From The Journal Of Davy Sprocket

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

---

If someone had told me back in October that in six months I would be riding a bicycle from Houston to Austin over the course of two days, I would have chucked and replied with something like, "Yeah, maybe I could have done that twenty years ago."

 

If someone had told me back in October that in six months not only would I be riding a bicycle from Houston to Austin over the course of two days but that I would also do it wearing those ridiculous looking Lycra cycling shorts and a 16" raccoon tail tied to my back, I would probably had died as the result of rupturing numerous internal organs from laughing so hard.

 

But not only did I do the later a few days ago, I also lived to tell the tale. And here it is...

 

First, A Little History Lesson

If you had got a kitten back when I first promised myself that one day I would ride in the MS 150 from Houston to Austin,  there is a good chance that the cat, its kids and its grandkids would all be dead by the time I actually got around to doing it.

 

At the time I made that promise, I had just started at a new company where my boss was a hardcore cyclist. We got to talking one day at lunch about the MS 150 which happened to be going on the weekend after I started at this company. I got the cycling itch and made a vow right then that I would ride the MS 150. Even back then I had no idea how I would ever achieve the strength or endurance required to ride from Houston to Austin on a bicycle.

 

That was April 1992.

 

Flash forward 20 years later, to October 2012. I had my first organized ride in Willis, TX. This ride benefited wounded post September 11^th military veterans. I entered in the shortest route, which was 25 miles, with my $75 Wal Mart bicycle that was nearly 10 years old, had a metal chain guard and only 3 gears. To complicate matters, the chain would jump off of the sprocket every time you changed gears. To top it off, the tires on this bike as wide as a used car salesman’s smile when you walk onto the lot. Everyone else brought their high dollar Trek’s, Cannondale’s, Scott’s, Cervelo’s and Giant’s equipped with nice, thin road tires.

 

After finishing the ride, I knew I wanted to continue riding in organized cycling events and eventually work up to my personal goal of riding in (and completing) the MS 150. But I did not think at the time that I could get up to speed, so to speak, by April 2013. At that time, I thought 2014 might be a more achievable goal.

 

After upgrading my ride to a Specialized Secteur road bike a month after my first ride, I started going to every MS 150 training ride I had the time to go to. Total training rides I went on included 2 rides in 2012 and 12 in 2013 up until the weekend before the MS 150 in April. What started out as a 25 mile entry level ride just 6 months earlier ended up with a 75 mile hill ride and a 95 mile endurance ride the Saturday and Sunday before the MS 150. By this time, I had traveled nearly 800 miles on my bike and spent 73 hours of saddle time since November. I thought I might be ready to try the MS 150 now.

 

What Is The MS 150?

Quite simply, the MS 150 is considered to be a two-day, 150 mile fundraising bike ride/tour between Houston and Austin benefiting the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. However, depending on the starting line you choose and the route you choose on Day 2, your mileage could end up varying anywhere from 140 miles to 180 miles.

 

Regardless of the starting line or route you choose, Day 1 ends at the Fayette County Fairgrounds overnight in La Grange and Day 2 ends on Congress St. in front of the State Capital building in Austin.

 

 

The Route

As previously mentioned, riders have a choice of which starting line they wish to start from on Day 1. There are three different starting locations with varying mileage from Houston to La Grange as follows:

·         Tully Stadium– 100 miles to La Grange

·         Rhodes Stadium - 83 miles to La Grange

·         Waller Stadium – 76 miles to La Grange

 

Day 2 Starts at the fairgrounds in La Grange and riders have a choice between two different routes on their way to Austin:

·         Bechtel Challenge Route – 77 miles to Austin

·         Pfizer Lunch Express Route – 66 miles to Austin

Cyclist Route Map

 

I have indicated my starting location and route choices in bold above. I chose to start from Rhodes Stadium because I was pretty sure I could do at least 80, possibly 90 miles in one day depending on weather and terrain. And secondly because I thought there would be less people at Rhodes than at Tully Stadium just down the road. Tully Stadium is the traditional, and at one time, the only starting location for the MS 150 for many years and is still a favorite of many riders. I also chose to do the express route on Day 2. My decision for this will be explained a little later.

 

As Best As I Can Remember It

So here is the summary of my experience for my first ever MS 150 ride:

 

 

Day 1 Weather Forecast

 

Was up and out of bed at 4:30 AM and out the door with Sarah at 5:00. Not all that much traffic out at 5:00 in the morning on I10 and most of the non-commercial vehicles out on the road had bikes loaded on them. Took our exit to Rhodes Stadium about 5:45. Traffic from I10 north on Katy Ft. Bend Road to the stadium was backed up nearly all the way to I10 with vehicles loaded with bikes.

Riders were informed by the MS 150 ride director via email on Tuesday that heightened security measures for the event would be in effect in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing. At first I thought the reason for the traffic backup was because they were screening the vehicles and people going in to the stadium. This assumption was incorrect and the traffic jam was simply due to a lot of riders going to the same place.

Found a parking spot very quickly, got the tires pumped up on the bike, got the gear on, ice in the hydration pack, sunscreen put on all by 6:20. Although I had reserved a hotel for the overnight stay near La Grange, I packed a duffel bag thinking I might use the shower trucks at the fairgrounds. So around 6:20, I grabbed my duffel bag, bike and headed towards the luggage drop off location and starting line. Sarah went ahead and left out to avoid more incoming traffic. She was going on to meet me in La Grange.

Jack Rhodes Stadium

 

I did see some heavy police presence at the luggage drop off truck although their presence here might have been more as a theft deterrent than anything else. A little further away where some police cars were parked, I saw what I assumed was a bomb sniffing police dog with some other uniformed officers.

I was in the starting line by 6:30. They started us out in waves, meaning they would start out a few hundred riders, wait a few minutes, start another few hundred, wait a few minutes and so on. I got started just a couple of minutes after 7:00.

Starting Line At Rhodes Stadium

Day 1 Route

 

This was the first ride I had been on where I sported my Davy Crockett raccoon tail (my screen name for the MS 150 was Davy Sprocket). For safety reasons, I decided to attach it to my hydration pack instead of the back of my helmet. I started getting comments right off the bat. Most people identified it with Davy Crocket while one rider who passed by me the first day started singing the Daniel Boone theme song from the TV show.

Ready To Roll

After 20 miles or so, we merged in with the other riders coming from Tully Stadium. Police were there directing automobile traffic but surprisingly they let riders from both sides all go and merge at the same time. It was immediately after we merged that I saw my first rider down of the day. We all slowed down and moved over as far to the right as we could and from what little I could see with the crowd and all, he wasn’t moving. I don’t know if this is because he couldn’t move or if he was being instructed not to move. After we passed and got going again, I heard the ambulance sirens coming in our direction.

Merging With Tully Stadium Riders

Lunch was in Bellville about 40 miles into the ride. I got there around 11:00. It took me a little while to get my position and acclimated. By this time, all riders from all three starting locations had merged and were here for lunch. There were a lot of team tents, which I have never seen on my rides before, and I almost went into one by accident to grab a sandwich thinking it was for all riders. But I finally figured out where the common lunch area was and got my turkey sandwich and dry rigatoni pasta. I had to stop by the Blue Bell Ice cream truck after lunch for desert. It is a well understood law that turning away free Blue Bell ice cream in the state of Texas is punishable by death. And in my opinion it should be. After filling up my water bottle and hydration pack, I was back on the road.

Day 1 Lunch In Bellville, TX

We ran into quite a few hills once we started getting close to La Grange. They were not too steep but after 80 miles, I just  didn’t want to deal with hills.

Heading To La Grange

I rolled into the fairgrounds around 3:00. To my surprise, there were crowds cheering us on at the finish line there. Sarah was already there and she had already staked out the fairgrounds and knew where I needed to drop my bike off at the bike compound, where to pick up my duffel bag, where to catch the shuttle bus back to the car and everything.

I kind of wanted to take a shower in the shower trucks, walk around the grounds, eat and take in some of the scenery and entertainment. Houston Christian radio station KSBJ was putting on a concert later that evening and having a church service and I kind of wanted to attend. But the shower lines were long and I was tired. So we just got the shuttle bus back to the car and went on to the hotel in Flatonia.

KSBJ Stage At The Fairgrounds

All in all it was a great day. Great weather. No wind. I didn’t have any flats or mechanical failures.

Day 1 Near La Grange

I set the alarm on my travel clock for 5:00, was in bed at 7:00 and asleep shortly after.

 

Day 2 Weather Forecast

Since Sarah was going straight on to Austin and since I did not want her to get caught in any of the bike or vehicle traffic, I decided I would just pull in front of the fairgrounds, retrieve my gear out of the back of the car and walk on in. We arrived at the fairgrounds around 6:15 and everything was already going full force. Riders were already lined up at the starting line and announcements were being made from the stage. I felt like I was late but I really wasn’t. There were still plenty of riders wandering around, getting their bikes ready, using the shower trucks, etc.

 

On my way to the bike compound to retrieve my bike I realized that I in my haste to get everything out of the car and send Sarah along her way before the cops came by and told her to move that I had left my cycling shoes in the car. I wouldn’t make it very far with clipless pedals using tennis shoes. I called Sarah and she immediately answered. She was going to try and park at the remote lot and catch the shuttle bus to get my shoes to me. (By this time, police were holding back all vehicle traffic on the starting route and no vehicles without a pass were allowed into the fairgrounds after 7PM the previous evening.)

 

Unfortunately, by this time, they had already started letting riders go and the shuttle bus Sarah was on (nor any vehicle traffic) could not get into or near the fairgrounds. But putting her on the shuttle bus was still the best option. If she had driven back she would not have gotten anywhere near the fairgrounds after the riders started going out. So I waited.

 

Some 30 minutes after I called her, Sarah came walking up with my cycling shoes. I put them on and got in the starting line. It turned out that I really wasn’t all that far behind. There were still a few riders that came in behind me.

 

Day 2 Starting Line In La Grange, TX

I rolled out of the fairgrounds around 7:30.

Day 2 Route

On Day 2, riders have a choice of taking one of two routes on their way to Austin:

 

The Bechtel Challenge Route takes riders though a challenging hill ride outside of La Grange and through even more challenging hills and winding road through Beucher State Park before merging with the other riders in Bastrop, TX. Everyone I spoke with both before and after the ride say that the hills on this route are the most challenging they have ever seen. One rider commented that a person stood a better chance of peddling up the wall of his living room than making it up some of the hills on this route.

 

I studied the elevation profile weeks before the MS 150 and determined that the total climb difference between the challenge route and the express route was only about 870 feet over 11 miles. This would certainly not be any more challenging than some of the hill rides I had been on in the weeks and months prior. 

 

Elevation Profile Comparison Of Express Route vs. Challenge Route

However, this being my first MS 150 ride and just wanting to get the experience of the whole thing and not prove anything to myself or others, I decided to take the Pfizer Lunch Express Route instead. This route was 11 miles less than the challenge route and also the route a majority of the riders chose to do as well.

 

We encountered our first hill about a mile from the fairgrounds. While this hill did take some effort to peddle up, it was not all that steep. Nonetheless, some riders had already dismounted their bikes and began walking up the hill.

 

Maybe it was just me, but it sure seemed like today was a lot more riders on the route and at the rest stops this morning that at any time yesterday. The snack lines seemed longer at the rest stops as did the bathroom lines.

 

Line For The Port O' San

About 20 miles into the days ride, we were stopped and everyone got off their bike. There was rider down ahead and an ambulance and paramedics where there tending to him. By the time I got up to the area where the rider was being tended to, I saw that they had him (or her) strapped to the stretcher ready to load up in the ambulance.

 

Rider Down

It was not long after we all got peddling again that we saw a Life Flight helicopter hovering overhead. A few miles later, I saw it land on a helipad at a hospital near Smithville. I do not know if it  was someone being brought to the hospital, whether it was another rider or what was going on.

 

It should be noted here that even though a rider (or anyone else) may be transported via Life Flight, this does not necessarily mean they have sustained life threatening injuries. During a ride like this, given the bicycle and vehicle traffic on the rural routes, as well as the limited road access through Beucher State Park, it may be more convenient to retrieve and transport the person via helicopter rather than by ambulance.

 

Ambulance

A few miles further we were stopped again due to yet another rider being down, requiring another visit by an ambulance and paramedics.

 

Second Forced Stop Of The Morning

I rolled into Bastrop for lunch around 11:00. This was the half-way point for us for the day and we had roughly 35 miles to go to Austin.

 

Jason’s Deli provided sandwiches, fruit and chips and that was fine with me. I was sitting at a table eating and talking with a rider who had completed the Challenge route. He claimed that as he was going up one hill the speedometer on his bike read 1 mph and he was praying it did not reach 0 mph. I do not doubt this person’s claim but I do question it. I think the slowest I have ever seen my speedometer at while going up a steep hill was just over 4 mph and the average person can walk a bike at 3 mph.

 

Day 2 Lunch In Bastrop, TX

We started seeing some hills a few miles out of Bastrop. We also started seeing some of the people and their families who are living with MS on the side of the road cheering us on. And let me tell you, when you see a young child in a wheel chair who has been stricken with MS holding up a “Thank You For Riding” sign and cheering you on, suddenly your butt and legs don’t hurt as bad as you think they do and that hill up ahead doesn’t look as steep.

 

I talk about teams a little more at the end (see Teams section) and I won’t give their team name here, but there is a tattoo place out towards A&M that had a team with 2 riders representing them and these guys were an absolute hoot. I saw them for the first time when we were about 20 miles outside of Austin. You could hear them coming a mile back hooting and hollering, cheering everyone along as they themselves were making their way to the finish line. They wore black jerseys with some sort of gothic design on the front and back and black wool shorts that went down to nearly mid-calf. They eventually passed me up and as they were passing, one of them (indicating my raccoon tail) told me that I had a squirrel on my backpack and he was drinking all my water. After they passed, I could still hear them way up the road. I heard (but did not see) them again at the final rest stop before Austin. I didn’t see or hear them after that but I had this image in my head of these two peddling across the finish line with a bottle of Shiner Bock in both hands, yelling to the top of their lungs. I felt sorry for whoever was in the tent next to these two overnight in La Grange. 

 

Professional photographers were located at the starting points in Houston as well as all along the routes taking pictures of riders. The motivation there being riders will go to their site after the ride, enter their rider number and download a picture for a fee (about $24 per picture or $75 for the entire package). Going up one hill, I was passed by a Ride Marshall who told everyone to smile because they were taking pictures at the top of the hill. Every rider who has done hills knows that when peddling up hills, it is all you can do to maintain your composure and keep and semi-straight face. Fortunately (for me, anyway), there were no photographers at the top of the hill.

 

Day 2 Outside Of Smithville

The last and final rest stop was 8 miles out of Austin. During the past two days, I had seen several riders with Mickey Mouse ears on their helmet. I figured this was a team thing and thought no more about it. However, it was at this final rest stop that I learned that the Mickey Mouse ears were a tribute to famed Disney actress and Mousekateer Annette Funicello who had passed away just 2 weeks prior due to complications with MS.

 

Rider With Mickey Mouse Ears On His Helmet

Pumped up and ready to go, I set out for Austin around 2:15. I had managed to average just under 15 mph the whole day and was feeling pumped and energized. I was ready to peddle on and finish strong.

 

Unfortunately, we would not do as much peddling the final 8 miles as I would have liked. We were stopped not far from the last break point. Most of us got off our bikes and started walking once again.

 

I Lost Count How Many Stops This Makes

Once we got started again, I tackled a few hills and had my momentum going before we were stopped again and had to dismount.

 

We all got going again a short time later and everyone started cheering as we passed by the "Entering Austin City Limits" sign.

 

I have to say that I probably saw more hills once we were in Austin than I had seen the last two days. But that did not matter. We only had 4 more miles to go to the finish line.

 

We were stopped several more times for traffic relief. At one intersection, I caught a glimpse of the UT clock tower off in the distance and it starting to settle in that I had actually made it!

 

 Once on the other side of I-35, we passed by the UT campus and Longhorn stadium and I could just make out the top of the State Capital building.

 

 After we turned onto Martin Luther King Blvd., I started seeing more pedestrians and riders on the street who had already received their certificates and when I looked up, I immediately saw the crowds who were there cheering us on, welcoming us to Austin. I turned onto Congress Ave. and crossed the finish line just after 3:00.

 

Finish Line In Austin, TX

So that’s it. My first ever MS 150 ride. The two days of riding went by without a flat tire or mechanical issue and although I was tired at the end, I was not as tired as some of the other Saturday & Sunday rides I had been on previously. The weather was great both days and for the first time in the 15 organized rides I have been on, wind was not a factor on either day!

 

Rolling Towards The Finish Line In Austin

At the end, my ride stats totaled up to the following:

Total Distance (in miles):	155.80
Total Ride Time:	13 hours, 18 minutes, 49 seconds*
Average Speed:	13.82 mph
Maximum Speed Achieved:	37.27 mph (downhill, Day 2) **
*   Denotes total time on the bike. Does not include time taken at rest stops, lunch, fixing flats, etc.
** Denotes new personal record. This speed surpasses my previous record of 35.6 mph set while descending the Fred Hartman Bridge on 3/2/2013.

---

Will I Do It Again Next Year?

That was the first question my daughter asked when she met me at the finish line.  My answer at this moment is that if I am able and there is nothing major planned on that weekend, I will be back to do this again next year.

 

The 2014 dates for the MS 150 have already been announced. It will take place Saturday and Sunday, April 12 – 13, 2014.

 

I have even already set a few goals I want to achieve for the 2014 MS 150:

·         Start from Tully Stadium. Hopefully by then I can handle the extra 15 miles and can brave the additional numbers in the parking lot and at the starting line.

·         Ride the Challenge Route on Day 2.  Again, hopefully I can handle an extra 11 miles and a 900 foot climb by then.

·         Join a team.

 

Teams

Joining a team is not required for the MS 150 but it does have some benefits. For one, there are team tent areas in La Grange and Austin as well as the lunch areas on both days. Many of the bigger teams even had their own covered bike racks, sleeping quarters, showers and toilets. At the lunch spots, there were also team tents where the teams had their own lunch provided for them as well as their own hydration stations. Another reason (and probably the primary reason I would join a team) is for the support along the route should you have a mechanical issue. I’ve seen several team riders pull off and give assistance to a fellow team member on the side of the road fixing a flat or fixing a broke chain.

 

There were over 400 teams registered at this year’s ride. As you may have already guessed, local oil and gas companies pretty much dominated the field with their donations and rider counts. Here is a breakdown of the major oil and gas teams and their rider counts for this year’s ride:

 

 

But energy companies weren’t the only teams with an impressive number of riders. Local micro beer brewers Saint Arnold and Karbach Brewing had 417 and 67 riders respectively.

 

Mattress Firm (where I just recently purchased my TempurPedic® memory foam mattress) had 153 riders.

 

Regional bike stores Sun & Ski and Bike Barn and had 281 and 271 riders respectively.

 

Christian radio station KSBJ had 141 riders while Kerry Shook’s mega Woodland’s Church had 24 riders.

 

Texas Children’s Hospital had 241 riders, the largest field for any registered health care team this year.

 

Toyota, who had the biggest team tent and commercial display at the fairgrounds in La Grange, had 101 riders.

 

United (cough, gag) Airlines had 96 riders.

 

There were also some disappointing team rider counts. I really don’t think the tech sector is doing all that bad these days but IBM only had 1 rider.

 

Lance Armstrong’s old namesake, Livestrong only had 2 riders this year. This dismal count was no doubt the result of the insurmountable proof and his partial confession to the doping allegations which have plagued him for well over a decade.

 

My Favorite Team

Saint Arnold and Shell. Why?  I saw at least two, and often more, members of these teams at each and every training ride I have been on since November. They seem to be safety conscious, have good rider etiquette, and are often seen lending support to fellow team members who are on the side of the road fixing a flat and/or having mechanical issues. If I do decide to join a team next year, I will probably try these two first.

 

My Least Favorite Team

Deloitt LLP. Why? I am sure my views and opinion of these guys is not a true reflection of their entire 106 person team. That said, I don’t recall ever seeing any member of their team on any training rides I’ve been on.

 

Further, regardless of how fast or slow I was going on Saturday and Sunday, it always seemed like one of these guys was in my way. If they were riding alone, they were riding down the middle of the lane. If there were two riders together, they were side-by-side and chit-chatting with each other the entire way. They would not move to the side when you indicated you wanted to pass. On on, e occasionI saw one rider peddling up a hill in a zigzag pattern (a huge no-no for cyclists, even on extremely steep hills).  If they stopped, they would stay on the shoulder and not move off the road and I was just totally annoyed with all of them I saw out there.

 

What’s Next?

Thursday evening before the MS 150, I started to get a little depressed when I realized that there would be no more organized rides in the immediate Houston area until the fall. While this is a bit disappointing to me, there are quite a few rides which take place within a few hundred miles of me which are scheduled from now until the end of summer.  I haven’t made any final choices yet on which rides I will enter but some of my immediate choices are:

 

·         Shiner GASP (Great Austin to Shiner Pedal) – May 4^th, 2013 – A 100 mile ride from Austin to the Spoetzel Brewery in Shiner, TX

·         Spindle Top Spin – June 1^st, 2013 – Varying route distances from 16 – 100 miles in Beaumont, TX

·         Tour d’Italia – June 15^th, 2013 – Varying route distances from 12 – 63 miles in Italy, TX (about 40 miles south of Dallas). While not a particularly challenging or long route, I just want to tell everybody that I did the Tour de Italy.

·         Hotter ‘N Hell 100 – August 24, 2013 – 100 miles in 100+ degree August weather in Wichita Fall, TX.

 

BP MS 150 2013 T-Shirt

---