So this weekend was the big one.  The Bike MS Century.  It met or exceeded all of my expectations.  First off I need to thank all of my supporters who donated to the MS Society in honor of my ride.  While I didn’t meet my $1000 goal, I came awfully close at $825*.  There were some particularly generous donations made by family and friends, and I plan on thanking all of you individually.  So onto the ride…

It’s important to note that these charity rides are not races.  Think of it like people who run a marathon not to win, but to show that they can do it, and see how good of a time they can get.  There were 30, 50, 75, and 100 mile courses for riders, and they all finish at the same spot, so it’s very difficult to declare a “winner”.  With that said, when you get 2600 cyclists together, they are going to try and “win”.  Day one was mostly about demonstrating our abilities on the bike.  More about that later.  The 75 & 100 mile courses started bright and early.  Shannon dragged the kids out of bed and gave me a ride downtown.  The plan was for them to head back home and meet me later on, but they were kind enough to watch the start from a friend’s house and cheer me on as I set out.  It was a big motivator.

I’ve been on a lot of group rides, but nothing near this kind of scale.  There is something amazing about riding in a group of thousands of cyclists.  It’s slow going at the beginning as the pack weaves its way through the downtown streets, but once we hit the bridge out of New Bern we were off to the races.

Like I said, riding in a large group (or peleton) is magical.  Not only to you feel like you are riding in the Tour de France, but you can maintain higher speeds with considerably less effort.  For the first 1/2 of the ride we were easily averaging 25+MPH.  It wasn’t a breeze, but the effort level was more like I’m used to at 22MPH or so.  The regular “crew” I ride with are some pretty strong riders, so we mostly hung together and stayed with the lead (100-mile) group.

No, I am not the shortest rider in the group (but that other guy is the strongest rider of all of us).

I was able to maintain that pace until I ran out of water at around 77 miles.  77 miles at that pace without a break was plenty fine with me.  I got off at a rest stop, filled up, and kept on going by myself.  I managed to find another (albeit slightly slower) group to hang with for the last 18 miles.  I wound up finishing that first day with a total ride time of 4:32, averaging 22MPH.  Well beyond what I was shooting for.  For those of you who are curious what a 100-mile ride looks like (or are a total stat geek like me), you can see my speed, cadence, heart-rate, and location minute by minute by following these links: Saturday’s Century, Sunday’s Century.  Click on “player” to see the ride in action.  Made possible by my Garmin Edge 305 (the coolest training tool evAR!)

Shannon and the kids tried to meet up with me at a few spots along the route, but some miscommunication and technical issues limited them to a one-time finish line view.  They (and several hundred other people) cheered me on as I came across the finish line.  The event included food, drinks, and all kinds of activities for riders and their families.  Faye even got to do a little riding herself.  I’m starting the cycling indoctrination early in this one.

I took advantage of the sports massage tent in hopes of keeping my legs fresh for the following day.  A long hot shower and a nap helped out too.

Day two came quick, and this time I drove myself to the event.  Shannon and the kids had Sunday school (conveniently located downtown) and just met me at the finish.  While the first day was all about max performance, day two was more about enjoying the ride, taking it easy, and finishing strong.  All great intentions, but remember what I said about getting a bunch of cyclists together?

We did take it a little easier, stopping at more rest stops for food and water, but the pace was still pretty decent.  It took a good 5-10 miles to get my legs (and butt) warmed up again, but once that was out of the way, I felt pretty good.  Apparently so did everyone else in the group, as we passed paceline after paceline heading towards the front.  The highlight of the day was a stop at the halfway point for a fantastic lunch of chicken & rice with beans and tortillas.  This was accompanied by copious amounts of gatorade and some fantastic live bluegrass music from a local band.  If I wasn’t riding with a group I would have been very tempted to grab 3 more plates of food and nap between music sets.  Again, there are multiple route lengths, so even though we were at the front of the 100-milers, the lunch spot was packed with the shorter groups.

With our bottles topped off, we headed out for the final 50 miles.  I almost forgot to mention that we had absolutely perfect weather for both rides.  The temperature was not too hot, the sun was out, and aside from a decent headwind on day 2 we couldn’t have asked for anything better.

We picked up a few more riders in our group heading home and had a very efficient and reasonably fast paceline for the last 40 miles or so.  We even picked up our own police escort on the final stretch into downtown.  Despite our “laid back” riding, we managed to finish the second day at 4:57 with a 20.6MPH pace.  I’ll admit, I did get a little tingly watching the odometer tick over 100 miles that second day.  It was hard work and finishing as strong as I did felt like a great accomplishment.  As we sprinted in to the line, Shannon and the kids were there screaming and jumping.  I couldn’t have asked for a better way to finish.

This was my first (and second) century and the first time I’ve ever participated in a charity event like this.  I have to say, it is one of the most rewarding and fun things I’ve ever done.  I’m kicking myself for taking so long to get involved in this kind of stuff.  Thanks again to everyone who supported me with donations and/or words of encouragement.  You should know that you did a great thing for me, and more importantly for the MS cause.  Seeing those affected by MS out there cheering you on is a unique experience.  I can only imagine how hopeful they must feel to see so many people come out and put their heart and soul into such an incredible event.

* I found out that people can still donate to the event until October 1st.  If my words have inspired you to do so, you can donate online here.

For those not keeping up with my obnoxious Facebook posts, I’m an avid road cyclist these days.  It’s something I did as a young man, and after a decade or so of riding mountain bikes, I’m back to the road and loving it.  Since February I’ve ridden over 1400 miles, burned over 77,000 calories, lost almost 10 pounds, and have a killer farmer’s tan.  Why am I sharing all of this?  Because I want your money.

More accurately, I want you to give your money to help fund Multiple Sclerosis research.  See, my main training goal throughout all of this has been to ride in the Bike MS Century in September.  That’s a 100-mile ride for the uninitiated.  Not only do I want to ride 100 miles, but I want to do it with an average pace of 20mph (or better).  So where do you come in?  The real purpose of the ride is to raise money and awareness for MS.  You can sponsor Team Rubin by clicking here.

I’m aware the economy isn’t so great right now, so I’m going to offer my own stimulus plan to help encourage some cash flow.

• Double Down – I will match every dollar donated for the first $200 donated, so early givers can know their money will count double.
• Torture me for $$ – If I meet (or exceed) the $1000 fund raising goal, I will ride the 100-mile course twice!  Once on Saturday, and again on Sunday.  I’ve wronged a lot of people out there, and payback opportunities are rare, so take advantage!
• Kill two birds with one stone – My birthday is September 11th and the rides are on the 12th & 13th.  Why not forgo a birthday gift and donate that money?  I’ll give you credit for both, and think of all that time you will save not fretting over the perfect gift for me!
• Immortalize your legacy – Anyone who donates over $100 can, at their request, have their name or favorite slogan* written on my tanned (and possibly shaven) legs for all to see as they eat my dust.  *Sorry no p0rn or gambling website advertisements – those require a $500 donation.

Seriously though, multiple sclerosis is a really crappy disease and every hour someone in the US is diagnosed with MS.  The disease affects more than 400,000 people in the US and 2.5 million worldwide.  Whatever you can give (even $5) will go to a great cause.  So donate here, it’s a quick and easy way to do your good deed for the day.

If all goes well, I’ll have pictures and a recap posted after the ride(s), including said leg advertisements.