The weekend started with me getting only 2-4 hours of sleep on Friday night. I went to bed at 9 but I was just too excited to rest my mind. 4 am came around, I hopped out of bed and my parents drove me out to the starting line at Rhodes Stadium in Katy, Texas.
This is my mother waking up dark and early to see me off. Isn't she lovely? Wow, what great genes! ;) My father is taking the picture and felt quite camera shy that morning.
My dad was also feeling cheesey that morning and told me to pose with my bike. Take note of the smileage.
I lined up with many other Team Chevron members at the starting line at 5:30, 1.5 hours before the official start time. People usually follow that comment with the question, "Are you crazy??? Why not just start from a neighborhood or gas station near by?" Why? Because! It's a great time to meet your fellow team mates, take pictures, and be on Chevron TV!
See, Chevron TV.... And I am not standing with very good posture. After the final edit, I think I took up a good 45 seconds of the 4:33 minute montage.
These are my buddies Tan and Wendy. Wendy and I both started cycling at the same time and also graduated from Bauer College of Business. We had great fun on training rides and getting used to being on a bike.....
This is my other buddy, Abbey. She is STONG and makes killer cookies! We totally killed the first day together!
Fellow Cougars -- Wendy, Steven, Sebastian, Oscar, Anabel and yours truly.
Grr hills....
The first day was 82.6 miles to the overnight stay at the La Grange fairgrounds. I had so much fun and surprised everyone I've been training with (myself included) when I arrived at about 12:15 with Abbey! Kiet told my coworkers who were volunteering that I probably wouldn't roll in until about 2 pm. I found that I my endurance and speed had significantly improved during the last few rides. I think what happened was my body was finally back into shape (after being inactive for so long) and was ready to turn it up a notch. It also helped that I had gone on a century ride the weekend before the actual MS150.
I felt quite strange in La Grange. I was so exhausted but couldn't sleep -- even at night. I think it was a combination of 200+ people in a 20x20 foot tent snoring (had one person scream in their sleep) and thoughts of WORRY running through my mind. I was anticipating the ever-dreaded BOUCHER PARK!
I also knew I had to eat but was just so tired that I didn't feel like eating all of the awesome BBQ that our AWESOME volunteers cooked. You wouldn't have guessed that by looking at the picture of me below chowing down on a plate of BBQ.
Speaking of volunteers, I think 1/2 of my group at work came out to La Grange! It was so awesome. Kiet, of course, was there being the team captain. My supervisor and 3 other coworkers came out as well! One of those coworkers is also my pedal partner who I rode the MS150 for. He also spent the whole weekend before the ride preparing and smoking the great brisket. He also spent the night in La Grange on Friday AND Saturday night. I wish we had gotten a picture together.
Now let's talk about the 2nd day...... Ok I'm done talking. I don't ever want to remember the pain I felt that day ever again.
I'm just kidding. The 2nd day was exceptionally challenging and painful but in retrospect it was a lot of fun. Total mileage for the latter half was about 74 miles but with 20x more hills. I took a look at the topographical maps and the first day looked like this _______ while the second day looked like this __MMMMMM.
I must say the second day was much more scenic -- especially through Boucher Park via the Bechtel Challenge route. How about those infamous hills through the park? Wow. Just. Wow. One right after another. Real steep going up and real steep going down. I think going down the hill, we hit about 45-47 mph? Going UP the hill is another story. The speed of going down the hill would take me about 65% of the way up then enter the burning of the quads and gluteals. I was afraid I was going to fall off my bike I was pedaling so slow. I think I would have gotten off my bike and walked up the hill if Kiet weren't there to provide some assistance.
I found that cyclists are very positive and encouraging folks. If I was about to be dropped from a paceline during a training ride, a couple of guys would hang back and let me draft off of them until we caught up with the rest of the group. In the park, Kiet was rooting for me while trying to make it up the hill himself and was saying, "COME ON KRISTINE!" and I would hear other cyclists cheering for me as well, "GO KRISSY!!!!" When we got to the top of the hill we all cheered and let out a loud WOOO! It was so awesome.
The rest of the second day was painful as well, especially the rolling hill within the Austin city limits. It really gave meaning to the cliche, "So close yet so far." Despite the pain, I managed to meet up with the first group at 11:45! I was the first Chevron woman to finish! We all met up on the UT campus and then rolled in together for a great photo opp:
Hooray! You can see me.... I'm in the middle towards the left holding up my red pedal partner bandana.
And here is THE MAN, Kiet Tran! The founder, captain, coach and jersey designer for Team Chevron! Kudos to him -- Thanks for all your hard work, Kiet!
And I just needed more proof that I really did make it to the finish line!
So now that the MS150 is over, I'm feeling the MS150 blues. I actually have time to do all my work AT work now that no more people will be dropping by my desk to pick up their jersey. I'm going to try to maintain this healthy lifestyle and I'm actually going to ride in another charity ride next weekend, the Shiner B.A.S.H.
This MS150 season has been great. I have learned a lot about myself, others and multiple sclerosis. Not only did I get personal satisfaction out of completing the MS150, I really felt like I made a difference for individuals with MS with my fundraising efforts. It was also pretty powerful when individuals in wheelchairs because of their MS came to the side of the road to cheer us on and thank us for riding. It was still cool when individuals were just at the side of the road cheering us on at all. I am thankful from this experience and feel like I have gained more from it than I have given. I hope that everyday we get closer and closer to a cure for MS.
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