MS 150 rolls on

What Part am I on... 4?  Yeah, it was a long ride.

When it came time for the big day (or two, in this case), I packed my bags, my bike, my helmet, shoes, snacks, water bottles, and other accumulated gear and headed south to Austin. I decided to take the shuttle to Houston so that I could just drive straight to Waco after I finished the ride on Sunday.  I loaded my bike onto a truck, and got on a bus. We waited a whole hour for the bus to fill up before we could head on south. As we drove that long road to Houston, it really hit me that I’d be riding my BICYCLE all the way back to Austin with my own two legs. What an incredible feeling! When we arrived, my dad picked me up and then we collected my bike before meeting Ben for a Carb Load at Russo’s.

That night we got everything situated and ready to go for the next morning. Our team had planned to meet at the Brookshire Brothers in Katy and start from there. I don’t remember exactly what time it was but it was still dark out, and really really COLD! Dad dropped us off, and once the sun came up we all hit the road! At 7:58 a.m. we arrived at the first rest stop. I checked the weather and it was 39 degrees!

No wonder my hands and arms and feet were numb! The rest of the day we spent pedaling from break point to break point, snacking on all the wonderful snacks along the way. We had lunch at like 10 a.m. so we were pretty hungry by the last stop in Fayetteville!

 

Most of the ride was really smooth, with the wind at our backs and a perfect 70 degrees (once it warmed up!) – except for the last 10 miles heading into La Grange. Those last 10 just happened to be into the wind, and boy did we feel it! I thought we’d never make it. But 85 miles and nearly 6 ½ hours later (not including stops), we rolled into Camp St. Mark!  

After dinner, a shower, a massage, and a second dinner (yep) we settled into our sleeping bags around 8 p.m. and got a pretty good night's sleep in our Team Simmons tent! (Thanks to some ear plugs, an air mattress and being really, really tired.)

My first marathon

The following Saturday, Ben and I rode the Raven’s Revenge in Huntsville. I signed us up for what I thought was a 50-mile ride, but when we arrived we learned it was only 45. We had a good ride with great weather, a few rolling hills, and some excellent rest stops. 26.2 Miles in, we stopped at the top of a hill for a snack. We were 2 hours in and I commented to Ben that some people can run 26.2 miles in that time. Yikes! We pressed on and crossed the finish line, only to learn we had completed 41 miles rather than 45. I was slightly disappointed because I wanted the mileage, and tried to convince Ben we needed to keep going. However, he was smart and led me straight back to the car! We followed that ride with a celebration lunch at Chilis.

That Sunday began daylight savings, which meant I could start riding after work and not have to worry about it getting dark. And ride I did! I rode 2-3 times a week after the time change and learned that the more I kept it up the less I noticed a sore butt or muscles. The wind did not let up, however, and I continued to fight it the whole month of March.  I learned that hills are nothing compared to going against the wind. 

The first Saturday in April, Ben and I did another training ride together. This one was north of Austin, a.k.a. HILL COUNTRY. I had failed to realize the implications of that when I signed us up! We rode 45 miles over those hills, in that spring Texas wind. A couple of those hills made me really appreciate the training rides I had done in Cameron Park.  Ben and I felt mighty accomplished when we finished that ride, until I realized, “You know in two weeks we’ll still have 30 miles left to go at this point, and then have to do it all over again tomorrow.” What an overwhelming prospect!

I continued my training, counting down the days (and counting up the miles) until the day of the big ride. I set a goal to ride 300 miles before the big day and I reached 349.44 miles by my last training ride on April 17th. I think I'll just round that up to an even 350!