Date: June 8-9, 2013
Location: Bike ride from Harmony, Pennsylvania to Conneaut, Ohio.
Time: 9 hours over two days
Day #1
This was a fundraising ride for the National M.S.
Society. I received sponsorship from 15
people totaling $520. My friend Dan and I and more than a thousand other riders
left Zelienople, Pa. and traveled to Meadville, Pa. on the first day (81 miles).
We stayed overnight on the Allegheny College campus and then traveled to
Conneaut, Ohio to complete the trip on the second day (another 64 miles). Total
distance was 145 miles in just over 9 hours of riding over two days.
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| Me and Dan after lunch on Day 1 |
I had a great time
and felt fine during the ride, but I must admit that since we did this same
ride last year, the novelty of the event was not there; Dan and I knew we could
accomplish this feat, and we knew what the ride was going to be like. It was
probably the most exciting thing I did in all of 2012, but I really can’t say
that for 2013 because the sense of newness and mystery was not as present.
Nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable weekend and I am glad I did it!
This year’s ride did differ in a few ways from 2012. First,
we started earlier each day and kept toward the front of the crowd. I think we
were in the second wave on Saturday and the fourth wave on Sunday (groups of
150-200 riders are released at the starting line at 10-min intervals). The
early start on Saturday meant there were fewer riders at rest stops and fewer
on the road as we traveled. Since Dan and I maintained a faster pace this year
compared to last year, we also arrived at Meadville earlier in the afternoon
and had more time to enjoy the activities there. Here is a comparison of 2012
with 2013:
- 2012: Average pace was 14.4 mph on Day#1 and 15.5 mph on Day#2
- 2013: Average pace was 15.3 mph on Day#1 and 16.8 mph on Day#2
By the Miles, Day 1
Mile 2: It is blasted cold (60 degrees)! I should not have
taken off my jacket and packed it.
Mile 8: Some of the cyclists have turned on their rear
lights. It is mesmerizing to look at the flashing light patterns for too long.
Also, some patterns of flashing are more eye-catching than others.
Mile 10: First water stop; Dan and I were feeling good and
decided to skip it.
Mile 20: I decide to entertain us by yelling “yaaaaay” as we
ride over any bridge and “toooot” as we ride under any bridge. I tried to
maintain this the whole weekend, but I forgot sometimes. Dan and surrounding
riders were probably glad I missed some bridges and underpasses.
Mile 22: First stop at Moraine State Park. We had just
finished a 7-mile long hill. At the stop, Dan and I got chatting with one of
the volunteers. She doesn’t really understand how the MS150 ride works, so we
answer her questions. How strange it is to have done this before and know all
the answers to her questions.
Mile 38: Second rest stop. Already? I was feeling great. I
enjoyed the fruit cup snack at the rest stop.
Mile 42: Dan spots someone riding a yellow GMC bike. He rode
the MS150 last year on that model so he has a certain nostalgia and perhaps empathy
for someone using that bike. His new bike, a Scott, is a very sporty and attractive
bike.
Mile 53: Lunch stop at Lakeview Middle School. It is 11:20am
and we have been snacking at every rest stop so I don’t feel very hungry, but
you know me; I ate well anyway. The grilled chicken sandwich was great. We ate
indoors here, just like last year. Except this year we chose to eat indoors to
keep warm. Last year we ate inside to stay in the shade.
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| Volunteers at every rest stop had great spirit. It made the ride extra fun. |
Mile 67: Rest stop at a neighborhood park. This one was
sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods and their staff was extremely kind and
wanted to do anything for you to make you more comfortable. I’m half-way
serious in saying that if I had asked for my own pepperoni pizza, or a Jacuzzi,
or a private massage, they would have found a way to help me.
Mile 71: A water stop after a big hill. At least, it was
supposed to be a big hill. I remember being challenged by it last year, but I
was in better shape this time.
Mile 82: Finish line at Allegheny College.
After this first day of riding, we got our dorm room key,
dropped off our bike in the gym, picked up our luggage, took a shower, and
changed clothes. By this time it was 3:45pm and we walked over to the beer
garden and bandstand. The beer wasn’t to our taste and neither was the band.
There was no crowd of people to watch, either, so we just sat quietly and slept
with our eyes open. We headed to dinner at 4:30pm and satisfied a hunger we
didn’t know we had. We took an hour to walk around the Allegheny College
campus, and then around 7:00pm we went back to the dorm room and put on swim
suits. The campus pool was open and we had planned to go for a swim to loosen
our muscles and get refreshed. There were a few other cyclists playing in the
diving well, but we had the swimming lanes to ourselves and we swam 750 yards.
Looking back on this swim, I think it was the highlight of my day. It felt good
psychologically to know that 80 miles on a bicycle had not depleted my love of
exercise nor my ability. Dan and I also kept the same swimming pace (thanks,
Dan), and this was just like our behavior on the bike, since we were often
side-by-side on the road. I hadn’t thought much of this at the time, but now it
seems poetic that two good friends were so inseparable over the course of 80
miles on a bike and 750 yards in a pool. Poetic. Or something like that.
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| Bicycles stowed for the night at Allegheny College |
Day #2
This is part 2 of 2 about a fundraising ride for the
National M.S. Society. Having already
ridden 81 miles on June 8, my friend Dan and I and more than a thousand other
riders began the next day at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., to travel to
Conneaut, Ohio (another 64 miles).
We arrived at the starting line at 7:10am and just missed
the release of one wave of riders. This put us in the front row of the next
wave, released around 7:20am. I loved being at the front. There were exactly
seven people in front of me and we maintained a tight pace line for the first 8
miles. I closely drafted the rider in front of me until midway up a hill and at
that point the lead riders left me behind, as I found I could not climb the
hill as fast as them. I discovered that following other people was easier than
setting my own pace, so I tried to find other cyclists to follow throughout the
day. This worked pretty well, but I tended to pass a lot of people on the
uphill segments so I usually had to pick out a new person to follow after every
hill. Dan and I found it really fun to pass people. It’s not that we are super-competitive.
It’s just having a bit of “traffic” to go around makes the ride more dynamic.
By the Miles, Day 2
Mile 0: At the starting line there were a couple riders with
memorable adornments on their helmets. This provided some entertainment
throughout the ride as Dan and I made fun of them. But honestly, we were making
fun “with” them since these creative cyclists intended to stand out in a
comical way.
Mile 2: Oh my goodness, it is colder this morning than
yesterday. Good thing I kept my jacket on for this part of the ride.
Mile 14: First rest stop. I took off my jacket and stored it
for the rest of the day in my jersey’s back pocket. I struck up a conversation
with Sara from the Pittsburgh Triathlon Club. She invited me to do a full
Ironman triathlon with her next year. I just smiled and nodded and did not want
to tell her that a full Ironman was well beyond my ability…this year, next
year, or ever.
Mile 27: Last of the big hills on the route. This one was
long rather than particularly steep. I admit it was a challenge but my
motivation to pass slower cyclists kept my brain occupied on that rather than
my own muscle fatigue.
Mile 42: Lunch at Connie Lance Memorial Park was sponsored
by Dick’s Sporting Goods. Once again, the staff at Dick’s was super-super-super
polite and supportive. There was an emcee announcing what the lunch menu was,
how far we had travelled, how far we had to go, and how good we were to be
supporting charity. He got some facts wrong and he was overly dramatic, but it
seemed heartfelt. He could have easily did a worse job and still gotten paid
the same by Dick’s.
Mile 45: We heard the sickest rooster crow ever. What was
wrong with that thing?!
Mile 54: Last rest stop of the trip. We probably didn’t need
to stop. This time last year I was suffering from back pain due to being bent over
on the bike for so long, but I was pain free today. Dan was doing well, too.
Nevertheless, I wanted to be done.
Mile 64: And now we were done.
At the finish line we enjoyed another full meal with pizza,
sandwiches, and ice cream. I found a paper plate and wrote on the back “for
Maureen” and then posed with it so Dan could take my picture. I am fortunate
enough to have had no family members or friends with multiple sclerosis, but
some of my sponsors have been touched significantly by it. In particular, Jean
W. has been very supportive of my rides these last two years and I wanted her
to know I was thinking of her during my trip. Multiple sclerosis took the life
of her sister Maureen. I’m glad to have done something helpful for those
affected by the disease, now or in the future.
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| I ride because I like cycling. But if it can help someone else, all the better! |
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