Tuesday, July 2, 2024

BikeMS 2024

Choosing to Fly

Every year that I ride BikeMS there always seems to be something that reminds me of what a blessing it is to have a healthy body. Pictured above is Marianne at the evening event. She was given an award and read an essay that she wrote. Here is an abbreviated version of the essay she read -- Choosing to Fly I would highly recommend reading it and other essays in the Why I Ride section of this blog. It was a good reminder of why we ride. I often forget how much Marianne has struggled and continues to struggle with MS. Hyaubsa!

Yellow Bib

Another reminder came on the first leg of the ride. Remember a few years ago when I met a guy on the route who was riding a hand pedal bike? He has MS and he was one of the top 150 fundraisers. One of the yellow bibs. He always rides just to the first rest stop and back. I regretted that I never got his name. I saw him again this year. Again he was wearing a yellow bib. I slowed down to bike with him and I asked his name. His name is Gordon aka Gordy. He bikes with team WinCo. He had a new bike this year. Still hand powered. Just shorter and a little higher up so it's easier for him to get in and out. Anyhow. I am glad to finally know his name :-) I saw Gordy again at the evening event. He was modeling his team's jersey for the jersey contest. I was amazed at his ability to laugh and enjoy life in spite of his obvious challenges with MS. His team's jersey didn't win but he is a winner in my book!

Ok. Let's talk about this year's ride :-)

If ye are prepared ye need not fear...

The ~~kids~~ young adults outside of Sunrise Cyclery

We really need to ride more than once or twice a year. That would not only get us in better shape it would remind us what a good idea it is to get our bikes tuned up at least once a year (before BikeMS!). And it might help us remember everything we need for the bike ride :-)

This year Bill forgot his cycling shoes. He has the cool clip-in pedals that require the fancy shoes. So we stopped at a bike store in Logan. Sunrise Cyclery. Very cool little shop. The big ball pictured above is made up of old tubes and the seat Sarah is sitting on is made of tires. That was kind of fun. Bill was going to pick up a new pair of cycling shoes but the only ones they had cost over $200. Bill said they were super comfortable. I'm sure they were very nice. I was silently relieved though when he chose to not buy the shoes. Instead he bought new pedals. Considerably cheaper!

On the ride Matthew's tire gave out and he needed a new tube. Thank you SAG support people! And then at Newton Sarah's bike gears needed some love. Thank you rest stop mechanics! My resolution for next year is to get our bikes tuned before BikeMS! Or maybe we should just rent those super cool ebikes for everyone. I LOVE ebikes. This year I rented one from Outdoors Unlimited in Provo.

The Riders

Here is the iconic team picture in Lisa's driveway. This year's picture made me laugh. Zoom into me and Marianne. Doesn't it look like Reid's arm is my arm? Looks super strange to me :-) Made me laugh.

We get this picture every year. We need a picture of Scott. Scott has been the designated driveway team picture taker for many many years. Next year we should bring a tripod and do the remote picture thing so Scott can be in the picture. I asked Scott if he would ever ride with us. He said yes. Hopefully next year!

Notice the new jerseys Bill, Matthew, Annalisa, Sarah and EL are wearing. They were selling jerseys at registration. $10 each! Pretty cool. Bill got the one with the most orange so he will be visible to cars :-)

Hyabusa!

My yearly attempt to channel my inner team captain. I said one or two impromptu, encouraging words, people squirmed uncomfortably wishing for me to stop talking and then we did the hands in the middle thing and yelled Hyabusa. One of these years I am going to remember to prepare for this inspirational moment and it's going to knock your socks off! :-)

First Rest Stop, twice

And we're off! Here is a picture of Marianne, EL and Sarah at the wrong rest stop. The signage this year was rather unfortunate. The colors for the routes on the map at the fairgrounds were different from the arrows on the route pointing the way. For instance the 100 mile route on the map was marked green but on the route the green arrows didn't point to the 100 mile route they pointed to the 43 mile route. And the arrows didn't have numbers on them saying which route was which so it was a bit confusing. Marianne, EL and Sarah were the last ones to right first rest stop but not by much. Remember Matthew's tube problem? It needed to be replaced. It wouldn't hold air. That took time, so Matthew and Bill also took a while to get to the rest stop.

The rest of us enjoyed a very pleasant rest at the first rest stop. We talked to a man who is caring for his wife who has Alzheimer's. Reminded me of dad. His team cooks dutch oven cobbler and sells it to raise money for BikeMS. We will definitely be looking for them and their cobbler next year! And we talked with a man who was recovering from brain surgery. We also ate a lot of snacks :-)

Rest Stop #2, Newton

Swedish Fish! Yum!

Pickle juice! Yum?

Marianne found her mission moment at Newton rest stop.

At different rest stops and places at BikeMS there are Mission Moments. People with MS telling their story. This one is Marianne's story. Check it out! Turns out that the other mission moment at that rest stop belonged to a rider that happened to be there at the same time!

The Finishing up

Newton is the decision rest stop. The past few years we've simply gone to Newton and then the team splits up. We have the 30 milers and the 43 milers. The 43 milers do the loop around Newton and head back and the 30 milers simply head back to the fairgrounds at the Newton rest stop. This year Bill, Matthew and Annalisa decided to do the 43 mile route. The rest of us opted for 30.

At the finish line. 43 miles!

Made it! 43 miles.

We didn't get a lot of pictures at the finish line. Joseph and Isaac went 43 miles too. They left before us and finished before us. Everyone else did the 30 mile route. Yay for the finish line! :-)

Tradition!

We were running a bit late because we stayed for the evening event. It was tempting to go straight home but how could we skip out on Aggie Ice Cream?

I need to work on my photography skills. Next time I will get all of Matthew in the photo. Notice though that I did get all of the cow :-)

Bill's picture got the kids but cut off the cow face. And he gave Matthew an oddly yellow arm and an earring?

THANK YOU!

Thanks again to everyone who supports us every year! Thanks to those of you who ride, those who donate, those who cheer, and those who just simply read this blog.

Next year 75 miles and on my own ebike! Woohoo! Come join us!!

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

BikeMS 2023

Rest stop selfies

Reid and his boys. Isaac and Joseph rode more than 30.
Not sure exactly how far.

Micah painted my nails.
I think they match the BikeMS colors quite well.

Traditional before shot

Ready to ride

At the start line

Posing with the lemon shorts.

The 30 mile club at the finish line

The loyal support crew

I went to heaven this past weekend. I rode an eBike.

Matthew wasn't going to come to BikeMS this year. He had band and he had already missed a bunch of band for the International Science Fair. So we were planning on him being home and taking care of dogs (Chewy and Zoey). That was ok with me because I was going to ride his road bike, the red bike I handed down to him when I got my mountain bike. Then, at the last minute, his band teacher gave him permission to miss the parade. Good news -- I was so glad that he was going to make it. Bad news -- I was now going to have to ride a mountain bike. I had ridden a mountain bike on BikeMS once before. It wasn't bad but I was much younger then and in better shape.

We quickly found a place for the dogs to be and loaded the bikes.

Driving through Sardine canyon I was reminded of the beauty of Cache county. I told Bill we should look into moving up here. He reminded me of the cold. I didn't really think it would be bad until we got to Lisa's house and stepped out of the car. It was cold. It was the end of June and it was cold. Yep. Logan will have to be a vacation spot for us :-)

This year I noticed a lot of "I Ride With MS" jerseys. Is that because there are eBikes now or do we have better treatments or are there a lot less riders and a larger percentage are people with MS? I don't know.

I have decided that I am too out of shape to ride a mountain bike anymore. The first leg of the day was quiet. I slowly pedaled and the rest of the team slowly got further and further away until I thought it was only me and Bill. People kept passing us by. I seemed to be standing still. It was bizarre. By the time we were almost to the first rest stop I had determined that I would have to turn around and go back. I just wasn't able to keep up and I didn't feel like I could go on. Was it the bike? Was it age or being out of shape? I don't know. I just was really struggling. At the first rest stop I told Reid that I was going to head back. He offered to let me ride his electric bike. I couldn't believe it. He was actually going to trade his electric bike for my massive super heavy mountain bike. Incredibly, even after knowing all the details, he was still willing to trade. I've never ridden an eBike. I decided to give it a go. I'm glad I did. I don't think I'll ever ride BikeMS without an electric bike ever again.

It was Heavenly.

For the most part I just rode with it on Eco, the lowest setting. That was enough though. Even just a little boost made all the difference. Suddenly I was energized. I could go on.

Between rest stop one and two there is the infamous Killer Hill. I was excited to get to the hill and cruise up the hill on the eBike. When I got there I geared all the way down and was able to tackle the hill with only Eco mode. That was beautiful. We were still way behind the main group of the team. Bill and I ended up biking with Emily Lara. She was really struggling. When she came to the hill she just got off her bike and started walking up. I decided to bike back down and let her ride the eBike up the hill. When I got to her I suddenly had a very selfish thought. I didn't want to give up the eBike. I did though. The problem was that she was too short for the bike. We would have to adjust it. We walked to the top of the hill where Bill was. He had tools to adjust the seat. At that point though EL didn't want to use the eBike. When we got to rest stop two I again offered the eBike. She seemed offended though and upset that I kept offering so I finally stopped offering. I offered the bike to Lisa too. She had injured her knee earlier in the week. She turned it down too. Fine with me. I was loving the bike. And Reid seemed ok with the mountain bike. We were just about to decide to complete the 43 mile route when Annalisa reminded me that she and Matthew were going to mow a lawn when we got back. So we decided to turn back and just do 30. Marianne was really sad. She had her electric bike and she really wanted to do lunch in Lewiston. I didn't think Lisa could keep up with me and M on our electric bikes though, especially with a bad knee. So we ended up heading back and only doing 30. We were so glad we did. Marianne's battery died and even with the wonderfulness of the eBike we still had sore bums, hands and shoulders. Thirty miles was plenty.

And that was that. I have been researching eBikes ever since :-)

Saturday, July 30, 2022

BikeMS 2022 Michelle's take on the world

BikeMS 2022

I really need to write this blog within a week of coming home from BikeMS. Luckily we have pictures. That's the best part of the blog anyway, eh?

The riders with support crew minus Scott, Stephen and Jacob

This year we had 9 riders. Five Dolinars, Marianne and Emily Lara, Kathryn and Jacob. Two riders under 18. And one of those, Annalisa, almost 18. Things have changed a lot over the years.

The riders

One of my favorite pics of M

Breaking the rules :-)

I wasn't sure how far I would be able to go this year. I thought perhaps this might be the year that I went to the first rest stop and turned around. Two things happened to change that. Reid ended up not coming this year. He did however send his bike. I brought my mountain bike and was planning on riding that but as the event got closer I got more and more nervous about riding such a heavy bike. When Jacob mentioned that he had brought his dad's bike for anyone who might need it I eagerly accepted.

Look who found pickle juice :-) First rest stop.

Pickle juice packs a punch!

It was so nice to be on a road bike again. I didn't realize how much I had missed it. The second thing that changed my mind about turning around at the first rest stop was Marianne and Annalisa's desire to do the 100 mile route. At the first rest stop we decided to split up. Part of the team decided to go to Newton and then turn around. 30 miles total. The other group was going to try and do the 100 mile route. Crazy, I know. I felt really good riding Reid's bike. I knew I could do more than 30. I didn't think I could do 100 though and I knew Bill could definitely do the 100 miles so it made sense to send him with the 100 mile crew and I would go with the 30 mile crew. Then I realized something. All the 30 milers were over 18! They didn't need me. And that is how I ended up on the 100 mile crew.

And they are off!

Our three young adults. First to finish.

Hyabusa! :-)

Looking at the time I knew we had to fly. We had to make it to a certain part in the route by a certain time in order to be able to even ride on the 100 mile route. I felt really really good. I had a fast, light bike and I just felt good. Marianne was riding dad's electric bike so I knew she could keep up so I just took off running. It felt sooooo good to go so fast.

That's something that I noticed this year. It just felt good to be alive. Even climbing the hills felt good. There was pain but it reminded me that I was alive and that felt so good. I can't really explain it. I was just more grateful this year for health and strength and the ability to keep riding. I didn't realize how afraid I've been of slowing down. Age, etc. has really hit me hard this past year and, well, it's good to be alive :-)

I thought I would be super jealous of Marianne riding dad's electric recumbent bike. It was a bit annoying to ride flat out only to turn around and there she was, not even winded :-) I thought though about how many years we had done this and how hard it must have been for her. She says that I would ride circles around her because she went so slow. I hadn't realized it then but that was probably super annoying for her. I was glad that she was able to actually enjoy the ride.

Marianne riding the beast

Even though I was feeling good and enjoying going so fast, before we reached Newton I knew I couldn't keep that pace up. Matthew had decided that he didn't want to do the 100 mile route too so we partnered up and decided to do the 43 mile route. Bill, Annalisa and Marianne kept moving forward to try and do the 100. Marianne's bike started to slow down a bit. Foreshadowing. She really wanted to do 100 miles though so they kept on trucking.

At the lunch rest stop (mile 56)

Jacob left us early on at the start line. So I was really surprised to see him shortly after we split from the 100 milers. He had decided to cut his ride short because he needed to pick up his roommate at the airport. Matthew was glad to see him. I had slowed down considerably and Matthew was glad to have Jacob to ride with. Shortly after that Bill came biking by us. He had decided to leave Annalisa and Marianne. So Jacob and Matthew paired up and Bill biked with me. It was kind of the way life has been going these past few years. Our kids go off in different directions and it's just me and Bill.

Enjoying Newton the second time around

Jacob was team mechanic this year :-) Very helpful.

Anyhow. It was really hot and just kept getting hotter. I kept getting slower and slower. It got to the point that I had decided to call Lisa at the last rest stop and have her come get me. I was done. Then something crazy happened. They closed the last rest stop. Seriously. It was all closed down. I could have called Lisa and waited in some shade. Not sure why I didn't. What made the difference? Could it have been that stupid quote about persistence on this year's jersey? Who knows but I decided to just keep biking (ignoring the obvious wisdom of stopping :-). We were less than 10 miles to the finish. I could do this. I had to make a lot of stops though. We stopped wherever we could find shade. Eventually (after stopping at a yard sale -- that's another story :-) we made it to the finish line.

This year's jersey. Persistence is highly overrated btw.

I was really worried about Marianne and Annalisa. It was so hot. And then it happened. Marianne's bike lost power. Luckily she found a really nice lady who let her charge her bike. The lady even gave them a couple little pine trees :-) I'm sure Marianne will tell you more in her blog post. Thank heaven for good samaritans. Even though they were able to charge the bike a bit they decided not to continue riding. Definitely a good decision. Nobody wanted to be stranded in that heat! They ended up getting a ride with a SAG vehicle. They didn't make 100 miles but they did go farther than any other Iron Eagle team member. Way to go guys!