time a really great feeling.

So how about a little recap? I'll tell you about day 1 and then follow up with another post about day 2 with a few pictures.

I don't like it when my alarm goes off at 4:30 a.m. but that's what happened on Saturday morning. The ride started from Frisco at 7:00 a.m. so I got up and around, made some last minute packing arrangements, had a bowl of Wheaties (seriously) and then got my bike and gear packed up on/in the car and hit the road. I was riding with two friends that have done this ride several times before so I wasn't nervous about anything that would happen once the ride started, but I was meeting them there and would have to find my way through all the logistics of the morning on my own and that was cause for a little nervousness. It was definitely a cool sight to see all the cars with bikes begin to converge as we got closer to the starting area. I love seeing that many people that are all about being active and in shape. It's definitely a good thing. Again, this is the first time I've done the MS 150, but I can't imagine it being more organized. I pulled up, got ready, walked a few hundred feet to drop off my bag and I was off to the start line. I rolled right up with the rest of the Cheesy Riders (I rode on the Frito-Lay team) about 6:30 with adrenaline pumping for what lay ahead. After the singing of the national anthem and a fly over we were off. Headed north up Dallas Parkway where after several miles I found out they are building a Rudy's BBQ in Frisco. I was pretty pumped. Something I found to be a bad idea was to continually gauge my remaining mileage. For instance, I looked down at my trip odometer to see I had ridden 8 miles. I thought to myself, "only 142 more to go." Not a good though my friends. Not a good thought. So I put that practice to rest in a hurry.

I made my first stop at 18.1 miles into the ride for a little snack and bathroom break. There are rest stops about every 10 miles on the course for riders to refill water bottles, get a snack, use the bathroom, get first aid, etc. Each of which was very well organized and a very welcome site. Especially the last few. I met up with my friends Elizabeth and Aimee at this point as the crowd started to thin finally. We continued north to the town of Pilot Point and then headed off to the west on FM455 across the dam at Lake Ray Roberts. It was a beautiful portion of the ride, even though the fog was moving in and it had started to drizzle a bit of rain on us. And speaking of rain, I was very disappointed in the forecast from local weather personalities. Last I heard it was supposed to be sunny and dry and somehow that quickly turned into not sunny and not dry. We ate lunch in a church parking lot about 10 miles to the west of Sanger where I had my first encounter with my favorite MS Society worker. And then after lunch the conditions along with the route turned south in a hurry. The rain continued as we turned into a strong head wind. Not fun. The misery of the rain however did not compare with the danger involved in riding in those conditions. I passed a total of 3 bike wrecks that day, the last of which ended with a girl being taken away in an ambulance and leaving a very large area of blood on the road. As we all walked our bikes past the site it really made us realize the dangers of the conditions.

We pressed on through the final 28 miles after lunch to finally end up at Texas Motor Speedway. It, along with it's smooth flat roads leading to the finish was a welcome site. The two Shiner Bocks I had to celebrate were probably not a great idea, but they were well deserved. My two riding partners are training for a half Iron Man triatholon in a few months so for some crazy reason they thought they would run two miles just for the hell of it after our ride. Crazy. Anyways, after a little BBQ at the Frito Lay tent, we headed to the hotel shuttles and called it a day.

And it really was a great day. I had put in more miles than any other single day of riding. I felt great (relatively speaking of course) and was just taking it all in. Everything was new to me and no matter how many times I do this ride in the future, this was my first one so I wanted to make sure it was a great one.

(this concludes part 1)