Team Skinner Nurseries!

The MS150 was an absolute blast. So much comraderie all weekend. There were around 13,000 cyclists riding and probably just as many people supporting the riders. We started our MS150 adventure on Friday night. Andrea, Brad and Mike came into College Station for dinner and a night's rest before leaving early for Houston on Saturday morning. Alejandro, Chad and Preston came over to celebrate with us. Alejandro actually cooked our pasta dinner for us and Preston brought over a cake. Needless to say it was outstanding start to the weekend festivities. Mike drove Andrea, Brad and I to Houston at about 4AM on Saturday morning. We were at the stadium ready to go at 5:45AM and cycling by 6:45AM. It was a cold start, but it warmed up to be a perfect day. We had a serious head wind on the first day. It made the quads burn just a little bit more on the hills, and there were plenty of hills. Beautiful route. We got to lunch at about 11AM I think. We started feeling the pain real bad at the last break point. It took a lot of energy to get back on the bike and finish our 84 mile first day. We cruised into the overnight campgrounds at about 4PM and were in bed by 8PM. No joke. It was a great first day for Team Skinner Nurseries. Skinner sponsored a boy scout troup to ride on the team. It was fun to ride with them. And scout parents were abound all weekend as a result so we were never under-prepared. Day two was just as beautiful with less wind, which was nice. Enough talk though. Just check out the photographs. They tell the story better. Thank you to everyone who supported my ride. The MS150 is slated to bring in 14 million dollars for the National MS Society! Until next year...

Burning up the quads in Austin

So this past weekend I went to Austin to put in a long ride with Andrea in the wonderful westlake area. I think I've written about that area in a previous post. It was quite beautiful. We went at it a little harder this time than the last time we rode it (or atleast we let ourselves think that!). As it has been pratically all season, it was wonderful. 65 degrees and cloud-free. We rode for probably 25-ish miles. But, it was so terribly hilly that it counted for a good solid ride. We were feeling it when we were done. The exhaustion you feel after a bike ride is so different from a running exhaustion, it's this general fatigue that makes you want a margarita. It's crazy, but trust me, that's what happens. So, to make sure we recovered properly we listened to our bodies and went to get some margaritas after the ride. After the ride we decided to ride a little more and rode to the UT campus to watch the Texas Relays. Very fun. Who doesn't love a good track meet? Actually probably a lot of people. But WE loved it. Then we rode to El Chile for those margaritas we needed. Then we rode back to downtown to watch a free concert. So, needless to say we got plenty of riding in Saturday. Countdown to the MS150...5 days!

Tandem!

Today was a long ride. Just shy of 50 miles. Beautiful day to ride. Andrea just got back in town from her americorps trip and she came in to College Station so we could get a long ride in together. We went all over the place today. Aggieland is a great place to get a long ride in, safely and without having to get way out of the city. I'm sure going to miss that when I leave this town. So, we did really well on the ride. It was a bit hilly here and there, but it made for good practice. I think we both feel ready. But, we were quite tired after the ride and were getting a little sloppy with our riding. We'll have to really rest at the lunch breaks before the second half of each day's ride. Last night we had our MS 150 team meeting in Houston, which also helped with out preparation. The logistics of getting here and there for the start of the MS150 is a bit crazy, but we have a great team captain so I'm not worried a bit. Follow the leader! Thanks for reading. I'll probably do another post or two before the ride (April 12-13). After the ride I'll post photos.