MS 150 - Riding for MS - Not Ourselves

This last weekend I had a great time on my 14th Multiple Sclerosis 150 Bike Tour. On a fundraising ploy, I made the challenge that if I raised $2500, I would dye my hair orange and if I raised $3000, I would dye my hair and wear a skirt on the ride. Care to guess how that turned out?





As of this posting, I have in the neighborhood of $3400 raised. I'm quite happy to do silly things to raise a little money for the MS Society. For those of you who gave me the wonderful whistles and the one marriage proposal, sorry, I'm taken.

It seemed that the banquet is where things went wrong for some. You see, the MS Society did a couple different things after the ride this time. Upon completion, you received (a very useful) head/sweat band from the MS Society. It was a trade off for patches for riding the century loop on the ride. Seriously, you would have thought that you was physically taking money away from people from some reactions.

The uproar from not getting a "patch" for the century ride -- of which I have a stack of -- somewhere -- actually caused at least one person to tell one of the MS ladies that he wouldn't return next year. *pause for effect* Yep. That's right. Somebody actually said they wouldn't come back because of the century patch. Seriously. Oh yes, it was an adult, just in case you were wondering.

I do admit, there were some 'traditional' things at the banquet that didn't happen this year that I missed: Recognition of top teams, top fundraisers (although they were on the video), rookie riders, and riders who have participated in multiple years. Missed, but nothing that would cause me major panic.

Maybe I'm 90% optimistic and only 10% pessimistic, but something really has to set me off to get THAT excited over anything. We need to remember why we are there. It isn't about us. It's about the MS Society. We are raising money for the MS Society. It isn't about a self gratification. We should be thankful for all they do for us on this ride. The support, the cheering, all the things that happen behind the scenes: It's simply incredible!

My rant is coming to a close but this has been eating at me all week so it had to come out. If the person who actually told the MS Society they wasn't going to ride over a patch is reading this -- and I hope they are -- sit back, relax, and think about it. Why are you riding this ride? For yourself or for the MS Society? Is a patch worth upsetting the wonderful ladies of the MS Society? What do you do with the patches anyway? I will gladly give you my stack of patches that are somewhere in my garage. Also, if you are reading this, I hope you are person enough to send an apology to the MS Society and plan on riding next year. It isn't about the patch, it's about people living with MS.

MS Bike Tour - Pedal the Plains

The MS Bike Tour is making its way from Sioux Falls to Vermillion again this year and I'm looking forward to seeing many familiar faces once again. If you are not doing anything, there is still time to sign up and ride with Team Road Kill by clicking HERE.

If you can't ride, would you consider a donation to the cause? Helping the MS Society has become such a passion of mine that any help you could give would be appreciated. Only have one (1) dollar that you can give? GREAT! Have one hundred (100) dollars to give? SWEET! Something in between? AWESOME! You can donate by clicking HERE.

Have more questions? Leave a comment or email me at bikingbrady AT gmail DOT com.

Team Road Kill MS Bike Tour Kudos

Congratulations once again are in order for Team Road Kill as the final total for the MS Bike Tour is in. Team Road Kill fell short of their 25 for 25 campaign ($25,000 for USD Women's Basketball Player Natalie Carda-#25), but we did break $20,000 for the first time ever with a grand total of $21,536 raised.

Join Team Road Kill August 1-2, 2009 as we continue to ride for this great cause and try to raise even more money to eradicate this disease once and for all.

MS Bike Tour Recap

The MS Pedal the Plains ride for 2008 is now history and for a brief moment I thought my marriage was too. Some of the looks I received at the very end of the ride from Laura told me that there will be days/weeks/months of sucking up to commence immediately. I can't tell you how proud I am of Laura for gutting it out for such a wonderful cause. The most single day miles she had ever put in was 50 (followed by a 30 the next day) and I was going to be pushing her to 75 in back to back days.

The first day was a brutal test for Laura. The winds this summer have not been too bad at all for the most part. We probably haven't ridden in anything about about 15mph all summer. The forecast on Saturday: HOT and WINDY -- 20 mph with gusts over 30 out of the SSE. Guess what direction we were headed?

We pounded the first 2 hours about as hard as we could before the wind got ridiculous. We managed to get about 35 miles in when the wind started to just get absolutely brutal. By the time the Big Blue Tandem rolled into Beresford for the lunch stop, the flag in the picture below told the story of why it seemed like we were rolling backwards.



We survived day one even though the 75 Laura just traveled was equal to a century ride on a non windy day (at least). Laura soaked in the tub for about an hour - the beauty of riding to your hometown on day one - and then I massaged her legs out to try to give her brighter hope of surviving day two.

Day two started out warm with humidity in the 95% range as we were just absolutely dripping standing around outside. Once we got going on the road some of Team Road Kill hooked up with the FAB boys and we were screaming along at 20+ mph with a steady stream of sweat dripping on my top tube. After we split up we really lost some speed until we realized that our front disc brake was rubbing. It's the difference between about 20 mph and about 13 mph in case you are wondering.

At Beresford I had a Gut Check flashback as Snakebite and the Big Blue Tandem hooked up for the ride non stop to Lennox. That was going pretty well until about 5 miles before Lennox when I realized that the heat and sheer volume of miles was taking effect on Laura. We took a long stop at Lennox to give her a "butt break" as we call them.

Shortly after that I realized she was still hurting and I cut Snakebite loose as we pulled off to the side of the road at the Tea turn to get her off the bike. Here we were, about 14 miles from the finish and I seriously thought it was all over for Laura. The pain was all over her face and it didn't take long for a tear to roll down her cheek.

I felt horrible and asked her point blank if she wanted to quit. To her credit, she didn't and we rolled on to the next rest stop. From there she toughed out the last ten miles and finished. All 150 miles. I couldn't be prouder. Her back side is not happy with me. I told her that I'd give her tomorrow off. She informed me that she sees me getting re-introduced to my road bike for a week or so. I offered two days in return. Her bartering didn't budge. A week it is.

For those of you who rode with us, you know that the BBT moves right along. You also know that WHEN (not if) Laura becomes stronger that keeping in the draft of the BBT will be tough. And for those of you who graciously allowed the BBT and Snakebite's Big Dummy to break wind for you and then dust us on the long hill, I predict flat tires in your near future. I'm not sayin' how, I'm just sayin'.

I leave you with one final shot. The one that Snakebite made a comment to Laura NOT to take: A moving picture of my butt with our new camera. Here's hoping you don't go blind!

MS Bike Tour Forecast: Hot & Windy

My poor wife. I mean seriously, I talked her into doing the ride this year and it will be a major accomplishment for her - on a normal day. Now lets add headwinds of around 20 mph and heat in the mid 90's. Don't you feel sorry for her?

Let's test your level of pity now. IF you REALLY feel sorry for Laura, go to her MS Personal Page and make a pledge.

Full report after the ride! We are starting to pack to head out for registration and festivities tonight.

MS Training Ride

We hosted a MS Training Ride today and we only had twelve people show up. Even some who RSVP'd didn't show which was a tad disappointing, but there was another MS Training Ride in Sioux Falls which surely hurt our numbers. No matter what the case it was a fun ride for all.

This was Laura's first ever 50 mile ride. We averaged a 16.7 over the whole course which is pretty good for us, especially with a couple decent sized hills on the route. The Garmin stats only show the organized ride, but we also rode to and from Hy-Vee which adds another four miles on. She did AWESOME! I think that she realizes that if we can get off the bike for a bit every 10-15 miles, that she can go for a long distance. I am glad we had quite a few 20-30 mile rides in to get her confidence up. Hope we can get 30 or so in tomorrow to get a little "back to back" ride feeling in for her.

OFFICIALLY Signed up for the MS Bike Tour

Yeah, I know, you are wondering about the title of the post. Afterall, it's not a shock that I am once again signed up for the MS Bike Tour. However, gentle readers of my blog:

(done in my best Arena announcer voice) Making her MS debut, and quite possibly her first ride of 75 miles, the beautiful redhead that I'm proud to call my wife.....Laaaaauraaaaaa Brrrrrrrraddddddy!

We are trying our best to dedicate Tuesday, Thursday, Friday morning, and one day on the weekend to getting on the tandem to ride. We haven't been very consistent, but she's pretty confident that even if the ride was tomorrow she'd survive 75 miles. She's not so sure about the return trip on Sunday yet though.

Warren/Cheryl, you will have tandem company on Team Road Kill this year!

Late Start

I'm trying to see if I can physically have my brain explode (Scanners anyone?) by seeing how many things I can be involved in at the same time. It's been unreal how hectic things have been, but I'm still finding some family time and time to ride occasionally.

Speaking of riding, you will notice the link in the upper right corner of my blog. It links you to a page for making a pledge to me for the MS Society and the MS Bike Tour for 2008. Please give generously for this worthy cause!

Or...click HERE to donate. Thanks!

BikingBrady vs. Tractor (MS 150 Flashback-2004)

I passed along an email last week of some pretty gory bike accidents, bull horn gores, and motorcycle accidents. The one below reminded me of an incident moment of stupidity on the MS 150 back in August of 2004.



We were on our way from Sioux Falls to Vermillion and were going into a decent headwind, but in a nice size paceline. We were south of Lennox on Hwy 17 and I was at the front of a side-by-side paceline with Travis K. when it happened. A tractor pulled out a little bit up the road. I looked at Travis and said, "Let's catch the tractor for a windbreak". I sprinted up an tucked in behind the tractor. The tractor had hay forks sticking out the back of it. Innocent enough and still able to catch a good draft.

For visual aid purposes think of these, but a bit higher going down the highway.


Then Travis pulled up beside me. He was on the outside of the left fork and reached with his right hand, grabbed the fork and said, "Hey look!". Then it happened, my moment of stupidity. Without even thinking I too reached out and grabbed the other fork. Problem is, I was on the inside of the right fork and I reached ACROSS my body with my left hand. I no more grabbed it and my wheel wobbled and the rest is a blur of looking at the ground, sky, ground, sky, etc. AMAZINGLY, being in the front of one paceline, I didn't take ANYBODY out. Well, almost nobody. I hit the ditch FINALLY thinking that I was in the clear.

I looked up into the sky. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? NO, IT'S SUUUUUUUPER JOE! I swear that Joe had his arms extended flying over the top of me. It was all surreal and kind of neat until *THWAP*, Joe kneed me in the head. Hard. Hurt worse than the accident itself (at that moment anyway).

By the time that Joe and I got up and rolled out of the ditch and gathered up our bikes, our loving friends in the paceline were half mile away and distancing themselves by the second. Later we found out that once we stood up that they said, "They'll be alright". Nice friends we have. We both got on our bikes and started to head out. Then I noticed that to make my bike go straight south that my handlebars had to be positioned distinctly southeast. I stopped and adjusted as good as I could and we continued on.

When we hit the rest stop at Centerville, somebody snapped the following picture and I thought I got off fairly easy all things said.

The problem was, this wasn't the worst of my injuries. I was bruised bad. I managed to make it back to Sioux Falls the next day, but I was pretty stiff for a few days after. The following two pictures are angles of the bruising that happens when you play with tractors.

It's still an ongoing joke for those involved to yell when they see a tractor during a ride. It wasn't my most shining moment. It was much closer to a "Darwin Award" than a shining moment.

2007 South Dakota MS Bike Tour

This is a little overdue, but I wanted to wait until all the money was turned in for both the rides that Team Road Kill participated in (Sioux Falls and WRATH - Black Hills).

It was a great year as we had over 40 riders on our team and we had a great time preparing, fund raising, and riding in this awesome event. This year Team Road Kill raised $19,724 for the chapter, narrowly missing the $20,000 mark. Considering that two years ago we raised a little over $8,000 and last year we raised over $14,000, we are steadily increasing our funds raised and awareness of this dreadful disease.



Through blogging, friendships are often made although there is a chance that we will never meet these "friends". Michelle is one of these friends and she also happens to have Multiple Sclerosis. Although she is not in our chapter for the MS Society, I asked her if I could add her name to the people I was riding for and she quickly agreed. The list of people who end up on my bandanna keeps increasing from year to year. I gladly continue to ride for them, but I do so with a heavy heart with the fact they have to live with this disease.

I'm looking forward to a day that there will be a cure for this disease. I'm also sure we will find another cause to ride for when that happens! So many cyclists are like me and love to ride for a cause. We don't always like to do fund raising, but give us an entry fee to ride in a worth while cause and we are there with bells Lycra on.

Thanks to all of you who supported one (or more) of Team Road Kill this year and in year's past. I can't tell you what a wonderful feeling it is to help in a cause such as this and I want you to know that you all make a difference!

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!