"It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best"

The MS150 2014 Weekend

Friday

A huge beer - just
like Grandma Mahoney
used to drink. While
playing poker.

Well, apparently the post that I wrote Friday night is stuck in some weird Internet limbo. It shows up on my phone as existing, but never got posted, and cannot be opened. It's probably for the best. Basically, we went up to Duluth, and Travis' kind parents once again had beds and food for about a dozen of us.

Saturday

We got to our bikes in the morning and it was pouring and cold. Thankfully, I was fairly prepared and all of my gear (mostly camping gear, rather than biking gear - check out this official photo) kept me warmer and drier than a lot of other riders. 

The rain stopped by lunch time. I took these next two photos at lunch, in Willow River, to try to show how crowded the rest stops are.

Willow River

This guy was smoking a heater.

So I rode a good portion of Saturday's 75 miles by myself. Well, as much as you can be by yourself on a bike ride with thousands of other riders. I didn't ride with anyone I know, though. I learned during last year's TRAM that I'm pretty content to ride alone on a ride like this. What I realized on Saturday is that although this was my fifth year riding this same route, I saw a lot of new things because I was by myself and wasn't chatting with other people, or worrying about whether I was going too slow or too fast for them.

In Finlayson, I took a picture of my head by the old train station, so that I could juxtapose it with other photos from this same spot. 

Photo with braids: MS150 June 2012, super duper hot.
Photo with bandana: Solo ride in November 2013, in the 40's, but dry.
Photo with shower cap: MS150 June 2014, drying out and warming up after the rain.

After arriving in Hinckley and taking a shower (in the shower truck - no line!) and eating some snacks, I went to the VIP tent so that I could find my name on the list of top fundraisers from 2013. After my team went to the hotel, I set up my tent and settled in for the night.

Sunday

Sunday was essentially perfect in terms of the weather. I rode with Matt, Dave, and Dave - and, for a short while, The (self-proclaimed) Purple Avenger - and we rode at a fairly quick pace (for me). The worst stretch each year, in my opinion, is the stretch between Wyoming and Hugo. I am not sure why. It is kind of boring, you're feeling your most tired over the two days, and it is kind of a long stretch of trail. And this year it was even a little longer because the second-to-last rest stop was in Stacy instead of Wyoming this year, due to construction. Anyhow, the Hugo rest stop - the final rest stop of the ride - is always a welcome sight. 

There's a beautiful lake, in an area with a lot of tree cover, you know you only have 8 miles left, and, if you are one of the people who raises over $1,000 you not only get to use the port-a-potties without lines (a perk of the whole ride, thank you donors!), but you get to stop at the little tent with special treats - - homemade cookies. Of course, I ate a few.

Continuing with the juxtaposition theme, here's a photo of meh with Mariette and Tom at the Hugo rest stop in 2012, and one of me at the rest stop this past weekend.

So, then, I finished (the photographer always catches me when I'm unclipping my foot)! That was a good ride to help prep me for the week-long MS ride in July.