On September 9-10, I rode the Washington edition of the MS 150 Bike Tour, a fundraiser for the National Mutliple Sclerosis Society. It is a two day ride with 50, 75 and 100 mile options on Saturday and 50 and 75 mile options on Sunday. I rode with Team Copaxone, organized by Maureen "Mo" Manley. Mo is a former elite level cyclists who was selected for the 1992 US Olympic Team before being diagnosed with MS.
I drove up to La Conner Saturday morning and it poured rain all the way from Everett to the exit south of Mt. Vernon. But in La Conner the cloud ceiling was higher and it wasn't raining, although the roads were still very wet. Saturday's route circumnavigated Fidalgo Island, through Anacortes and past Mt. Erie and then over Deception Pass for a loop on Whidbey Island before re-crossing Deception Pass and winding back to La Conner. It was a hard route with constant rollers and some long hills, and wind all day long. We were all tired by the time we got to the 75 vs. 100 mile decision point at mile 40 - we all chose 75. I felt really strong all day, but my legs were tired for the last 20 miles or so. The most notable part of the day was crossing a bike trail bridge over Fidalgo Bay. Apparently the shore birds use the bike path to crack open shellfish, and the path is littered with broken shells. It was like a war zone, with dozens of cyclists pulled over to fix flats. We were lucky to only have one puncture among our 10 or so riders.
Sunday started out clear and beautiful. It was cooler due to lack of cloud cover, but sunny. Sunday's route went through farmland (tulip fields if it were tulip season) and then crossed east of Interstate 5 for a while. Then back under I-5 and along Lake Samish before turning around in the south part of Bellingham and heading south on scenic Chukanut Drive. After that it was back down to farmland for the final 15 miles back to La Conner (another 75 mile day).
We had about 15 riders in our team Sunday. For the first 40 miles we rode 2 abreast at about 19mph. Along Chukanut Drive we split into two groups. but riding along with a team on such a gorgeous day was fantastic. A 10 in terms of quality cycling days. Once back in the farmland three of us went back to help bring the slower group home in the headwind. Even that was really fun.
This was the best organized ride I have ever been on. The registration included a beer garden on Saturday including three beers per rider and a spaghetti dinner, as well as breakfast Sunday morning and hamburgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers after the ride Sunday. Saturday night after dinner there was a presentation focused on MS that was quite touching.
This year's ride raised $1m, which is pretty impressive for 1600 riders. I only raised about $350, but you can bet next year I'll be hitting you up for more. In fact, you can donate right now at my personal MS 150 page. For 2007 I plan to raise at least $1000.
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