MS 200 ride

11/17/2010
This is the longest time it's taken me to write a Ride or Race Report - I usually write them right away... not sure why I'm putting this off so long, but here it goes...

Task: Raise money for MS & Ride 200 miles in 2 days...

While fund-raising, I said I was going to do a 200 mile ride in 2 days... I raised over $800 for the National MS Society and several friends and family donated, so I felt like I needed to do the ride as promised.

The Saturday before the ride, I met up with the BikingLasVegas Team to ride Valley of Fire to Overton. I had ridden some of the route when I was training with Team in Training for the Tahoe Ride... We had gone from the Casino to the Visitor Center and up the road from there, and didn't go to Overton. BUT, I had problems on the hills... we had a SAG vehicle and I ended up getting a SAG ride up the hill from the Visitor Center and again climbing out of Valley of Fire from the Toll Booth to the top of the hill... So, the Saturday before the ride, I was a bit nervous about this hill, but thought I could handle it as we were taking a different route... NOT - I ended up getting to the Toll Booth too tired to go on... and once again, with SAG available, I opted to take the SAG ride up the hill... twice failed... I was determined to ride ALL the way up the Hill for the MS Ride... Lynetta said I can do it... as well as others... I wouldn't consider the MS ride a success unless I made it up that hill, and it wasn't to come til 60 miles into the 2nd day of riding...

Thursday - Veterans Day - Went to McGhies and picked up new tires, tubes, full-finger gloves (I couldn't find my old ones anywhere), a patch kit... I changed both tires - used both tubes (OOPS)... Thursday Night, we had a BikingLasVegas Team meeting, and I found someone to share my room in Mesquite with - YAY

Friday - Day before the ride - During Lunch, Brett & I went to McGhies to pick up the ride packet... picked up new tubes - I'm ready to go! I saw Lisa there, and pointed out the bike that was up for raffle... pretty red Trek... I also saw Jim Matthews there and [jokingly] told him that I would need a ride up "the hill"... Paul Johnson was also there... all 3 southwesters at McGhies at the same time...

Friday Night - Checked weather report one last time - Temps in Las Vegas, Overton & Mesquite on Saturday & Sunday & hourly - ALL said 40*-60* 5mph winds... it's gonna be COLD... pack accordingly ;)

Saturday - Ride day!!! Since it was gonna be so cold, I decided to wear long sleeves, full finger gloves, BLV jersey, and my lavender windbreaker.... I got a bit concerned when I got to the speedway, and I wasn't cold... no time to change things now... At the speedway, they had a nice spread of donuts & muffins with coffee for the riders... the BLV team was called to the track to take a team picture - the team was so large this year, the picture was taken without our bikes... We lined up at the gate and waited a bit... I chatted with the guys behind me - they were from Maryland - came in to do this ride as their co-worker's 20 year old son has MS... how cool is that? The National Anthem was performed (live) while Miss Nevada Outstanding Teen held the American Flag... Some safety instructions were read, and we were off - or so I thought...

We then lined up at the START line of the Speedway Track where a GREAT start picture was taken - Then we got to ride around the track and off we went... It was cool to ride up high on the track and while down low to see the bikes up high... After we circled the track, we followed the red car out of the speedway and onto LV Blvd... and into the WIND...

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11/24/10
This is a good week later than I started writing this... I did a lot this past week - including finding a new place to live, so it's been hectic... I'll try to remember as much of the ride as I can...

The ride went North for a ways and I started falling more and more behind the main group... I grabbed a wheel when I could, but even the drafting didn't help much against the strong head winds... I got to the first rest stop and met up with the Biking Las Vegas group and rode with them for a while... we pace-lined up the hill on the 15 freeway... I worked HARD in the pace-line and literally said that would be the last time on that ride that I would work that hard... like long distance running, it's important to pace yourself on a long ride like this.

Soon we climbed our way into the beautiful Valley of Fire and were rewarded with a LONG STEEP down hill section... it was FUN... But, this was "the hill" that I would have to climb on the way home!

One of the most challenging hills (short but VERY steep) was just after the next rest stop... I gave a thumbs up to the photographer at the top of the hill... I looked at my Garmin, it said 50 miles - YAY halfway there :)

After some more climbing, I arrived in Overton ready to eat lunch - it was noonish and we were over halfway there... I arrive at the rest stop, and there's a BBQ truck next to the rest stop... I said, "Is that ours?" They said "no, lunch is at the NEXT stop" GRRRRR I was hungry! I was tired! I was hurting! I was NOT happy! I grabbed some food and took some advil, and rode out toward lunch... it seemed to take FOREVER, but soon, I got to Logandale and got to eat lunch... I sat with Ken Stein and complained that they put lunch at mile 70... Ken said, um, no, this is mile 63 - WHAT??? my GARMIN IS WRONG.... Apparently, I had the wheel size set wrong - I thought Garmins used the GPS to measure distance, but NOOOOOOOO, it used the wheel size... So, now I had almost 40 miles to go instead of 30 miles... I wasn't happy with that news LOL...

Rested and fed, I set out to the HUGE climbs out of Logandale and onto the I15 towards Mesquite... I was warned about these hills at lunch, so I was kinda prepared... I looked at my Garmin, and noticed that there was no power or cadence info... I guess I inadvertently turned them off while trying to fix the wheel size... so I took a much needed break, fixed the Garmin, took off my jacket, (I had already taken off my long sleeve shirt) and continued up the hill towards the freeway...

I finally got onto the freeway only to find another climb... while climbing, just when you feel like you can't go any more, there was a sign that read "MS takes away people's ability to MOVE"... that sign reminded me why I am riding... because I CAN, and I continued up the rest of the hill...

OK, now we have FLAT - finally! But... it was a WIND tunnel!! Can we get no breaks here? I grab whatever wheels I can grab, but again, it was futile against this wind... I stopped at the rest stops and kept going... at one point, there was a Man changing a tire, and he asked if I had a c02 cartridge, so I stopped and gave him one... I think that helped my Karma as I didn't get one flat on the whole ride!

FINALLY, it was time to exit the 15 freeway and the next Rest Stop was the BEST of all... Cheetah Girls were there giving Massages... My lower back was complaining at this point, so a Cheetah Man worked on my back while 2 Girls worked on my calfs... what a life!

I felt good for about another 3 miles, then the aches came back, I met up with Kevin and Ali and Raf, and rode with them for a while... Raf eventually went ahead of me, and I went ahead of Kevin & Ali... The last 10 miles of rollers were tough to get through... just as you would get to a peak, you would look up and another hill loomed ahead... I FINALLY made it to the finish at 4:34ish... my Garmin reading 107 miles (Everyone else had around 98 miles grrrrr)

Kevin arrived shortly after and was able to get Beer for everyone as he raised enough money to be a VIP... That beer tasted SO GOOD :) I grabbed my suitcase and a short car ride later, was at the Hotel.

My roommate for the night had already checked-in as she SAGGED from Lunch to the Hotel... so she had already showered. It was just about time for dinner, so with no rest, I showered and changed and went downstairs to the Banquet...

The banquet was nice - yummy food, good company, motivational speakers, and a raffle... I spent $20 for raffle tickets (it's yet another donation) I placed my 4 tickets as follows - 1 for a Haircut, 1 for Jersey Boys Tickets, and 2 for the Blue Man Group tickets... when all of those drawings were done (I didn't win any of those) they combined ALL the tickets for the 2 grand prizes... Did you figure this out yet? I WON THE BIKE!!! I triple checked the ticket number - and YEP, she pulled MY TICKET... I still can't believe I won another bike :)

I had brought my laptop with me so I could charge my Garmin with the USB connection... I left it plugged in over night. With so much excitement, it was hard to sleep, but I soon fell asleep and slept like a ROCK!!! For tomorrow, I get to do it all again...

Sunday Morning, woke up and for some reason - even though I didn't feel like it, I put on my riding clothes and Diana and I headed over to pick up our bikes... We rode to breakfast (about a mile)... We were close to the first ones at breakfast and the food wasn't ready yet... so I chatted with Steve, his wife who I found out has MS, and his daughter, Athena; I even explained my fear of "The Hill" and my determination to conquer it... took time to pump my tires, and then when the food was ready, I ate some pancakes and eggs and I headed out... I forgot to say Bye to Diana who got SAGGED to Mesquite...

Back through the rollers to the 15 freeway - somehow they didn't seem as bad this time lol... What a difference a day makes... the wind was now at our backs - how nice! I rode a little with Kevin, then he decided that he needed to go ahead - he sacrificed his ride yesterday for his daughter, but today, he wanted to see what he could do - I didn't blame him... GO KEVIN! Back along the 15 freeway, Back down the LONG Hill to Logandale, Back along the road [that takes forever] to Overton... Back up the hill to get out of Overton... Back up those HARD hills to get to the Valley of Fire... As I was going toward Valley of Fire, one of the guys I was riding with off and on had stopped at the side of the road... I stopped too - I needed a BREAK! About 5 SAG vehicles pulled up to lend a hand... we were FINE we told them, and eventually, we continued our quest to get up the hill... We worked hard getting to the 7 sisters and had a MUCH deserved lunch! Jim Matthews announced that he was leaving and would take anyone who wanted a ride... I jokingly said, "take me" - but I was determined to ride the full 200 miles as I promised the people who donated - so, I let Jim drive his car without me... I still had to climb "The Hill"... I had accomplished so much already, I knew I could do this!

I knew that once I passed the visitor center, it was up hill the rest of the way to the peak, and the visitor came sooner than I thought it would... ok... take it slow... Again, I stopped on the side of the road and that same gentleman stopped with me... again, SAG was AWESOME, and again, I turned them away... I made it to the toll booth, and stopped to use the facilities... I was getting on my bike and voiced out loud, "I can do this"... a lady was getting in her car and she affirmed to me "You CAN do this"... it was cool...

I got on my bike and headed up and up and up... I was getting to the hard part, and Athena and her Mom show up in the car, and Athena yells out the window "You can do this!" It was amazing how so many people believed in me, and gave me the strength to keep going! Then... OMG... the BAD WORDS came streaming out of my mouth LOUDLY... so sorry to everyone who was around to hear me YELLING... MY GARMIN died!!! Halfway up the HILL, and my GARMIN battery went DEAD!!! That made me SOOOO MAD...I'm riding up this hill, and I have NO PROOF... I used THAT energy... and I MADE IT UP THE HILL... At the top, some Volunteers were yelling encouraging words!!! it was AWESOME!!! I made it... for 2 days I was worried about this section and I did it! It felt like it would be ALL downhill from here...

Just before the I15 freeway, there was a rest stop... as I was stopped there, Lynetta & Lisa rode up... I thanked Lynetta for all of her encouragement and I told her that I did the hill... Hugs all around, and I was on my way again...

It always seems like the last 20 miles of a Century are the LONGEST... they are for me anyway... I just want to get there - the hills seem steeper and longer, I found myself struggling... but, I had been riding with this man off and on all day, and we finally found out each others names... So, I rode a while with Mark, then we met up with Andy, and the 3 of us pace-lined for a while... up the last significant hill, Andy and I were riding together - he started to go ahead, and I told him I needed him to get up this darn hill... he stayed back with me and we made it up that hill together! Thanks Andy!

As we turned onto LV Blvd, Jorge joined up with Andy and I, and the 3 of us turned into the Speedway together... 200 miles DONE... I think I finished a little after 3:30... almost a FULL hour less than Saturday's Windy Ride...

I racked my bike and sat and ate with friends and Lisa, Lynetta, and group pulled in about 5 minutes after I did...

Rumor has it that only 13-15 people finished the FULL 200 mile ride without any SAG... I'm thinking that number is low, but it doesn't matter - I'm one of however many that rode ALL 200 miles... I stopped at every rest stop, and even made my own rest stops when necessary - but I didn't walk my bike and I didn't take a car ride... I rode slow, took the time I needed, and I did it!