Bike MS – Round Up Ride – MS150 2013 Day 1
For the third year in a row I went out to ride the MS150. The Dallas version of the ride travels from Frisco to the Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) via Sanger on day one then an out and back ride from the Texas Motor Speedway to Decatur Texas.
For all three years I have also been part of the Gardere Gearheads. The leader of the Gearheads, Keith, is what I would categorize as an elite rider like my friends Dave & Becky (Very Fast Cyclists). He holds pre-ride training sessions indoors on Sundays in the run up to the ride that are an absolute beating in that, “WHAT A GREAT WORKOUT” kind of way. Should Keith ever decide to give up law he has a career as a uber-spin class instructor. He is also a very inspirational leader because he is extremely passionate about cycling & raising money for the fight against MS. Gardere is the law firm where Keith & several of the Gearheads work and the dedicated sponsor of the team.
Every year there is a theme to the team and this year you can see from above the team took on a surf theme.
I really was not all that involved with the team rides before the MS150 this year because I was riding so much on my own. I did attend the last happy hour before the ride to get my Jersey and meet some of the team though. We had a Gardere sponsored happy hour at the Katy Trail Icehouse near downtown Dallas. Since I commute to work on my Tricross bike I jumped on the DART train near my office to take it to the Mockingbird station. Driving really was not an option because this day was also the opening of the Bush library at SMU (which is at Mockingbird Lane for those not from Dallas) so traffic would be a nightmare to drive. I rode the Katy trail down to the bar because I had never been on the trail before and it was an adventure. The happy hour was pretty excellent although I learned a harsh lesson about eating jalapeno fries with Shiner Ruby Redbird beer. Ruby Redbird is a grapefruit based beer from the Shiner brewery, if you have not tried it…Do! The down side of course being that I took spicy jalapenos and threw them into the old fuel tank with an acidic beer, an explosive combination. About the time I got back on the bike to head up the Katy Trail towards home the beer foamed up as I started working on the cranks pushing the lethal combination into my throat… Not good. I got a few strange looks as I rode along choking. AWESOME !
Fast forward to ride day….
It was more or less the usual routine of getting up butt early except this day we promised to pick up Dave and Becky because they had a car staged at TMS to drive home. Carrie was less than thrilled when I got up at 4 am to start getting ready. We had dropped off my bike at the staging hotel the night before so at least we did not have to deal with packing it up on the rack. We rolled up at Casa de Angeles about 5:15 a.m. Carrie told me later they were not expecting us that early… it is like they don’t even know me. I am rarely ever late to anything and live by the words, “On time is 10 minutes early” ( Scott Brown 2011).
We loaded up the Angeles’ bikes/bags and were on our way. They were meeting with the Gardere team to put their bags in the team truck in order for them to be transported to TMS. This is a great thing about being part of a team if you are not lucky enough to have a road crew like I do to transport your crap. We got the Angeles to the team truck on time (Shocker I know) and then headed over to the event hotel / conference center to get my bike out of storage.
It was very cold for a MS150 in my experience. Last year it was so hot on the last 5 miles I had to stop and put ice on my neck to keep from overheating. The weather this year was forecast to be 40s at start (wind chill 30s) and a high in the low 60s. Carrie and I sat in the truck in the parking lot of the convention center where I put on all my layers of clothes and prepped for the ride.
Once we killed enough time I rode over to the start area for the ride. A good chunk of the team does not go to the start line but I do because it is part of the experience in my opinion. I lined up with the rest of the Gardere riders who had been staged up in the 3rd position for the start. The MS society lines up the top teams in order of fundraising so we were 3rd. The first crew was Sam’s Club (title sponsor) then Richardson Bike Mart (RBM) second. The announcements were the normal blah blah blah but the announcers did have a great amount of pep and spirit for such a early morning in the cold weather. We came to the National Anthem which was performed by a wife of some CEO. She did a good job, don’t get me wrong, but if any of you have ever seen the movie Mystery Alaska there is a part where Little Richard sings the National Anthem before the outdoor hockey game really slow to make the NY Rangers freeze. This National Anthem felt a ton like that part if the movie. The riders were so cold and she was kinda dragging it out enjoying her moment in the limelight I suppose. Good for her, but we were cold.
Waiting for the start of the ride queued up behind RBM.
The roll-out procedure for the MS150 is to let a couple teams go then pause to give SAG and Police a chance to catch up and process some of the cross traffic. I can see where the people in automobiles would get upset if they released everyone at once. Since we ride the service road to the Dallas North Tollway to it’s end at Hwy 360 north of Frisco the people in automobiles could be stuck for an hour. The officials rolled out all the riders in front of Gardere and queued us up for the next wave.
Moving up towards the start line
When we reached the front of the queue and lined up under the start banner we were lucky enough to be entertained by Deuce who is the mascot for the Frisco Rough Rider’s baseball team. At the ride as well as the games, Deuce is one funny giant prairie dog.
Deuce doing a little dance.. if only I was rolling video
When it was finally time to roll out I took of like I normally do, not trying to crush a long day of riding in the first 5 miles but was very surprised when I looked around and found myself all alone. I rode on at my normal pace and managed to catch the group in front of us at the start. This would prove very useful because I got into a huge group of riders and cranked out the first 35 miles without even considering stopping – a record pace for me.
I was able to catch this huge group of riders because of one guy on a motorcycle…..
The guy on the Motorcycle
This intersection was not as bad as some but this guy in the picture above on the motorcycle was riding traffic/ride support. The problem with this one guy was that when the road did narrow to two lanes he stopped in the intersection and blocked the lane that more than half of the riders are in. The pack of riders had been slowed enough for me to catch them but when we hit the road bottleneck as he pulled past us it was actually dangerous. The group would be 3 rows wide much of the time because there were so many of us. When we would hit the intersection where half the lane was blocked it brought anarchy to what was a very well working peloton of like-skilled riders.
Nature Calls Early ! GEARHEADS !!
I added this photo above as a stark example of what riding on some of these endurance events is like. At least in Iowa you can stand in the cornfields… These guys, including a couple Gardere riders, took a good ribbing for this display. Cat calls and yelps all around, it was pretty funny.
Big Group, Beautiful Landscapes
During the first 35 miles things went really well overall accept one terrifying 5 second section of road that felt like an hour to me. Soon after the shot above I am lined up in the back of a pack bunched up and the guys in front of me did not call out a huge road crack. For those who do not know, the tires on these road bikes are about 23 millimeters wide. A crack of any considerable width can grab your tire/wheel and throw you off the bike. This is an especially bad scenario riding in a pack of other cyclists, even worse when none are familiar with each other. My wheels entered the crack and made the most god awful grinding noise that you can imagine. I though for sure that I was going down and would be run over repeatedly adding injury to insult. The crack was about 8 feet long so it was over quick but as I ran through and past it all the guys around me gave out a “Whoa” and did a bicycle spread out on the road in fear of what was coming. We were two lines of riders taking one lane until that point when the group did a spread to the entire roadway. I did not wreck, thank god, but my heart was racing and I backed off the guy in front of me for a while.
A good part of the group stopped at the 35 mile rest stop which broke all the momentum as typically happens. I tried to join up with another group for about the following 4 miles or so managing to grab onto a group that was passing me. My pace stepped back up into the mid 20s again. This is a great feeling.
For the first time in my MS150 experience I managed to make the lunch stop in 2 hours flat. Amazingly fast !
I only stopped at the lunch stop to get more water and Gatorade. The lunch stop was not really set up yet so staying would be pointless and I was in the riding zone. The down side was that I was solo but now that I was turning with the wind, maintaining speed was really not a problem. It was so weird too. Both other years of the MS150 there was a 20-30mph south wind to fight starting in Sanger. This year the wind was getting stronger as the day went on but it was out of the north northwest most the time. It was odd for the places in the ride that were torture the other years to be very easy this year.
Craptastic Roads out of Sanger
The roads out of Sanger, Oh My God Horrible. Do everyone a favor City of Sanger, pass a bond and fix your roads.
I again stopped at the next rest stop that was on Highway 35 south of Sanger. The stop was manned by Army soldiers and some civilian volunteers. One of the volunteers in the picture below with the orange shirt really touched me with her kindness and friendly personality. Such a wonderful person who was only disabled in body, if only I or anyone else shared her attitude in life the world would be a better place. I assumed she has MS and was out in support of the ride but in looking back I never asked. I was so overwhelmed with her personality it never occurred to me.
Such a nice person
I have never had anyone ask to take a picture on a ride, she did. We stood next to that bike in the photo from my GoPro. After the picture was taken she said, “thank you and you can take your bike back now… This is your bike right ?”… I laughed and said, “Uh no, mine is right over there.” You should have seen the guy’s face who did own the bike… a group of people taking a picture around it. Priceless…
From the rest stop it was only about 8 miles to the big decision point of the ride. For the first time ever for a MS Dallas ride there was an optional route to the usual 80ish mile ride. This year there was a 100 mile option.
Decision Intersection (Left 86 straight 100)
I was feeling really good at this point in the ride at 60 or so miles so I took the 100 mile route. I was the only person of everyone on the group that came to the intersection who went straight. I knew it was going to be a tough ride because a good part of the extended route was riding north or west. The route wound around to a two lane county highway that, believe it or not, I recognized. When I moved to Texas in 1980 we lived in Sanger, Texas and I had been on this road before. The road had nothing but tall rolling hills into a 20 -30 mph headwind due west.
I finally arrived at the rest stop that was set up at the top of the route. This was about mile 75 or so. I can’t lie, I was getting tired and all I really wanted was a place to sit down. This was the one rest stop I have ever been to where there were no chairs set up for riders and where they needed them most. Needless to say there were not many riders at the rest stop since very few people were taking the optional route and what chairs there were had cold wind blown volunteers in them. They were very friendly people as well…but bored. A couple of the kids at the stop had taken to throwing rocks at each other from the white rock driveway.
I had a brief conversation with one of the ladies at the stop and she told me we had 12 more miles to ride West of the rest stop before we turn south. My heart sank. It was one of those moments when you ask yourself why the hell you are doing this… I am glad to report that once I got back on the road, it was really only about 2 more miles toward the west. Thank goodness she was mistaken. Sadly a few of the riders at the stop called in for SAG wagon to take them in, I hope that they did not do this based on the bad information. The wind was getting brutal and I am sure a large number of people were coming to the realization that they were in over their heads.
At the turn south 2 miles from the rest stop agony turned to pure thrill. The moment I turned the corner and caught that wind off my back I was off like a rocket. I kid you not that on some section of the next 9 miles I was rolling at 28 mph with no pedaling at all. It is exhilarating to say the least.
It had taken me about an hour to get to the top of the course and about 15-20 minutes to come back to where it rejoined the main route with only a brief stop at a rest stop to collect my trophy…
A proud achievement in cycling
I have to add one more photo here.. this guy in the photo below was great to talk to and he was super interested in my technology on the bike.. ie GoPro. He decided to give me a keepsake of our time talking… as with most people I meet on the road I do not know his name but have a great memory from the stop because of him. Very friendly guy.
Great Young Man
Once I rejoined the main route the going was slow for most people. I have said before that there is a bit of suffering that comes along with cycling and on this day it was not a just a bit. In a lot of the people I was passing I could see the pain and suffering in their faces and I thought back to my first year of the MS ride. That year I think I rode 76 miles and thought I was literally going to die. I felt a little bad passing people but after my 20 minute break on the south road, I was pretty well rested. I know how it feels when you are just wishing it was over then people are passing you. It can feel a bit demoralizing.
The BRIDGE !!
Speaking of suffering… this bridge is something of a monument to my suffering on a bicycle. In both my previous years, especially the first, I had to stop under this bridge to eat, drink, rest and cool off. The first year I really thought about throwing in the towel under this bridge. It always ends up being an impromptu rest stop for a large number of people each year.
I stopped at the last rest stop to text Carrie that I was almost done because she hates to miss me finishing a ride. She is the best cheerleader a guy could ask for and I appreciate it when she is there and really do miss it when she is not. I also took some time to sit on the same curb I had for the last two years to rest. The previous year there was not much choice, I had to rest or I was not going to finish. This year was different though, I was dog tired but I felt good. It was probably still the high from getting my first Century patch.
The last rest stop
As I sat there I witnessed at least 5 SAG wagon vans full of people pull through. A large number of people got caught by the building winds between the start and Sanger lunch stop. This slowed many of them to a pace I would put around 8 mph which is torture on a bike when the route is 80 miles. I cannot even remotely imagine being on my bike for 10 hours. I think the longest day I have ever put in was 7.5 when I rode the Bike the Bay ride to Galveston (the most miserable ride I have ever done because of wind). I felt for each and every one of the people in the SAG wagons and reflected on how my riding has progressed. I am still a big big guy for a cyclist and turtle slow compared to my friends but I see improvement and that makes me joyful or at least in the moment. (I am rarely joyful most people will tell you)
I rolled back out onto the road feeling as refreshed as you can after 90 miles of riding. When I got back on the main road toward Justin (the last town before TMS) it was fast due to the tail wind and felt remarkably good. There is a bit of a valley with a train trestle over it just before the TMS and in years past the hill climbing out of it seemed like a beast. It was not easy by any stretch of the imagination after riding so many miles but I think I was just out of my mind by then because it did not seem as tough as other years.
I rode into the outer circle drive of the Texas Motor Speedway and knew I had only about 2 miles to go. The roads here are in pretty good shape because they are still new’ish. Anything is better than chipseal too. For the route we ride to the complete other side of the TMS then turn west toward the track then north to the finish line. The section of road to the west towards TMS was about a quarter of a mile and in my opinion, the worst part of the entire ride. The wind in our faces for this section of road felt to be around 30 mph. It was brutally strong. It does make for a good ending to the ride though when we turn North to the finish line looking completely winded.
The Finish Line !
I finished the day at 101 miles at a average pace of 17.9 miles per hour. After the ride I was not completely trashed like I had expected. Getting over the 100 mile or Century mark is a huge accomplishment for me personally and probably more importantly to the rest of this year’s riding, I am over the mental hump of not believing I can ride a century.
I will post about day two soon.. It is not nearly as good a story but why not…
That is all I know for now….
Rob
enduranceride 