2010 Bike MS

Total Miles: 172

Total Climbing: Almost 10,000 feet (I’m trying to find someone whose odometer showed a couple hundred more feet than mine did so I can claim 10,000 ft!)

Completed my 3rd Bike MS! It was another fantastic ride. The Colorado Chapter of the MS Society has this event so well organized and supported that the pain of the ride is easily forgotten. I have to go on a diet after the ride because there is so much food and I way over estimate the number of calories I’m burning. A 3rd brownie? Why not? A 3rd lunch? Why, I think I will! There were around 3000 riders again this year and it’s an amazing experience to see all the staff, riders, and volunteers out for the weekend to support this cause.

We had a team again this year and had 15 riders. Several participated for the first time and it was great to see them take in the experience for the first time.

I like to give myself a challenge every year and this year, I wanted to do the Century ride on the 2nd day, so my day one ride was paced so I’d have energy for day 2. Steve used day one as a training ride, so he was off after rest stop one, and Jamey and I rode together and had a great time solving all the problems of the world and enjoying the beautiful scenery. I made sure to stop at all the rest stops and eat everything I could put in my mouth (I need the calories for tomorrow, I rationalized) and snagged as many free mini cliff bars and shot blocks as I could stuff in my jersey. Lunch today was a full buffet with sandwiches, salads, chips, brownies, cookies and drinks (only the hydrating kind at this point in the event). The best rest stop is the last one at around mile 60. By then, it’s getting hot, I’m tired and I’m wondering if it will storm tomorrow so I have an excuse not to do the century. But then, I pedal into the rest stop and they have Snowcones! With the water bottles refilled, a short rest, a snowcone and various other food items, off we go to Horsetooth Reservoir, the big climb at the end of the ride. As I started climbing, I see Steve coming from the other direction. He had finished and rode back to ride with me. The first thing out of his mouth was “we’re going to have to ride 3 more miles when we finish”. I’m huffing and puffing up the climb by this point and was sure I was hearing things because surely my husband isn’t telling me I have to ride more AFTER I finish? He had calculated that he would be at 97 miles when he finished, and you can’t just quit at 97 miles, so we have to do 3 more to get him a century on day one and I’m his support crew, so I have to do it too. I decided to pretend I couldn’t talk through my huffing and puffing otherwise I might have said something I might have regretted. We finished the climb and then got to my favorite part of day one: riding down Horsetooth Reservoir into Fort Collins. It’s all downhill to the finish and it’s a blast.

Day Two

Steve and the Fort Collins riders on our team did a Century last year, only they did a slightly different route than the official route and Steve thought I would “enjoy” this route too. Steve, Mark and I started at 6:30 am and headed up Rist Canyon. It was beautiful going up the Canyon – we had a fox trotting in front of us for a while, a stream running along the road, and Aspen stands. Then… we got to the really steep part and I forgot to look around. I had to get off my bike twice and walk a bit. If the ride stopped at the top of the Canyon I would have gritted my teeth and powered up but all I could think was “after I get to the top of this canyon, I have 75 miles to go”! As we were climbing, Jay rode by us like we were standing still. He was kind enough to wait for us at the top though and we took a break and took a few photos.

Steve set his land speed record on the Rist Canyon descent last year so he was quite eager to top that. The guys took off and flew downhill; I look for ways to avoid pain so I didn’t chase them. I eventually got to the bottom to hear the boys comparing speed records “I think I hit 55; at least that is the last number I saw!” “I think it hit 57!” “I only touched my brakes once!” Yea, I only touched my brakes once too – I started braking at the top of the hill and didn’t let them go until I was at the bottom. It was a beautiful ride, but really? Rist Canyon at the beginning of my first century ride? After yesterday’s ride of 72 miles? Why do I listen to Steve?

I was feeling much better having gotten that out of the way and comforted myself knowing I had rest stops and lunch coming up. I started panicking though, when we hooked into the “official” route and I didn’t see any riders. We got to the next rest stop and they were tearing down. I went into serious depression. WHAT IF THERE IS NO FOOD FOR ME THE REST OF THE RIDE? This rest stop still had some water and bananas and kindly let us dig in. We didn’t stay long, driven by my need to ensure we got to the next food stop before they were gone. We got going and started catching other riders. Before long we were at the lunch stop and I rush of relief came over me when I say the buffet still set up.

We reached the last rest stop and Steve though someone said the finish was 11 miles to go. Given that calculation, we would have arrived at the finish at 98 miles. Seriously?? As it turns out, hit the finish at 100.71 miles; it would have been a bummer if Steve had to ride my bike around the parking lot 2 more miles.

This is the part where I express my gratitude and pride for Steve. All kidding aside, he knows when to push me to challenge myself and when to encourage me. He let me draft off him almost the whole ride the 2nd day and I don’t know if I could have done it without that. He tells me I can do it when I’m tired and mentally questioning whether I can. This is the 3rd year he’s ridden with me on the 2nd day to cross the finish line together and when we are riding together towards the finish line and the people are screaming as if they came out just to watch us, and I look at Steve and realize he’s the one with MS that I’m riding for, I choke up and get emotional. He is my hero. He has MS and there is never a day that he complains about his pain, he never uses his MS as an excuse to not do something, and he inspires so many with his will and commitment. When I think about quitting the ride early, or think about how much I hurt, I remind myself of Steve, and so many others with MS, who live with pain every day and know that I can live with it for a few hours.