Two weeks ago I traveled home to Cleveland to ride in the Escape to the Lake Bike MS event, benefiting the Western PA Chapter of the National MS Society. If you’d like to know more about why I ride, you can read about it on my fundraising page. 

Thanks to my kind donors that helped me raise $1,290 for the cause! I am always impressed by their generosity. If you were one of my donors and would like a bicycle print that I made to commemorate the occasion, please let me know and I’ll send one to you.

Now on to the exciting part, the story of my trip and accompanying pictures!

I arrived in Ohio late on Wednesday night.  Somehow my flight was slow getting out of Austin and my connection time in DFW was super slim. I found myself running to my gate and was the last person on the plane. As soon as I sat down, the plane started taxiing. I knew this meant trouble for my checked luggage that contained important items like my bike clothes and shoes and bike pump (as well as normal suitcase things).  The luggage did not make it but the American Airlines employee assured me that my bag would be on the first flight to Cleveland the next day, landing around noon.  Sure enough, I saw online that my bag landed the next day at that time.  I called the baggage counter and found out it would be picked up by the delivery company at 3 pm and should be delivered shortly thereafter, with the maximum delivery time being 6 hours.  I thought I could handle that as we had to stay home at my Mom’s and wait for FedEx to drop off my bike anyhow.  Well, around 8 pm my patience starting running thin and I called the baggage counter again. I found out that the delivery company wouldn’t answer their phones so we had no idea where my luggage was and when it might show up.  However, this guy said my luggage could take 8 hours to show which was brand new news to me. I waited another hour and a half and called back this time really unhappy.  They still couldn’t reach the company and told me if it didn’t show up, I could call back and get an authorization to purchase the items I needed for the weekend.  Skeptical that I could even get my hands on all of the special bike gear in my suitcase, I was very stressed at this point. I went to sleep but really didn’t sleep well.  In the middle of the night I found a voicemail on my phone from the delivery company had left the bag behind the house at 1 AM, 25 HOURS AFTER I LANDED! Later than even the latest delivery time promised to me. I was patient early in the day but this really made me angry.  Luckily at least my bike showed up on Thursday and I assembled it without a problem.

Me assembling my bike wearing clothes from the day before:

On Friday, we headed out for Pittsburgh around noon, first going downtown to pick up my packet at the MS Society office.

A view from the office:

After that, we headed north to my Aunt and Uncle’s house to have a backyard party with my family in the area.

My grandfather, sister and I:

Early the next morning at 6 am or so we headed out for the starting line at Cooper’s Lake Campground.

Mom and I at the starting line:

Apparently the campground we started from is the site of a gigantic Medieval festival which explains the huge castle I saw rising out of the fog as we started our ride. It was very impressive and it wasn’t until I was closer that I noticed that it was built out of wood.

I was worried about rain on Saturday because all of the forecasts had a very high chance of rain. After the fog cleared up though the day was perfect. Very little wind, warm and sunny. I felt very strong and was riding fast. The landscape was just perfect, green and farmland on all sides. The number of riders in the Escape to the Lake is about a tenth of the riders in the BP MS150 that I’ve ridden before. It was very relaxing to be part of a smaller group and to not encounter lines at the rest stops!

Something I hadn’t anticipated was the gigantic hills. They were decidedly different from the hills that I ride in Texas. They were so steep that I like to call them “drop and grind” hills because I had to drop into my smallest my gear immediately and just grind and grind to the top of the steep and often long hill. There was almost no downhill before these hills and by the end of the day on about the 8th occurrence I was swearing under my breath each time I encountered yet another hill.

The view from near the top of one of the early hills:

The bridge just after one of the rest stops:

I was riding so fast that my SAG (support and gear) entourage had trouble catching up to me at the stops! We met up near the end of a 20 mile additional route that I chose to go on to get me to 100 miles the first day. It was very pretty landscape with many small lakes in that section.

My SAG entourage at the mile 60 rest stop where I got my “century route” pin:

A nice view:

A surprise picture attack by my entourage:

Soon thereafter we met back up with the rest of the riders on the shorter route. With about 15 miles to go I began to get worried about rain as the wind picked up and I could see that it was getting cloudier and darker.

I really pushed myself to make it to the end, where my family was waiting. As I rolled in to Edinboro and then the University I felt such excitement at having finished! I clipped out of my pedals and about 30 seconds later felt my first rain drop.

Finished!

Day one mileage: 100.7 miles

That night we stayed in a quaint little cabin by a lake, not very far at all from the finish location. I was done early enough that we had plenty of time to enjoy ourselves, dining in the nearby restaurant and watching my cousin fish on the lake.

Relaxing outside:

The start of day two was decidedly cooler and very foggy and damp since it rained overnight. I wasn’t even sure if they would start on time so I waited a few minutes before starting out. The route was only a mile down the road so I jumped on right from the cabin.

As I rode the dampness didn’t really clear up. The further north we rode, the cooler and windier it became. I heard other riders complain about the wind but after riding all spring in 20 + mph winds in Texas, I was well prepared. I was also glad that I over prepared with my clothing by wearing both arm and leg warmers. They may have laughed at me at the beginning but were jealous by the end!

I didn’t take many pictures because of the dreariness.  I did see a number of Amish buggies and the passengers always waved at us. Near the Ohio border, I saw two separate yards with young Amish children watching and waving to us as we rode by.

Riding into Ohio:

The finish for day two was in Conneaut Ohio which is right on Lake Erie. It’s a small town that did a great job welcoming all of the riders. At 5 miles out I started seeing signs letting us know how much further in half mile increments:

As I got even closer to the finish, I started seeing large groups of people cheering on the side of the road. It was a great feeling. There were all sorts of signs welcoming us in to town.

The finish line was through a balloon arch in a park right on the lake, here I come!

Day 2 mileage: 57.8 miles

There was a nice party with lots of food and a finisher’s medal waiting for us:

Mom and I at the top of the hill in the park:

All in all it was a wonderful ride and I’m very glad that I made the trip. We headed back to my Mom’s house where I packed up my bike into it’s case and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Huge thanks to my Mom for being my personal chauffeur for the weekend and carting me and my bike around!

Well, that’s it. Training is complete. I’ve been training since the middle of March for the Escape to the Lake MS Bike ride, a fundraising event for the Western Pennsylvania Multiple Sclerosis Society. The event is next weekend and it’s not too late to donate in support of my efforts.

This weekend, I participated in the Atlas ride, which is the first day ride of the Texas 4000, a group of young riders that ride 4500 miles from Austin Texas to Anchorage Alaska to fight cancer by sharing hope, knowledge and charity throughout their route.

On the Atlas Ride the members of the Texas 4000 were incredibly excited and willing to talk to all other riders about their journey. I learned that you can only ride once during your lifetime and that they are all UT students. They expect to reach Anchorage in the middle of August. They will split into two separate groups, one that will ride along the Pacific coast and the other will ride through the Rocky Mountains.  They are inspiring and many have been personally affected by cancer.

The Atlas ride had many young volunteers that appeared to have done the ride in previous years. It seems like an amazing journey.

Here they are at the starting line, in front of the orange tape:

The Atlas Ride was a 73 mile ride from Cedar Park to Legato Winery, just outside of Lampasas. The route was wonderful with great views and wonderful Texas scenery. The weather was even better. The morning started cool-ish for this time of year and pretty, fluffy clouds kept the sun hidden for more than two hours. The wind was light but also mostly at our backs. Much of the first 30 miles seemed to be downhill. Even after that we rode along some very small and isolated ranch roads that were fast, although some of the chip and seal surface started to slow us down. The rest stops were well stocked with happy volunteers and the route was well marked with spray chalk paint and waving volunteers. I even kept on route through the section in Lampasas where we meandered through parking lots and a sidewalk section.

At the finish, Carl met me at the winery. We enjoyed a party with food and had a wine tasting. The winery even donated a portion of their sales for certain bottles of wine to the Texas 4000, so we made sure to buy one of those bottles. This was the easiest training weekend of this entire season.

On Sunday, I headed down the street on my mountain bike to Walnut Creek park which is a wonderful mountain biking park, the best in Austin. I decided to ride my mountain bike because my helmet was being packed in the bike case to be shipped to Ohio. I road all of my favorite challenging trails in the park, for a total of about 13 miles.

I then came home and proceeded to disassemble my bike and protect it for shipping. It went in a hard sided case. It was quite the production. I’m definitely nervous about how it will fare so please keep your fingers crossed for safe travels.

It will be shipped on Monday and should make it to Ohio sometime on Thursday. I hope that I’ve packed it well enough!

Well, thank goodness it’s over. With two weeks until the Escape to the Lake Bike MS Ride in Pennsylvania I’ve completed my peak mileage. There were some moments when I wasn’t sure I’d make it. The first moment was when reviewing the forecast, I saw this:

The temperature is one thing, but I was willing to wake up early to try to beat the heat as much as possible. The real challenge was the wind. We had two days earlier this week with NO WIND. It was amazing. I even road my mountain bike on one day and road bike on the other (on top of multiple days commuting to work by bike).

However, on Saturday I needed to ride 70 miles at least. I started out at 7:30 am to try to beat the wind and heat. Immediately, I was faced with this:

Notice how the flags are tilted slight upwards. I was riding against this wind. I planned my route so that I would ride mostly into the headwind (south) early. This meant that my route had many giant hills.  (The route was basically this, but with a jog north on parmer to add an additional 13 miles).  I started out strong but the wind really made me rethink my plans. Especially the moment on route 620 where the wind hit me from the side and almost made me ride off the shoulder.  Luckily, much of this route was downhill. I was worried about crossing the giant bridge in front of Mansfield Dam because of the wind but for some reason, the wind was completely dead there. Not sure why, but I’ll take it.  Soon after that, at mile 30, I realized my rear tire was REALLY low.  I pulled over, changed the tire and found a small piece of wire that seemed to have just pierced the tire enough to cause a leak.  I texted my husband at that point to keep his phone close because I only had enough to change one flat and more than 40 miles to go. Turning around was certainly on my mind. Going north was easy!

I was worried about the CO2 I used to pump up my tire running out (it escapes faster than normal air) but it seemed to hold solid. I got down south and turned back towards town on Bee Caves Road and then road further south on Barton Creek Blvd. I don’t recommend riding north on that road, the hills are enormous.  There were lots of gigantic and beautiful houses in gated neighborhoods back there.  I even got to cross Barton Creek and was surprised to see water in it given our current drought conditions. I then made the left on Lost Creek and found some really great, curvy downhills to ride. The traffic was minimal… which was great because there were 4 giant hills to climb that I almost walked up.  Toward the end of Lost Creek I kept climbing long slow hills and was starting to over heat. I had to pull over, dump water on my neck and look at my phone to find the closest place I could get ice. Very soon after that I made it to Loop 360 and started going north. Even the hills were easy with that strong tail wind!  I pulled over at a starbucks to cool down and get ice, water, and a snack. About 15 miles later I made it home with 71 miles on my odometer. The heat must have affected me more than I thought, I was tired all day and my stomach was sure what was going on.  

And that brings us to Sunday. I knew there was no way I could handle multiple miles of head wind so I elected to drive to the Veloway (a 3 mile loop for cyclists and roller bladers way down south) to put in my miles. I always feel guilty going here because I have to drive so far. I feel like I should just ride from my house when not doing charity rides but my will power was lacking. I woke up starving apparently not eating enough the day before and started out earlier than usual. This was lucky because after riding about 10 miles around the local bike routes, I headed to the Veloway and realized my rear tire was low… I found someone in the parking lot with a pump and pumped it up. Two laps later it was low again. I pulled over at the starting line in the shade and went about changing it again. This time, the leak seemed to come from a hole in the side wall. I “booted” the tire with a dollar bill, which involves placing a folded in half long ways dollar bill inside the tire so that the tube will not be affected by the hole.  I completed changing the tire with an audience and even answered a few questions about what I was doing for some roller bladers that were intrigued. Luckily, it held up as I completed 41 miles total. 

At one point, I hear a mom tell her son to ride the short loop without her but “not to race”. He’s a boy on a bike at the Veloway! Why can’t he race?? It’s the ideal place! Glad she’s not my mom.

When I got home I quickly ordered new tires. I guess it’s been more than a year and one and a half MS training seasons, so I’m actually pretty impressed at how long the tires lasted. I should have them before I ship my bike to Ohio.

Anyhow, I could really use your help reaching my fundraising goal! If you’d like to donate in support of my participation in the Escape to the Lake (160 miles in two days), you can at my fundraising page. 

Well, you’ve probably read by now that I’m training for the Escape to the Lake Bike MS Ride in Pennsylvania which takes place on June 11th & 12th. I’m super excited to make the trip home and visit with my family while taking part in this great fundraising event.

I’ve been training for this event since March. This weekend, I rode Saturday and Sunday. This past week I was in San Francisco for a work conference so I only got to ride Tuesday evening after work during the week. Luckily, the conference organizers sponsored a morning run so that we could all sweat out the alcohol consumed the night before.

Friday night I got in later than expected due to central Texas storms. I didn’t make it home until about midnight. I was excited to ride Saturday morning because the forecast called for “calm” wind of only 5 - 7 mph out of the south. Oh, how wrong they were. I headed up north on Parmer Lane in a very slight mist and used the “Reagan Ramble” route supplied by the Austin Cycling Association (a great organization - consider joining if you are in Austin!). I took a pit stop at the Andice General Store, a place I hope to make a lunch stop some time when out on my bike with friends. After that pit stop, I turned back towards home and the wind was more in the 20 - 25 mph range and it was headwind the whole way back.  Yay! At least the clouds kept the real heat away for the most of the ride. I got in 67 miles total.

Sunday, I had to sleep in for a while and did not get out on my bike until 11 am, making it necessary to deal with the heat.  It was also just as windy as Saturday. Because I knew the wind was out of the south, I chose to ride Loop 360 which heads south first before turning around to have a tail wind.  The only problem is the hills. The road has quite a few large hills that climbing in the wind is hard because of the length of the hills.  I did see someone set up to sell peaches on the side of the road so it must be Fredericksburg peach season. I ended up riding 33.5 hard miles. Needless to say, it’s been a very busy weekend catching up from being out of town. I’ll post notes from my San Fran trip soon!

P.S. I’m about 40% of the way to my fundraising goal for this even. Please consider making a donation to help me meet the goal!

Well, you’ve probably read by now that I’m training for the Escape to the Lake Bike MS Ride in Pennsylvania which takes place on June 11th & 12th. I’m super excited to make the trip home and visit with my family while taking part in this great fundraising event.

I’ve been training for this event since March. This weekend, I rode Friday - Sunday. The weather this weekend was wonderful, much cooler than it has been recently (although still kind of windy!).

On Friday, I commuted to work and then after work headed down to Jerry’s Artarama to use a Groupon and pick up supplies for some linoleum print making that I’m working on. My current subject matter is beer ingredients. In high school, I made a linoleum carving of the Cape Hatteras light house that I considered pretty awesome and desired to take up the craft again.  The ride was pretty easy, following city bike routes most of the way.

Saturday, I signed up for the Austin Cycling Armadillo ride, an annual fundraiser for the Austin Cycling Association (ACA). The ACA is a great organization that does a lot of cycling outreach and provides nice route maps for riding in the areas around Austin. They use the money from this ride to buy helmets for kids. 

It was windy for the ride, although not the worst wind I’ve ridden in this year, and cool enough in the morning that I needed my arm warmers. We left from Liberty Hill High School. The ride was mostly nice but the roads were rather bumpy in spots. I was undecided about doing either the 78 or 63 mile route and due to the wind, the bumpiness, and general aches from my shoulder, I opted for the 63 mile route. I also got my first flat in quite a while about 15 miles in to the ride. This didn’t surprise me as my rear tire was completely flat when I got to Liberty Hill. The tire seemed to be holding air to some extent so I decided to start the ride and see if it was just a fluke.  Luckily, a SAG wagon (this is a bike support vehicle, not sure where the name SAG comes from) showed up right behind me and the kind driver proceeded to change my tube far faster than I ever could have, and he gave me a spare tube! A very kind man.

I had to make my decision about which route to take at the “Dillo Door” rest stop at mile 30. If you didn’t make it there by 10:30 am, you couldn’t go on the 78 or 105 mile routes, which turned out to be completely OK with me even though I made it on time. At that stop, they had tons of volunteers, a big blow up arch from Clif Bar and a ton of Clif samples to try out. The stop was on a small country road and apparently there was at least one driver not too happy to see us as he laid on the horn of his gigantic red truck the entire time he approached and drove past the rest stop. The prettiest part of the ride was after that stop - very little civilization and lots of gorgeous views. 

One interesting part of the ride was the passage through Oatmeal Texas. There is apparently an oatmeal festival every labor day there and there was a giant fake oatmeal container in the area of the festival!

After finishing the ride, Carl and I headed to Houston to visit with his friend. We took my bike so that I could ride on Sunday. On Sunday, I rode back and forth on the Brays Bayou trail which was very near where we stayed. The Bayou was on the smelly side, but the trail was decent and the land is FLAT so riding was pretty easy except for the headwind in one direction, but what else is new…. I was able to get in 30 miles on that trail.

That’s all for this week… stay tuned for next week’s update!

You may or may not know, but May is Bike Month in Austin! In honor of bike month, the city and various workplaces and organizations are promoting cycling, particularly commuting to work.  I hear that my workplace, National Instruments is engaged in a friendly competition with AMD to see which campus has more employees commuting to work by bike this month. We’re keeping track of our trips and miles and if you commute a certain amount, Mellow Johnny’s bike shop will give you a discount.

Last week, I commuted 3 out of 4 times. My commute is a 5 mile round trip.

And on to the Escape to the Lake Bike MS Event training!

Last week we had a few days where it wasn’t all that windy. Of course once the weekend rolled around, that all changed and I found myself on a 58 mile bike ride on Saturday in some strong winds. At least I got to ride a route that I usually enjoy when it’s not so windy.

On Sunday I helped my husband scout his bike ride commute to work because he’d like to ride on Bike to Work Day May 20th. It’s at least 8 miles one way for him, so it’s a decent commute.  Once again the wind was intense so after making it home I decided to add some more miles on my mountain bike at the nearby park so that the trees would block the wind for me. The heat kept many riders out of the park so it was a good time for riding fast!

My mileage total for Saturday and Sunday was 84.5 miles.  As I’m fundraising for the National MS Society, please consider making a donation!

This weekend we went out to Kerrville, Texas for the first time to ride on the Easter Hill Country Tour. The tour is a 3 day bike ride where you get to explore the Texas hill country around Kerrville.  It was wonderful! As I’m now transitioning my Escape to the Lake MS Bike Ride training log to tumblr, stay tuned to read all about our trip.

On Friday, we dropped our dog off at a friend’s house, loaded up our two bikes on the back of the Mini Convertible and hit the road. Around 2 and a half hours later, we were in Kerrville. We just barely made it in time to pick up our packets at Schreiner University, a very small little college. Many riders actually got to ride Friday as well, but we both worked on Friday.  After checking into our room at the western themed YO Ranch Resort, we headed out for dinner. We checked out a relatively new little restaurant in Kerrville called Grape Juice. They had a good beer selection for a small town, and good food with quality local ingredients.

The next morning we got up and enjoyed a complimentary breakfast buffet provided by the YO.  We then headed out on our bikes early to beat the windiest part of the day. Not that it matter that much as it was already blowing around 13 mph when we left at 7:50 am.  We left from the hotel, which added a few extra miles to the 35 mile route Carl planned to ride and the 68 mile route I planned to ride.  We headed south out of Kerrville and after about 8 miles, split on our respective routes. 

My route continued to take me south, directly into the wind. This was good because headwind on the way out means tailwind on the way back! I rode route 16 all the way through Medina to Bandera. The route was just amazing. So much nicer than any riding you can easily get to around Austin. At one point before Medina, I came to a gigantic hill where a bunch of riders were stopped at the bottom because a semi truck was slowly going up the steep, windy hill and they were afraid the truck wouldn’t make it!  The group decided to go up right as I rode into them and we all got in our granny gears and had to stand to climb the hill.  On the other side of the hill, there was a volunteer with a caution side because it was time to go back down the hill.  It was fun, windy, and fast.

After making it through that hilly section, the route was almost completely flat to Bandera.  There were hills and trees on either side for a majority of that section of 16 so the wind was far less annoying than it could have been.  The road was smooth and many ranches with beautiful houses and streams cutting through the limestone. Occasionally I spotted a house perched precariously on the very top of a hill with a crazy little road winding up to it. I passed more streams and ponds with water than I expected given the current drought.  I stopped briefly at a rest stop in Medina, headed to Bandera and stopped there as well. In Medina the 55 mile route split from the 68 mile route. The entire time I was on the 68 mile route only section, I didn’t see a single other cyclist except at the stop in Bandera that had 3 teenagers serving us peanut butter sandwiches with bananas and oatmeal cookies.

I got back on my bike and entered into the wonderful world of tailwind for the next 35 miles. While making my way out of Bandera, I was chased briefly by a Jack Russell Terrier that jumped the gate in his yard. He gave up as soon as I reached the end of his yard. I guess I was no longer a threat. Eventually I found other cyclists when I met up again with the 55 mile route. The hills started in again around here and I began to get more fatigued than normal. I made sure to get some food and continue to drink water. Heading back into Kerrville, I crossed the Guadalupe river where it had a small dam and saw people kayaking and picnicking by the river. Because I took a shortcut towards the end and the fact that the hotel was a few miles off the route, I ended up riding 69 miles.

I made it back to the YO in less time than I had planned so Carl and I showered and headed out on the town. We stopped by the Market Days in front of the courthouse and enjoyed the local craft vendor’s wares. We walked along the Main Street and then headed to the park by the river where we sat and read for a while. After we tired of that we returned to the hotel to sit by the pool with a drink and read. I must say I really enjoy my new Kindle. After that we headed to dinner at River’s Edge Tuscan Grille. We sat on the rooftop terrace and listened to a woman play a guitar and fiddle. She sang Johnny Cash, Grateful Dead, Bob Marley, and Janice Joplin songs. She had the perfect voice for it. Our food was good and the atmosphere was just perfect with a number of other cyclists enjoying the terrace and conversing with the singer.

Sunday we had a choice of a 19, 32, or 37 mile route. We opted for the 32 mile, which ended up about 33.5 after factoring in extra distance to our hotel. The first half of the route was in the headwind, it was another very windy day. We rode 7 miles on a small ranch road with GIANT hills.  At one point, my front gear didn’t shift correctly and I had to come off my bike and walk up the hill. It was sad. About half way through the ride we transitioned to the tailwind portion again and made it back to our hotel early enough to shower and check out. We stopped in Fredericksburg on our way back to have lunch and a beer at the Fredericksburg Brewing Company.

It was a great weekend for bike training! Carl even enjoyed it and in the future we hope to talk some of our friends into joining us for this great event!

Carl & Laura on Sunday: