MS Ride - Day 1 - Part 1 - Wow! I never knew that.

A lot of preparation goes into doing a ride like the MS Ride. The choice of jersey, shorts or bibs, socks, and the best way to honor the people you are riding for. Pam (Bill’s sister) helped Bill with this by writing the names of everyone that he knew that had MS on both of his calves in permanent marker the night before. The choice of jersey ended up being the University of Idaho (U of I) jersey that has Kirstin Armstrong’s signature on it (thanks to Deb for that). To round out the ensemble he wore his MS biking shorts, Vandal socks, Idaho beanie (for the cold), and Tour de France cap (for when it warms up). The ride of choice for the first day is the Giant Rincon mountain bike. It is a worthy steed for the amount of climbing that we will do for the day.

We headed on over to the starting area at Alpine Village after breakfast. When we got there we met a lady that had graduated from the U of I in the 90’s. She and her 12 year old daughter were volunteering this year. She told us that her daughter had her first attack of MS when she was only three years old, and she has a friend that is 11 that also has MS. Bill and I were really stunned by this since we had always heard that MS only affected people between the ages of 20 - 40. It was really nice being able to listen to the mom speak about what they go through on a daily basis. After talking to her we rode over to the start area to get ready for the ride.

The course was the same as last, year so all we had to do was follow the motorcycle escort and ride marshals. At 8:00 we started out on the ride. We did not have the misdirection that we did last year and everyone rode the proper route this year. The route took us out around the high school, by the airport and across the highway. We started onto Spring Mountain Ranch and one of the ride marshals blew his back tire. Everyone kept on going while he and the other marshal dealt with the tire. We turned onto Lick Creek Road and headed on towards the road that goes around the eastside of the lake. Bill and I passed the lead riders right after the Boy Scout Camp. We made it to the turnaround at Tamarack Bay Condominiums and almost back to the Boy Scout Camp before getting passed. As we made our way back into town there was a fire truck that came towards us with lights and sirens going. We were hoping that nobody from the ride had wrecked. We turned onto the road by the golf course and rode down the side streets to avoid the traffic. We stopped at the first rest stop at Gravity Sports; it is called the Luau rest stop, but no one was dressed up and there was no pig on a spit.

We headed off by Legacy Park and stopped to talk to Pam, Philip and Faye (Bill’s mom) right at the corner before turning onto the main road. After giving them his beanie and fingered gloves we headed off. There was a little bit of traffic in the downtown area and it kept pretty steady until we made the turn onto Warren Wagon Road. We made pretty good time riding down the road and saw a couple of other bikers along the way. Pam and Philip passed us as they drove towards the second rest stop. It would take us a little longer to get there then it would them. The lake was very nice and peaceful as we road along. We finally reached North Beach and knew that it was only a few more miles to get to the second rest stop. We finally reached the CBH Homes rest stop, and were warmly greeted by Michelle Jacobi, who we had met the previous year at the ride; Michelle’s name was one of those written on Bill’s leg. Some really good pictures with Michelle were taken and we chatted for a while. The long sleeve shirt was removed and handed to Pam since it was getting warmer. After a little while we were on the road to the summit.

A couple of miles down the road from the previous rest stop, we saw Gordon (Gordy) Myre. Gordy has MS and uses a hand crank bike to participate in the ride. He had already finished his ‘out’ part and was turning around to do the ‘in’ part. Bill shouted hi and turned around to talk with him for a bit. Gordy said that he had already done 13 miles, so this day would be a 26 mile day for him. He then said that the next day he would only do 24 miles instead of the normal 25. We wished him good luck on the rest of his ride and headed back up the road.

Pam and Philip passed us again several miles after we passed Gordy. We saw several people fishing at the outlet for the Upper Payette Lake as we went by; the lake didn’t seem as high as it had been the week before. After a few more miles we saw a deer alongside the road. At least we were not going downhill and it was not crossing the road.

Finally made it to the Secesh Summit rest stop and Pam was waiting there for us. Got a few snacks and Pam took a few pictures of us standing by the summit sign. Philip had gone for a little hike with some others that were at the rest stop. Bill got done snacking and got back on the bike. Our next destination is the Burgdorf "Y"; it is called the "Y" since you can either go to Burgdorf or Warren. It is mostly downhill so we will get some good speed. Nothing like having the wind whip through your beard and mustache as you travel at almost 30 mph. We caught up with another rider as we made it to the "Y".

End of part 1