Riding for MS and motivation

Motivation is what I need to write this. I am motivated to ride the bike for this great cause but writing to me is a strain. Writing was not one of my best subjects in high school or college and it pains me sometimes to come up with the right ways of expressing the details of the ride. I guess Joe will start with the cast of characters and I do mean characters:

Bill – The crazy bike rider
Victoria – his daughter
Joe Vandal – Faithful mascot of the University of Idaho, kind of likes to ride a bike with Bill
Deb – Bill’s youngest sister, semi-crazy bike rider
Steve – Bill’s brother-in-law, married to Deb, another crazy bike rider
Pam – Bill’s sister, the middle one, photographer of all things MS
Chris Nettleton – MS Champion that Bill signed up to ride for at this year’s MS Ride. Each champion had a logo and Chris’ was the Superman logo.
Megan Nettleton – Chris’ wife, MS Coordinator for the ride
Superman – Helmet riding super-hero, rode along in support of Chris

Tuesday, August 14th, before the ride - On the Road

Victoria, Superman, Bill, and I drove from Moscow to the gas station outside of Winchester. Bill got on the bike and rode about 39 miles to the Grangeville side of Whitebird Hill. Victoria, Superman, and I drove to there to wait for him. He said that the ride was very nice. He had thoughts of riding up to the top of Whitebird Hill and then down the other side. The thoughts subsided really quickly once he got the bike loaded onto the car. We stopped at Hoots Cafe to have some ice cream and French fries. Bill said that it sure did taste good after all of the miles on the bike. We loaded back in the car and made our way towards McCall. It was pretty warm all the way along the Salmon River.

Wednesday, August 15th, before the ride - Relaxation

Bill had a very nice ride in McCall before we all traveled down to Boise to go shopping and then dinner at Deb and Steve’s with Pam. Steve made a very good meal of tacos for everyone. We hung out at their house for a while and then headed out to the house in Nampa. It was time to get a good sleep, for Thursday was going to be a busy day of riding for Bill and Steve.

Thursday, August 16th, before the ride - Dump and Time

Dump Loop - The Wall

This was the morning of a dump loop for Steve and Bill. After Steve finished some work, they loaded up all the bike stuff and headed out to suffer. The climbs on this route are pretty hard and Bill wanted to pace himself to keep from bonking like the year before. The new bike rode very well and he was able to go up the inclines fairly quickly. He was able to even pass and stay out ahead of Steve on several of the climbs. On the descents he was no match for Steve’s speed but was able to keep a pretty good pace with him on the flat stretches. After making it to the car they went to the bike store to do some shopping. They even made a quick dash through the McDonalds drive thru to get lunch and then headed back to Deb and Steve’s to rest up for the Time Trial that evening.

Deb arrived home and we had a little snack before we loaded up and headed to the Time Trial course. Bill’s goal was to get below 26 minutes for the 9.7 mile course. He was pretty excited and felt really good since he had put quite a few miles on the new bike. After going out for a quick warm up ride he got into his spot at the start/finish line. Each rider would go out at 1 minute intervals to allow for good spacing on the course. The starter has an assistant that holds the seat to allow the rider to have both feet on the pedals to have a good start. Bill felt like he was going to fall over the whole time that the assistant was holding onto the seat. He was sure glad when the starter told him to go. Once he was out on the course he rattled through the gears and built up speed. It felt like he was riding at a pretty good pace. As he got near the turnaround, he noticed a car turning onto the course and made a decision that he was going to get in front of the car before it actually got onto the course. The course is not closed to cars so he was glad that the driver took some time turning as he was able to get going back down the course to the start/finish line. He finished up with a time of 26 minutes and 5 seconds, the same amount of time that he had got almost 4 weeks earlier.

Friday, August 17th, before the ride - North to McCall

We drove back to McCall in the morning and hung out at the house. Bill rode a little during the day. Deb, Steve, and Pam arrived in the afternoon and that evening we all went over to Camp Pinewood to get signed in for the ride. While we were there we got to meet Chris Nettleton, the MS Champion that Steve and Bill had signed up to ride for. Chris works for KBOI TV in Boise and is the sports anchor. He was out at the playground watching his son play on the slide. Bill had brought along a Superman figure to show Chris. Chris was really happy that Steve and Bill were riding for him during the weekend. After getting checked in, we all went back to the house and spent a relaxing evening before going to bed.