The universe tends towards equilibrium....

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This past weekend, the weather looked like it would provide a much more enjoyable ride, so I headed out on Sunday to get in my weekly ride.

It was still a bit chilly out, but what was also very obvious was the wind.  The whole first half of the ride, I was biking straight into the wind.  At one point, I passed a flag, and it was literally blowing directly parallel to my path of travel.  But it wasn't worse than the wind from the MS150 last year; I was able to maintain 10-13 miles an hour.

Once I turned onto 646 to start heading back to the house, the wind was now at my back.  And it was exhilarating!  I couldn't even really keep my legs "working hard" during the whole ride down 646, even though I was in my top gears and going 20-22 miles an hour.  It definitely evened out the work I had to do on the first half of the ride!  I made it back to the house in record time. =)

I did definitely feel the ride later in the day; I knew I had to get back spinning class this week!

First organized ride of 2013!

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My first organized ride of the year!  I got up early in the morning on the 16th to head up north to Humble (pronounced "uhm-bull", not "hum-bull" ;) ) for their annual Lions Club bike ride, benefitting handicapped and diabetic children.  This is one of the first rides I participated in back in 2010, so it was fun to head back up this year.

At the starting line!

However, it turned out not to be as "fun" as I had hoped.  The weather was quite cold; started out in the low 40s.  And, I had forgotten my nice warm biking gloves that Vicki had given me a couple years back! (of which she said "like you ever need gloves this warm in HOUSTON...")  Other aspects made it a "terrible" ride as well; first, my iHome for my bike was evidently running out of batteries, so I could barely make out the songs that were being played (and they were definitely out of tune and full of static).  AND, as I had charged my iPod the night prior, I had forgotten to set it back up to only play music from my "Random Music" playlist; meaning it was playing music from EVERYTHING I had on my iPod. Which includes some classical music, some meditations, other instrumental music...none of which is helpful when trying to get pumped up and ride a bike!

So the first half of the ride was pretty miserable.  I was cold, I didn't have music to keep me occupied, and the sunlight was bothering my eyes as well.  I was finding it difficult to focus and differentiate the various obstacles or debris on the gruond, and determine if they were a threat to me.  Again, I think that's part of my fears arising from falling off the bike in October, but it still contributed to the "when is this 11 miles going to END..."

I got to the rest stop at the halfway point and did my best to fix this issues plaguing my ride.  I changed out the batteries on my iHome, and thankfully that seemed to fix the sound issue.  And I went into my iPod to select the correct Playlist, giving me the right songs to sing along to and have a good beat.  I got myself a couple snacks, filled up my water, and then with a big sigh got back on the bike and headed back to the start.

The ride back was a more manageable, but it was still cold and I was still struggling with seeing some things.  Another frustrating aspect on the way back is that a few of the cops weren't actually stopping traffic as I came up to intersections; so I'd have to slow down, unclip, and wait at a 4-way stop to take my turn to go.  That is generally one of the benefits of the organized rides; the ability to just keep going and not have to worry about stopping at every intersection.  So that was just one more thing that made it so I could not WAIT for this ride to be over.

Finally, after what seemed like FOREVER, I made it back to the start and pulled in.  One redeeming factor of the ride was a tasty spaghetti lunch; it was nice and warm, and just tasted SO good after the miserable ride.  After filling my belly, I packed up the bike and headed home; I had to hurry, cause I had to get to piano class at 1!

Thus ended my first organized ride of 2013; but it's only the beginning!

Lone rider...

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This year, I'll be training on my own.  I spent some time in 2010 training with my friend John, who was training for a triathlon, and in 2011 I trained with another friend, Eryx.  As it's shaping up this year, I'll likely be training alone again.  But, my sister has decide she's able to come down and ride with me again for the actual ride, so at least I won't be lonely for that! =)

Because of the tailbone injury, I have not been exercising much at all, even Yoga.  So for my "first" training ride, I decided to take it a little slow and stick to just a 15 mile ride, to ease back into it.  Plus, James and I had a couple of errands to run prior to him leaving for a short time for work (so I didn't want to stay out too long).

I found I was definitely a little more nervous than I have been in the past, even though I've ridden this route many, many times.  There is a hill just past Hwy 3, on 96, that I used to be able to get quite the speed up when coming down.  Now, I'm much more cautious; definitely some PTSD from the fall in October.  But I made it through the ride without any major incidents, so I call that a win! =)

Back in the saddle!

Hello everyone! I can't believe i didn't use this blog during the 2011 or 2012 MS150 season! It's actually fun for me to blog about my rides, and keeps me motivated. So I'm definitely going to start it back up for this year!

In October 2012, I participated in an organized ride benefitting Habitat for Humanity. It was a beautiful day for a ride, and my friend Jes and I were just going to have a fun time. Unfortunately, about 5 miles into the ride, I fell off my bike and landed, hard, on the curb of a median. After a 4 hour doctor visit, I learned I had broken my tailbone, and it would take 6+ weeks to recover.

Impact (crush) on my tailbone

I was definitely in pain the first week, and could not even sit up for more than about 2 hours that first week without being in pain. In those first couple weeks, I wasn't sure if I would be able to bike the MS150 this year, because I was afraid of not being healed enough to train properly starting in January. But the human body is an amazing thing, and by the time I went back to work after Christmas break, I was able to sit without aid of a pillow. I decided it was time to get back on a bike and see how it went

I started off just going to the gym and getting on the stationary bike; I didn't want to get on my bike and ride out a couple miles, only to find I was in so much pain I couldn't make it back. But the 30+ minutes on the stationary bike didn't cause any pain, so that gave me the confidence to try on my actual bike as well

On January 20th, I arranged with Jes to go on a short ~10 mile ride to try things out. Rather than driving over to meet with her, I decided to bike to her house, figuring that way I could find out if biking was going to be OK while still having a way to get home if it wasn't. Everything went just fine! Other than the fact that Jes' bike pump wasn't the right type, and so she couldn't actually join me for the ride. =( But in the trip to her house and back home, I knew that I was going to be able to train for the 150

So I finally registered for the MS150, and have been working on training since! I'll post my various training rides individually, and I'll TRY to keep it more up to date than just a big burst of posts. ;) Wish me luck this year!

BP MS150!!! Day 2!

Sleeping at the campground was not the best camping experience I've ever had; we had only brought one blanket, and we put it under our sheets to prevent the ground and air mattress from stealing our warmth. So, that meant that all we had was the sheet on top of us, and our pajamas. I didn't have any socks either (we had put our luggage back into the car to prevent the rain from soaking everything), so I wrapped an extra sheet around my feet. Needless to say, I woke up numerous times through the night just from being cold. =(

5am came too soon; it was actually kinda cool, all the alarms in the tent started going off at once. =) And sure enough, everyone started moving and getting ready for the day. I got up, stretched my legs, and did NOT want to get up. I dragged myself up, hit the port-a-potties, and went to climb back into bed. =) James brought us a few kolaches and breakfast tacos and munched on those for a while (bad idea in retrospect; they actually made me feel ill for most of the morning until we took off riding). Around 5:15 or 5:30, the general silence of the morning was broken by a sudden downpour of rain. Chicki and I gave each other a look, and she said "If it's pouring, I'm not doin' it!" I joked "Nah, we'll just SAG over to the final breakpoint and bike in from there!" James said that wasn't allowed. =) People started dragging in their bikes, and I was thankful we took Afif's advice to put a plastic bag on our bike seats at night. =) The rain didn't last long, and we reluctantly started getting dressed. And sure enough, to add insult to injury, my bike shorts were SOAKED; not just damp, soaked. So I had to wear my other pair of shorts that were not anywhere near as padded as before, and hope for the best. Also while getting dressed, I learned a valuable lesson a bit too late...I found that I had indeed chafed the day before, and so I used Chicki's Body Glide. Alas, it was too late...but it's a lesson learned for next time!

Shortly before 7, we headed out to get in line to go; we couldn't find James anywhere, so I was kinda sad we couldn't say good-bye, but such is life. I had been told that the riders with MS would actually be at the very front of the line, and we were going to take a picture with our MS jerseys. However, we obviously should have headed out much earlier than we did, because it was impossible to get up anywhere. So, we just gave up on that idea and went back towards the Shell Tent. At least that allowed us to say good-bye to James! But at this point, it was just a whole lotta waiting...we might as well have stayed in bed an extra hour! Our legs were hurting, we kept trying to stretch; every time I'd say "OH, Chicki..." while stretching she'd say "Don't worry, once we get back on the bikes it'll be better! When I run my marathons, after a while my muscles just kinda stop caring anymore and just accept that I'm not gonna stop!" We didn't finally get up to the starting line til around 8:30am, and the 66 mile final journey began!


Sure enough, all of Chicki's words and encouragement for the hour we were waiting to leave were right; once we got on the bikes and our legs were moving again, the pain kinda faded away. However, within 5 minutes of leaving the campgrounds, we were already off course... At the first turn of the route, the officer directing us turned us onto a feeder road. I don't know now whether he turned us too soon, or if our group just missed the on-ramp to 71, but either way as we came down a hill we suddenly see a bunch of bikers off their bikes...and begin picking up their bikes and walking into the grass and down the valley between the feeder and the highway. "You have got to be kidding me!" Oh, no, they weren't; we turned around and saw the group behind us had gotten on 71 just fine, and yes, we WERE supposed to be up there. So Chicki and I hefted up our bikes and started climbing down into the valley. As it had rained the night before, sure enough there was a small stream of water. Luckily, I was able to jump the water without getting my socks and shoes wet! We got to the other side, got on our bikes, and started riding again.

Nothing else very eventful happened the rest of the morning, however the two Breakpoints before lunch really made me appreciate what it was the volunteers were doing for us. The first Breakpoint was manned by "cheerleaders," and talking to one (who was already hoarse!), she mentioned being up since 1am to be out there and setting up! But yet she was still out there, screaming and cheering up a storm for all the riders. Then the second Breakpoint was manned by some kids/teens, one of which who was leaning on her friend sleeping. We asked them how long they'd been up, and they got up at 2am to drive 2 hours to come volunteer for us! So it was really touching to see how much these guys were doing to support all of the riders.

Our lunch for Day 2 was in Bastrop, which is actually where I had participated in the Pedal Thru the Pines bike ride in early March. Lunch was, again, DELICIOUS; today was a turkey sandwich on a whole wheat bun, with some chips and more fruit. And we also had some tasty "apple soda!" No dessert today, at least none that we could find. We walked by the medical tent and saw that they had Biofreeze! It's a kind of IcyHot thing, and is supposed to help dull the pain. I have no idea whether it worked or not; my knees and legs were still hurting the rest of the day. =) As we head back to our bikes, we overhear a guy on the loudspeaker mentioning that the rain is definitely staying away...however, the wind pushing the rain also meant that we were going to have a head wind. We only had 32 miles to go...could it really be that bad?

Oh, it could. There were 14.6 miles to the first Breakpoint after lunch, then 8.7 to the last Breakpoint, and 8.6 in to Austin. Those 14.6 miles were perhaps the worst of the ENTIRE ride. Although the hills weren't all that bad, the wind was overwhelming. Our speed dropped to ~8mph, and we expended so much energy just to keep moving forward. At one point, finally, I couldn't go any further; I called to Chicki and said we had to stop. We got off the bikes, but we did at least keep moving forward by walking the bikes. I was breathing so hard, and I was so tired. We walked for a short while and up a short hill, and I sucked it up and told Chicki we'd get back on the bikes. We continued on, and I think sometime after this point is when we saw the ambulances; they came up behind us and sure enough, as we rounded a corner, we saw a collection of emergency vehicles and some Ride Marshals directing riders to slow down and move around the vehicles. (We later learned a car had hit two bikers; it must not have been too serious, though, as they hadn't life-flighted them out.) We pushed on, and we came across a sign saying "AUSTIN 24" and my heart lifted just a little bit...only 24 miles to Austin! I can do this, right?

We FINALLY arrived at the Breakpoint, and as we pulled in, Chicki and I put our bikes up together (oh yeah! We had learned out to get our bikes to stand up by leaning them against each other!) and I immediately got down on the pavement and laid down. I knew we only had 17 miles left, but I didn't want to go any further. The wind had taken it all out of me; if it kept up, I honestly wasn't sure that I could finish it. Chicki retrieved some oranges for me, and I ate them lying down for a while. I sat up a bit when one of the Ride Marshals we had talked to at a few rest stops came by, and then I laid back down again. Finally I asked Chicki, "What can I eat that will make me better?" She grinned and arched her eyebrow, "Caffeine...I have a gel shot with 50mg of caffeine, but you hate gels." I paused only a moment, and then said "I don't care...if it's going to help me finish, I'll do it." She gave me her Mocha gel, and I downed it as fast as I could, with a chaser of water. We gathered our will and spirit (well, at least I did, Chicki seemed to be doin' ok ;) ), and we headed out. Even as we were leaving there, a group of women were heading out, and sure enough one of them said "I'm just gonna SAG to the next breakpoint, I'll meet you there to head in to Austin." We were going to finish this on our own, not with van help!!! Off we went...

As we headed out, a voice behind us asked "What is the V in your rider number for?" Chicki must have been in a better mindframe than I, because she responded with "Oh, well my name is Vicki and hers is Val. So the V." And I said "No, that's a lie!" but was giggling. The guys said "Really?" "Oh yeah! You don't have your name's letter in front of your number? Crazy!" says Chicki. After a minute of bantering back and forth, I finally convince them she's lying (I swear she had them going for a while), and we get back onto the actual route. They ask if we mind them drafting off of us for a while, and we said No prob! Thank goodness the wind had either turned, or the route turned, because we were back up to ~14mph. Chicki and I led a small paceline of her, I, a Ride Marshal, and his two sons for the 8.7 miles to the final Breakpoint. It was pretty exciting to know that WE were actually pulling the line! We got into the the final Breakpoint, said our farewell to the guys, and called James and Jonathan to let them know we should be arriving in approximately 40 minutes! We snagged some food, and then back on the bikes from the home stretch!

By now, between the caffeine and the adrenaline rush of being less than an hour from the finish, I was feeling great. There were more hills again as we headed Austin proper, so it was a little tougher than the last 30 miles had been. But again, my body was pumping and excited, so it was barely even noticed. Riding the twists and turns to get towards the capitol was quite the tease; every turn I would think "Oh, is this it?!" and nope, not quite. But as we finally came around one corner, we saw the capitol building and the collection of spectators cheering us on. The final approach to the finish line took us up a small hill and then a turn to the left, and there it was: the Finish line sign with the capitol building behind it.

"OK Chicki, are you ready?!" "Yep, let's do it!" We had made our plans earlier on how we were going to cross the Finish line, and had positioned our bikes accordingly. As we straightened out our path, we released one hand each (Chicki's right, and my left) and held hands as we rode up to the finish line. It was an amazing, awesome feeling as we crossed, and then we saw James and Jonathan off to the side snapping our photos and greeting us as we got in. It was around 4:45. We followed the path around to get off the bikes, met up with James and Jonathan, and then headed to get our Certificates of Completion.


Now it was time to relax! After getting our certificates, we headed over to the Team Shell tent, which was fairly sparse. But Afif was there to greet us, and congratulated us on completing our first ride. We socialized for a bit at the Shell tent, snapping pictures and enjoying some tasty, well-deserved treats, and then said our farewells. It was time for dinner! We headed just a few blocks away to an italian restaurant and dined on some pizza, spinach artichoke dip, salad, caprese salad, and spinach ravioli. A great meal to end the weekend!


Now that it was all over, I could really take in the weight of our accomplishment; we had just biked from Houston to Austin. This could perhaps be one of the greatest accomplishments of my life! There was laughter, tears, joy, and pain; twice I wanted to cry and quit, and once I said I would never do it again. But in the end, we had done it...and I know now that I will definitely do it again. I will do things a little differently next year (probably will not do 100 miles the first day in the future...), but I will definitely do it again. It was an amazing ride, and one I will never forget! And I honestly don't believe I could have done it without my sister; she kept me going when I wanted to quit, she kept my spirits high with "only X more miles!", and she was always just a positive presence right next to me. Thank you SO much, Chicki...I love you!!!

To those who have stuck it out and actually read all of this...I hope you enjoyed it. =) Thank you for all of your support, as well; knowing that there were people out there that were cheering for me, pulling for me, I also knew I couldn't give up. You guys kept me going just as much as my sister. <3!!!

Until next year!!!

BP MS150!!! Day 1

The day had finally come! Chicki flew in Wednesday day, we had some fun and relaxation together Thursday night, and Friday we ran some errands (oil change, new tires for the car, etc) before heading to the west side to stay with my friend, Corey, for the night. That allowed us to sleep until 4am instead of 3 or so. =) Thanks Corey!

We got to the Shell Woodcreek Facility, to meet with the rest of Team Shell, shortly after 5:30am. We grabbed a quick bagel w/peanut butter for breakfast, and about that time my friends Angie and Vince showed up (Jes showed up shortly thereafter). It was so great to have them there to cheer us on and wish us luck...at 6am on a Saturday morning! It meant so much to me. We said good-bye to James and Jonathan, as they needed to get on the road, to head up to LaGrange, since they were working as volunteers. The team started to gather to leave, I made a quick last minute potty break, and then we were off to the starting line at the Omni Westside Hotel.

6:30am: Waiting at the start line! Team Shell was the 5th or 6th team to get to leave the Starting Line, as one of the top fundraising teams (around $323,000 last I checked). The official start was 7am, but by the time we were able to go it was around 7:30. It was a really exciting time at the start line; music was playing and everyone was ready to get started and going! It was finally Team Shell's turn, and Chicki and I snapped a quick picture before starting our ~100 mile journey to LaGrange.


The roads were a bit wet, and we got drizzled on just a little bit on our way to the first rest stop, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. At Breakpoint 1, we took a quick stop to recharge with some food, fill out water bottles with some gatorade, and break out the iHome for some tunes! Unfortunately, in the process of getting the iHome out of my bag, I kinda fell over a bit and caught myself with one hand into some kind of burr plant/weed. So our first injury of the ride happened within an hour of leaving! We pulled out the burrs, cleaned it up a bit, and then just continued on. At least we had tunes! =D Nothing specifically eventful for any of the breakpoints from there until lunch; we did stop to snap a quick shot at one point where they had this really cool sign (well, I thought it was cool...). I was just impressed because it was actually a heavy duty sign, rather than just the plastic stuff they had elsewhere. We took a quick couple pics holding our bikes next to the sign and then continued on.

Around the third Breakpoint, we started realizing that we must be pulling up the rear of the pack; when we'd first arrive at any of the rest stops, there would be lots of people, but by the time we left there were very few. It was a little disheartening, because I knew we were doing a fairly good pace (16-17mph), and we had passed people, and so I couldn't understand how we were SO far behind. (Later, we determined it was likely because we were on the 100-mile route, and so we started further behind than a lot of people, too, and just weren't fast enough to beat them). It was a bit of a bummer, but we just kept on going.

About 40 miles in (10 miles from lunch), we started hitting the hills. Nothing too bad before lunch; just enough to let you know you aren't in Houston anymore! ;) We climbed up a hill into Belville for lunch, and ate a delicious peanut butter & jelly sandwich and a turkey sandwich, with some yogurt and Doritos and pasta. OK, maybe it wasn't DELICIOUS, but after biking 50 miles it sure seemed like it! We finished off the meal with an ice cream sandwich, and then got back on the road. We were, unfortunately, one of the very last people to leave Belville...but we just hit the road and kept on going.

After lunch, the hills got worse. It was constant up and down, with no real time for recovery. And, to make matters worse, the road was extremely bumpy; our bikes were constantly rattling and shaking our entire bodies. At the first Breakpoint after lunch, we asked around to find out if the road was still going to be as bumpy for the rest of the way in to LaGrange; one guy, also from Team Shell, mentioned he has ridden before and he didn't remember it being quite so bad. Not much more for us to do but get on the bike and keep going, so that's what we did.

Hills, hills, and more hills were all we dealt with the rest of the way in to LaGrange. As we hit Breakpoints 5 and 6, we saw people waiting in long lines for the SAG vans. SAG stands for "Support And Gear," and they travel the route to provide riders with help as necessary. If something happens to your bike on the road that you can't fix, the SAG vans will pick you up and take you to the next rest stop, where you can get repaired. However, it seems as though the SAG vans will also ferry you from one break point to another, I guess if you're too tired. We saw plenty of that happening, and although slightly tempting, we weren't going to give up! So we pushed on to Breakpoint 7, the final stop of the day.

Around a mile from Breakpoint 7, approximately 87 miles into the ride, I started getting emotionally spent. As we finished climbing a hill, I could feel tears starting to well up, but I fought against them. However, the emotions were still there, and I was panting hard from pedaling up the hill, so I started wheezing/hyperventilating just a little bit. Chicki asked if I was all right, and I said yes; we could see the Breakpoint now that we had crested the hill. We made our way over to it and took a fair bit of rest. We kept telling each other "OK, we only have 11 more miles!" More people climbed into the SAG vans, and even as we were getting ready to leave, we were asked if we needed a ride. We said "nope!" and began to head out. "Your clip just fell off" a woman called from behind Vicki. We look at her bike, and the ground, and see her pedal was on the ground. Luckily, the bike repair tent was just across the road from us, so we hopped back over and got it tightened back on. We start to head off again...and I realize my bike doesn't feel right. "Chicki, do I have a flat?" "Yep!" So, once again, we turn around and go to the bike repair tent. A few minutes later, the bikes are repaired and we again try to head out for our final ride into LaGrange. Third time's a charm, I guess, cause we were able to head out and make it all the way to LaGrange with no further incidents.

We arrived in LaGrange around 6pm Saturday night and made our way over to the Team Shell tents. James and Jonathan were no where to be found. We grabbed some food: some BBQ brisket and sausage, cole slaw, potato salad, and beans, and just waited for the guys to get back. We learned that my car had died at some point and required a jump start, so they had taken it out for a drive to try to recharge the batteries. However, when they tried to get back in to the Fairegrounds, the police wouldn't let them! So they had to park far away and walk all the way back in. When we finally met up with them, we went to get our shower stuff to try to enjoy a nice warm shower.

And that is when the "rush" and frustration began. We headed over to the massage tables in the Team Shell tent to put our names down for a massage after the shower, and we were told that they were no longer taking any names because there would be no way they finished everyone before Lights Out (9pm). I was pretty bummed out, but James had made friends with one of the therapists there while he had been working in the tent, and he managed to work it out with her to get me in when my shower was done. However, he said "make it quick," cause she would likely have room in about 20 minutes. Chicki and I headed over to the shower trucks, where we were supposed to have special access to "Club 300" showers. Club 300 is for the top 300 fundraisers of the MS150, and has special perks associated with it (like a special shower truck, so you don't have to wait in 45-60 mi lines for the showers). Unfortunately, they must have shut down the "special showers," because we saw no Club 300 sign. I knew there was no way I would make the massage if I stayed, and I knew it was far more important to get the massage then to shower before getting the massage, so I headed back to the tent and Chicki showered.

I waited patiently and sleepily for my massage, and finally got on the table for about 20 minutes, just to stretch out some muscles and get the soreness out as best as possible. Chicki had finished her shower and reported back that the showers would close at 10pm, so James and I grabbed our stuff and headed that way, expecting to be able to enjoy a nice long shower. However, as we arrived at the trucks, we saw a maintenance guy flicking the lights on and off in one of the trucks. "What time do they close?" "9pm." It was 8:58. "You have a couple minutes, but make it quick, we have to get to Austin." I jumped in the shower, rinsing and washing as best and fast as I could, as well as trying to rinse my bike shorts for the ride the next day (people had told me that you could easily wash your shorts in the shower and wear them the second day). We headed back to the tent and had a few minutes of light before the tent lights went out. As I began preparing for bed, I found my pajama bottoms were soaked from the shower (they had gotten wet in my rush to wash my shorts), and so I only had one layer for warmth.

At this point, I was so frustrated and unhappy: I was hurting from 100 miles of biking, I couldn't get a proper warm shower, and I didn't have warmth for the night of sleep (we had only brought one blanket, which we had to put under us to keep the ground from sucking our warmth). I made the statement that if I ever do this again, I am not staying at the campgrounds, I would just find a hotel because then I can be warm, get a shower whenever I want, and not have to deal with any other people. I curled up in my sheets and fairly quickly fell asleep.

The Space Race!

Sorry this post is a little late; we were trying to get our guest bedroom finished to let Chicki sleep there on her visit, but alas it didn't all get done anyway. But on to biking!

One week before the MS150, I did my final training ride; The Space Race out of Gulf Greyhound Park! This ride benefited Ronald McDonald House. This ride was unique in that it had an open start; you could start the ride at anytime between 7am and 9am. I got out around 8:45 after all was said and done, and reached the first rest stop around 9:30. I was shocked to find they had already almost shut down! I grabbed a few quick oranges and gatorade, and rushed to the next rest stop for fear of that closing too. Luckily, the rest of the rest stops weren't quite so close to closing by the time I got there.

The other interesting thing about this ride is that I wore my MS jersey, which helped me to meet Ron Brannigan. He has MS and runs a group called "Because We Can," a group for cyclists with MS. It was really cool to meet him and talk with him, and I even rode the last couple miles to the finish with him. Unfortunately, they mostly meet on the west side, but I know at least that if I ever need any help or support I can talk to them!

That was really about it for this ride; just had to get in one last ride before the MS150!