MS Bike Tour Recap

The MS Bike Tour is always one of the events I look forward to the most each year. They do such a great job of preparing everything and it shows! This year the ride went from Sioux Falls to Brookings. They changed the route from the way they used to go to Brookings to allow some of the less experienced riders (and those who felt the need to cheat...yeah...some of you read my blog...I dare you to leave a comment too!) to ride somewhere just over 50 miles. It's always better to have more riders than those who wouldn't be able to do 150 in two days though.

Saturday we had a pretty decent four man breakaway going early. The man, the myth, the Legend: Snakebite honored us with his presence along with Travis K. and Mark P. rounding out our foursome. Early on we passed the MS SAG and came up behind the "rent-a-cop" security guy. Snakebite decided to pass and I followed which got us a good scolding of "DON'T BREAKOUT UNTIL (a certain) ROAD!!!". Well, here's a thought...YOU are in a vehicle and we are on bikes...do you THINK you can stay ahead of us? Other than a few moments of "testosterone challenge" where the pace neared 30mph, we were around the 20-24mph range all day. It was a nice hammer-fest other than Travis blowing out a front AND a back tire. The latter proved fatal as his bike tire was showing cords. This prompted a SAG ride to Brookings for replacements. He would later blow a tube in one of his NEW tires. He was a smidge upset, but nothing a few drinks at Cubbies in downtown Brookings wouldn't take care of.

Sunday I took it easy. JUST KIDDING! But, I really was going to. I was riding along with Craig D. around 19-20 mph when "they" caught up. The same three as mentioned on Saturday and a member of Team FoMo (not be mistaken for team MoFo). The hammer-fest was back on and after about 30 miles we dropped the FoMo guy (not even sure where, he was just GONE all of a sudden) and Snakebite peeled off at a rest stop. We caught another member of Team Road Kill who had taken a wrong turn and missed 10 miles. He rode with us to the lunch stop and then went back 5 miles so he could make up the 10 he lost. After the extra 25 mile loop we were back on with the 50 mile people. We were not nice at all either. We didn't just go by most of them, we BLEW by most at about 25mph. There is something extra fun about having 25 more miles than those ahead of you and dusting them. By the end of the ride, Cindy L. thought that only 3 of the 50 milers beat us in (including her). We averaged 22.0 mph on Sunday due in large part to all the little "carrots" dangling in front of us in the form of 50 mile riders.

Our team went from 26 last year to (when the final count comes in) I believe 45. It was awesome to have such a big team. We have three currently registered for WRATH MS Tour (Weekend Ride Around The (Black) Hills) and I know two more planning on going so that will raise more funds as well. Last year we raised $14,108 as a team and going into the weekend our team was already at $12,755.50. We are wainting for all the money turned in the day of the ride to be counted. Between that and the WRATH Tour money, I'm guessing that we should be close to at least $17K if not more! I would LOVE to see us raise $20K, but I'll wait to see the final figures.

It was a great ride and for a great cause. Consider joining us for WRATH this year or the MS Bike Tour in Sioux Falls next year. Set the goal NOW and you can do it!