The MS 72

We rode on Sunday. Erin and I started out together and we dragged those heavy mountain bikes up hills and against wind. I can't imagine how we could have done any of it without all the training. We passed a lot of people walking -- the hills just kept coming and coming and coming! Erin's favorite part was Suicide Hill where she clocked 34mph. I glanced once at my spedometer going down that hill and when I saw it said 31 -- I applied the brakes. It was truly terrifying! (Erin feels differently! But then again, she loves rollercoasters!)



Nathan and I paired up after the second rest stop (he'd had to SAG to that rest stop because he'd broken his chain right before Suicide Hill). He has the lightest bike, weighs the least and has the most energy of the four of us -- so, how did I end up with him??? He chattered away as if he were sitting on the couch next to me instead of pedaling up an incline. (Erin had patiently explained to me earlier in the day that "hills" were things that you also rode down....inclines just keep going up.) He kindly didn't leave me behind -- even when I begged him to.



After another mishap with Nathan's chain after the last rest stop, we headed into Austin as a family. The hills in town are tough to walk up -- even tougher to pedal up -- and even tougher still if you are told by a uniformed officer that it's not your turn through the intersection (immediately before the hill). As we crossed the finish line in front of the capitol building, Nathan and I held hands and Erin and Stephen held hands. As Erin and Stephen passed over the chip mat, the announcer called out their names. THAT was really cool!



We didn't get home until 11:30 PM and each of us has spent the whole day trying to get out of our own ways. I suspect that Stephen worked a nap in somewhere, because he seems far more chipper than he should. I am sleepy more than achy -- I rarely stay up so late, much less after such a busy day!

Rain Rain Go Away

We're in a holding pattern today. The first day of the MS15o was cancelled due to the very heavy rains along the ride route. Now we're checking the MS Society webpage every ten minutes to see if there's new information about tomorrow's ride. We're expecting (hoping) to ride from La Grange to Austin tomorrow.

I've registered for a second MS 150 May 2-3 because I can't imagine not doing a whole 2 day ride after training this season. Erin may come as well -- but my poor Natie will be stuck at home that weekend finishing a project for US History.

Onward!

Saturday, April 11

It’s week 12! That means it’s time for the last training ride of the MS150 season!! Stephen had promised us that it would be short and flat and easy. (Traditionally, it has been short and flat and easy.) But, since it’s 2009, it had to be different, didn’t it?

We started at Manvel High School, down on the south side of the city. It was flat, I’ll say that. But, of course, there was some wind to fight. Nothing was nearly as bad as we’ve battled all season. It was long – 52 miles. And I can’t exactly say it was easy, given the chip and seal pavement and the bumpy roads.

However, we had a tremendous time! The kids were in rare form – for the last 20 miles we rode all together (we’d been in pairs before that time -- Erin and I saw a guinea hen chasing a truck when we were riding together and we just giggled about that for another 10 miles.) and we sang all the silly songs we could think of to pass the time. We had a pirate theme for a little while – (Selections from Muppet Treasure Island, The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything, etc) and then we sang some Raffi songs and some Tom Chapin songs, then finished up with some selections from You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. This along with my new bell/compass (which doesn’t work very accurately) kept us noisy and happy and plugging along.

Now we head into the last week. We won’t ride our bikes at all until Saturday morning when we head out to Austin. I can’t believe it’s almost here!

Thursday, April 9

I tend to keep my Thursday morning rides pretty close to the vest. They count as alone time. It’s peaceful and they’re all mine. But there was a news story about a biker being shot at on my regular route and that kind of gave me the willies. I’ve always felt safe on this trail – but I didn’t want to take any chances so close to the big ride. So, I invited my friend Jane out with me (we figured who would shoot two middle aged women!). We met along the trail and rode out to the skate park. Then she rode back with me to Wilcrest and then went home from there.

We logged about 25 miles – without a rest stop! We were particularly proud of that. We also thought it was pretty cool that both of us were thinking something like “Oh, 25 miles is easy – we’ll still have plenty of day left!” And that we did! There was still enough juice in Jane to sell concessions at the baseball game and enough left in me to teach my night class. Aren’t we AMAZING!

Sunday -- April 5.

Stephen talked me out of the Space Race by mentioning the W word. Instead, we logged 50 miles out to Fry Road and back. We saw two snakes (one might have been poisonous – but I was not slowing down to check his ID, the other just looked like a garden snake), a turtle and a whole bunch of other people who thought this was a good idea.

There was plenty of W. But we dragged each other along when it was difficult. We didn’t get over 12 mph – my goal is to get to 13mph before the big ride, but it was fun nonetheless.
The kids didn’t ride with us because they’d already ridden 50 miles with Stephen the day before while I was in Austin. (Yes – he loves me enough to ride two 50 mile routes in two days – what a guy!)

Exactly what I needed!

It was RAINING this morning when I was supposed to be riding, so I stayed home and graded papers until the weather cleared. I took off at 2:00 PM into the headwind (24 mph sustained, gust up to 39 mph!). I averaged 11.4 mph out to the skate park (12.5 miles – counting every single inch, let me tell you!) and 12.8 mph overall. Once I turned around at the skate park and headed back east, I SOARED! My maximum speed was 22 mph. What fun. It was EXACTLY what I needed. Now I’m ready for the Space Race on Sunday.

Sagging

We had a wonderful Spring Break in South Padre Island. But we came home kind of rocky. All four of us ended up very sick – Erin in the emergency room for IV fluids, Stephen and I incapacitated for ~48 hours each, Nathan falling asleep mid-conversation. So, training kind of took a back seat after Spring Break. The pediatrician said that Nathan absolutely could NOT ride his bike last weekend. Erin had a band commitment in Dallas (they ACED the festival!). So, Stephen and I headed off to Chappell Hill for the “Head For the Hills Bicycle Tour”.

The Chappell Hill ride is held off to the end of the training season because it’s so difficult. The hills just keep coming, with very rare occurrences of flat stretches on which you can just pedal and let the Zen of the bicycle keep you going. Of course, since this is the 2009 training season, we had to factor in wind as well. And, since we weren’t yet miserable enough – it was 40 degrees when we started. (There’s no excuse for 40 degrees in Texas unless it’s Christmas morning, if you ask me.)

There were three rides, 24, 44 and 64 miles. We’d planned to do 44, but after the first 7 I was suggesting that we stick with the short route. Stephen pooh-poohed that idea. We’d driven an hour to get to the start, seemed silly to ride so short and then just go home. So, we forged on.
Stephen checks the wind speed via a weather history website when we return from each ride. The worst recorded gust during this ride was 32 mph. I remember that one, actually. I was on my way up a hill and it hit me in the face. Or, perhaps that was the one that nearly knocked me over as it hit me full on broadside. I’m reasonably certain that it wasn’t the one that helped me cover one 2 mile stretch in a very short period of time – because there was only one of those stretches and only one of those gusts.

I sagged the last 7miles. I was flat out done. I was useless the rest of the day. My arms hurt far more than my legs did from keeping the bike on the road in the crosswind.

I’m riding alone tomorrow morning. The forecast is for 20-30 mph winds from the west. I’ll plod pretty much due east for the first half of the ride and then soar home.