Sabrina and I had a real adventure this weekend. Our plan was to drive out to Sealy, TX and ride up TX-36 to Brenham for some hill training. These aren't BIG hills, but hills nonetheless. My assignment was to plan the route and stops. This was pretty easy - a straight shot up TX-36 with stops at 15 miles in Bellville (for more kolaches at Newman's Bakery!) and then on to Brenham for lunch and come home by the same route. The total route was about 60 miles.
This plan was working really well. I went to #2 child's basketball game at 8am, then met Sabrina to pick up my bike and drove out to Sealy (about 30 min. from home.) We parked at the Whataburger on the south side of I-10 at TX-36 and we were on our way, after a brief pause to put the chain back on my bike as it had slipped off in transit. Sabrina was then coated in chain grease, but she's a trooper (and a good friend!!) The ride was great through Sealy, and then reality struck. The next 13 miles to Bellville was a CONSTRUCTION ZONE! I guess my route planning omitted the step where I checked TxDOT Expressway for roadway construction projects on my route. OOPS! A few seconds on this pavement and we could tell WHY it was under construction. I'm not sure how old that asphalt was, but there was NO tar left in the gravel and that was the ROUGHEST road we'd ever been on. After the first 5 minutes, we were wishing for mountain bikes!
We agreed to press on to Bellville, ask about conditions on the road to Brenham and then pick an alternate route back to Sealy to avoid the construction. Other than the rough conditions, the rest of the ride to Bellville was relatively uneventful. We can always count on getting a few honks and cat-calls. On this trip, we were honked at by cars, trucks, and a BNSF locomotive! And we did get cat-called by the same truck in Bellville TWICE (creep!) A man at the bakery said the road to Brenham was much better and the construction "was already done." So we decided to continue our plan. The man was wrong. Once out of Bellville, it was the same rough asphalt. We were happy to see the county line (in Texas, that is often where the pavement changes) and we could see a different color of asphalt ahead. Oh happy day! Sadly, it was a different color of the same surface. We jittered on to Brenham. After a few miles, it doesn't matter because you can no longer feel your feet, rear, or hands. But it IS enough to give your back a spasm! Fortunately, the road widened to 4 lanes, giving us better clearance from passing vehicles. Unfortunately, passing motorists didn't always see fit to use the left lane while passing us.
Joyously, we pulled into Brenham and stopped at the Whataburger on TX-36 just south of US-290 for lunch. There was a table in a back corner, so we pulled our bikes in and stepped to the counter to order. We were met there by a round manager who informed us that our bikes were "a health hazard" and needed to be removed immediately. No, we could NOT order first. We took our bikes and went a little further up the hill to Sonic, where we found a nice outside table and ordered some burgers. Sabrina ordered hers with bacon! I did not know before this that Sonic has public restrooms - I guess I always thought it was just a drive-in. This was a welcome discovery!
After lunch, we turned our bikes south on TX-36 and began our jarring ride back to Bellville. It was then that the headwind kicked up! Our motto is to ride into the wind on the FIRST half of the ride, because a headwind is a bad thing when you're already tired. But we're tough girls, so we fought our way back to Bellville. We stopped at Dairy Queen to discuss our route changes back to Sealy. We turned south off TX-36 onto Coshatte Rd. AH - we found smooth asphalt!! And HILLS! And DOGS! Those little Jack Russel Terriers are mighty fast when you're sprinting up a steep grade. I think Sabrina rubbed my back tire with the bacon from her burger at lunch! We escaped dog #1 unscathed. A little further up the hill, we met dog #2. He was about 3 times the size of dog #1, but responded better to my stern "NO, BAD DOG, GO HOME." I used my "coach voice." He only chased us a little while after that.
The plan was to take Coshatte to FM-331 to Peters San Felipe, back to TX-36. Coshatte was pretty good road. FM-331 was a little more rough, and we also found a group of guys out enjoying target practice on their land. Fortunately, we didn't hear any bullets zing by our heads! Everything went fairly well until we got on Peters San Felipe. We intended to take that to Maler Rd, but it went to dirt after Junica. And so we took Junica. Oh look! More bad asphalt! By this time, we were just numb to our environment and looking to get home by any means necessary. Alien abduction wouldn't have been out of the question! We made it down Junica without further incident, then sprinted across TX-36 and on into Sealy. We were never so glad to be back in a town with smooth streets!
As we pulled into the Whataburger and reloaded the bikes, we congratulated ourselves on surviving this latest adventure. I think we're fully prepared for whatever the MS 150 has to offer!
Showing posts with label MS 150. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MS 150. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
MS 150 Training Update
The Short Version:I've ridden over 400 miles. I fell once and it hurt. I learned to change my own tires. I've reached 25% of my fundraising goal.
The INTERESTING Version:Training is going very well. When I bought my bike, it had less than 500 miles on it. This weekend, the odo clicked past 900 miles. In that time, I've ridden short routes and long routes, depending on how much time I had. Sabrina, my friend and riding buddy, rode with me from Katy to Bellville to have kolaches and coffee at Newman's Bakery. Between the 15 mph headwind all the way there, and the hills (on which I was alternately praying and chanting, "Kolaches and Coffee!"), it was a challenging ride in. I do believe those were the best kolaches I've ever tasted, too! Naturally, the coffee kicked in about 10 miles away from the nearest public restroom. We thank Waller County for having well-designed bridges to hide under. Riding home in a tail-wind is a beautiful thing!!
I had my first clip-out fail, thankfully while stationary. It was a total rookie mistake, and all the other cyclists laugh because apparently everyone has done it. For those not in the know, road bikes do not have traditional pedals, but clips attached to the pegs on the crank. Cycling shoes are very stiff, to protect the foot from the pegs, and have a receptacle on the ball of the foot that attaches to the clips on the bike. This is efficient because the cyclist can benefit from pulling up on the pedals as well as pushing down. It's all good until you fail to get unclipped properly! A couple of weeks ago Sabrina was riding about 100 yards back and when I looked back to check on her, I saw she was stopped and off her bike. I unclipped my right shoe (which is my habit) and stopped. I planned to double back and see if she needed help. That U-turn to the LEFT was my fatal error, as my LEFT shoe was still clipped to the bike. Over I went, skinning my knee and elbow and bruising my hip, hand and ankle. I was wearing a long-sleeve jersey, a jacket and knee covers, which protected me a little. Thankfully, my clothes and bike were fine, I wasn't injured, and the bruises are healing.
It has occurred to me that my road bike is not like the 10-speed I had as a youth and tore down and rebuilt one summer for fun. It's a bit more complex and the tires are completely different. For starters, road bike tires are very narrow and are inflated to a much higher pressure than a kid's bike or a mountain bike. A special pump is required to inflate them, which I didn't even have yet. So I went down to Bike Barn, where my friend Ty gave me a crash course in changing a tire. We changed the front tube, and I got the hang of it very quickly. I also took home a CO2 cartridge and valve connection for emergency re-inflation, a tube for the rear tire and a new pump. Being the engineer I am, I figured the rear would only take slightly longer due to the gears and chain. It took me about 30 minutes, which is FAR longer than I anticipated. Mostly due to uncertainty, pensiveness, slowness and compulsive hand-washing! But I got the job done and now my bike is sporting LONG valve stems because I learned quickly that a 133 lb girl has a VERY hard time inflating a tube to 120 psi with one hand while holding the connection on the SHORT valve stem with the other.
Thanks for continuing to follow my blog. I'm enjoying the riding and the fundraising is going very well. I'm nearly to the 25% point, which is great for the first month. The ride is now 2 months away, so I need to ramp things up. Sabrina and I are planning a garage sale and a few other ideas to help raise money and support. I hope you will forward my link to your friends because the more people who support the ride, the more money we raise for MS research. Even a new therapy or drug is a huge improvement! Every little bit helps!!
Link to my page: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/TXHBikeEvents?px=6533020&pg=personal&fr_id=15941
"Keep Moving Forward!"
The INTERESTING Version:Training is going very well. When I bought my bike, it had less than 500 miles on it. This weekend, the odo clicked past 900 miles. In that time, I've ridden short routes and long routes, depending on how much time I had. Sabrina, my friend and riding buddy, rode with me from Katy to Bellville to have kolaches and coffee at Newman's Bakery. Between the 15 mph headwind all the way there, and the hills (on which I was alternately praying and chanting, "Kolaches and Coffee!"), it was a challenging ride in. I do believe those were the best kolaches I've ever tasted, too! Naturally, the coffee kicked in about 10 miles away from the nearest public restroom. We thank Waller County for having well-designed bridges to hide under. Riding home in a tail-wind is a beautiful thing!!
I had my first clip-out fail, thankfully while stationary. It was a total rookie mistake, and all the other cyclists laugh because apparently everyone has done it. For those not in the know, road bikes do not have traditional pedals, but clips attached to the pegs on the crank. Cycling shoes are very stiff, to protect the foot from the pegs, and have a receptacle on the ball of the foot that attaches to the clips on the bike. This is efficient because the cyclist can benefit from pulling up on the pedals as well as pushing down. It's all good until you fail to get unclipped properly! A couple of weeks ago Sabrina was riding about 100 yards back and when I looked back to check on her, I saw she was stopped and off her bike. I unclipped my right shoe (which is my habit) and stopped. I planned to double back and see if she needed help. That U-turn to the LEFT was my fatal error, as my LEFT shoe was still clipped to the bike. Over I went, skinning my knee and elbow and bruising my hip, hand and ankle. I was wearing a long-sleeve jersey, a jacket and knee covers, which protected me a little. Thankfully, my clothes and bike were fine, I wasn't injured, and the bruises are healing.
It has occurred to me that my road bike is not like the 10-speed I had as a youth and tore down and rebuilt one summer for fun. It's a bit more complex and the tires are completely different. For starters, road bike tires are very narrow and are inflated to a much higher pressure than a kid's bike or a mountain bike. A special pump is required to inflate them, which I didn't even have yet. So I went down to Bike Barn, where my friend Ty gave me a crash course in changing a tire. We changed the front tube, and I got the hang of it very quickly. I also took home a CO2 cartridge and valve connection for emergency re-inflation, a tube for the rear tire and a new pump. Being the engineer I am, I figured the rear would only take slightly longer due to the gears and chain. It took me about 30 minutes, which is FAR longer than I anticipated. Mostly due to uncertainty, pensiveness, slowness and compulsive hand-washing! But I got the job done and now my bike is sporting LONG valve stems because I learned quickly that a 133 lb girl has a VERY hard time inflating a tube to 120 psi with one hand while holding the connection on the SHORT valve stem with the other.
Thanks for continuing to follow my blog. I'm enjoying the riding and the fundraising is going very well. I'm nearly to the 25% point, which is great for the first month. The ride is now 2 months away, so I need to ramp things up. Sabrina and I are planning a garage sale and a few other ideas to help raise money and support. I hope you will forward my link to your friends because the more people who support the ride, the more money we raise for MS research. Even a new therapy or drug is a huge improvement! Every little bit helps!!
Link to my page: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/TXHBikeEvents?px=6533020&pg=personal&fr_id=15941
"Keep Moving Forward!"
Sunday, January 30, 2011
WHY am I going to ride a bicycle 150 miles??
Tue, Jan 11, 2011:
Why on earth am I doing this?
I know, it sounds crazy! I'm 39 and have spent the better part of the last 13 years doing whatever the kids want to do, leaving very little time for personal fitness or a hobby of any kind. So why on earth AM I doing this?
I've wanted to ride the MS 150 ever since I first heard about it. I thought, "If anyone should do this, *I* should." I've admired and supported lots of friends who have participated in the past. I was happy to be part of their support team, but I've always wanted to ride this ride myself. But WHY do I want to do this?
It's really about my mom. She was diagnosed when she was younger than I am now. She was always fit and active before that. I know that if she didn't have MS, she would probably have done the MS 150 herself. I want to honor the mental strength my mom has shown, especially in the last 20 years, as MS has slowly chipped away at her abilities and her independence.
When I was in college, my mom tried so hard to keep working. I had scholarships to pay for my tuition and dorms, but we still had to pay for books, supplies, and living expenses. There came a time when her supervisors at work began to doubt her abilities, then changed her job duties several times in short succession, and then dismissed her from her job as a medical assistant. It was such an insult! She was so capable and had always done an excellent job. But she came to see that it might be best for her health, so she began the process of filing for Social Security Disability. If you've never gone through the process, it's lengthy and only the persistent are successful. I think it took over a year before the first SSI check came.
When my husband and I got married in 1993, my mom could still walk (not very well, but she did her best.) We would joke, "She doesn't drink, she just walks that way." It was a weak effort to try to give a little levity to the truth. When our first child was born in 1998, my mom could get around in her house with a walker. I remember a couple of times when she fell at my house - it always scared me to death because there was no way I could pick her up and I was afraid she would be hurt.
By the time our second child was born in 1999, mom was using a manual wheelchair most of the time. She would have loved to be the grandma that could come get the kids and take them all kinds of places, but that just wasn't possible. By 2000, she was convinced that she should not be driving anymore. More independence lost.
Our third child was born in 2001 and mom was still struggling around their house. My dad had the entire house tiled to make it easier for her to get the wheelchair around. But their house was not wheelchair accessible. In 2002, we moved to the west side of Houston, leaving my parents in the Clear Lake area south of Houston. That was very hard for my mom because she didn't get to see the kids as much. We tried to make our new house more wheelchair friendly, with a ramp to the front porch. But the only bathroom downstairs is still rather inadequate.
Our fourth (and last!) child was born in 2003. That year we decided to take my parents to Disney World. This crazy notion prompted my dad to finally get my mom a power wheelchair. That made a big difference for her in the house, but she couldn't take it anywhere! So they had to buy a van that had room for a lift. It was a cheap lift, but the best they could afford at the time. It did a great job of physically lifting the chair off the ground, but you still had to manually maneuver it into and out of the van. If it was parked on a grade of any kind, the chair either slammed into the back bumper as soon as it was off the ground, or swung back to meet you and then had to be wrangled into the van. We did find Disney to be rather wheelchair friendly, but when you introduce a wheelchair, everything takes a lot more time. Unless she had it on top speed on flat ground, and then you'd better jog to keep up!
In 2005, after much pestering, we got my parents to move to the west side of town, less than 2 miles from our house. My dad and I went on several house-hunting trips to find the most accessible plan, and then I contracted to have any additional changes made. This included ramps to the garage and back porch, changing some doors, and adding a flip-down seat and grab bars to their shower. This has worked fairly well so far, but no house is perfect.
In the last year, my parents were able to replace their old van with a newer model. They got a better lift and a seat that swivels and comes down out of the van. Mom is able to make a sideways transfer from her chair into the seat, then it scoops her up and into the van. If the door opening was just a bit wider, her long legs would fit into the van more easily! But this is a HUGE improvement over the previous van! A month ago, her first chair finally died. It had a very long life and my dad made plenty of repairs to it, but it was time. The new chair is fantastic and is just a bit narrower, giving my mom access to the front bedroom in their home for the first time. Can you imagine living in a house for 5 years, never able to enter 2 or 3 of the rooms?
I really wanted everyone to understand the depth of my motivation to ride the MS 150. 150 miles over 2 days doesn't even hold a candle to my mom's daily struggle to do basic things that the rest of us take for granted. Even after 150 miles on a bike, I will be able to walk better than she can (perhaps not MUCH better, but at least under my own power!) Just thinking about seeing her at the finish line brings tears to my eyes and a lump in my throat. I'll have to think of other things at that point so I don't cause a pile up at the finish.
I hope this opens some eyes to what life is like with MS. You haven't even heard my mom's side of the story. But MS doesn't affect just 1 person. Or 400,000 people in the US. It affects the parents, spouses, siblings, children and grandchildren of the people it affects. Living with MS is not a fun ride, so the MS 150 is the very least I can do to raise awareness and research money, in hopes of finding a cure, or at least some better treatments for people in the later stages of MS. Many hands make light work. Many dollars make thousands to fund vital research. There is no gift too small to gain my gratitude! I hope you'll help, and get your friends to help. Remember, you can donate as often as you like!
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/TXHBikeEvents?px=6533020&pg=personal&fr_id=15941
Why on earth am I doing this?
I know, it sounds crazy! I'm 39 and have spent the better part of the last 13 years doing whatever the kids want to do, leaving very little time for personal fitness or a hobby of any kind. So why on earth AM I doing this?
I've wanted to ride the MS 150 ever since I first heard about it. I thought, "If anyone should do this, *I* should." I've admired and supported lots of friends who have participated in the past. I was happy to be part of their support team, but I've always wanted to ride this ride myself. But WHY do I want to do this?
It's really about my mom. She was diagnosed when she was younger than I am now. She was always fit and active before that. I know that if she didn't have MS, she would probably have done the MS 150 herself. I want to honor the mental strength my mom has shown, especially in the last 20 years, as MS has slowly chipped away at her abilities and her independence.
When I was in college, my mom tried so hard to keep working. I had scholarships to pay for my tuition and dorms, but we still had to pay for books, supplies, and living expenses. There came a time when her supervisors at work began to doubt her abilities, then changed her job duties several times in short succession, and then dismissed her from her job as a medical assistant. It was such an insult! She was so capable and had always done an excellent job. But she came to see that it might be best for her health, so she began the process of filing for Social Security Disability. If you've never gone through the process, it's lengthy and only the persistent are successful. I think it took over a year before the first SSI check came.
When my husband and I got married in 1993, my mom could still walk (not very well, but she did her best.) We would joke, "She doesn't drink, she just walks that way." It was a weak effort to try to give a little levity to the truth. When our first child was born in 1998, my mom could get around in her house with a walker. I remember a couple of times when she fell at my house - it always scared me to death because there was no way I could pick her up and I was afraid she would be hurt.
By the time our second child was born in 1999, mom was using a manual wheelchair most of the time. She would have loved to be the grandma that could come get the kids and take them all kinds of places, but that just wasn't possible. By 2000, she was convinced that she should not be driving anymore. More independence lost.
Our third child was born in 2001 and mom was still struggling around their house. My dad had the entire house tiled to make it easier for her to get the wheelchair around. But their house was not wheelchair accessible. In 2002, we moved to the west side of Houston, leaving my parents in the Clear Lake area south of Houston. That was very hard for my mom because she didn't get to see the kids as much. We tried to make our new house more wheelchair friendly, with a ramp to the front porch. But the only bathroom downstairs is still rather inadequate.
Our fourth (and last!) child was born in 2003. That year we decided to take my parents to Disney World. This crazy notion prompted my dad to finally get my mom a power wheelchair. That made a big difference for her in the house, but she couldn't take it anywhere! So they had to buy a van that had room for a lift. It was a cheap lift, but the best they could afford at the time. It did a great job of physically lifting the chair off the ground, but you still had to manually maneuver it into and out of the van. If it was parked on a grade of any kind, the chair either slammed into the back bumper as soon as it was off the ground, or swung back to meet you and then had to be wrangled into the van. We did find Disney to be rather wheelchair friendly, but when you introduce a wheelchair, everything takes a lot more time. Unless she had it on top speed on flat ground, and then you'd better jog to keep up!
In 2005, after much pestering, we got my parents to move to the west side of town, less than 2 miles from our house. My dad and I went on several house-hunting trips to find the most accessible plan, and then I contracted to have any additional changes made. This included ramps to the garage and back porch, changing some doors, and adding a flip-down seat and grab bars to their shower. This has worked fairly well so far, but no house is perfect.
In the last year, my parents were able to replace their old van with a newer model. They got a better lift and a seat that swivels and comes down out of the van. Mom is able to make a sideways transfer from her chair into the seat, then it scoops her up and into the van. If the door opening was just a bit wider, her long legs would fit into the van more easily! But this is a HUGE improvement over the previous van! A month ago, her first chair finally died. It had a very long life and my dad made plenty of repairs to it, but it was time. The new chair is fantastic and is just a bit narrower, giving my mom access to the front bedroom in their home for the first time. Can you imagine living in a house for 5 years, never able to enter 2 or 3 of the rooms?
I really wanted everyone to understand the depth of my motivation to ride the MS 150. 150 miles over 2 days doesn't even hold a candle to my mom's daily struggle to do basic things that the rest of us take for granted. Even after 150 miles on a bike, I will be able to walk better than she can (perhaps not MUCH better, but at least under my own power!) Just thinking about seeing her at the finish line brings tears to my eyes and a lump in my throat. I'll have to think of other things at that point so I don't cause a pile up at the finish.
I hope this opens some eyes to what life is like with MS. You haven't even heard my mom's side of the story. But MS doesn't affect just 1 person. Or 400,000 people in the US. It affects the parents, spouses, siblings, children and grandchildren of the people it affects. Living with MS is not a fun ride, so the MS 150 is the very least I can do to raise awareness and research money, in hopes of finding a cure, or at least some better treatments for people in the later stages of MS. Many hands make light work. Many dollars make thousands to fund vital research. There is no gift too small to gain my gratitude! I hope you'll help, and get your friends to help. Remember, you can donate as often as you like!
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/TXHBikeEvents?px=6533020&pg=personal&fr_id=15941
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