MS150

B.O.B. and N are now officially entered in the MS150 ride out of New Bern, NC. We’ll be riding with Team NCSSM, a group based out of N’s new school. This is their 3rd year fielding a team.

For those not familiar with the concept, the MS150 is a fundraising bike ride put on by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. There are rides in locations all around the country. They are two-day affairs, covering roughly 150 miles. The rides raise tons of money - it’s a big chunk of the National MS Society’s funding. It’s a really good cause.

Various BlichClan members have ridden in MS150 rides in the somewhat distant past. Once the kids started marching in high school band and running cross-country, the ride (and cycling in general) became much harder to schedule. B.O.B. and Roy started riding on a tandem when Row was in 3rd grade. They rode 5 years in a row, earning “Lifetime Rider” jerseys. If these jerseys were not, umm, MAL-designed, they would have been dubbed “the coveted Lifetime Rider jerseys”. I guess they could be viewed as cool in a retro kind of way. Maybe. Maybe not. Roy likes them. But bubbles and racing stripes? Makes me think, “fast ‘n’ fizzy”.

There were several years when the whole family did the ride. This was a fundraising challenge, because there is a $200 per person, not per family, minimum. The last time we rode (picture on right), the parental units were on one tandem, and the offspring on another. I can only imagine what it must be like riding on the back of a tandem that was being captained by Roy. N must be fearless. But since I’m writing this in the back seat of The MiniVahn that is being DRIVEN by Roy, I think I have a pretty good feeling what it must have been like. Hoy!

These MS150 rides were all “Breakaway to the Beach”, which went from Rockingham, NC to Myrtle Beach, SC, stopping overnight in Florence, SC. This ride was 75 miles the first day, and 85 the second day. There was an option to do 100 miles on day one – left from just down the street from our house. Only did that one year, though. The last 10 miles were on a big, wide highway, and you were pretty much guaranteed a wicked headwind coming off the ocean. The sea breeze, you know. The Breakaway to the Beach was getting more popular every year. The last year we rode, they were pushing 2000 entrants

This New Bern MS150 is NOT a point-to-point ride. It does loops out of New Bern. It’s somewhere near the ocean, so it must be flat, right? Maybe I’ll ride the fixed-gear bike. That is, if I ever get my new fixie wheels back from the shop. Of course, B.O.B. pulling up to a 75 mile ride on a fixed gear is just ASKING for a wicked, all-day headwind! And now that I think about it, a big tailwind might not be much better – I don’t think I can spin 150 rpm for 75 miles! But seeing that these rides start and end in the same place, things should even out. Guess I’ll drag my normal road bike along, just in case. Not sure how many people enter. They draw a lot of people from the Raleigh area.