Wowza.

This was kind of a record-breaking MS150, in my book.

First, our team was bigger than ever before, and we had a ton of new, energetic, friendly riders. 

5 of this crew were first-time riders

I spent Friday morning packing, then met a few other riders for lunch and headed to Century College. The check-in process was smooth and the MS Society people were super friendly because, well, they are, but also because they were really excited about how much our team has grown and all of the good fundraising that we do. On a per-rider scale, we raise a bunch more many than most of the corporate-sponsored teams.

We tagged ourselves and our gear, put our bikes on semis, and grabbed our luggage and took the always-slower-than expected bus to Proctor High School. It was about 20 degrees cooler there, so I was grateful that I remembered to pack jeans and a sweatshirt, as I set up my tent somewhere near a discarded mouth guard on an athletic field. 

I took the shuttle to Duluth, where about 35 of us met for dinner. Two of our teammates had just ridden their bikes the full 150 miles from Century College to Proctor. Whoa. A few people from other teams joined us, too. I suspect at least one of them might migrate over to our team next year.

It was cold when we left dinner, and I piled on lots of clothes before crawling in my sleeping bag. I then spent a couple of hours trying to figure out how late those two women a few tents over would stay up chatting. Also, if they were still up, were there others wandering around (meaning that I'd have to walk to an actual bathroom to pee, rather than just going to the edge of the field)? Thankfully I had my wits about me and took care of all of that business, undetected, before the lightning and rain came through for about an hour or two. 

I didn't want to get out of the dry, warm cocoon I'd build in my tent, but started moving at about 5:15, realizing that I'd forgotten to pack the very one thing I twice reminded all riders to pack: garbage bags to line luggage in the event of rain, to keep clothes and other things (e.g., sleeping bags) dry.

Luckily, it was dry when we packed up and there wasn't really much rain in the forecast for Saturday, so chances were good that my stuff would be dry when we rode into Hinckley. Between the time I woke up and was all ready to go, the temperatures had already risen by more than 10 degrees. I confess that I'm a dawdler, but that whole time period was only about an hour.

So, Saturday. Hot and windy, hot and windy. We had one year (about 5 years ago?) that was super hot and windy. (You know, the year I slept in a bathtub?) This was not quite to that level, perhaps because most of our riding was on the semi-protected Munger Trail, but it was still challenging. Because I was a VIP fundraiser last year, I got special treats at the last rest stop before the final leg. Those treats included ice-cold soda. I held the can on my head and neck for a good five minutes and then sugared up by guzzling the Coke.

Last year, I was the 38th-highest fundraiser out of nearly 4000 riders.
This year, I raised a bit over $3300, but am hoping to raise a combined
total of about this much, between the MS150 and the TRAM

When I got to Hinckley, I drank some fluids and ate some grapes and high-tailed it to the shower truck to get out of my stinky icky clothes.

The shower truck. One of my
favorite places.

At our team tent, we all ate a ton of food and drank a range of beverages, including free beer from our sometimes-teammate Brett, who is one of the owners of Clockwerks Brewery (downtown Minneapolis, check them out). We chip in for food, and we get some donations, too. Two of our riders wives, who aren't into cycling, purchased, made, and hauled up all of the food and beverages and took care of us. They do this every year, and this is a huge benefit of being on a team. We had some prizes to give away that Andy and I scrounged up from some donors, and then took a team photo. Unfortunately, not everyone was in the photo, but we got close!

At about 7 p.m., my throat was sore and my head was congested, so I made sure that I was drinking way more water than beer. I also realized, when I crawled into my tent that I had these weird patches on my semi-swollen ankles. I had this before (that one hot year, I had it on my leg). While it isn't technically heat rash, I've learned, I think it is due to the hot sun.

I didn't sleep all that great Saturday night due to whatever was happening with my throat and sinuses, so it took a little extra motivation to get out of the tent on Sunday morning. It was gray, but dry, and the forecast for the various cities suggested that we might be able to get to the finish line without getting caught in too much rain. 

Famous last words. 

Photo one of our riders took at rest stop 3.

 

Photo from the StarTribune

Hail on the side of the trail

Maybe we were relatively lucky?

It all started off fine. Grey, dry, then a few sprinkles, with lightning in the distance. Then it was a little drizzly and you could see the edge of the storm front clearly delineated. Then, it was pouring and there were huge gusts of wind from the west, making it hard to stay upright on the bike and to keep the bike from unexpectedly veering about five feet over into traffic. The temperature dropped about 25 degrees, into the high 40s. 

Some guy on a vehicle with flashing lights (not sure of his official job), directed my friend Matt and me into an area where people were taking shelter in some sort of warehouse, and initially said, "it's your call." We rode in, decided that we'd rather keep moving because we were cold, tried to get back on the road and were told that it was no longer an option and that we had to stay in the building.

While there, we got news from other riders that they were being directed to convenience stores, church basements, etc., and other sought their own shelter at restaurants when the saw the storm coming through (unbelievably, a few of our riders never got caught in the rain, due to the timing of their pancake orders).

We were released in about 30-40 minutes, freezing cold, and rode the 3 miles to the the third rest stop, which is where lunch is served. We huddled, shivering, as we shoved pizza in our faces as quickly as possible, and I declared that I was getting on my bike immediately because I was so cold. I'm grateful that Matt decided to all at once eat all the food that was still in his hands and join me.

We rode fast and warmed up after about 15 miles or so, although I gave myself some weird muscle aches that are still lingering (although Jane the chiropractor did some nice massaging things this a.m. to the brick-like chunks), probably due to having freezing cold legs while riding. The temperatures rose again and it was pretty much a dry ride all the way to the finish. Again, I am thankful that Matt was willing to slow down for me a bit in my dreaded Wyoming-to-Hugo stretch, so that we could ride together and distract each other with our typically mindless banter (discussing the appropriate uses of fist pumps vs. fist bumps). I am always tired at that stretch, but I think it is mostly a mental thing based on some past unpleasantness that I need to get over. I'm not sure how fast or slow we were going because I also inadvertently left my Garmin at home, but I am sure that was the slowest part of our two-day ride.

After the storm, the crowds of riders really thinned out, because so many people opted not to finish and either took the MS vehicles back to the finish, or called family members to come pick them up. So, at the finish line, I was watching our riders come in, and trying to figure out who was still out there and who had stopped riding. Our last riders crossed the finish line right before it started raining again. It was great to see, in particular, some of the brand new riders cross the finish line, so proud of themselves. I'm amazed that a huge percentage of new riders, whether they finished the ride or not, already signed up for next year. We've had hot windy conditions and we've had cold rainy conditions, but never on the same weekend. 

A few of them said they signed up because they loved being part of the experience, and felt so supported by our team (yay! we did our job!), others who didn't finish said that they need to finish it.

And I guess that's why I keep doing this ride and the MS TRAM. We need to finish it. 

The Upper Midwest Chapter of the MS Society raises about $3M through the MS150 bike ride. Nationally, the BikeMS events raise over $83M, and are collectively the biggest bike "event" in the country. With this multi-pronged approach of funding research, advocacy, and services, I am really proud to be part of this effort.