Day 1 – The Big Chill
By 5:00 Saturday morning, I was showered, dressed, and in the process of getting all Cheryl's and my gear loaded in the car. I stepped outside and immediately scurried back into the house for a jacket. The thermometer read 54 °F, but a 7-10 mph breeze out of the north made it feel a lot cooler.
When we arrived in Frisco to meet up with the rest of the team, most everyone was shivering and jumping around to keep warm, except Cliff (who was probably cold too, but just too
ornery tough to let on). Even so, the mood was high. Gerry was bundled up in a pile of blankets, determined as usual to come out and see us all off.
Despite the swelling of the Wheeler Dealers' ranks this year, we're still a small team. That meant we had the dubious privilege of being one of the last groups to be staged for the start of the ride, so by the time we were turned loose on the course we were long past ready to get cranking and generate some body heat. But that's as much negative commentary as I'll make about the weather, because unlike last year it was beautiful and sunny both days, cool enough for comfortable riding, and not a hint of rain anywhere.
As usual, when you have a few thousands of riders vying for the same chunk of road as all the other riders (and trucks and cars and motorcycles), things are pretty crowded for the first couple hours. I started off trying to ride with Steve, Peggy, and Jason but by the first 5 miles had already gotten separated from them in the traffic. I just rode my ride, chatted with a few friendly faces along the way, and skipped the first two rest stops. Sarah, Lynn, and Rick were at break point 3 when I got there, so we left together and I got to ride with them for the rest of Day 1.
The north wind had been challenging us a bit all morning and, although we all agreed that it was better to have a headwind in the earlier stages of the day than the latter, we were glad when we turned west toward Lake Ray Roberts. The headwind was replaced by large aggregate chip seal, but we enjoyed the sunshine and joked about how all our dental work was rattling loose.
After the long trek across the Lake Ray Roberts dam, we came to Sanger and pulled in to break point 4 for lunch. There, our friends and family were waiting in their bright orange volunteer t-shirts to feed us Subway sandwiches and/or PB&Js (with Cool Ranch Doritos or one's alternate choice of Lays product). We didn't dawdle. Lunch, potty break, another dose of
SportLegs, a shot of
Pickle Juice Sport, some stretching, and then we were back on the bikes.
From Sanger, we turned east into a section of rolling hills, which brought us back to the reality that we weren't going to just coast the rest of the way. The descending/climbing rhythms on a recumbent are different from those on an upright, because we tend to descend faster and climb more slowly. So, when we got into the rollers I decided to stop fighting those rhythms and lost contact with my teammates after a 32 mph downhill. Then, after 5 miles or so of more up than down, Rick caught and passed me. He said Lynn was close behind and that Sarah was a bit farther back – but she was struggling a bit.
(back row) Bob, Rick, Steve, Mike, Cliff, Jason.
(front row) Shaina, Sarah, Peggy, Lynn
Sarah told us later that she may have been counting on a tailwind after lunch to make the trip south easy and became a bit discouraged when she still had to work. Still, when I reached break point 5 (or was it 6?), Lynn had only been waiting a few minutes, and Sarah rolled in less than a minute behind me. We took short break for snacks, more SportLegs, more pickle juice, more stretching, and (for me) some joking around with Chester Cheetah. Then we were back on the road.
Somewhere between Ponder and Justin, we got into a stretch of nice, smooth asphalt, with a tailwind and not a lot of motorized or bicycle traffic. We knew were were getting close to Texas Motor Speedway, and we took advantage of the favorable conditions to cruise along at a comfortable 18-20+ mph until the three of us crossed the finish line together.
Day 1: 82.6 miles, averaging 14.8 mphDay 2 – Ups & Downs (and then Ups Again)
I won't lie to you: this was the day I'd been dreading for pretty much all of April. Any of you who have followed my training log entries for the past month will already know that I've struggled with my hill climbing this year. I knew from last year's MS 150 that Day 2 is the hilly one, and with over 80 miles on my legs from the day before I feared the worst.
On the up side, I did have the benefit of last year's experience going for me, so I knew not to spend the first, less hilly, portion of the day's ride hammering past pacelines and trying to humble racer boyz by passing them uphill on a recumbent (a year older; a year wiser). The weather was a little warmer and a lot less windy for the start, and most of the team elected to skip the lap around Texas Motor Speedway's track in favor of starting closer to the front of the pack.
There were no last-minute hold-ups like the one that… um… held us up, last year. No one crashed and burned on the way out of the speedway. Sarah and I thought we were in for a bad start when we came to a stretch a couple miles into the ride where the shoulder we were riding on was covered with glass and we had no choice but to ride right through it. Fortunately, when we got to a point where we were able to stop and check our tires, I was relieved to discover that my brand new tires didn't have a cut on them. Sarah said she only had a small sliver and, luckily, made it through the rest of the day without a puncture. Our good luck was holding.
Day 1 had shown that Rick, Lynn, Sarah, and I were pretty well matched, so we continued to ride together. Our strategy was to skip the first couple break points in order to get past as many other riders as we could, but when nature called a couple of us we all agreed that a brief pause at break point 2 for visits to the little blue houses was in order. While we were there, we stretched and dosed up on SportLegs – but no pickle juice. There wouldn't be any of that until break point 3, at about 30 miles. I was becoming concerned about a growing pain in my left
achilles tendon. Rick was fighting a cramp in one of his calves. Nothing ride threatening at that point, so on we rode.
We were all feeling pretty good and decided our next stop would be break point 5, where we'd take a break to prepare for a couple long, grinding hills that we knew were in that stretch. I got a phone call shortly before break point 4, where I'd rolled ahead of the group after literally screaming my way up a leg-burning climb. Thinking one of the others might have had a problem, I pulled over and called back – just in time to see my group ride past. Crud! Now I'd have to blow through the
next break point if I wanted to have any chance of catching the group again. Fortunately, as I approached break point 5, I spotted one of our lovely Wheeler Dealers jerseys and pulled in.
As I staggered off my bike, I could see that something wasn't right. Several of the Wheeler Dealers were clustered around Peggy, where she was sitting on a folding chair with a pained expression, flexing her swollen knee. I wasn't sure what the problem was, but Cliff and Steve were arguing the case that she shouldn't try to continue. Peggy, who is as tough and tenacious as they come, had never SAG'ed a ride in her life and desperately wanted not to make this MS 150 her first. Finally, a compromise was reached: Peggy would SAG to the next (and final) break point, where we'd all meet up and ride into Ft. Worth together.
If you're looking at the Day 2 route map and playing along at home, you may have noticed that break point 6 is only 4.9 miles from break point 5. “Why on earth would you place two break points so close together?” you might be thinking – and you'd be right to do so. Let's just say that the reason has to do with gravity – and not in a
good way.
But we battled our way through the next not-quite-five miles to find Cliff, Steve, and Jason waiting for us. Peggy arrived not long after. With roughly 10 miles to the finish, we were all together again (except for Bob and Shaina, who prefer a more leisurely pace). It was time for the obligatory Wheeler Dealers In Repose (on a sidewalk at the last break point) photo. Last year, there were three of us; this year, eight. SportLegs, pickle juice… you know the drill, by now.
l-r: Lynn, Sarah, Rick, Cliff, Mike, Jason, Steve. (Despite appearances, Cliff didn't really have a splitting headache.)
We rolled into the outskirts of Ft. Worth
en masse. Adrenaline was high, and even the policemen holding back the traffic so we could blow through the intersections seemed to get caught up in the excitement of the home stretch. We nearly lost Rick when he caught his wheel in crack, veered hard into the opposing lane of traffic, and made an amazing recovery to keep from crashing. We counted it as a blessing that there had been no on-coming traffic and kept rolling without missing a pedal stroke.
Finally, we caught sight of the steep half-mile climb just before the finish line. No amount of adrenaline was going to take me up that one any faster than 5 mph, but I managed to grind away. When I reached the top, my teammates had pulled off to wait for me.
“Keep going!” I heard Cliff shouting over the blood hammering in my ears. “Don't stop! We're right behind you and we'll all ride across together.”
So I kept pumping away. Left turn, right turn.
“C'mon,
faster!” a police officer called out, as I approached her intersection.
Bite me, I thought. “Thanks!” I g-gasped.
We reached the red brick paving stones, and I slowed (even more) to let the rest of the group get positioned for our grand entrance to the final stretch. I pulled to the left, as planned, and Steve pulled to the right. We were supposed to form up with the three recumbents at the front and the uprights behind us, but Peggy never quite made it in between us (because Steve and I were going too fast, I'm told). I just hope the photographer managed to get us all in, because that would be a photograph suitable for framing.
Day 2: 74.8 miles, averaging 15.4 mphFinal: 157.4 milesEpilogue
Like last year, our friends and spouses were at the finish line greet us with kisses and sweaty hugs. Brad, our manager supreme, took us all to the rental truck to load up the bikes, and we all made it back to the finish line in time to scream and clap as Bob and Shaina pedaled across the finish line.
Thanks again to all of you who sponsored me, and especially to Cheryl, my wife. Even after seeing how stressed out and overly-focused I was during all this, last year, she signed up for it again. I love you, Sweetie. I'd also like to thank the makers of SportLegs, Pickle Juice Sport, Advil, Clif Shots, Accelerade, and Fat Tire ale. Finally, I thank God for good health and the ability to participate in this event, as well as for His protection during two days and 150+ miles of riding.
Labels: 2008, ms 150, ride report
