MS150 Recap

This past weekend marked the 4th MS event, (2 MS 150's & 2 TRAMs) that I have participated in. This year I received 49 donations and raised $2,090, $600 of which came in last week! Thank you to all that donated! Two people in particular were a huge part of the $600 that came in last week. Kerri and Kassi sold homemade dresses, necklaces and bracelets to help me reach my fundraising goal. I don't think I would have reached my goal without their help. THANK YOU Kerri and Kassi! I also reached another pretty cool milestone in that I have now raised over $5,000 in the 4 events I have been a part of.

Now onto the weekend.

Friday:

Scottie O, my former college roommate and fellow Team Happy Hour member, and I headed up to Duluth Friday night . Upon arrival we were greeted with 50 degree temperatures and a heavy mist. Perfect conditions to set up camp... We set up camp as quickly as possible, threw on some warmer clothes and we did what Team Happy Hour members do, headed to the bar for some pre-ride carbo loading. Once we got back to camp I realized I may have set up my tent a little too hastily as I was greeted with a small lake on the inside of my tent. I sopped up as much as I could with my towel and got into my bag, crossing my fingers no more water would get into the tent. My hopes were not met as water continued seeping into the tent. Thankfully down still keeps you warm even when wet. Despite the water, I still got a good nights sleep.

Saturday :

This years MS 150 had a unique start to it as Clay Walker, who has MS, kicked off the event by singing the National Anthem and then leading the first group of riders onto the route. I would post pictures of the event, but O and I were packing up our water logged camp. Unlike the other 99% of riders, O and I prefer to stay up late and be one of the last riders on the route in the morning. For some reason, everyone else seems to prefer going to bed at 9 and start riding at 6. That just isn't our style.

The Bike:

Specialized Bikes was offering participants a chance to demo a bike for one of the days of the ride. I jumped on the offer and signed up to ride an S-Works Roubaix which has an MSRP of $8,500! What makes a bike worth that much? Carbon and lots of it. The entire bike weighed about as much as two full water bottles. I will save you the rest of the bike nerd details, but if you feel like drooling, click the link.

Two words best describe the bike, fast and smooth. The carbon not only makes the bike ultra light, but it also soaks up the the road vibration and greatly dampens out bumps. I don't have any real stats to illustrate how fast the bike is since we didn't have a computer so I will go with the super scientific observation that the bike just "feels fast." As soon as you step on the pedals the bike just wants to go. It eats up hills quickly and screams right back down them. It was a thrill to ride and for one day I was the envy of the lycra clad, smooth legged wanna be bike racer crowd! It could very well be the most expensive bike I ever ride and I am glad I got the chance to do it. 75 miles flew by.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out in the team tent waiting for my tent to dry out and swapping stories around the beer box.


Sunday:

I was a little nervous to see what it would be like to get back on my regular road bike, a steel Surly Crosscheck, after riding the Roubaix. To my surprise the transition wasn't as dramatic as I expected. The extra weight of the Crosscheck was noticeable, but I did not feel any real extra drag after riding the ultralight Roubaix. It was an encouraging start to the day. My back and legs were a bit sore at the start, but I felt pretty good for most of the ride. That was until between reststop 4-5, miles 50-68. I suddenly hit a pretty good wall and was dropped by O who to his credit was riding a fixie. Some day I will be fast enough to hang with him all day....

I met up with O again at the reststop and we rode the final 8 miles to the finish. After 75 miles and 4.5 hours of ride time another great MS event was over. The MS bike rides are incredibly supported by the MS Society and an army of volunteers. I encourage any and all to participate in a bike MS event if you have any interest in doing so. I guarantee you won't regret it. If you are looking for a team you can't go wrong with the Real Estate Riders for the 150 or Team Happy Hour for TRAM.