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!!!