“Today I ride for those who can’t, in the hopes that one day they will“, was my mantra for the 2017 MS Bike to the Bay that I rode in last weekend.
So back in early January I bought a road bike so I could participate in the DC Duathlon Series, which I did and had a great time. But I digress, anyway, my friend Stacy said “now that you have a cool bike“, which I do, I named her Sophia, and she is a Cannondale Synapse, but I digress again, sorry, “you should ride with us in the MS Bike to the Bay” I said “sure”, what is it? Do you see the order there? Lol.
She said “it not a race, we just ride from Toledo to Port Clinton on Saturday and back on Sunday”. So in my mind I quickly calculated the distance, as I’ve driven it many times at about 30 to 35 miles, I could do that, right? So I again said “sure”, then she said “we ride the Century each way“. WAIT! Century, isn’t that like 100? 100 miles? Are you fucken kidding me? 100 miles each way! This is where my ego kicked in, “dude, you’re not backing out now” that little voice in my head said! “Oh, Ok” I said sheepishly! What had I gotten myself into now is all I could think!
Flash forward 6 months and one long ride of 65 miles under my belt and it was Go Time. Our group of 25 rolled out of the Owens Community Collage Campus at 7:30 am on Saturday. We rode west about 25 miles! Wait! Port Clinton is due East of the collage! That was the first sign it was going to be a long ride! Lol.
We stopped every 15 to 20 miles are theses rest stops manned by these awesome volunteers. We Arrived in Port Clinton at about 2:30 pm.
We spent the night in Port Clinton. Some of the group stayed with friends, some in hotels and a few camped out on the baseball field at the high school.
Several of our group, ones that were not planning on riding back on Sunday, headed for Put-In-Bay for the evening. The weekend theme was Pirates, Duh! Lol.
Most of our group are marathoners, some are TRI athletes, some even IRONMEN, so what do you do after riding your bike 100 miles? You go for a run (sorry no pic) then swim a few hundred meters! Lol. Yea, were all a little wacko!
About a dozen brave soles mounted up, sore asses and all, ready to take on another 100 miles at 6:30 am on Sunday! Just a simple little 100 mile bike ride on a Sunday morning, Right?
As if riding a second day of 100 miles wasn’t enough, Mother Nature decided to play a cruel game with us and she whipped up 18 mph head winds, ALL DAY!
Finally we arrived back at our departure point some 200+ miles and 33 hours later.
A much smaller, but determined group!
While I joke about our ride and shenanigans, the real mission was to raise money for MS and I’m so proud to say our team raised over $10,000 for this charity.
I want to thank our organizer Stacy Carson, without whom this never would have happened. Our group’s name “Tour Des Friends” is so fitting. Because many of our team members were just acquaintances before we left, but when we returned they are certainly Friends for life!
Have you ever ridden your bike 100 miles?
Ever dressed up like a pirate?
I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment and follow my blog if you like this kinda thing!
Running in the 419 
Looks like a great weekend!! Congrats!! I have done the 150 ride several times, a long time ago before my son was born. But, his birthday is the same weekend, so we haven’t done it since then! But yep, the two things that I remember the most were the brownies (oh yum!!) and how sore my butt was getting back on the bike on day 2!!! Ye-ouch!
Questions: Did you sleep in a tent at the HS? (that’s what we did. And it rained one year, that sucked!)
Did you go to Put In Bay and party? (we did, and that didn’t suck!)
Do they still serve “flying pancakes” in the morning? ( they did for us, and I was almost in tears when they flipped them at my plate. I was too tired to catch them and I just wanted them to hand them to me. Wasn’t up for that silliness when I was so exhausted!!!)
My cousin has MS, so this has been an event that hits close to home for me.
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Had a great time!
I stayed in a hotel! My idea of ruffing it is a 10 year old Holiday Inn! Lol
Did not go to put in Bay! Thought it would have been fun, but was concerned about the 100 miles the next day. Good thing, our peeps got back to the school at 3:30 am! 😝
Yes, flying pancake were live and well! Managed to catch three! Some people loved it, most were not up for that at 6:00 am!😡
Thanks for the comments!!!
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