2008 Mid-Michigan MS-150

Sixteen years ago Jean was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and for the last seven years we have been involved with the MS-150 fund raiser. For the first few years Jean did the fund raising and I did the riding. She stayed home and I went off for a weekend of bikes and dorm rooms. A few years back we decided to do this mid-Michigan ride together, in a sense. She does volunteer work and I do the riding. We stay in air conditioned hotel rooms and enjoy some time away just the two of us, well, the two of us alone in a crowd of 600-800 bike riders.

So, again this year, we began our trip in Fenton at the gala Holiday Inn Express. We once again dined next door at Lucky's. From here we ventured into uncharted territory and went to see "Hancock" at the local theater. Pretty funny movie if you haven't seen it. We both gave it two thumbs up. From there, over to Cold Stone then back to the room to prepare the equipment for the next day.

I left the hotel at 630am for the ride out location about five miles from the hotel. First thing after waking up I called up the radar on my Blackberry and to my horror saw a huge area of rain that was moving towards the route. This highly motivated me to get it in gear and head for East Lansing.

I was one of the first riders out at 650am. After passing a few riders I was out in front and all alone. This is nice since you don't have to endure as much from drivers frustrated by the delays the riders cause. I had to recycle coffee at the second rest stop and ran into Kevin there. (Kevin is the rider who is paralyzed on one side of his body.) The stop was min time and I was back on the road in five minutes.

After a couple of turns I looked back and saw a rider gaining on me. "No way", I said to myself. I had been riding a steady 250 watts which isn't hammer, hammer effort but a steady zone 3. How could this dude catch me? He must have been killing it to close me down.

Getting caught by a strong rider is all good since there is the possibility that we could share the riding effort and get to the dorm all that much quicker. I asked him if he wanted to ride together and he said, "Sure." We hit it and rode through off and on rain the rest of the way to East Lansing making it in before all other riders. Yes, I can honestly say we "won" the MS150! Well, stage 1 at least.

This guy was so darn strong I lobbied for two days to get him on our race team. I nick-named him "The Rocket" and believe me it is a fitting one.

Jean worked the rider check in at the dorm while I cleaned the bike and got us set up at the hotel. After Jean got off work, we melted into this incredible bed at the Marriott. I stay at Marriott hotels all the time but this bed was crazy, insane comfortable. I fell into a deep sleep that left me drowsy for about an hour after I stumbled back into consciousness.

Next up, we went back to the dorm and enjoyed mediocre food and a wonderful presentation by folks who have had to deal with an diagnosis of MS. While the program was great, I found the conduct of some of my fellow riders disturbing. MS is serious business but it isn't important enough for many to even lower their voices in conversation. There was an air of callousness and insensitivity that made me wonder if the only thing these people were here for was a bike ride. I suppose many were but come on, at least pretend you care about the cause.

Next day, I met up with the Rocket and we smoked the course for 100 miles. We averaged 21.6 mph. It was incredible, crazy and windy. On the face of it, it looked like we would have lots of tailwind but the straight distance from E. Lansing to Fenton is only about 50 miles. We milked 100 out of it so that means a whole lot of zigging and zagging. We rode against a direct 25 mph crosswind for what seemed like half the day. You just couldn't find a wind break no matter what you did. When it seemed like you were there the wind would gust and power output would spike to over 300 watts. Going downwind was just a riot though as we would average over 30 mph.

Overall, the trip was awesome and I look forward to next year. If you don't do these rides consider joining me next year. I promise a challenge and a cause to celebrate.