House of Snark v2.0

Day 1 – Katy (Houston) to La Grange.

It drizzled at the start, but everything was dry about 30 miles in. Most amusing was receiving a text message from the MS Society while standing at the starting line in the rain stating “We are monitoring the weather and wet conditions may be possible.” That became the running joke all weekend whenever it rained.

The first 20 or 30 miles of this day flew by because Houston is so flat. The next 20 miles had some mild rolling hills. I volunteered to ride with some newbies on our team and make sure they made it okay while their faster friends took off on the hills, but in the course of trying to teach them how to use the gears on the bike to make the hills easier, I ended up dropping them a couple of times. I was riding strong into lunch and made it there by noon – my friend Lloyd with the MS society said I looked better riding into the lunch break than I looked at the same point in the October ride.

However, as you make your way closer to Austin, you get deeper into the Hill Country. I started the segment after lunch with two full water bottles and rolled into the next break point out of water and very thirsty. By about this point, the batteries on the Garmin had ran down (I forgot to charge it before I left) so from this point forward, I could only guess how far it would be before the next breakpoint or what my speed was. I filled up and went on another 6 miles or so to the next break.

Now the hills were really kicking in. I rolled in out of breath, filled up, rested a bit, and headed out of the breakpoint.

It was 12.3 miles to the next break. This was the segment I heard others on my team plan to skip. As I rolled past the SAG tent, I decided that maybe there was a good reason to sit it out. As the van took me to the next breakpoint and we drove up the hills, I decided I made a good call.

After a trip in the air-conditioned van, I could make the next 19 miles on my own. It was hilly, but not as bad as the others. It really helped when we hit Fayetteville that pretty much the whole town came down to Main Street and cheered us on. I rolled into La Grange about 4:30 or 5:00, got a meal & a shower and called it a night.

There are some definite advantages to riding on a mattress store’s team. Namely, Sealy was a sponsor, so we had beds to sleep on inside the tent. (We left the plastic on the mattresses so they could be donated to charity after the ride.) It took me a few minutes after lights out to get comfortable, but once I was, I was out and slept through the rainstorms overnight.

Route mileage: 82.7
Miles completed: 70.4

Day 2 – La Grange to Austin

By 6:00, the rain had reduced to a drizzle and the fairgrounds were a mud pit. Laura’s cousin (who got me on her team) decided that she wasn’t up to riding to lunch in Bastrop and strongly recommended that I join her and several others in a truck up there. She’s done this ride several times, so I took the advice. As we went up that long steep hill, I was grateful. The truck let us off about a mile from lunch. Lloyd told me I looked great as I pulled into the lunch stop. I told him I should have since I sagged it.

Out of lunch, it was back to the hills again. On the one hand, I missed having a bike computer because I wanted to know where I was. On the other hand, it was nice to not pay attention to how fast I was going and just ride what I was comfortable doing. It was a long stretch to the next break (14 miles) so I stopped a couple of times to catch my breath, but I managed my fluid consumption well and stayed hydrated.

Next breakpoint was 8.6 miles away. Again, with the hills, this was a long 8.6 miles. I was pretty fatigued by the time I made it there.

The final breakpoint had a party atmosphere. Everyone could see the end in sight and was happy, if tired and sore. Whoever owned the land was selling barbecue. I almost bought some, but decided that if I ate too much I might not finish. Onward.

About 3 miles to the end, I was stopped at a stoplight and clipped out. (I have shoes that attach to my pedals.) I bent over to grab a water bottle (I was really tired so I was shaking a bit) and lost my balance and fell over. The shoe that remained clipped in had its cleat twisted out of position and I couldn’t get it back into place. I decided that I hadn’t ridden this far to get into a van, so I rode with the jacked up shoe (and some blood dripping down my leg) anyway and rode across the finish line.

I wasn’t the only one on the team to have issues at the end. One of the girls I had been looking after the day before had something break on her bike a mile from the end and the bike marshals couldn’t fix it, so she walked in. Laura’s cousin, who finished earlier, saw her, and gave her a bike to ride across the finish line with. Awesome.

This was a great experience, and the most difficult ride I’ve ever done. I couldn’t have done it without the team. I helped others, and they helped me. That’s what it’s all about. Thanks to all who supported me and donated to end MS. If you didn’t donate, you have about a month left to click here and help.

Route mileage: 77.9
Miles completed: 31.9

Total route: 160.6
Total completed: 102.3

Not bad.

Completed so far: Baytown Gator Ride (63-ish miles), Pearland Great Escape (73-ish miles)

Coming up next: Fort Bend Education Expedition (79 miles). This begins and ends at the high school right by the house. It looks like the long route will go through a good chunk of the Great Escape route. If I can hit the turn at 26.2 miles by 10:00 AM, I can do the 79 mile route. If I miss the turn by that point, I think it’s either a 50 or 60 mile ride. I think I can pull it off if the winds are calm.

There are 9 weeks remaining to the Tour de Cure, which rides from San Antonio to San Marcos to Austin. Donate here.

The Bike MS Ride to the River is October 3-4.  Donate here.

I’m back for my third MS 150.  As usual, I can’t do things the easy way (the Houston – Austin ride always happens while I’m at NAB, so I ride the San Antonio ride instead) but some changes to the ride will make this go more smoothly.

They’ve changed the route from San Antonio – Corpus Christi with a killer 80+ mile first day to a ride from San Antonio to New Braunfels and back.  It looks like we’ll be riding slightly different roads on the return, and there is a 30-ish mile extension you can do on the first day to make it a century.  Every year I say to myself that I should do the 100 miles, but I never could finish the first day the last two years.  So, my goal this time around is to finish the first day before they close the course, and if there’s sufficient time, I’m going for the century loop.

I did something smart a couple of weeks ago when they first announced the new route and date.  The overnight will be at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort, so I snagged a hotel room.  I checked yesterday right after registration opened at 10:00 to see if the rates had changed and it was sold out.  Obviously, Valero and the other corporate teams have booked the place up.  I’m glad I have a room!

But the nice thing about returning to the starting point is that it makes it much easier for me to do this ride.  I don’t have to take a bus from Houston – San Antonio and then another bus from Corpus to Houston or arrange to put my bike on a truck.  I can just drive up to the Alamodome, park my car, and then when I return, load up and drive home.  Nice.

The training is ongoing; I already have the Tour de Cure coming up in May, and I’ll keep riding beyond that to stay in shape for Ride to the River in October.  My first big traning ride for Tour de Cure is the Fort Bend Education Expedition, which is a 79 mile ride that begins and ends about 2 miles from the house the last weekend of March.

Donate here for Tour de Cure. (American Diabetes Association)

Donate here for Ride to the River. (National MS Society)