MS 150 - DAY 1

Saturday morning we arrived in the parking lot at St. Joe College in Windham, Maine at 06:30 sharp. After a brief check in and readying ourselves and our bikes we rolled up to the start line. The local weatherman (Joe Cupo) has been the 'official' famous guy promoting and riding in this event for somewhere around 20 years.

We started the ride at 07:30.

510 riders rolling down the road just absolutely glowing in all colors of the rainbow. As this was my first large event I was amazed by several things:

• the color explosion;

• the 510 people not concerned that they were wearing spandex shorts;

• the array of bikes from 3+thousand dollar sweet ass road machines to bikes that look more at home slowly creaking down a city street;
• the array of people (fit to fat, to put it bluntly)

As we got underway and going the peleton thinned out, riders getting into their own paces and whatnot, the riding was SUPER. The roads, while not closed, were monitored at intersections and with that many cyclists out the cars were mostly careful around us. Thou, there are always a couple of real assholes. One of which I filled out a police report on, but that is for another post.

I feel as if I'm beginning to lament. The ride was excellent. The roads through Standish, SteepFalls, Buxton and where else ever were well marked. With a rest stop every 15 miles or there abouts it made the 90 degree heat less of an issue.

Riding stats: 4 hours 17 minutes
74.24 miles. My computer popped out for about .75 miles before I caught it.
17.3 mph average speed.


I rolled through the misting tent at about 12:20 to the applause of volunteers and a few folks in wheelchairs with MS. Seeing them there made my pain and exhaustion seem minuscule.