So I originally was going to ride 40-mile route on Saturday and Sunday, but my team captain talked me into doing 75-mile route on Saturday, and I said yes because my gf was volunteering to help at one of the rest stops on the 75-mile route.
The weather was pretty much perfect. Pretty much no wind. It didn't go above 75F I don't think, most of the day it was overcast and the temperatures stayed down, making the ride really enjoyable.
I had breakfast about 6am, and it was about 60F and foggy. The starting line opened up at 7am and my team headed out around 7:30am, by that time it was not as foggy. I wore a long-sleeve shirt underneath my jersey to keep my arms warm.
The start was pretty slow, topping out around 8 mph because it was really crowded, and there were quite a few cars because we were on MO-240 and it's a busy state HWY.
I was riding with a couple girls from my team so that I wouldn't go too fast and burn out half way through, it was nice to talk to someone while riding. Their pace was about
The first 13 or 15 miles were easy as pie, a few rolling hills, mostly flat. But then I saw what BikeMS was really about, there were some REALLY STEEP hills, I had to go to my lowest gear to climb some of those.
By the 2nd rest stop, about 21 miles into the ride, my front dereiler started having issues, so I had one of the mechanics fix readjust it (every rest stop had a pair of bike mechanics from the sponsors doing minor repairs and adjustments).
The rest stops were really cool, they all had different kinds of snacks, most of them had Gatorade, water, Porta-Poties, etc. It was nice to get off the bike every 10 or so miles and have some fresh cold water or gatorade, and talk with teammates or other riders.
So I left the starting line about 7am, and I finished about 5pm. But the actual ride time is 6:18, There were 8 rest stops, and one of them was the lunch stop where they had Lion's Choice lunch for us, so I took a long break then, and then my gf was working at an Enterprise Rent-a-Car stop and I sat around there chatting with her for a while eating a snow cone lol.
I ended up not riding today because my legs were so damn sore because of those hills, so I just worked at 2 different rest stops as a volunteer today...
So here's some pics since it's a Pics and Vids Section:
Pic from Kim Morris photography, I'll post a better version when I purchase the pic, without purchasing, this is the best resolution I can get.
Pic from Kim Morris photography, I'll post a better version when I purchase the pic, without purchasing, this is the best resolution I can get.
Candid shot lol
One of the rest stops:
(sorry, camera phone pic)
Team Enterprise Rent-a-Car
My bike speedo:
it's a little off because after I reset it, I had to roll my bike to the team tent, then back to my tent because I forgot the eye drops for my contacts, and then to the starting line, actual route mileage is 76.4
