I did it!

Yesterday I finished my first MS 150 ride… 168 miles cycled between two days, riding from Houston to Austin, TX.

Wow! What a fantastic experience! I wish I was up for writing more right now. To be honest, though, I’m a little tired so the full story will have to wait. But I can say this… it was absolutly amazing, thrilling, exciting, exhilarating and exhausting. And I am convinced that the prayers of many got me through. I don’t know how I could have accomplished this without God giving me a push and then holding me up.(Did all you pray-ers start praying at about 11a on Saturday? At that point I had this incredible energy burst and became this cycling animal, taking on all those hills.  It was an amazing feeling.)

But I said I wan’t going to get into it now, so the rest will have to wait. The 31 mph drop, the snail’s pace climbs and all my shouts of joy throughout. I have no doubt that some of my fellow cyclists thought I was a crazy woman at some points. And then there was the incredible organization of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. I was amazed at how well organized every single thing was… and the number of volunteers at every turn. Wow. What an event!

It was an incredibly windy weekend, with what I heard was a 20 mph headwind on each day. So my speed was not what I had hoped or expected… but I did it! And I loved it. And I’d like to do it again.

Some basic stats:

Saturday: 93 miles, cycling 7a – 3p with a stop for lunch and another rest stop break

Sunday: 75 miles, cycling 7a- 2p with 2 rest stop breaks and a break for lunch, and some serious hills in the state parks at Bastrop, TX