Event

2004 MS-150 Day 1

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Hans, our fast and fearless team leader, led Kurt and me to complete today’s century ride. This morning we left the start line around 8:30am, and returned around 5:30pm. I’ll have to check the map to find all the rest stops and factor in how long we spent at each one to find our actual ride time and average speed. My bike computer is apparently not set correctly, and isn’t reporting accurate numbers. The 100 miles left us pretty beat, but we’re not stopping from finding sushi for dinner, though we’ll likely be crashing early this evening for a full nights sleep to prepare for tomorrow ride.

Tomorrow the plan is still to ride another century; today’s seemed easier than I expected, but I’m still tired and sore. I’ll likely take the century route no matter what, and just ride until I collapse. Picking up my lifeless corpse is what the support vans are for.

In the meantime, you can check out how my fundraising went, and you can still contribute if you’ve not.

Thanksgiving Holiday

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The Thanksgiving holiday started around noon last Wednesday, at which point it was decided no more work was possible for a tired brain, and I was looking forward to some mental recovery.

I spent the afternoon with Sean as he ran some errands before his trip to Hong Kong. He was required to purchase a round-trip ticket, so he’s scheduled to return in a month. However, if he end up with a job there, we’ll have to save some money to visit if we want to see him again. Sean’s Thanksgiving involved 14 or 16 hours on a plane, which has got to be torture, though I’m sure his visit will be worth it.

This year, instead of the typical drive to the Chicago suburbs for Thanksgiving with my mom’s family, we stayed in-town to join Kelly’s parents, and officially began the new tradition of alternating locations. I can’t remember the last time I stayed in town over this holiday, it’s possible I never have — spending time travelling by car is part of Thanksgiving memory. It’s hard to interrupt tradition, and I’d be lying if I said I did not miss the annual trip to visit extended family, but marriage has added more family to St. Louis that I also want to spend time with.

Thanksgiving dinner was of course tasty and filling, and a good time was had, but I was happy to go home with Kelly and relax in our own, less crowded, space.

The remainder of the holiday and weekend we visited The Couch with Final Fantasy X-2, the laptop, two cats, and a few blankets to keep warm. Occasionally we departed for nourishment, but were soon back to continue.

We could have gone outside for get some fresh air and exercise, but not this vacation. This year was for taking advantage of no required activity. Nothing was planned, and we were pretty intent on keeping it that way. Relaxation was the only goal, and the unknown away from The Couch threatened that. I think together we put in a total of 36 hours into FFX2. We’ve both got separate games going on, so while one was using the PS2 the other had the laptop for Internet and GunBound

Before the holiday I had speculated all the things I could accomplish with the Thanksgiving free time: read Quicksilver or Angels & Demons, watch a few movies, exercise (maybe), …sleep… all had low priority next to The Couch’s offerings.

Maybe I’ll do that stuff while we’re in town over the Christmas holiday. Hopefully I’ll have reset my sleep schedule before then so I can get some work done in the meantime.

Last Minute Fundraising with Blog Power

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I’ve already spammed my friends and relatives. Now, I’ll make an assumption that people I don’t know might stumble upon this post…

I have this thought that it’s possible to make a quiet entry on a page only few people frequent, and that by the simple actions of a few key people passing around a link, a pyramid-scheme like propagation might take place across the Internet. I would love to see a simple goal be quickly dwarfed by the total of donations brought in from people I don’t know, just because they wanted to support a good cause. I know it’s unlikely, but it’s worth a shot.


On Saturday, September 6-7, 2003, I’ll be participating for my first time in the National MS Society’s annual MS 150 Charity Bike Tour to help raise funds for research and local programs.

The MS 150 is a two day event in Columbia, Missouri, with a 75 mile or 100 mile loop available Saturday and Sunday. The event is organized to help riders finish the 150 miles in two days. Completing the optional 100 mile route in a single day is referred to as a century. I hope to accomplish my first century on this ride, making my total distance at least 175 miles. If I can maintain the motivation and energy, perhaps I can do up to 200 miles. I have spent the spring and summer building up my endurance and next week is the test.

Will you please help by supporting me in this year’s MS 150 Bike Tour? No amount is too small and any help is greatly appreciated! Please sponsor me by donating securely online through my MS-150 page.

Thank you for any assistance you can provide!

Ryan

Update!
I’ve met the required goal of $200, but I’d love to see how high that total can go!

Generous visiting contributors:

Did you find this post through some archive and miss the event date by days, months, or years? Please donate to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society anyway :-)