Sunday - second day of the ride - Rash of the Road

Sunday, August 19th, 2012

We did not have to get up as early since we were going to eat at Camp Pinewood. Deb, Steve, and Bill had to redo the Superman logos on their calves since the logos got washed off the previous evening. The breakfast was pretty good and it gave the riders the energy they would need for the first part of the day. After eating, Deb, Steve, and Bill got their bikes and headed to the start line.

We followed the first part of the route from the day before until we got to the turn at Spring Mountain Ranch. Steve and Bill rode out in front of everyone and made the turn to go up Bethel Hill. As we headed down the backside of the hill, Steve rode out ahead of us. Another rider caught Bill and passed us at the second turn. Bill stayed on his rear wheel until we caught Steve at the second hill. Steve slowed down to go up and Bill passed the other rider and Steve. About two miles down the road Steve caught Bill and they rode on to the first rest stop of the day.

Just a flesh wound.

Steve and Bill rested for a little bit and then they headed towards Roseberry. Steve started cruising along and Bill had a hard time keeping up. After Bill took the turn at Roseberry to head to Donnelly we finally caught up with Steve. He had slowed down to chat with Gordy (has MS and rides a hand crank bike) and Michelle (has MS and was riding a cruiser bike). As Bill came up behind them he got his camera out of his pocket and turned it on. He had placed both hands back on the handlebar but had slowed down too much at this point. That and the fact that the bike had drifted too far to the right of the road into some gravel made him over-correct to get back on the road. A very slow motion crash ensued that caused major scrapes on several different areas of Bill’s body. One of the support trucks was right there and the support people asked if he was okay. He said that he was fine and that he could make it the rest of the way. A waiver had to be signed before he was able to continue riding. Bill got back on the bike and cruised on towards the next rest stop in Donnelly. When he got there he did some cleanup on the scrapes, waited for Steve, and got some snacks.

After Bill got cleaned up and ate, we headed towards the third rest stop at Tamarack Resort. Steve and Bill got into a pace line with another group of riders. Everyone was taking turns at the front of the pace. When Bill got to the front, the leader of the other group of riders started to drop back. All of the other riders including Steve slowed down to stay with the dropped rider. Bill kept going and Steve finally caught and passed him. Bill finally arrived at the rest stop. He had some peanut butter sandwiches and cleaned up his knee a couple more times. Steve and Bill got back on the bikes and headed towards Donnelly again. On the way there they saw a helicopter coming in for a landing near a spot that had a big pool of water for loading the bucket that it was carrying. Bill stopped and watched it land. After it landed he caught back up to Steve. They both rode into Donnelly and Bill stopped to clean up while Steve kept going.

Bill got back on the bike and after making the turn at Roseberry he caught up with Gordy and Michelle, again. He ended up riding with them to the place that they were getting picked up near the Finn Church. He then stopped at the last rest stop and headed on towards McCall. We were sure glad that we finally made it to Camp Pinewood after this road rash adventure.

Megan Nettleton told Bill that when he had wrecked the support crew had told them that rider #8 had crashed. She looked at her list and saw that it was him. She told everyone that he would be alright since he had done 100 miles the day before. Bill was glad that she had confidence in him that he would finish the ride. It was another successful MS Ride.

Bill would like to thank all those that supported him in his efforts to raise money and awareness for MS. Every little bit helps and that is why he is so passionate about this cause.