TRAMtacular Week

This year's The Ride Across Minnesota fundraiser for the MS Society did not disappoint. The first day, we drove to Alexandria, signed in, hopped on our bikes, and rode to Long Prairie after stopping at a VFW for a $6 breakfast that featured some very garlicky, burp-inducing sausage. I got hit by some rain during the last half of the day, but I dried out and warmed up at the very well-organized fairgrounds. 

Seriously, my dumb body shuts off the blood
to my fingers even when chilled in a summer rain.

We had dinner at a great Mexican restaurant in the back of a grocery store, after seeing some pretty rude anti-immigrant signs in town. The people working there hauled out extra folding tables and chairs to accommodate the cyclists. 

On the way back to the fairgrounds, we saw a family butchering some large animal in their backyard. It was fascinating. Once back at the fairgrounds, I skipped watching the country band and opted to shower instead. The next morning, the Long Prairie mayor picked up my luggage and took it to the luggage truck for me, and I ate a delicious breakfast in exchange for making a donation to the local kids hockey team.

The second day was pretty hot with some rolling hills,  beautiful Amish homesteads, wandering chickens, and homemade cookies from church ladies. I also rediscovered how satisfying a can of Coke and a little cup of chocolate pudding can be mid-ride on a hot day.

We saw a lot of this.

And this.

I wondered how large the town is with a town hall of this size.

This woman on the left is someone I see each year. This is
the first time I saw her wearing denim shorts while riding. 

I lost these fantastic sunglasses on day 5.

Someone went through a lot of trouble to paint this building.

We camped in Wadena for the night, where I spent a good hour cleaning up all the lotion that had exploded in my bag.

On day three, we rode to Fergus Falls, by way of Phelps Mill. Parts of this year's route overlapped with last year's route, which is unusual. On the bright side, I got to visit the mill again. 

Phelps Mill

Very slowly assembling camp in the heat and humidity.

We found good pizza in Fergus Falls.

On the first night in Fergus Falls, we were evacuated to a government building when some storms swept through. I talked with the Mayor of Marshall, Minnesota, who does the ride each year, while there. I ignored the second evacuation request at 4:30 a.m., which was a good call.

This year was weird, as we spent two nights in the same place, but did a long day of riding in between. The day started off cool and foggy and got rather hot, humid, and quite windy. The homemade caramel rolls and nut goodies made by church ladies along the way helped me feel better, as did the huge pile of ice cream at the end of the day, purchased from an ice cream truck that may have once been an ambulance.

Egrets filling a tree in Fergus Falls

Steamy, pretty uphill climb

Me, on the downhill later in the day

Dan, Steve, and I took a very short detour from the route and rode to, and walked to the top of, Inspiration Peak.

Sinclair Lewis praised "the enchanting peace and seclusion of this place for contemplation."

After dinner on the second night in Fergus Falls, we watched Miss Minnesota emcee the team poem and song contest. She was surprisingly good. And the team poems and songs, as always, met the right balance of humor and seriousness about why we ride.

On the final day, we rode from Fergus Falls to Alexandria. I saw the lower half of a deer leg on the trail. It was a cooler, greyer day, and I enjoyed pushing myself by riding pretty hard.

Our 2017 TRAM team on
Day 5 a/k/a "the day I lost my sunglasses."

5/6 of us afterwards

I saw many of the TRAM regulars this week - the guy that looks like Vinny from Veronica Mars, the cigarette-smoking guy with fancy bikes who we've nicknamed "the Enigma," the young couple who are always camped by us but whose names I don't know, the tandem-riding couple who have been married for over a decade after they met on the TRAM, the lady from Austin with a plastic pig strapped on her bike, a kind of odd, but nice, duck named Ralph. I met a nice guy, Joe, from Northfield and learned about his early retirement to spend time with his wife who has MS, and heard many stories from riders throughout the week about why they ride and who they are riding for. 

Many people who don't have immediate family members affected by MS tell a similar story: they do the ride for the fun and challenge of it, and get hooked and return each year after learning about why it is so important witnessing the dedication of the other riders and volunteers.

Our team raised over $70,250 for the MS Society this year by riding our bikes. I'm really proud of our work! Thanks for all the support! 

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieTRAM2017

Conflui

Yow! We leave for the TRAM in just a few days. My lack of sharing news here is directly proportionate to my lack of riding. I have only been on my bike once in the past 10 days, and that involved a short ride to the bike shop and back. 

Why no riding, you ask? Life.

Instead of riding, I:

• Hung out with my nephews for two afternoons, supervised their whittling activities, and learned how to play Exploding Kittens (it's a card game; no real kittens are involved) and clean bunny hutches (real bunnies are involved). 
• Used some time outside of the traditional workday hours to catch up on some grant writing and reporting activities that hopefully will keep our funders funding us.
• Went to a pool party hosted by one of our MS150 riders. (I am still surprised at how much fun it was to just horse around in a pool. The food was good, and Andy made some good margaritas, too, which didn't hurt.)
• Took my bike to the shop for a tune-up.
• Met with our TRAM riders to discuss our essential gear for the ride (coffee, foam roller, jerkey, screen tent). 
• Went to Pittsburgh for a work meeting.

My cool, historic Pittsburgh hotel.

The confluence of the three rivers, with a new Steelers stadium presumably on the site of the former Three Rivers Stadium, and the Pirates stadium just beyond that. I question whether these really are three rivers - - - isn't it just one flowing into the other? I think it demonstrates someone's refusal to compromise.

We rode up "the Incline" in this little car. It's a commuter
tram built in the 1920s to help people get up and down
the hill. If you go, pay the extra 50 cents to go into
the mechanical room. It was pretty fascinating.

I saw this sticker on the bathroom stall door upon my return to the MSP airport and it totally made my day. It's the little things that keep me engaged, sometimes.

I need to pick up my bike and hope to get some rides in this weekend, since my general cycling physical state has deteriorated - - as best demonstrated by this past week's theme song by G Love and Special Sauce:

I like cold beverages

Give me frosty mug

Filled with a&w

If you got ice cream

Make it a double scoop

Milkshake at the fountain

Really good sounding

Chocolate egg cream

All of these life things have kept me from sending out my MS150 thank you notes, but that doesn't mean that I'm not grateful, or that they aren't coming. (Stay tuned!) I lowered my goal for that ride this year (and met it - thanks!) and raised my goal for the TRAM. I am at 78% of my TRAM goal (thanks!), and hopefully will close that gap in the next few day (more thanks!). 

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieTRAM2017

Great Scott!

"Great Scott! is an interjection of surprise, amazement, or dismay. As a distinctive but inoffensive exclamation, popular in the second half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, and now considered dated. (Wikipedia entry, July 4, 2017)"

Today, I rode the Great Scott Classic Bike Ride, starting in Prior Lake, and riding throughout various parts of Scott County, Minnesota. (Thanks to Dan's friend's bike shop, Michael's Cycles, for sponsoring the ride and providing mechanical and SAG support.) I include the Wikipedia definition above because the ride was one of surprise, amazement, and (very little) dismay, and also because I also am very surprised, amazed, and dismayed that I haven't done a biking-related blog post on my biking-related blog since the MS150 bike ride. What the heck?

(Among other things, I did a nice long ride with Deb on 6/24, getting caught in a kind of fun, brief, thunderstorm on my way home. And Matt and I rode to Grey Cloud Island, an old beautiful favorite, yesterday, where I saw a toad smaller than my thumbnail by the biffy at the halfway point.)

Anyhow, today's ride. Great route! Way hotter than forecasted! Probably should have worn lycra rather than a cotton t-shirt and regular non-cycling shorts! Well-stocked rest stops! Huge bathroom line at rest stop one! Hills! There's my amazement, surprise, dismay and chafing, surprise, amazement/dismay, and surprise.

Who knew it was so easy to get to New Prague, relatively speaking, from Prior Lake? It was fun to take a break in the park where I camped overnight on the TRAM a few years ago. I had never been in Jordan, really, and think that I ought to take a trip back there sometime. There was a pretty river going right through the little historic downtown and some sights that I'd like to see close up.

Today's ride was a great training ride for the TRAM - I rode solo, without any music, on hilly, sunny, windy country roads with ample snacks. In two weeks, I'll be packing up for that ride. I'm really excited. I love being on my bike for five days straight and am glad to have the opportunity to fundraise for the MS Society, which does such great work to help the people I love.

I'm at 68% of my goal for this ride. If you're able to help me get closer to my goal, please go to this link: 

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieTRAM2017

My Uncle, the Star

The summer solstice has always been a bittersweet day, in my mind. Summer is just getting off to a start, yet the days are starting to get shorter. Added now to the mix: the now-anniversary of when our family lost my dear, sweet Uncle Andy.

In some ways, it feels longer than a year, in other ways shorter. Regardless, it still feels bad.

Although he had two dozen nieces and nephews, each one claims to have been his favorite, and each one can say truthfully that he was their favorite.

I have some lovely momentos of time spent with my uncle, and this weird one.

Uncle Andy gave me this little bar of silver when I was a teenager. I don't fully remember the context, but I think I maybe had just done his dishes for him (if you had been to his house on Stanfield during his bachelor years, you know what a chore this was). Perhaps we were just hanging out after one of our road trips to North Carolina. At the time, it seemed weird to me that he had a bar of silver. As a watchmaker and fixer of jewelry, though, it makes sense to me, now.

I thought it was really special; he assured me it wasn't valuable.*

Apparently silver is created during a supernova - when stars explode at the end of their lives. We still are feeling the effects of Uncle Andy's own little supernova, although I'm not yet sure what that created.

I think this is really special; in my mind it is really valuable.

* My online searching this morning suggests that it was probably worth about $8 when he gave it to me, and it is worth anywhere between $17 (going rate for a troy ounce) and $40 (collectors like the history of the Bache bars of silver). 

Best laid schemes gang aft a-gley and all that

We took Thursday and Friday off of work to have a nice long weekend camping along Lake Superior, about four hours north of here. I was kind of apprehensive because it just got warm and summer-like, and the highs were projected to be in the 50s - maybe the low 60s. I just spent a whole fall, winter, and spring being layered up and wanted to wear shorts, by golly.

Well! The universe was on my side. After driving to the state park, and pulling in, we found out that there was a mixup (on our end, not theirs, don't blame the DNR). So, we didn't have a beautiful site on a cliff overlooking the dramatic ocean-like lake after all.

My smarty mapper husband reviewed the maps in his head and declared that we should try Sawbill Lake - a lake just about 30 minutes away on a gravel road. The lake is an entry point to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. We had the foresight to call ahead, they had some sites, and so off we went.

It was inland, so it was warmer. It was inland, so it was less windy. It was inland, so it was considerably more buggy, but the mosquitoes took some breaks here and then, especially on Friday, which was a beautiful, beautiful day. The campground, operated by Sawbill Outfitters, is the only thing on the lake. 

While many of the other campers
were roughing it as they headed into the
BWCAW, we tested out this hand-cranked
blender that Dan got for Xmas and had
smoothies for breakfast. We used to be
hardcore backpackers. Now we have a blender.

So, instead of riding my bike, which was faithfully perched on top of the car, I rented a canoe and got blown all around the beautiful lake, and tried to avoid crashing into rocks and wrecking the lightweight canoe (although I confess it didn't feel all that lightweight when I had to tip it over onto my shoulders and walk to and from the lake with it over my head all by myself). 

Sawbill Lake

I had to pull over to the shore in search
of more rocks to use as ballast to keep
the canoe from spinning. The wind
came from every direction, it seemed.

It was a great nature-filled weekend, and I'm really glad about the change of plans. 

Piper and I found a rock where we could read a book (Maggie)
and chew on a bone (Piper).

"Why are we sitting on a rock?"

Her Farrah Fawcett ear-do.

A triangle-shaped rock cleaved perfectly from this bigger rock.

We were planning on driving home on Sunday morning, but decided that we should leave Saturday instead to allow me time to get to my good friend's son's graduation party on time on Sunday. That was a good plan, until we inadvertently got stuck behind the marathon near Duluth. But, Dan was driving and I was doing a crossword puzzle, so I didn't care so much.

This was a good plan, which allowed me to ride to and from the party at Canterbury Park, stopping to eat ripe blackberries by the Minnesota River on the way. I tested out a new way home from that area, which would have freaked out a lot of people I know, given the traffic, but the cars were blissfully in Father's Day high spirits and didn't kill me.

If you're on Facebook, you know I've been in search of this bike seat. I found a few in the U.S. while searching online on our way to the woods, ordered one, and voila! here it is at my house today! I can't wait to put it on my new bike, to make it more TRAM-worthy.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieTRAM2017

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.

Hydrational Priorities

Despite the fact that I'm turning into an old lady who retains some water in her lower calves and ankles, allowing my socks to clearly mark their territory, it appears that I'll need to stay very hydrated this weekend.

I'm thankful that if it rains, it will be warm, and that the wind most likely will be strongest on the day that we're riding mostly on a trail. 

The MS150 always offers some surprises, however, so we'll see what's in store for us this year! I'm packing my bags and tying up loose ends with the team. I haven't ridden my bike for a couple of days, so I'm really looking forward to pedaling with 3,999 other people for a good cause!

I'm equally excited about the prospect that, once this weekend is over, I now will get to think about and plan for the 5-day MS TRAM ride in July. I heart summer.

Thanks for all of the support, friends! 

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieTRAM2017