I am still on such a high from completing the BP MS 150 bicycle ride from Houston to Austin yesterday afternoon.
I had the two best rides of my life to date. It was absolutely amazing.
I cannot thank those of you who prayed for me enough. Those prayers certainly came through and I had strength and endurance like I had never experienced. Even when I finished (both days!) I could have kept on pedaling.
At one point the Carrie Underwood song “Jesus take the Wheel” popped into my head. I replaced it with “Jesus take the Pedals,” which doesn’t fit nearly as well, but He sure did!
I’d like to write more about the experience for you so you can get a better taste of it all but, right now, my photo essay will have to suffice.
Enjoy from your very comfortable chair.
I started the ride with a shower cap on my helmet to keep out the expected rain. A few miles in, our friend Steven was laughing at me and suggested he take a photo of how silly I looked:
So, of course, I snapped a shot of him, too:
Since my husband wasn’t playing around with the camera. he zoomed way ahead of us. I had to use the zoom here, so he looks closer than hew was. Don’t worry, we caught up.
I skipped lunch and stopped at the rest stop after it. I had become separated from my husband and Steven in the hills, but was so excited to see them both at the rest stop. Then they made fun of my snack bag, asking if I was planning to feed the EAster bunny along the route. I had energy jelly beans, broken granola bars, pretzels and gold fish in there.
They might have poked fun at my snacks, but who crossed the day one finish line first out of our little group? That would be ME!!! I couldn’t believe I finished before my husband and Steven. It was an amazing ride and I still had an incredible amount of energy even after I finished.
This is what the day one finish looks like:
Our luxury accommodation in La Grange:
Check out or awesome air mattresses! You might think I’m joking, but I am quite thankful to Baker Hughes for supplying them. They are amazing hosts!
Thanks to my friend who is one of the top fundraisers for the event, I got to shower in the ‘fancy’ showers where towels and even forgotten toiletries were supplied. The top 300 fundraiser and one buddy get to use these showers.
Everyone else has to wait in line for theses showers or take a bus to the local school locker room.
Cozy and ready for sleep. Just hoping the rains won’t be too hard and keep me awake.. or blow through the tent. The rain turned out to be quite light.
The pancake assembly line. I would guess this team served pancakes for 12,000 or more.
The mixed the pancake batter with a drill!!!
This was me at the start of Day 2. My husband put my bike in line at 4:15 so I could be one of the first to start.
A day 2 rest stop:
And the porta-potties:
So happy to have these luxury accommodations in Austin after Day 2. :)
And really appreciated the private bath!!!
More to come later and thanks, again for all your prayer support and financial sponsorships!
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