MS Bike Tour

What an incredible weekend!

Friday was dark, dreary and filled with rain - an ominous start to the weekend. After dropping Pauli off at Happy Tails before work, I had a remarkably full "half day" at the office. I had made arrangements to carpool with Steve R., who received the unfortunate albeit self-inflicted trail name of "The Groper", and we dodged rain drops as we loaded up the car and headed towards Columbia, MO. We got hit with a deluge on during the drive, but when we arrived at ~4 pm, we were able to pitch the tents on dry land.

Here are Kristin and The Groper hanging out on the beverage center and Elvis' (the dog) crate:

Several of us met up at a local restaurant Jazz, which served Louisiana creole cuisine and hosted classic rock live music. We loaded up on carbs and worked to identify the various bands associated with the songs performed by the musicians - with the exception of an erroneous labeling of a Emerson, Lake and Palmer tune as one from the Moody Blues, we did pretty well.

Our attempts to call it an early night were stymied by the 10:30 arrival of two cyclists who decided that the patch next to ours was a good location. Unfortunately for us, they had a new tent (one had never camped before) and they commenced to read the instructions aloud and put up the tent for the next hour. It was brutal.

We had a number of new riders this year, two of which are pictured here... Phil, aka "The Kid", because he graduated high school in 2000 or something and Bryan, who took on and successfully conquered the century (100 miles) ride on Saturday. A few other Mavericks (David C. and Steve H2.) actually rode their bikes 140 miles from St. Louis to Columbia on Friday BEFORE the ride officially started - so if you think I'M CRAZY, it's all relative!

We awoke bright and early on Saturday morning got our gear together and headed to the start line, where the special breakfast for the top 2006 fundraising teams was still getting set up (a few logistical challenges). Here are a bunch of photos, and yes, it was really that dark!

The official start took awhile as a number of folks felt obligated to say more than a few words, and the team anxiously looked on as rider after rider hit the road ahead of us. It was a pretty awesome site to see ~100 Monsanto Mavericks all lined up at the start. Here a few pictures from my vantage point in the throng:

Day 1 finally commenced, and the wave of Mavericks left the gates. It was truly inspiring to see all of those blue jerseys! The first and last 5 miles of Day 1 (the route usually saved for Day 2) were extremely hilly and it was difficult to get into a groove, but I partnered up with Terry K. and we stuck together until about mile 50 (lunch), where I kept going and Terry stopped for lunch. Terry is one of the most consistent riders I've had the pleasure of matching up with, and he's got a large frame (see picture below) so he blocks a lot of wind when you tuck in behind him.

Of course we stopped at the Monsanto-sponsored rest stop and it was great to see a few familiar faces. We were there early (some of the first customers), so not all of the volunteer troops had arrived, but Dale B. (rest-stop organizer) and Evelyn were there all smiles and encouragement. I know I'll miss some people, but additional thanks to Michelle H., Susan P., Shelly L., Joyce S. and all of the other Maverick volunteers. It is amazing to roll into a rest stop and have folks pamper you, get you gatorade, hand you food and cheer you on. The volunteers are truly awesome, and my goal for next year is to know and thank every one of the Maverick volunteers.

The going was considerably tougher after Terry split off, but I held pace fairly well, stopped once more at mile 65, flatted at mile 85 (ran over a staple!), rode briefly with Steve H. and Tom S. (pictured here in a non-sweaty photo) and cruised the flats before hitting the final hills. Crossed the finish line at 104.5 miles, avererage speed of 19.4 mph, and got a great hug from self-proclaimed team mascot, Shelly L. It's one of the best parts of the ride.

I made it back to the Monsanto Team Tent, and Gary H. and Steve L. (as well as their helpers) did another AMAZING job. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the tent, but you can check out the Monsanto Mavericks website for some photos in the next few days (there will certainly be pics of other parts of the ride too). Having our own massage therapists was a great perk, and Elizabeth, who works 2x / week at Elayna's in South St. Louis was a godsend. Much merriment was had and the campers stayed late in the hopes of winning the bike that they were giving away. Despite my relatively good chance, I won neither the bike from the MS Society or the bike that was raffled by the Mavericks - bummer. After such a long day on the road, we all slept much better Saturday night.

Sunday am was a self-start (no official start) and I was lucky to catch up to Terry K. again within the first few miles. There were still plenty of hills on this route, but these early ones were "rolling". We grabbed a 15 person paceline that passed us at about 22 mph (and subsequently slowed down) and Terry and I each took our turn pulling the line, but they must have started to optimistically because we began dropping folks and just continued onward when the others stopped for a rest stop. There was a very rough section after the turn-off from the 75 mile route onto the 100 mile route and was beginning to question my choice. Eventually things smoothed out and we powered on through lunch, averaging about 20.2 mph by mile 65. We met a bunch of Mavericks from the shorter ride at lunch, pictured here:

Terry and I powered out of lunch like a pair of rockets - probably too hard, but those first 10 miles (65-75) were FAST! We hit a few hills and slowed down, but we cruised into the finish area with a 20.5 mph average over ~100 miles. Monsanto Mavericks Shelly and Evelyn were there at the finish line to provide medals and hugs! Here I am with my saviour, Terry K.

Although I wasn't able to bring my son Isaac this year, I did accomplish two other goals on the "to be done" list: I finished back to back 100 mile rides (double century) and I completed one of them averaging 20.5 mph (goal was 20 mph). I'm not quite there in terms of my new fundraising goal of $15k, but I've got a few more months before all of the pledges need to be submitted - so I'm not giving up. Between the riders and the volunteers, we had over 114 registered Monsanto Mavericks (2nd largest team), and we've raised more than $72k towards our goal of $100k. THANKS AGAIN to all of my sponsors. It's not too late to contribute if you haven't already done so. No gift is too small.