WA Bike MS – we survived!
Just got back late this afternoon from this year’s Bike MS event (WA ride – there are others nationwide at varying times throughout the year). This is the first ‘big’ bike ride we’ve done – I haven’t done STP (yet – it’s still in the cards someday though) nor RSVP (may get to this one first as we have friends who already do this ride) and the last couple walking events we did (Vancouver Sun Run, Seattle Half-Marathon) were also many years ago now. So it was interesting to be a part of a big event like this – they estimated about 3,000 bikers were going to take part overall, and I believe it.
Bike MS is a bit different than STP or RSVP – it’s not competitive, nor timed (unless you handle that) it’s to raise money to cure the disease Multiple Sclerosis. Teams of varying size – and corporate sponsorship in many cases – raise as much money as they can prior to and during the ride, all counting towards an overall goal (apparently this years’ is $1.6M, of which they had raised about $1.12M as of last night’s announcement while we were there).
We took the day off work Friday and got there around 11 am and as there was almost no one there (participant-wise) yet, we parked the van in our camping spot and helped some of the volunteer staff – I worked in the ‘bike corral’ helping store people’s very expensive bikes – kerewin helped at the registration desk. Our team started showing up mid-to-late afternoon, some not until that night due to getting off work – apparently the traffic from Seattle was its usual jam-up funfest.
The first riding day, Saturday, we did the 59-mile route – there are longer and shorter but we felt that was the best one for our ability. Saturday started out with a minor threat of rain but went from overcast early on to sunny by late am – ended up with a few minor sunburns but nothing major. Great conditions for a ride, good mix of hills although the course is mostly pretty flat.
The second day (today) we did the 50-mile route, which is even more flat – but, it rained about 2/3 of the ride today. And was pretty breezy/windy the whole time (especially at the end). Today’s route was a bit tougher mentally, even though otherwise a faster ride – plus, we were still a bit tired from the previous day. Got home around 4pm, no traffic coming back – always a nice experience around here. 🙂
To sum up, a great event, great teammates (for some of whom this was their first ride too) and a good time had by all – no injuries, only one notable malfunction (someone today had flats at two different times, and a crank that persisted in coming loose multiple times, so he had to bail on the ride about halfway to avoid something bad happening).
Thanks to everyone who sponsored us, and for hopefully defeating this disease!
candybowl