TriForMS Team Members: 18
TriForMS Team Members not injured who rode: 16
TriForMS Team Members volunteering this year: 01
Michele’s Progress: $2625
Steve’s Progress: $1295 (help get Steve to his goal of $2k!
Team’s Progress: $21,245 (you can help us get over 25k!)
Day One by the Numbers
Distance: 78.00 mi
Elevation Gain: 2,692 ft
Calories Burned: 3,298 C
Calories Consumed: >3,298
Time: 06:41:09
Moving Time: 05:21:52
Elapsed Time: 06:41:09 (a few too many rest stops??)
Avg Speed: 11.7 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 14.5 mph
Max Speed: 36.3 mph
Elevation Gain: 2,692 ft
Elevation Loss: 2,960 ft
Min Elevation: 4,953 ft
Max Elevation: 5,775 ft
(I bet YOUR watch won’t tell you all this Arlene! So what if mine doesn’t tell time; who needs to know the time when you can get all this cool info??)
Day Two by the Numbers
Distance: 72.80 m (Good thing I rode an extra 6 miles yesterday or this wouldn’t have been a 150 mile ride)
Elevation Gain: 2,484 ft
Calories: 3,266 C
Time: 06:17:08
Moving Time: 05:02:02
Elapsed Time: 06:17:08
Avg Speed: 11.6 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 14.5 mph
Max Speed: 37.3 mph
Elevation Gain: 2,484 ft
Elevation Loss: 2,173 ft
Min Elevation: 4,980 ft
Max Elevation: 5,775 ft (got Oxygen??)
The details… the good, the bad and the ugly
3:45am: I’m supposed to get up at this hour and be in a mental frame of mind that will allow me to drive 90 minutes, get organized, sit on a tiny apparatus that is smaller than my butt for over 6 hours and ride my bike 75 miles today? This calls for full strength coffee with extra sugar. Fortunately I have an anal husband when it comes to preparing for races and rides, and pretty much everything was packed in the car and the cooler so all I had to do was brew the coffee and grab some yogurt to eat once my stomach woke up. I haven’t stooped to sleeping in my cycling clothing but I will consider that option next year. One less thing to do a 4am.
Being the HIGH ROLLER that I am, we got a premium parking spot – no waiting in traffic congestion and right next to the luggage drop off and the porta-potty. You all think I’m working hard to raise over $2000 to help fight MS, but really, I set my fund raising goals so I can get VIP parking and short porta potty lines! OK, not really. I’d ride to fight MS even if I couldn’t make fun of Arlene waiting in the long potty lines but it is nice!
Most of the team gathered for a few minutes of conversation and a group photo before we headed to the start line.
We got off about 7am with great weather, slight cloud cover and warm enough to need only the fashionable arm warmers and no jacket. Steve and Jay were off before we hit the first street light and the rest of us settled in to our pace and pedaled comfortably along. I had the pleasure of riding with my colleague Jamey for most of the way. Time flew by as we chatted about work, life and kids and enjoyed the beautiful scenery at the base of the Rocky Mountains. We passed the first rest stop and hit the second one where I discovered Spelt Sticks and was overjoyed to not have to wait in line for the porta-potty. With all necessary things taken care of we were off again. Another 20 miles and we were at the lunch stop. If you’ve never ridden in a Bike MS, you’ve got to ride in one for the food! Yummy lunch (perhaps a bit too much lunch as I found when I hit Horstooth Reservoir). Off we went again with the sun high overhead by this time and almost 90 degrees. Not long before we hit Horsetooth Reservoir my stomach was telling me that I if I didn’t drink more and slow down my lunch would be making another appearance. About that time I saw Steve on his return trip – he has finished and came back to ride the rest of the way with me. It is at once both very sweet to have a partner ride his ride, turn around and ride with me, and humiliating that I’m so slow that he ~can~ finish, turn around and when he finds me, still have a decent ride left. Most days I’ll well adjusted and don’t dwell on my lack of athletic prowess, but then there are days when it’s just downright embarrassing. I seem to pass through those times though because I keep on doing my version of “athletic events”.
I have learned that it takes years to get faster and stronger on the bike. This year’s Horsetooth Reservoir climb was done without whining, whimpering or complaining and I was at the top. My lunch had settled and wasn’t threatening to come up any longer and I was ready for the wonderful descent to the finish. Until…. we got about 4 or so miles from the finish and Steve rides up beside me and tells me “I have to do about 6 miles after we finish to get to 100 miles today”. And I looked at my odometer and realized I was only going to be at 72 miles at the finish. Shit. I’m gonna have to ride more too. I can’t stop at 72 miles. As is our tradition, we rode across the finish line together, me the non-athlete riding my bike 72 miles and my husband, 57 years old with MS. And we kept riding. We meandered through the streets of Fort Collins near CSU and were now close to the house Steve lived in when we met. We rode by his old house in Fort Collins and reminisced about when we first met 23 years ago. The tender reminiscing was cut short, overtaken by hunger pains, sweat rolling down our faces and the butt screaming for something to sit on with some cushion.
We enjoyed our afternoon at the team tent visiting with the other team members and other riders. It’s an amazing event! Our dorm room at CSU had no A/C, was stark, bare, and dismal. It’s so good not to be a college student!
Day Two:
Up at a more reasonable hour; 5:30, but still, it’s not 3:45. Up, dressed, packed and off to breakfast in about 10 minutes. Steve isn’t one to let me wake up slowly and linger. We hit the breakfast line and Steve obviously chose the wrong line because he got the French Toast nazi. Steve is not a big person, but he can pack some food away. Especially after riding 100 miles and facing another 75 today. He politely asks for eggs, sausage and French toast. You only get 2 the breakfast line Nazi tells him. He sulks away, eats the first breakfast and goes back in line, opting for a line with a friendlier looking French Toast server. French Toast please. Slap. One piece on the plate. Can I have another piece? Only one piece of French Toast. I guess today isn’t going to be the day when Steve relieves my mom’s concern about him and finally puts on more weight.
Tom is our team's top fundraiser. He's already raised over $4000 this year to help find a cure for MS and to find a way to reverse the damage of MS. Go Tom!
Several of us started together and off we went. The good thing about Day Two is you get Horsetooth Reservoir over with right off the bat and then you can kick back and relax for the next 65 miles. Today was all about drafting which can be a blast, but can also be a lot of work too. I was riding along and a group of cyclists rode by and since it was still early, I had some energy, caught on, and drafted with them. They were riding at a pace that was just faster than me, so I had to work to hang on, but it was a blast for the 3-4 miles I was able to hang on! Steve found me and then rode with me. I was anticipating an easy rest of the ride since I was going to make him do all the work and draft. I had visions of gliding along, putting out so little energy and effort that I wouldn’t even break a sweat. After about 2 hours of drafting behind him, I finally cried Uncle and made him ride beside my sweaty, hot, and tired body. “Why am I working so hard at not working hard?” Drafting behind Steve turned out to be more work than riding my own pace. Even when I had him slow down, it was still too much work. He keeps a constant, steady pace, and I have to stay focused the whole time, staring at his butt and keeping just far enough behind so that I don’t ride into him but not so far behind I don’t get his draft. We switched and I set a blistering pace (not). No offense to the scenery when I was drafting off Steve, but I get to see a bit more when I’m not drafting. The day got hotter, I got more tired and my butt screamed even louder. It was 98 degrees when we finished but I did it again!
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