Go for the Gorge!

Last weekend was the 2006 MS 150 Bike Tour. This was my second year participating, and I was grateful to have Joe, Holly, and my dad also join me this year. My best friend, Marcy's dad suffers from MS, and each year she is the captain of the "Mac Supertrain" Team (her dad's name is Mac).

The ride once again proved to be very challenging, extremely rewarding and lots of fun! We rode in a constant rain all day Saturday -- it is VERY rare to have an entire day of rain in Colorado, especially in July! Despite our soggy shoes and wet clothes, we made it to Colorado College in Colorado Springs, where we spent the night in the dorms. After our dinner and massages, we crashed! The sun came out for most of the day on Sunday, as we rode further south past Canon City onto the Royal Gorge. This is the highest suspension bridge in North America! (The picture kind of reminds me of the two of us in front of another suspension bridge!!) The "MS 150" is a bit of a misnomer -- as Joe and I pedaled across the finish line, my odometer read 170 miles!!

One of the funniest moments (I wish I had a picture of it!) was when Joe and I rushed to the airport in an attempt catch our flight to SLC on Sunday night. Yes, we showed up to the ticket counter in our biking clothes -- smelly, tired, sore, and hungry -- just as the flight was departing from the gate. I don't know if the ticket agents were impressed or just wanted to get rid of us, but they put us on the first flight Monday morning for only $25 each without charging us the fare difference! I guess missing our flight wasn't funny at the time, but at least we can laugh about it now!

It was a great ride, and it was an honor to raise money for the National MS Socitey in the process. We are accepting recruits for the team next year! Boog says he's in!