Earlier this year I was visiting with a good friend (Kerri Cole) here in Kansas City and she told me about how she was tasked with organizing a bike team for the MS ride. I really liked the idea of the ride and had been wanting to get back to riding my bike again as one of my ways of becoming more active. I mentioned this ride to a co-worker who is a very active bike rider and he formed a team for us.
Fast-forward a few months and we had a total of 6 co-workers on the team along with 3 additional members for a total of 9. While I was in the midst's of my busy travel season in the summer, they were all doing group rides, training rides, etc. I on the other hand was sitting on planes traveling across the country and not training. By early August I finally ordered me a road bike instead of using my mountain bike as I knew that would make a huge difference for me. That got delayed and ended up with some other obstacles that wouldn't allow me to train. By the weekend prior to the ride I was completely stressed out and overwhelmed with everything that I had basically given up on the ride before I had ever started. I was planning on going into the office that week and telling them that I wasn't going to participate after all. The only issue was that I had this nagging feeling in me that I was letting them down, my friend Kerri down who was going to ride with me, and even more myself. So I resounded myself to the fact that I still needed to do this ride and just do my best.
The day of the race I was up at 4:30 am getting ready and heading down to Garmen Headquarters that was the start of the ride. It was a very cool and cloudy morning. All I could think was I hope that this ride isn't cold the entire time and that the rain doesn't happen. As the rest of my team was doing the 71 mile ride they took off at 7 and I took off with Kerri at 8 for the short ride.
The first ten miles went by very quickly. We warmed up very quickly and began to enjoy our ride. Kerri and I chatted the entire time about anything and everything. We realized that there were some parts of Kansas that were very nice. (You won't here me say that much.) These 10 miles took us about an hour to complete. After a short break at the stop, which by the way was amazing, we got back on the ride.
We go about ten more miles to De Soto, Kansas where they have lunch waiting for us. Now it's only 10 am at this point but being up at 4:30 we were ready to eat. We ate quickly as the longer we were off the bike the colder we got again. We were very proud of ourselves that we had done 20 miles as it was the longest ride each of us had ever done and we were still able to keep going.
Now the next 10 miles were a little harder. We ran into a few hills that were a bit of a pain but we made it through them and ended strong there. At this point we were both getting a little tired but knew that we actually could finish and our competitiveness kicked in and we knew we wanted to finish this ride if at all possible.
The final 8 miles became very interesting. The route was perfect in that it was mostly flat the entire way and a great view. What was not good was the rain that hit. It wasn't misting or even light rain. This was heavy rain and there was no place to seek shelter. We pulled over a couple of times so I could shake the water out of my eyes and helmet but kept on going. At this point I was determined to finish come hell or high water. (Honestly I thought this was god's way of telling this MIZZOU fan that I didn't need to be heading in Lawrence. :) ) Riding into Lawrence and seeing that finish line was the best feeling I've had in a long time.
I couldn't believe that with the little training and riding I had previously, that I was able to complete a 38 mile bike ride in 4 hours. Talking with some of my co-workers they expected me to stop half way through and were very impressed that I could finish. Some of them didn't complete the 71 miles for whatever reason. For me I was proud that I was able to accomplish something I never thought I could do but wanted to do. Now my plan is to do some training and plan to ride the full 150 miles over the two days next year. I must also point out that the rain was so bad on Sunday that the second day ride was cancelled. So there you have it. My adventure on my bike and my new found love of that hobby. Today was my first day back on the bike, had to give the butt a rest, and was happy to be back on. Let's see where this takes me.
Here are a few pictures from the ride:
