One of
my all-time favorite commercial is from Louis Vuitton, more for its creative rather than the product itself.
Amidst haunting music from Gustavo Santaolalla, the voice over ponders – “A journey brings us face to face with ourselves; a
journey shows us not only the world, but how we fit in it”. That has
always stayed with me and I was reminded of it again on the MS weekend as I
pedaled through the good parts, the difficult parts, the scenic parts and the
dreary parts, parts that made me smile and parts that made me realize why I was
doing this. As I came across riders with jerseys saying “I ride with MS”, the
cause made even more sense. We do it to make this a better world one step at a
time, in whatever little ways that we can. We do this because we are all in
this world trying to find meaning and find our place in it. The BP MS 150 ride
brought me a step closer to it.
Any
first time rider could not have asked for a better weekend to do the ride. It
was a chilly 40 degrees F with a slight tail wind. We had a great start with the
Direct Energy Team sharp at 7:00 AM. With a quick check-in, photos and words of
encouragement from the great volunteers we were off. I did curse myself for not
getting the full gloves as my fingers froze for the first few miles. By the first
rest stop it was all good. Never in my practice rides did I get any tail wind
and therefore finding myself at the lunch stop at around 9:30AM was encouraging
as well as a little disconcerting.
The
rest of the distance for the day total of 88 miles was actually not that
difficult. Maybe it was the adrenalin or maybe it was the crowd that made the distance
go quicker. Talking about the ride itself, it is something that one needs to
experience first-hand. People of all shapes, sizes and shades on bikes of every
possible configuration riding in one huge mass for as long as you can see –
riders with Tigger tails, plush kitties clinging to their jerseys for dear
life, dressed in Minnie outfits. It’s a celebration!
We
camped out with the Direct Energy Team at a RV park near La Grange which was a
very cushy arrangement to say the least; including beer on tap which I realized
does work as a pretty good recovery drink.
It was a perfect day to camp too, in
the middle of a ranch land amidst longhorns and a busy looking armadillo.
I had
been pushing back on the idea of doing the Bechtel Challenge Route for day two
even after being encouraged by a couple of friends. But the good ride on day
one was convincing me that I should give it a try. Then someone conned me into
believing that it was just 10 odd extra miles and the camp site we were on shaves off nearly 3-4 miles of the 10 miles. After getting a decent
amount of sleep through the rather cold night, I was feeling pretty good apart
from a slight cramp on my left shoulder. So at the start, when someone said
let’s do the challenge route, I was immediately in.
Truly
speaking, if I had researched the route I would not have done it. The fact that
I did not even know that the route goes through a state park was to my
advantage. Ignorance is bliss. Every hill in the park was an unknown and once I
was able to absorb it, I had to collect the last ounce of will to climb. I thought of counting them at first and after a while I gave up. There were
simply too many. I think it was somewhere in the middle, at the foot of a steep
climb we could hear some beautiful bagpipe music but were not able to see where it
was coming from. After chugging through the hill, the musician was finally
visible dressed in all his Scottish finery and then I heard this rider who was
next to me chuckle – “Oh! Its him, I thought I died and went to heaven”.
The
challenge route made the ride extra special. I was happy to have done it. I
would have felt disappointed if I had chosen not to do it. I was ending the
ride into Austin with a little extra sense of achievement and the hilly terrain
of the capital looked tame in front of what I had just endured. It also made me
admire “pickle juice”. That is exactly
what it is - salty brine from jars of pickle that tastes like flavored sea
water, except it is saltier. But it is the best hydration available for riders.
Cramping has been a perennial problem with me whether I am riding or running
and with pickle juice I did not cramp at all. And you get them at H-E-B. As
they say – you live and learn.
But any of this would not
have been possible if I did not have all of you who supported, cheered, donated
and wished well for me. Thank you. You all made it happen for me. The ride definitely
changed a part of me forever… for the better.
