MS150 Ride - Day 1: No Deer Left Behind

Prelude to a ride:
Friday was spent waiting for Philip's football practice to get done so that we could leave for McCall. We had everything ready to go. All that we needed to do was get the bike on the carrier (thanks Geoffrey) and head out to my mom and dad's house. It was going to be a late night and an early morning.

Day of the ride:
Got up the next morning after a mildly peaceful nights rest ready to go. I quickly got the Idaho Vandal jersey on with my tight biking shorts. Since the weather was warmer this year I did not put on the socks that I cup up last year to wear on my elbows and knees. Only thing left to do was fill up water bottles and head out. Steve (my brother-in-law) and I rode the short distance from my mom and dad's to the start of the ride at Camp Pinewood. I got signed in and we had a nice little breakfast. After breakfast we waited around for my sister Deb to come over with Philip and Victoria. We got our bikes as it started getting closer to 9:00. The team that Steve rode with was the second group to go so I was able to tag along with him and start out earlier. We headed out from the start past the high school and down to the main highway. We road towards and turned onto Warren Wagon Road. I have ridden on this road many times when riding around the lake in the past. I would not be able to do that this day since there was an ascent that needed to be done. As we progressed along the route I realized that I was traveling a lot faster than I had the year before. I felt great and and the bike felt great (thanks to Paradise Creek Bicycles for the wonderful fix up job). The pack started to thin out as some sprinted forward (Steve was one of these) and others fell back. I kind of stayed in the middle and followed two guys with Primal Wear skeleton jerseys on. We went past the 10 mile rest stop. They moved out ahead of me as we wondered along the road. I finally caught up to Steve when I got to the 20 mile rest stop. Got something to munch on here and then headed out with Steve towards the summit. Steve again decided that he wanted to race somebody so he took of up the hill. I remembered last year when I just accepted this and tried diligently to see if I could keep up. I failed at keeping up but that was quite alright with me, however I was reminded of something Rachel always says to me, "Dad you fail at failing". She is a funny duck sometimes. I finally made it to the summit and started the speedy trek (34mph) down the other side. Finally made it to the Burgdorf "Y" and got somemore somethings to eat. This year they did not have a packed lunch up here so it was get something and get back on the bike type of stop. Steve and I started out again to head back to McCall. 30 miles had tried to defeat me but it failed miserably.

Steve again wanted to catch somebody that passed us so he rode out ahead as we headed back towards the summit. I again did not mind as I wanted to see all the people that came towards me. There was one that really made me think about things. I thought, was that his IQ he was showing me as he passed by (yes, he did flip me off and yes, it was a 2C license plate). I thought, oh, well.

It felt great to get to the summit because I knew that it was a downhill trip from here. This is where I began thinking of deer. Deer that jump in the way of unknowing and unsuspecting bikers. I was lucky this time as no deer decided they wanted to have me smack into their side. The deer that I nearly hit last year must have warned all the others about the crazy person on a bike. I ended up making it to the 40 mile (20 mile) rest stop unscathed after reaching speeds over 38 MPH. I never really thought about what would happen if I had a blowout but I am glad I didn't because I probably wouldn't have dared trying it. I caught up with Steve again at the rest stop. I grabbed something quickly here and we were off again down towards McCall. Steve stuck around for awhile and then started cruising again. I marveled at how neat the area looked as I went by the Upper Payette Lake.

The ride from the lake to McCall was very relaxing. I kind of set into a grove and kept a pretty good pace. The after race lunch was being served at the McCall Brewery so I decided to ride to my mom and dad's house to grab some money for a beer. The meal was free but the beer wasn't. Oh, well. When I arrived at the brewery I wandered in to find Steve. We drank and ate and then headed to the house.

That evening we went to Camp Pinewood for dinner and presentations. We ended up getting dinner and a massage. The dinner was lasagna and the massage was wonderful. I really can't stress how wonderful the massage felt. We ended up heading back to the house after the massage and relaxed that evening.

While waiting for the massage I met a lady with MS that had volunteered to help out with the ride. We talked for a while as she shared about living with this disease. It is really hard to put into words how I felt after talking to her other then that I was renewed in my effort to help out.

After the massage that was so wonderful we went back to the house and rested for the next day.