August 5th:

It's Friday afternoon and time to head to WPS to drop off my bike and hop on the bus to Waukesha. I will meet up with Sara's sister Rosie who took on the challenge of doing the ride this year instead of volunteering. This year things are very different, we are leaving Sara behind. Yes that's right, Sara will not make the start for our 7thMS-150. It has been a long year and training has been very hard to do during the extended period of hot/humid weather. Sara is still rehabbing knee surgery from earlier this year due to a skiing accident out west. Our plan is for me to ride the 1st day on my new solo recumbent bike and switch to our tandem sometime on Sunday to ride together to the finish line.

This is bittersweet for us as Sara looks forward to the ride all year. It has always been our barometer as to how her disease was progressing. The fact that we had a hard time riding over 30 miles during training, just shows how MS has again taken it's toll on what we can and can not do.

I reluctantly give my new bike to the transport guys knowing that it will never be the same again. But as each year proves, these guys are awesome. They treat our bikes like they were theirs and they somehow safely make the journey to Waukesha each and every year. Thanks guys! The busses are loading and it is time to say goodbye, but that proves to be more difficult than I thought. Sara was incredibly emotional as we were getting ready to go and rightfully so, she has to accept that life has gotten in the way again and taken away something she used to be able to do. She knows that she can not change anything. She knows she will sit all weekend to wait for us. She knows we will experience the ride and she can't. She knows all to well that MS SUCKS and I for one agree whole-heartedly.

Here we are, ready to go with smiles all around. Funny how a camera can make everything seem o/k, but tears soon followed. I hate to see my wife sad & alone. I hate that we will not be able to start the ride together. I HATE MS!

Rosie and I have a good bus ride to Waukesha and settle into our rooms at the Best Western. A quick dinner and some last thoughts before we can think of nothing but sleep. The night before a big ride it is hard to sleep. The anxiety and anticipation of the next days events weigh heavy on the mind. I sleep till about 3am and that's it. Rosie gets little sleep which is totally understandable. I don't think Sara or I slept a wink the night before our 1st ride. My 5:00am wake up call will be here before I know it and I am not even sleeping.            

August 6th:

Wake up call at 5am gets the juices flowing and I try to get organized for what I all need for the day. At 5:30am I head for the continental breakfast. There's Rosie already done with breakfast. She is the most discipline individual I know. So organized it's almost scary. She is anxious to get this thing started and so am I. The bumpy school bus ride ends at the technical center where we start. Bags go on the trucks, and bikes are retrieved from the "sea" of bikes. Rosie's idea to tie a pink scarf to her handlebar proves to be a good one as it seems when there are that many bikes all of them begin to look the same. My bike makes the journey without a scratch and I am excited, this thing just screams "ride me" and soon I will. We assemble for our annual team photo just prior to the start.

The start area is beginning to fill up with riders so Rosie and I make the way to our spot on the grid. We are starting just behind Chuck's team as they out fund raised us last year. We give them a 5' gap of pavement between us in honor of their achievement. The national anthem gets sung, safety tips for riders get reinforced, and a;"have a great ride" by Colleen Calt and we are off. Finally, the bugs leave the stomach and we can now begin to settle in to the task at hand. After the start the roads are busy with riders, each jockeying into some sort of pre-determined order. Rosie and I will ride together to the 1st rest stop and hopefully make contact with our riding partners.

The road is flat and the legs get warmed up and soon we are pulling into our 1st stop. There as planned we meet up with Rosie's riding partner Dave, and I meet up with my riding partners, Dave and George. We fill the water bottles, visit the head, and its off again. I assure Rosie we will meet along the route to check on each other.

I can't tell you how important it is to have a good riding partner. When Rosie decided to do the ride for the 1st time this year she did not even own a bike. After purchasing the necessary equipment she made the best decision of all and that was to call an old friend. Dave has done the MS-150 for many years and saw this as an opportunity to not only introduce another person to the wonderful world of biking, but mentoring them to be ready for the ride. This is no small feat, and I have the greatest respect for Dave to sacrifice his personal goals to see someone else achieve theirs. This is a special individual. Who else would suffer riding a mountain bike when the Trek Madone sits in the garage saying; really? Because of this person every time I saw Rosie & Dave during the ride she always had the biggest smile on her face. She was well prepared and therefore had a wonderful experience. Thanks Dave!

I am riding with a friend that Sara and I met on the MS-150 many years ago. We had purchased an upright conventional tandem bike and did the ride for the 1st time in 2005. In 2006 we were struggling to climb the hills between Whitewater and Madison and that is when Dave Harney passed us on his solo recumbent bike. He tried to encourage us to the top of a big hill but we just could not make it and had to walk the bike up the last part. Later we met up with him at the next rest stop. This is when we shared our stories and realized that we were very alike. He talked of his wife Rosalee who was diagnosed with MS many years ago. How they started on a tandem very similar to ours. How they progressed to a tandem that allowed the rear rider to not always have to pedal along with the front rider. Then when they no longer could ride the upright bike, they decided to purchase a tandem recumbent. This was their ride for a few years until this bike also presented its share of problems, especially with balance issues. He told us that his wife and him were currently riding on a tandem Greenspeed trike now, and this has allowed them to continue riding safely & keep Rosalee moving.

We thanked him for sharing with us and trying to help us with what he already knew wasour future. When we got home after the ride, I could not get this conversation off my mind. I said to Sara; "do you think they could still have the recumbent tandem?" So this prompted me to find Dave's e-mail address and send him a thank youfor the time he took with us and proposed the question. He said; "yes, we still have the bike". After some conversations I convinced him to consider selling the bike to us as we were at the stage where we needed it more than they did. This had been a favorite bike of theirs so considering selling was something that required some deep thought. He took Rosalee for one last ride on the bike to re-confirm what he thought was the case and that is that they just can't safely ride that bike anymore. He e-mailed me that they would sell the bike and I said we would guarantee to give it a good home. We traveled to Grafton and spent the day with the Harney's. After some preliminary instruction on riding a recumbent and some test runs we mounted upand did a 40 mile ride with Dave and Rosalee on the trike and Sara and I on what would become our new recumbent tandem. Dave and Rosalee have been a constant reminder to us of what is possible and are just motivating to be around. They know whatis our future because we are them, only years earlier. Oh yeah, did I mention that he completed the MS-150 and rides thousands of miles each year and is 72 years old. We should all be so lucky to never let age get in the way.

Along with Dave is a good friend of his by the name of George. He has decided to again do the ride and had a recently purchased recumbent as well. We have met in previous rides and the three of us banded together to rule the rode via recumbent technology. I must say that it helps to ride with friends. Somehow it seems that if you share the pain, the miles just fly by. I am used to riding the tandem which is heavy and big like a limo. We usually go slower than most so this means suffering all alone. Sharing the pain keeps you motivated as each person feels strong at different parts of the ride and the others can capitalize on that. The group moves down the road at a faster pace than an individual rider. We are a peloton of 3.

We arrive at the lunch stop and get our food and while eating here come Rosie and Dave. So we were able to enjoy a sandwich together and share stories of the day so far. It is kind of neat how you can keep in contact with someone during most of the ride without actually riding together. Look at these two, 40 miles into the ride and they don't even look like they have broken a sweat yet.

We decide to take off while they were finishing and knew that we would meet up again down the road. And so it was at the LaGrange rest stop where my niece Samantha was scheduled to volunteer that we all were together again and happy to be well on our way to finishing the 1st day of riding. The ride is emotional at times when you see people you do not know standing with their whole family at the side of the road clapping and cheering you on. Kind of puts a lump in your throat. Helps to keep you pushing on as you remember what the heck it is you are out here doing and why.

All smiles with not far to go. Great 1st day. This photo is missing only one thing, Sara.

We push off again with the attitude; are we done yet? Whitewater is not far now and the legs are grateful. It will be good to park the bike and relax. We decide that whoever gets to the finish 1st waits about a 1/4 mile before so we can all hook up and cross the finish together. I know Sara will be waiting for us. I know she will want a photo. I know emotions will be high. I know she will give us all a big hug for a job well done and tears will flow. The last hill before the finish is a short, steep hill that just seems like one last slap in the face after a long day in the saddle. We meet at the top and make the short ride to cross the finish and congratulate eachother for making the full 75 miles in style and good time.

Sara is planning to stay the night so we opt out of the hot dorm rooms and get ourselves a room at a nearby motel. When your spouse has MS and the weather is warm and humid, A/C can be the difference between marriage and divorce. However, after just riding 75 miles I can say it is the best move we have ever made. I could not cram my bike into the back of the truck with our tandem on it so I ended up riding the 1.5 miles to the motel. As it should be, after Sara had to stop for lights and traffic, I cruised right thru and ended up turning into our motel ahead of her in the truck. You have to love bikes for sneaking thru traffic. We got our room and relaxed while getting ready for the evening programs. We all met for dinner, Sara, Rosie, Samantha, Jake, his girlfriend Kelly & myself. We all try to eat as much pasta as our bodies can accept to carb up for the next days ride. Experience allows me to know just when to stop so there is still room for ice cream. I am good at that.

We make our way to the large tent for the night's program and to mingle with our friends and team-mates. We find our spot and settle into the nights activities. Every seat in the house is taken and Colleen starts to recognize the top individual fundraiser's and top teams. The usual suspects are recognized and Chuck Sherwinski blows all of us away by personally raising over $75,000 last year. It is told that in the years he has done the ride he personally has raised over $435,000. He is an inspiration to all of us and shows what you can do if you just are willing to ask. The fact that Chuck has MS is his driving force and motivation to raise all he can for a cure. We applaud his efforts and wish we had a thousand Chuck Sherwinski's. It is amazing to us to see just how many are riding again this year. Some have proven to be very creative in their fundraising and have raised some amazing sums. These are our future donation generators and we need to groom them and keep them motivated to support the cause. Sara is recognized for her achievement in raising over $5,000 this year and has to make her way to the stage. Her cane helps, but it is still a struggle non the less. Then she is recognized again when they ask for all the people on the ride who have MS to come to the stage. This is always emotional but necessary. It gives all in attendance a face to what MS is. Big, small, short, tall, man, woman, it does not matter, MS does not discriminate. The standing ovation by over 1500 bikers and volunteers is never ending and a reminder to those on stage that;

We are here for you, we will keep working until we solve the puzzle of MS, don't give up - keep fighting.

The program is winding down and we say our good nights to our friends and head back to the motel room for some well deserved sleep. Rosie will brave it out in the dorm and see if she can sleep better than the night before. The weather forecast says we may have an interesting morning.


August 7th:

Well, just as expected we are awoke at 4:00am with thunder, lightning and rain. Just another average Sunday for the MS-150. I get up at 6am as planned and ignore the weather and proceed to get ready for the days ride. I know that the ride officials will be having pow-wow's about whether to cancel the ride because of the weather, but there are 1500+ bikers that have a different idea. At a little after 7am, I mount up and head out into the rain. I cruise from the motel over to the start area and meet up with Dave and George. They are waiting for the official go, or no-go. I tell them I have looked at the radar and the worst has passed and it will be o/k to go. I am a pilot and when my gut tells me the time is right, I know it is. I tell Dave and George that in skydiving we always had one rule; when in doubt, GO! That was good enough for them, and off we went. Many followed us and many did not, but as in years past, the rain ended the sun came out and we all worked our way to Madison. The ride officials said there would be no support, but our faithful Gold winger's left with us to watch over us and the bike shops were set up to handle whatever was thrown their way as well. Rosie and Dave will hold off a bit and not get started until about 9am.

We arrive at the 1st rest stop and we are pleased to see the volunteers ready for us with all the goodies that keep us fueled up. They do such a great job taking care of all our needs, we could not do it without them. We hear that race officials have opened up the course and we know everyone will be coming behind us now. We push off and head to the 2nd rest stop and as we get there the rain ends and conditions begin to improve. Off come the raincoats and we finally dry out a bit, but the clouds are retreating and when the sun shows it's face, we realize that we are going to be in for a hot and humid rest of the day. We push off again knowing that lunch is the next stop, but many hills are between us and Stoughton. This 3rd leg on Sunday is one of the hardest on the ride. It just seems like it is hill after hill after hill. We make it to lunch and the sun is beginning to take it's toll on many riders. If that were not enough, the rain along with some glass on some roads and recent road work proved too much for our skinny tires. It has been reported that well over 500 flats were repaired on Sunday. Total carnage. How I managed to not get a flat is remarkable. George had 3 flat tires during the day and that was more like the norm for many riders. The bike shops had to run back to Madison because all their tubes were exhausted.

With the hot sun, the cold refreshments were a welcome site at all the rest stops. On Sunday we took it easy and relaxed some at each stop. Here Dave and George find a nice rock to sit on while taking a break. I saw many riders retire at lunch as the heat was starting to get to them. In addition the Sunday ride is far much more hilly than Saturday's ride and this just exacerbated the effects of the heat even more for many people.

I never saw Rosie or Dave on Sunday. They started later than us and as a result did not get the 1st 30 miles in the clouds/rain that kept us so nice and cool. So the heat for them was pretty bad right from the start. At lunch they made the decision to do the 62 mile cutoff and shorten the ride by 15 miles. This is a good call as we are out here to have fun and not kill ourselves. She has more than fulfilled her goals for this years ride and can be very proud of her achievement. I just hope she knows that rookie's owe a case of beer for completing the ride for the 1st time.

We are getting closer to the finish, but one big thing still remains. We still need to get Sara in the game. We decide that we will all meet a short ways from the finish line. I will retire my bike and we will mount the tandem so Sara and I, and Rosie and Dave and our nephew Jake can all cross the final finish line together as it should be.

The finish line is a welcome sight for all of us. Another year is in the books!

As in years past we have people waiting for us at the finish line and this makes us very happy. There is my mom and dad, my brother Frank, our awesome friends Gary and Colleen, as well as Norm and Jeanne. Rosie's husband Steve is there and so is our niece Samantha. A great welcoming party.

This is why I ride.

Sometimes MS can take this beautiful smile away for long periods of time.

With your help and support we can keep this smile and all the smiles of people with MS on their faces forever.

Join us next year August 4th & 5th, 2012 where we will embark on our 8th MS-150.

Get a bike and get out riding, you will be glad you did! Thank you to all.