Well here it is September 10th, 2006 the second day of the MS150.  The ride is over and here are the results!

September 9, 4:45am:  Woke up to the pitter patter of rain, plus of course a blaring alarm clock.  Fast forward to 7:15am and I’m on my bike lining up on at the MS150 start line, in the rain.  It’s wet, muddy, and dreary, but there are about 1200 more bicycles there than I expected.  I thought the MS150 had ~300 bikes, it turns out there were > 1800 entries!

So I could talk about the ride in great detail, and I’m sure I’ll bore some of you on an individual basis for that info.  However for updating my cycling blog, here are the stats:

Day 1: 90 Miles, with Century Route (100 miles) option.
At the 33 mile mark, I had ridden for 2 hrs 2 min was averaging 16.4 mph.
Just over 2 hrs later I reached the 66 mile mark, averaging 16.2 mph.
By 75 miles I had ridden for 4 hrs 41 minutes, slipping slightly to 16.0 mph.
From there, it got a little painful, since this was the point where my body fell apart!
I couldn’t resist the challenge of doing my first century, so taking that century route turn was truly a painful decision!
The final hour and half was truly painful, and I’ll admit making a few deals with God in order to make it through.  I don’t back out on my word, so expect to see me at my church more frequently from now on
The finish line came at 6 hours and 14 minutes, with an overall average of 15.2 mph.  As you can see, my pace really fell to a crawl for that final leg!

Day 2: 60 Miles, starting again at 7am.  For me, that is SO EARLY!
I began by riding pretty conservative in case of cramps or soreness.
I felt good though, doing the first 20 miles in 1 hr 11 minutes @ 16.6mph.
Then I fell in with a great group of riders, and through doing some drafting
I am proud to announce at the 40 mile mark I was averaging 17.9 mph!
From there I rode in alone, ending the day at 3 hrs 32 min at 16.5 mph.

Overall I’m VERY pleased with with how the MS150 went.  Between online pledges and check donations I’m going to finish at over $500 raised for this great charity.  Thanks to everyone who supported me!  I want to extend a special thanks for Joe Koch, Rusty Beck, and Julie & Walt Peterson for their great contributions to my fundraising efforts! 

As a final note for today, I wanted to give a quick shout out to Beverly Peterson, my sweet cousin in Alaska … Happy Birthday.