As most of you know, I've been {barely} training for the MS150. It's a bike ride from Houston to Austin. Yup, you heard that right...a BIKE RIDE from HOUSTON to AUSTIN. It's for such an amazing cause. It benefits Multiple Sclerosis research.
Now as you may recall, I had a fractured fibula that severely set back my training for both running and biking so I have not been able to be on the bike as much as I should. But let's be honest...when has that ever stopped me lol!
Well, I have a huge confession...biking scares the ba-jeeeeesus out of me. Between the CARS and the speed going down hills (we'll get to that in a minute) and the clipping in and out of the pedals, and the CARS, I just have never been entirely comfortable on the bike. Not to mention that dang bike seat kills your ass! And to get on it 2 days in a row is just down right crazy lol!
Anyway, back on track...I was severely out of my comfort zone.
My stomach was is knots as the hubs and I were driving to the starting point. I just knew I was going to chicken out. But no...I got all my gear on, put on my sunscreen and then we realized that we forgot our wristbands...and these wristbands are needed all weekend long and to get our bikes back when we get back to Houston. By this time it was 8:15 and the absolutely latest we can get going is 10:00am so we had to HURRY back to the house and get back in time. The hubs was literally doing 90mph both ways lol!
We make it back with about 8 minutes to spare and get out on the road. However by this time we are the only bikers on the road where we are so naturally we go the wrong way and end up adding an extra 15 miles to our ride. By lunch time on day 1 my nerves had subsided and I had gotten in my grove. I was having fun on the hills, the down part where you get to about 40MPH!! Going up the hills wasn't so fun. They are tough. Then I got stung by a bee on my shin...we'll touch on this later, it plays a major role in my weekend!!
We finally make it to the camp and I cannot believe I did 80+ miles on the bike. We get to the tent, get our bags, take a shower in the shower trucks, and go to eat and go to bed. I was pooped!! However since we were sharing a big tent with our entire team (30 something in all) I could not sleep through all the various snoring. I think I got maybe 2 hours goal. Then the lights came on at 4:30am and I about died. I was exhausted. And I was feeling sick. My stomach was very queasy but I still got back on my bike and pedaled on and on and on until about 15 miles out from the finish when my leg started killing me. I thought it was my fracture at the time (I know now it was my sting). I had to have a Come-to-Jesus moment and gather myself at the top of a hill and tell myself I COULD DO IT. And I did. When we crossed the finish line I felt such an enormous amount of pride in myself. I did something not many would/could do. And I will totally do it again next year!!
Now back to the sting...turns out when it stung me bacteria got into my leg and gave me severe cellulitis. I was almost hospitalized because my body was not responding to meds. But finally, a week and a half later, I'm on the mend!!
I will for sure be doing this next year...and maybe the following years. But for now I will know to do some SERIOUS HILL TRAINING!!
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