This weekend I participated in my second MS150 event and my first MS150 event in Florida. This time I attempted to start my own team at USF and ride the ride. I can say that my attempt to start a team was only slightly successful. We did have the required number of members, etc, but just not that many people. I met a professor here at USF, who rode with us and seems committed to the idea of trying to get the team to take off a little more for next year. Fingers crossed, USF will be a bigger presence at next year’s ride.
Early morning on Day 1
The ride itself went great. Sabrina and I both finished without too much struggle. The route is pretty nice, although some of the roads could stand to be repaved. Bok Tower is actually the highest natural point in Florida so on Day you get to start the day with a long downhill, a section of flats through the country, and then some more hills. On the after lunch stage of the ride we hit even more hills, but the best thing about hills are the downhills. On a couple of them, I made 25 mph sans pedaling. I wound up riding mostly with Stefan on Day 1. We lost Sabrina on one of the uphills. We arrived at the Caribe Royale at about 11:30 AM. Sabrina arrived about 30 minutes later. Unfortunately, they didn’t really have a lunch spread at the end, just some snackage. But they did have a massage tent and Sabrina and I each got a 15 minute massage. I think it helped with recovery for day 2.
We went to the dinner provided that night. Maureen Manley, a former bicycling race champion until she was diagnosed with MS, was the keynote speaker. I was pretty moved by the dinner. Even though I don’t have anyone I’m particularly close to that has MS, the weirdness of the disease and the fact that I still feel pretty helpless in understanding what caused Mom’s death, means that MS seems like as good a disease as any to support.
Me at the start of Day 2.
Sabrina at start of Day 2.
Day 2 started early, but the nice thing was we got to sleep in till about 5AM. The beds at the Caribe Royale were really comfortable, and I slept fantastically. The next day was a bit of a rough start. But I found myself latching onto other folks’ wheels and then passing them later. Sabrina found a group of teachers at the lunch stop that were just at her pace, so I got ahead of her again. I averaged about 14.1 mph on Day 2 and felt really good. At the end I definitely had some struggling getting back up a few of the hills and those last 15 miles were hard, but I finished strong. On the last 2 miles I figured I should just dig deep and pedal fast. It may be Tuesday, but I’m still riding my weekend high.
Thanks to everyone who donated to this event and thanks especially to Mary’s grandparents, Marilyn and Ed for letting Sabrina and I stay at their house on Friday night and use it as a post-ride rest stop on Sunday. I’ll be riding this event again next year and would love to have more people to ride with 
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