MS150

Sure we only rode a total of 74 miles all weekend and it rained a lot of the time, but the MS150, or MS ride as I think they now call it, was pretty awesome.

This was my maiden voyage and the prep took a little getting used to. We had to pre-pack our bags since they truck them up to Lawrence and have them waiting for you and we were camping so we had a lot to pack. Plus the start was a little nutz, but I guess that's to be expected when there are 2,500 people getting ready to ride.

Once the ride started it was a blast. X works for Quintles so I rode with her and the rest of the Team Quintiles crew, they were good people and really cool. Luckily we managed to miss the two rain showers that came thru, the first while we waited for X's spoke to get fixed and again while we had lunch. Unfortunately we missed the time cut and couldn't do the long route of 109 so settled for 74 miles. Pretty much all of it was new roads to me so it was quite enjoyable.

Camping in Lawrence was an experience. I thought i had the perfect spot for our tent, but it turned out to be right under a lamp as well as right next to the park's swing set... so when the bars closed at 2am on saturday night all the drunk students wandered thru the camping area acting like, well, drunk college students and then several of them proceeded to swing. Totally annoying... but i could see the humor in it. X wasn't quite as amused.

We woke up the next day to rain, then shortly there after the ride was cancelled. Boo! So we got a ride back to KC and that was that. What should of been 180 miles in two days turned into 74 miles in one day. Cest la vie.

Things i learned:

Old guys in tennis shoes can be fast.

Putting time trial bars on a mtn bike is awesome.

Pickle juice is awesome.

The live band they had in Lawrence, Sellout, is awesome.

Investing in a jacked that's water "proof" is necessary.

I will totally do this ride next year. It was fun but it also feels good to help others. I'm usually a lame curmudgeon when it comes to that type of thing, too cynical to have an open mind, but maybe i'm changing. If you can help then you should.

Big thanks to everyone who donated. I personally raised about $400 and the Quintiles team raised over $7,000!

See y'all on down the trail.