2010 MS 100 Bike Ride

Quick note to share the map of the MS 100 Bike Ride I participated in today in Logan (and the surrounding communities.)

The weather could not have been better. I love Cache Valley this time of year. Temperatures in the low 80's, green pastures, beautiful wild flowers, and blue skies! I think some day I would like to live there.

Anyway, Lisa, Kate and I drove up to Logan yesterday, arriving just after noon. We camped at the fairgrounds (this is the first time I've camped there). We set up our trailer beneath a nice shade tree and headed to the Aggie Creamery for lunch.

A few large sandwiches and the best ice cream ever later, we went back to the fairgrounds to lounge for a few hours. We set up the Team UCCU tent in the "village", tried to sell a few MS wristbands and then checked in for the ride at 5 pm.

Our team had its traditional team dinner at Callaway's Bistro in Smithfield. I highly recommend this fine establishment.

A quick stop at Walmart to pick up breakfast cereal, milk, Ibuprofen and earplugs and back to the trailer. Lights out at 10:30.

The alarm went off at 5:45 but I was awake at 5:30 (as was most of the park.) A chilly 48 degrees at 6 am would warm to the mid 80's before the ride was over.

After a team photo we weaseled our way as close to the front of the second wave of riders as we could get and took off in a large pack. I hate riding with a lot of riders around me so I made my way to the outside and sprinted for the front.

Behind me were two other Team UCCU members, Jayson Vincent and his wife, Brooke. The three of us would ride the entire 100 miles together, or at least 95 miles until Brooke left Jayson and I behind. I did catch her at a red light as was able to finish ahead of her, only because she went by the turn into the park at the finish :-)

I finished with a ride time of about 5 hours, 5 minutes (I don't know the exact time because I walked around with my bike at the first rest stop which kept my cyclometer going.)

Of the three times I've ridden the MS 100, this was the fastest but my conditioning was probably the worst. Maybe next year I'll be more serious about training.

Now, I am very tired and I think I will go to bed.

Here I Raise My Ebenezer

I was listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's version of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" when I realized that I had no idea what "here I raise my Ebenezer" meant. A quick search on lds.org took me to 1 Samuel 7:12 which says, "Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." Ebenezer, being translated from Hebrew, means "stone of help." This commemoration was placed to remind the Israelites of their victory over the Philistines at Mizpeh and the help they received from the Lord.

Perhaps we should raise our own Ebenezer -- something that reminds us of the blessings and help the Lord has given us. It's not enough to just petition God for help in our prayers. We should be mindful of how those prayers are answered and give thanks. President Eyring taught us to "remember". By taking notice of our blessings and the miracles in our life, and recording those blessing and miracles, we remember for ourselves and our posterity and raise an Ebenezer.

Just a lesson learned I thought I would share.

Have We Reached the Point Where All We Can Do Is Laugh?!

Okay, now that we've turned the most prosperous and successful country in the history of mankind over to 537 greedy, power-seeking idiots can we all just sit back and laugh?! I mean, every reasonable person seems to see what is going on to the point of almost disbelief. It's sheer lunacy. Anyway, I came across this little nugget on YouTube that I just have to share because it is so true. Enjoy.

MS Bike Ride Journal Day 2

Okay, pretend I wrote this on Saturday after the ride instead of two days later. I was tired.

I set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. But when I woke up at 5:10 I decided it was probably better to just get up than to spend the next 20 minutes worrying about when the alarm was going to go off.

I packed up my things and headed by 5:30. After a quick trip to McDonald's drive-thru for a sausage and egg bagel, sans sausage, and a large OJ I was on my way up the canyon.

I worried because the temperature in Brigham City was around 60 that early in the morning. But as I headed up the canyon the temperature dropped: 50's, 40's, yikes! By the time I reached the fairgrounds it was a comfortable 51 degrees -- just as forecast.

Parked the car, checked the air pressure in my tires loaded my seat pack and set off for our team tent.

We snapped a quick team photo, made last minute adjustments, took one final potty break and moved to the start line.

With over 3,000 riders they have to start in waves simply to protect all the riders and not overwhelm law enforcement which has to manage the bike traffic and the regular car traffic through Logan.

The waves were started every five minutes starting at 7 am. I and two of my team riders, Joe Andersen and Paul Ellsworth, were at the very front of the sixth wave. Putting me at the front of a starting line is a bad idea. My mind immediately reverts back to my high school track days.

Following our police escort we took off at a nice clip -- I wasn't going to be passed in the first mile!

For the next 20 miles I worked my way through the throngs of cyclists being passed by many and passing even more. I had dropped Joe and Paul somewhere around mile three and would go the rest of the way on my own.

I made the first rest stop around mile 20 where I met up with several other of our team members (we had all started at different times.) At this point I felt great. The weather was comfortable and the course had been fairly flat.

This would be about the last time I would see any other riders from our team.

I plugged in my iPod and headed out.

I was able to maintain an 18 mph pace over the entire 100 mile course, stopping about every 20 miles to rest, eat a little and fill my water bottles. I finished with a ride time of 5:27 and an overall time of 6:15.

The last ten miles, as always, were the hardest. I jumped into a paceline with about 9 miles to go and rode with them for two miles. But their pace was just a little too fast for me and I dropped off. With five miles to go the song, "Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M came on my iPod. I had to laugh out loud!

I pulled across the finish line to the cheers and congratulations of the MS staff and many supporters and received my commemorative medal ;-)

I was a great ride. The temperature never got above 85. The air was calm and the route was simply beautiful. I will definitely ride this one again.

After showering at the public pool shower and eating a meal of bratwurst, chips and water I waited at the tent for the rest of our team to arrive. We had four team members ride their first century ride and they all did great!

I headed home around 6 pm tired but happy. The best part was that I was able to raise $1,000 for this worthy cause. Thank you to all who supported me financially and otherwise.

My MS Bike Ride Journal Day 1

I arrived in Logan today, OK, actually I arrived in Brigham City. You see, when I was planning this little adventure I was feeling pretty tight. So I decided I could save a few bucks by staying in Brigham City instead of Logan where all the other riders stay thus driving the price of hotels up.
So, I arrived at the Crystal Inn Brigham City at about 3 pm. I checked into my room and immediately took a 1 1/2 hour nap.
I then drove through the canyon to the epicenter of the MS event: the Logan fairgrounds. Arriving just after 5 pm the check-in line snaked down the street about a hundred yards. I decided to walk around the "village" a while and wait for the line to get shorter (check-in started at 5 so this was the initial rush.)
The village is a hodge podge of gazebo style tents consisting of teams gathering for meals and relaxation and vendors hawking their wares. I decided at the last minute to bring up one of our tents and a credit union banner and got permission to set up camp on the edge of the village -- kind of a squatter I suppose.
I went back to the check in line which had shrunk by that time and checked in. I had reached my goal of $1,000 just a few hours earlier and made the cut for the Ruby Spoke Club. But as I opened my gift bag just a few minutes ago I noticed that they gave me the wrong jersey, doh!
As I went to set up our team tent the heavens opened and gave us what I hope will be the last bit of rain for at least a day or two.
We had a team dinner at an Italian Pizzeria in Smithfield called Callaway's (very good), located about 10 miles north of Logan. Our entire team raised just under $9,000 but we should have some more donations coming in which will put is over $9,000. The last time I headed this we raised about $4,000 so this year was a big success.
The ride starts at 7 am sharp. Because of my decision to stay in BC I will have to get up between 5 and 5:30, ugh, to make the 30 minute drive to Logan. We are meeting at 6:40 for a team picture and then will move to the starting area.
If all goes well, I hope to finish in about 6 hours. I know my training hasn't been as good as last time and I won't have Bret, my riding partner, along to pace me so I'm setting my goal lower than last time.
Well, better hit the hay. Morning will be here before I know it.

Going MS for MS

I guess it's time that I come clean: I'm going MS for MS. By the first MS I mean metro sexual. The second is Multiple Sclerosis.

For the second time I'm riding in the MS Bike Tour (I won't call it by it's official name because I don't like it) in Logan Utah. Last time in order to motivate donors I shaved my head. This time, I'm being a little more subtle -- I've shaved my legs.

I have to admit that for several years as I've ridden my bike I've looked down in disgust at the hairy poles protruding from my biking shorts and envied the smooth, muscular look of serious cyclists.

Hey it's for a good cause and while I may never have legs like Lance Armstrong I do like the look of the glistening sweat on my smooth legs.

Of course, this is as MS as I'll go. You won't find me wearing a salmon colored shirt, polishing my fingernails, sporting a man-purse or hanging Ansel Adams' photos in my office -- but I will keep my legs trimmed, at least for another month.

How Easily We Get Bored

Yikes! Has it been two months since my last blog?!

What a crazy Spring in Utah -- or should I say, lack of Spring. 90 Degrees one day, snow the next. It's made my bike training rather difficult. Regardless, I'm starting to get in the habit. Out each day at lunchtime I'm slowly getting my endurance and strength back .... at least my cycling strength.

I started a nightly routine of situps and pushups to try and strengthen my core. Wow! I decided to start moderately so that I didn't get too sore and have to stop for two weeks like I've done in the past. I found out that moderate means 20 situps and 10 pushups. I feel old.

I have been able to increase my situps by five each night. I'll see how long that lasts. Maybe an increase of one per night is more realistic. I hadn't really done the math but now that I think of it in two months I'll be doing over 300 situps per night -- probably not a good idea =)

I've decided to stop weighing myself. I don't want to look at the scale until I can notice some change in the mirror.

So much for my rambling.