It’s been more than a week since the MS 150 ride raising funds for multiple sclerosis research and programs, and my legs have mostly returned to normal, so some sort of re-cap is required.

Overall, the MS 150 went very well, but it was not without hardships (long distance aside). Friday, we headed out for Columbia to complete registration and grab our hotel room for some sleep before Day 1. We stopped for dinner on the way, but spent more time than planned at an Italian restaurant stocking up on carbs. We ended up arriving at registration too late to complete it that night, so we just checked into the hotel to sleep as much as possible before taking care of event check-in and riding the next morning.

I’m not a morning person, and it really showed Saturday. I don’t know of a good way to wake up knowing you’ve committed to ride 100 miles that day, planning the better part of the day on the bike. Anyway, we got into the event grounds early enough to finish registration, meet up with our team, and cram more food. We walked out to the route start among the first couple hundred riders and hit the road around 7:30.

One of the things that help me spend so much time on the bike is that I have shoes that attach to my pedals (kind of like skis) so I can pedal 360 degrees of the crank instead of just pushing down. Unfortunately, among the mass of riders shoulder to shoulder starting this ride, I found I couldn’t clip in on the right. Not a good way to start at least 150 miles for the weekend. I was still able to hook my part of my right cleat into the pedal so I could push down for about a third of the stroke on that side, but was still largely relying on the working left leg. Around the time I was able to figure this out, a fast line of riders was coming from the back. I wanted to clear the surrounding crowd so I could more comfortably experiment with the pedal, so I joined the faster pace line.

Likely motivated by the same insanity that makes me think riding all weekend is fun, we stuck with that pace line, skipped the first rest stop at 10 miles, and didn’t stop to check out the pedal until the 20 mile rest stop. Between the awkward stroke and the 20 mph average, my legs felt unusually tired for only 20 miles, but they improved with some stretching and time spent fixing the pedal and cleat. I was finally able clip in on both sides, which provide ability for an even stroke. Unfortunately, I just spent 20 miles wearing out my right leg, so the rest of the ride was spent trying to compensate again.

Having ridden enough to learn how to ignore discomfort, I still wanted to at least complete the century the 1st day, especially since we had gotten off to such a fast start, so we still kept a decent pace. The route split for the 75 and 100 mile paths before lunch, which meant we had to complete our extra 25 miles *before* lunch since it was a shared location. I think we stopped every 10 miles or so at east rest stop for a quick stretch and some snacks and Gatorade, but only for about 5 minutes to not let the muscles get too cold. Around 65 miles we arrived at lunch (actually somewhat early) and spent about an hour for more food, stretching and rest.

The majority of the remaining 35 miles that day were spent riding into a head-wind in about 90 degree heat, which was anticipated, but still of course unpleasant. Riding into wind essentially subtracts speed in exchange for effort – our speed drops but we feel like were having to work twice as hard.

I spent most of Day 1 riding with one of my teammates, Hans. He and I rolled across the finish line for that day just before 4pm; much earlier than anticipated. Only one other century rider on the team (the “Hermit”) finished before us, which was a fun accomplishment. We checked in our bikes, roamed the event grounds for an early dinner and beverages, and waited at the finish to cheer on the finishing riders.

After so much activity, the body doesn’t really stop consuming energy, so after cleaning up by 6:30 we were hungry again, and went for our second dinner across the road from the hotel. I remember eating, but couldn’t tell you what it was; I’m sure it wasn’t on the plate for too long. We were back in bed by 8:45, exhaustion taking over any ability to stay awake.

I woke up to legs in pain (but still tried very hard to go back to sleep and pretend I didn’t have to ride), but downed some ibuprofen after I (finally) got out of bed. I spent an unusual amount of time Day 1 pulling on the pedals, straining leg muscles that rarely get worked that way. Consequently, there was little strength left there, on top of legs already tired from riding 100 miles the previous day. I sadly didn’t think trying for the century again wise, so I decided to only do the 75 in hopes of taking it easier so I didn’t do any serious damage.

To add insult to injury, Day 2’s first 10 miles were reasonably hilly, forcing my legs awake. As much as the first half-hour hurt, it was awfully fun to race down some hills at 40 mph! This day’s century route turn-off didn’t take place until after lunch, so part of me still wanted to hold judgment until checking time left in the day at that point, even though I was also wishing I just u-turned around the first 20 miles. Anyway, after arriving at the split that afternoon, I could not convince myself that an extra 25 miles was a good idea, and continued on the 75 path. I rode Day 2 with Kurt, who offered excellent support and motivation keeping me from calling it quits even when my legs felt that there was nothing left. Hans had sped ahead of us early on and expected to do the 100. Since all three of us were driving home together, I rationalized taking extra time at rest stops to rest. We probably had been napping at the last stop for about half an hour when I get a text-message by phone that Hans missed the turn off for the century and was waiting for us back at the finish, so there was some motivation to finally finish. It was around then that several others in our group arrived at the last stop, so we socialized a bit before riding again.

The last section of Day 2 followed the same way we started, so those fun hilly 10 miles we started with were no-so-fun hills for the end of the day. I took a break or two at some of the crests before continuing, and even had to walk the last quarter of the last hill, but we finally rolled back into the event grounds that afternoon – this time I think it was about 4:45.

Hans had been back long enough to get in line for a massage at one of the tents, and had already eaten. By the time Kurt and I showed up, we were just ready to get our bikes to the car and leave. We were still starving, so we stopped to get some food (and washed/changed), but finally began our trip back home. By car. In much softer seats than we spent most of the weekend.

I spent the majority of the weekend on a bike, but have not really shared any experiences about how beautiful scenery was, or interesting towns we rode through, or fun conversations we had. That’s largely because when you’re out there, hamming along on the pedals, pushing through exhaustion, I’m sorry to say you really don’t get much of that. My brain activity can pretty much be summarized with combinations of: road, pothole, gravel, faster, “passing on your left!”, ouch, bug, *&$#@, thirsty… and repeat. An odd excuse for fun maybe, but there it is. I didn’t make the 200 miles I hoped to, but certainly put in my time for 150+. The muscles right behind my knees are still suffering a bit, so that’s my punishment I guess.

Thank you to those that contributed to the National MS Society’s cause. 2,802 participants rode 150 miles over two days, raising more than $1.9 million to end the devastating effects of MS.

With your help, as of this I was able to raise $420 of my personal $500 goal. I still have until October to meet my personal fundraising goal. If you have not yet and would still like to make a donation,
you can do so with a secured online payment from my 2005 MS 150 Progress Page.

Here are some metrics for the weekend:

	Ride Time	Avg mph	Max mph	Distance(mi)	Avg heart rate	Calories burned
2005-09-10 (Sat):	5:58:51	16.4	40.90	98.19	157	6147
2005-09-11 (Sun):	4:46:12	15.80	43.0	75.61	141	4482