Liberated into a pure self and into the fresh, awakening world

In March, I read this great piece about accepting the risk of cycling to experience joy. "I swear that sometimes all I wish for, cool air, bare arms and to be free, free from the labor of making sentences, liberated into a pure self and into the fresh, awakening world."

The first year I did the week-long Ride Across Minnesota was a much-needed respite from an extremely difficult and stressful work situation. Since then, I treat this ride as a way to be free from my daily life, free from the labor of making sentences, liberated into a pure self. I also learn more throughout the week about the struggles of those living with MS and the accomplishments of the MS Society. As a result, it also helps reconnect me with my motivation for doing these fundraising rides.

This year's ride followed a relatively short (260+ miles) and flat route in western Minnesota, with a loop in South Dakota. I rode up and down most hills more than once (~300 miles), pushed myself to ride hard on some of the flats, and dug into the headwinds to help myself prepare for my California BikeMS ride in September. The weather this year was probably the best I've experienced on this ride - we had one overnight thunderstorm, and the days weren't too humid.

I apparently should have done more stretching - although I finished feeling that I had many more miles in this body, everything has been kind of tight and wound up since I got home. In between bouts of stretching, applying assorted balms, and cajoling the massage place to squeeze me in for a short visit, I've pulled together a sampling of photos to describe the events of the past week. 

Getting started: Willmar to Montevideo

After a very hot and humid week in MSP,
Matt and I tried to squeeze in a quick ride
before I left for the week-long ride.
We got stuck in this storm, but I am
glad it hit BEFORE I left town.

Rest stop #4 each day had watermelon. I think that's
why my teammate Steve and I were pretty giddy on the
first day. We saw a lot of old metal park equipment
from our youth throughout rural Minnesota.

We found a great taproom and pizza place in
the town of Montevideo (MN, not Uruguay). Here
is our team with our nice friends from the team "MS is BS."
We normally have over 60 riders from our team do
the MS150, but just a handful that do this 5-day ride.

Kim and I at the first day finish line. This
was her first time doing 5 straight days of
riding. She did great. I've been considering my
dentist's suggestion that I get Invisiline (despite
having had braces as a teen). That snaggletooth
makes a persuasive argument.
Or does it give me character?

Montevideo to Ortonville; South Dakota

Steve's photo of Kim and me rolling into Ortonville on Tuesday.
I'm pleased with my posture. I've been working on that.

Stacy and Travis flew to Ortonville on Tuesday to have
dinner with us at a supper club on the lake, and Stacy took this photo.
(Restaurant choices in town on a weeknight are limited.)
The guy across from me is Aaron, from Team MS is BS.
He is from Colorado, is nice and interesting, and joined us
for dinner. I hope he'll ride with us again someday,
even if riding in MN likely is kind of flat
and boring for a former pro racer.

Stacy's photo of Ortonville

Ortonville has been a host city for this ride
10 times over the past 30 years, and was a host
city the very first year. We spent two nights
in Ortonville. They went all out for us: bands,
a beer vendor on a golf cart, s'mores, fireworks,
cornhole tournament, kayaks, pontoon rides...  

On Weds, we did a loop in South
Dakota. The stretch by the lake was
amazing, the long south stretch was
one big fat headwind. The last leg back
to Minnesota was downhill with a tailwind.
I'm not sure I've ever ridden faster.

Percy the skeleton is on the route every year. This year,
his "minder" suggested that riders make a $2 donation
to the MS Society when taking photos with Percy.
He raised over $60 on Wednesday alone.
These were the riders from our team this year. Such great people!

After getting back to Ortonville, Steve and I did an extra
14 miles or so, heading over to and through the Big Stone
Wilderness Area. This photo doesn't do it justice. It
is astoundingly beautiful, with its preserved (non-mined)
stone formations and wetlands. It was hot, so I stopped in
town on the way back for ice cream with shot of
espresso poured on top: I recommend it!

That night, after losing the team jersey contest (we were robbed),
a teenager strong-armed me into going on stage and joining
in on this drumming thing. I was glad when it was over. :-)
We didn't enter Thursday's team song competition, but
Team MS is BS did great, winning a trophy!

My tent and my bike in Ortonville, with South Dakota
across the lake.

Benson

This was a sign at a rest stop. It makes sense, but
I had never thought of this before. Sobering.

Rest stop #3 was at a family farm.

I raised over $3000, so I had to go in.
I was going to pull down my shorts for
the photo, but realized not everyone
would find that quite as funny as I would.

We got to sleep with a bit of a light
show. I am lucky that I have
a good tent and the rain stopped
by the time I had to get up in
the morning.

Back to Willmar and Whatnot

I actually have no idea what day this is from. I stole
it from Veronika. We saw a lot of corn and soybeans this week.

I believe I stole this photo from Kim; and
think it is the final rest stop on the final day.
We saw some nice lakes heading back.

Veronika took this photo one of the days. I love the clouds.

Done! Thanks for your support and encouragement!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/GoMaggieGo

Summ'r Dayz

Since our last episode, our protagonist has been keeping busy, seeking out area hills to ride up and down repeatedly, visiting family in The Northwoods, spending time on her bike to remind all the relevant body parts that they will be in those positions all of next week, and making various lists of reminders for packing.

Hills

I have posted some photos of my Garmin on Facebook, showing that I've been riding up and down, up and down, up and down. We don't have many big, long climbs close to my house, so I've been trying to fake it. Here's the route map for the California ride in September. I thought it was going to be 6,400 feet of climbing. Instead, it will just be 6,123. Easy peasy. Too bad that most of my local rides end up being about half of the distance yet only one-third of the elevation gain of the California ride.

This is my niece's bike, which lives in California. We'll see how 101.1 miles feels on a mountain bike. But it is under 22 pounds and, thanks to my B-I-L's installation, is sporting new slick tires I ordered for the event. I still have to put my own seat on it. My goal is to finish in whatever amount of time it takes to visit the shower truck at the finish line and catch the shuttle back to the marina. (The Blogger app really wants this paragraph to be centered. It must find it noteworthy in some respect. Does it question my goal?)

The Northwoods

All of my siblings (and their families) on my mom's side met at those parents' house on the lake in NE Wisconsin over the Fourth of July. As is our tradition, we swam from just to the right of the right-hand dot, where our dock is just outside the shot, to the left-hand dot, the sand bar off the island. We looked goofier than normal this year, swimming with a big inflatable alligator to help make us more visible so that my mom's job supervising from her pedal boat is easier.

My B-I-L had shipped his bike to Wisconsin, and I convinced him to go for a ride with me, promising him that we'd ride by a Dairy Queen and get Blizzards. He eats DQ pretty much every day he is in Wisconsin. We rode a new route I devised and, shortly before this shot, needed to carry our bikes down a sheer dirt wall, across a rocky creek, and up the dirt wall on the other side. He only got wet when he had to help me cross the creek. 

Body Parts

I was able to sneak in a weeknight ride with Matt when he got back from Korea, and then I made Kim ride around assorted parts of the city with me last weekend before the heat advisory kicked in. I learned that she can go really fast when she's in the left lane on a road with cars. She hates riding on roads. She didn't hold a grudge, though, and was willing to take a picture of me in downtown St. Paul. I cannot resist photo opportunities like this, for some weird reason. I've been making a photo album of my assorted "head in a hole" photos so that they're always easy to find. She and I talked about the Ride Across Minnesota next week, coordinating some of our gear (e.g., I'll bring the stuff to make coffee in the morning). Here's hoping that this week's "don't even think about pulling out your bike because you'll get hit by random lightning, swept away by a flash flood, and/or die from excessive heat" weather leaves the state before next week's ride.

Stay tuned for next week's exciting conclusion to this chapter, "2019 Bike MS Rides Based in Minnesota," and a sneak peak at what's left for the season!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/GoMaggieGo