MS Ride - Better late than never

I need to really start these things earlier. You would think being around college students would help me get one simple blog out right after a ride.

MS Ride - Day 1
After waking up in the Walmart parking lot and getting dressed for a day of riding I drove to the start area in Kellogg. The rain came down and it was not going to let up. I almost didn't want to ride but I just thought about all the people that I would be riding for.

I started out about 10 minutes early just to have a clear trail. There were several others that took off before me and I did catch up with some of them. It was a pretty uneventful ride until I went past the third rest area. I came up on a momma moose with two little ones standing right in the middle of the trail. I figured the best way to get her to move was by making small clicking sounds and to move towards her very slowly as not to bother her to much. She and the little ones decided to move down the trail and wander off into the brush. I hurried up past her just in case she decided that she did not like the situation. The only other wildlife I saw was a couple of herons later on. It was pretty darn wet and I think all of the animals were trying to stay dry.

I made it to Plummer and turned around for the trip back to Harrison for lunch. Stopped in Harrison for a quick lunch and got back on the bike. I started to feel pretty miserable so I ended up getting a ride from Cataldo. I did 96 miles for the day in a pretty good downpour.

MS Ride - Day 2
Since my shoes and some of the other clothing that I was going to use were still pretty wet I decided to bag riding the second day in Kellogg. I ended up having breakfast with everyone else and waited around for the start of the second day. After everyone started the ride I ended up getting in the car and driving home. I did ride about twelve miles in Moscow to kind of have a second day of riding for the MS Ride.

I would really like to thank everyone that donated money to help fight MS this year. I feel bad that I was unable to finish out the whole ride this year but next I will be better prepared for next year.

MSing the bike

I had my first ride after 24 days of rehabbing a sprained knee sustained during basketball. This has been a very hard time for me since I use my bike to commute to work on a daily basis. I have been getting rides to work, from work, and walking most everywhere else. The hard part about today was getting my right foot out of the pedal without to much twisting. I am still going to do the MS Ride on the 17th and 18th of September and I hope to do all of the mileage on each day. If not I will appreciate being able to be on my bike riding for a great cause. Donations can still be made on my National MS Society page.

STP and beyond

I must say that the Seattle to Portland (STP) ride is a very well put together group ride. There was over 10,000 people on the roads between Seattle and Portland over two days. It was amazing looking at all of the bicyclists when there was a straight stretch of road. I am going to do this ride again next year.

Wendy and I left Moscow on Friday morning to drive to Poulsbo to stay the night with my sister Deb and brother-in-law Steve. It was a nice night of checking out their new place, eating dinner, drinking some homemade beer, catching up on old times, and getting ready for the first day of the ride on Saturday.

First day recap:

On Saturday morning we gathered all of our things and got them into the rig so that Deb could take us to the ferry terminal. We were catching the early ferry in order to make it to Seattle to join in with the other riders who started at the University of Washington campus. We rode our bikes onto the ferry and parked them at the designated bike parking areas and went up into the passenger area to rest up before the long day ahead. When we got to Seattle we followed a group of riders off of the ferry up and over to where we were going to join the other riders. The ride up the city streets was okay but riding down some of the streets was pretty interesting. I am just glad that there was no moisture on the roads otherwise it would have been a slippery mess.

I rode with Steve most of the ride but went out on my own after a bit after every rest stop. He had not ridden his bike very much over the past few years so he was not moving as quickly as he had in the past. He just told me to go on. I am so used to riding by myself that it was weird having so many other people riding at the same time. After a couple of hours riding Wendy and Deb let us know that they had taken off from the house and were going to meet us in Centralia to setup the tents and just hangout until we got there. Centralia is the midpoint of the ride and it is where most of the two day riders stay at. The rest stops were spread out every 20 miles or so. Every one of them that we stopped at had tons of riders there getting water and food. Steve was really starting to hurt at the last rest stop but he pressed on. I made it to Centralia and was wandering around with Wendy when Steve came in. We found the showers to get all clean and then found food to get all fueled up. Wendy and Deb had setup the tents before we got there and that was nice to have done for us. We played quite a few games of Crazy Eights before settling down to bed.

Statisitics for first day: 97.2 miles, 6 hours 22 minutes riding time, 9 hours 29 minutes elapsed time, 2167 calories.

Got up Sunday morning had a nice pancake breakfast and got ready to ride. Steve said that he was not going to be able to ride that day. This day was spent riding and stopping at most of the rest areas. I really had no reason to stop very long other than getting more water and food.

Statistics for second day: 104.6 miles, 5 hours 47 minutes riding time, 6 hours 45 minutes elapsed time, 2171 calories.

Next big ride that I have is the MS Ride on the 17th and 18th of September on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. Donations to the MS Society can be made on my MS Society page. Every donation helps those suffering from the effects of MS.

Overdue, STP, and Bike MS

Just a little slow getting an update going for the year. Biking has been going good. Don't feel like I have been getting in the miles I want but I am farther along than past years. I have been off the bike more days this year than in the past. The longest stretch was a weird hip/pelvic injury that meant eight days of not riding since the bike seat pressed right on the spot that hurt. It sure feels much better now and it sure felt great to get back on the bike.

I did the Just for the Hill of It climb in Whitebird this year. The weather was very nice and warm with a slight breeze. I felt that I did a very good job by coming in 15th out of about sixty other people that joined in on the fun. Nothing like a 2200 foot climb to make your heart and lungs have a great workout.

The STP (Seattle to Portland) Ride is a little over a month away and I am truly getting excited about doing it. I am doing it with my brother-in-law Steve and we are doing the two day event which means doing 100 miles on the first day and then doing 100 miles on the second day.

The only other ride so far on the docket is the MS Ride on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes in September . This will be my ninth year riding and I want to really thank my sister Deb and brother-in-law Steve for getting me going in riding for this great cause. I rode off and on before my first MS Ride but when they asked me to ride in 2008 I really started getting more into riding. I am now up to over 30,000 miles since July of 2008 and have no intention of stopping.

To donate to the MS Society you can visit my personal donation page.