Heather and me at the finish!
:: SEE ALL PHOTOS FROM THE MS150 ::
I lost interest in riding this summer. Maybe it was the heat, the physically demanding job, the windy ride, or the pretentious Boulder biking scene. Whatever the cause, I lost it. But then I rode the MS 150, and I got it back.
This ride is so much fun! The riders are so friendly, so real, so focused. The route is always so beautiful. The volunteers are so abundant, so helpful, and lively. And the food is so plentiful! I can’t help it, I just love this ride!
This year over 3,330 people wearing bright skin-tight clothing, and bulky plastic helmets rode their bikes from Broomfield to Fort Collins and back. I can see it must be a bizarre sight to the non-rider. Why would anyone want to look so goofy or do such a strenuous thing? If only I could explain the joy I feel being a part of this phenomenon!
I didn’t train very much this season, which became evident in that it took me 2 hours longer to ride the same distance on the second day! The temperature got up to 93 degrees and got hot by 9 AM. Luckily we started by 6:00 AM both days, so the heat was not too bad. The hills were steep, but not too bad. Overall, the ride was very encouraging. I can do this Colorado riding thing! I can take on those Hills!

The bikesculpture dudes showed us where to go!
Highlights include Team SugarBees awesome lunch stops. The food was high-quality, even though I rode so early I had lunch at 9:00 AM! Top rest stops included the “beach” number 5, “field of Dreams” number 8, and number 9 because they had bubble gum.
I had my best wildlife viewing while on a bike ride ever! Swimming in the reservoir, we saw a BLACK BEAR! It was amazing! Floods of bikers stopped on the side of the road in awe and disbelief! It was just like a penguin sighting on the ice, wear the one lone animal is minding his own business and swarms of people stop and point. That was pretty cool, and seeing it randomly in the wild like that, was, in my opinion much better than the bear spotting in, say, Denali where you are surrounded by greedy tourists hoping to see just that.
I also saw a very large snake slithering on the road on the second day. It was 3 feet long, minimum, striped or diamond patterned (hard to tell) and silver with brown and orange. I thought it might be a King Snake because that was the only other snake I’ve seen of that size, but according to the wildlife department, King Snakes aren’t in Boulder County. It’s so rare to see a snake in high elevation anyway. I looked at other species, but none with patterns at all like this one have been spotted in Boulder County. It could have been an escaped pet, but it was on the highway in a rural area, so that is unlikely. I also saw lots of little bunnies, but they seem to be popping up everywhere I go these days!
Day 1:
July 7, 2007
Start: 6:00 AM finish: 12:30 PM
80 miles
ascent: 2269 ft
descent: 2694 ft
highest elevation: 5824 ft
Average 14.7 mph
Average HR (about) 145 bpm (the monitor was acting up, so I am not totally sure on this one)
Max speed 45 mph
Day 2:
July 8, 2007
Start: 5:50 AM finish: 1:30 PM
83 miles
ascent: 2668 ft
descent: 2353 ft
highest elevation: 5746 ft
Average 13.1 mph