We started on Saturday in a heavy fog.
It really felt like we were riding through a shower and soon every part of me was wet. Joe had to ride without his glasses on because it was pointless. The only good thing about this was that it wasn't hot. I'm not going to lie; at mile 3 I did wonder why I decided to do this and how in the world I was going to get through it all. I had a massive headache that 4 Excedrin hadn't even begun to touch. The MS ride is very well supported...with a rest stop every 10 miles or so. The stops have bathrooms, food, water and Gatorade as well as a bike shop. I was very thankful for the bike shop as we pulled into to the rest stop and I realized I could not unclip. I've been having problems with my clips so spent the day before at the bike shop getting them adjusted. I also bought new shoes, put the old, adjusted cleats on the new shoes and bought new cleats on my old shoes. Like an idiot, I never checked the new cleats so was very lucky I didn't have to stop before the rest area. I circled around until Joe got off his bike and came and caught me. I really could not unclip and ended up taking my foot out of the shoe. The bike shop guy adjusted it and after a 20 minute break, we were on our way again. My headache was still present so I took 4 more Excedrin. One more rest stop, 4 more Excedrin and STILL it raged on. The course was pretty basic the first day. You are in the middle of rural South Carolina so there isn't a lot to see. There are a couple of rolling hills, but nothing too horrible. Of course my head pounding with any exertion made walking kinda horrible, but I was able to hang on with Chris and Joe for most of the first 30 miles. I did puke once...but I think that had more to do with all the Excedrin I had taken at that point, well more than the suggested daily dose for sure. Then the rain started. It had been thundering, so we knew it was coming, but still....not fun. It rained for almost an hour. Everything was completely soaked. It stopped raining as we pulled in for lunch. I took my socks off, tried to squeeze my pony tails dry but quickly realized I was soaked and there was little I could do about this fact. (Tip: bring zip loc bags next year. Even my spare socks were soaked.)
Lunch was the halfway point and I was feeling OK. My headache was still there but I had only take 2 Excedrin since my puking. I got in with random groups of people, chatting with them as we rode together. It was a very social time and I actually had fun, even though Chris and Joe, being the stronger cyclists had gone on ahead. We'd catch up and rest stops to make sure we were all OK.I have been nervous to ride with a group because I wasn't sure I had the skills to hang. Towards the end of the day though I would jump on the end of a paceline to see what all the fuss was about. I really did feel a benefit and as long as I wasn't in the middle, felt comfortable enough to hang in there. The last 20 miles were spent hopping from paceline to paceline. Some groups were too big, without great communication on what was happening up front so after a few close calls, I'd jump to another. Joe and Chris waited for me at the end and we all pulled into Frances Marion University together around 2pm on Saturday.
We checked in and volunteers took our bikes. Since we were doing the 50 miles on Sunday, we would actually be taken by bus to the start site, 50 miles away. Volunteers took our bikes, shuttled them to the Sunday start and set them up for us. This is the second time in a month I have left my bike and it still felt odd. But they were wrapping each bike and it really looked like they were taking utmost care of them.The rest of the afternoon we hung out at Frances Marion. They had tons of food, a beer tent and music. The four of us grabbed chairs and just enjoyed catching up.Joe and Chris drank beer, Cara and I people watched and ate our fill.
After all the beer tickets were gone, we headed for our hotel in downtown Florence. We took a brief, but chilly dip in the pool, showered, headed out for dinner and as soon as we got back, crawled into bed.We woke up Sunday morning feeling tired, but good. The shuttle picked us up at our hotel and took us to the Sunday 50 mile start site, in Green Sea, South Carolina, about an hour away. Our bikes were set up for us, we grabbed some drinks and snacks and got started. OW. I was unprepared for how sore I was in the seat. It was actually hard to sit down for the first mile or so. I asked Joe if it got better and he said no. I almost cried. Lucky for me, and my pubic region, he was lying. By mile 4 I had forgotten about it. Weather predictions were pretty bad and the sky was pretty dark. Based on Saturday's time, we figured we'd get into Sunset Beach around 1pm. We were just hoping to beat the "severe wind, rain and storms" that were in the area. Pretty quickly we got in with 3 guys that were keeping a strong but steady pace. With the 3 of us, we made a paceline of 6. They pulled into the rest stop and Joe and I said to each other, "that was fun...but a bit too fast." We agreed to find another paceline. With the headwind getting stronger as we got closer to the beach, we knew a paceline was the only way to make it the second day. There were some TIFL friends at the rest stop so we decided to get in with them. We got started, but after the first group, this seemed slow. So when they 3 guys came up on our left, I urged Joe to jump to their paceline.
The next 43 miles seemed to fly by. We attracted people and at one point had a long steady paceline of about 25 people. We were averaging 20-22mph and I felt great. The core 6 of us stayed together and stopped at every rest stop. I don't even know those guys' names, but we were all committed to getting to the beach before the storms and the 6 of us had our rhythm down. The effects of a paceline are incredible. My pattern became "pedal, pedal, rest, rest, rest" and never dropped below 20mph. The route was perfectly flat and very rural; we hardly saw another car. We'd pass people, pass pacelines; we were making incredible time. Since we were stopping at every rest stop, occasionally we would get to a stop and have people tell us that they had been waiting for us, that they heard we were a good paceline and ask if they could join us. I felt so professional! The three of us were wearing matching Team Gita 24 Hours of Booty kits and we looked like we knew what we were doing!
We were less than ten miles away from the finish when the speed started inching up and before I knew it, we were doing 26-28mph. I started getting more and more tired and found that even drafting I wasn't able to keep up. I would fall behind and three times one of the guys came back to get me. (It is almost impossible to catch up to a paceline if you are alone.) After the third time I knew I was going to be dropped. I told Joe and Chris to go on with them and figured I'd fall in with another paceline soon.
The problem was that we were so far ahead of everyone, there wasn't another paceline for a very, very long time. I was less than 5 miles away and felt like I was swimming in mud. The headwinds were so strong it was almost comical and what a difference that made. I felt like for every pedal stroke I did, the wind pushed me backwards 10 feet. I was going as hard as I could and only doing 15 mph. I kept telling myself that I could run 5 miles...I for sure could bike them. But wow, it was tough. I was alone without a single other cyclist in sight. Finally, I saw Joe and Chris ahead. They had pulled off and were waiting for me and I have never been so happy to see them. Chris was also on the phone with Cara. Seems our paceline speed got us to the finish line almost an hour earlier than we had planned so we actually beat Cara there.
The three of us finished and we all felt great. Once Cara got there we ate lunch, showered in the surprisingly nice "shower truck", loaded the bikes and headed home. I felt really good the next day too...although I was not too eager to sit on a bike seat anytime soon!
Overall I was thoroughly impressed with the entire MS150 operation. Every rest stop was well stocked and staffed, the volunteers were always so very nice and accommodating. From taking our bikes to the start area, to getting us there, to having everything ready at Sunset Beach, the logistics of this event must be staggering. But for me as a rider, it was seamless and I felt completely taken care of and safe. I had a great time and am thrilled Joe and I did it together. I love that we have a hobby that both of really enjoy; now I just need to get stronger so I can do a better job keeping up with him! We will be back again next year for sure!
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