I am pleased to announce that I completed the BP MS150 from Houston to Austin
in a very respectable time. I rode with Team Sun and Ski from Houston. We had around 400 riders on the team. There were
several from the Brazos Valley. Team Sun and Ski treated us very well. We arrived in LaGrange after completing the
first leg of 82.68 miles around 1:00pm on Saturday April 17. My bike computer indicated that I rode 5:00:01 hours. The next
day was equally amazing. We rode through hilly Bastrop with no trouble. We arrived in Austin at 12:45pm to complete the
ride. Sunday's mileage tally was 77.68 miles, for a total of 160.36 miles for both days.
I enjoyed the ride so much that I decided to continue my fund raising
efforts. On May 1-2, 2004, I rode the second leg of the MS 150
tour. This ride is known as The Red River Challenge. The term "Challenge" turned out to be a huge understatement. On Saturday,
the ride started with a driving rain storm, stiff headwinds out of the north and cold. The first two hours of the ride were
done in driving rain. The rest of the day, rain was intermitent, so about the time you started drying out, the rain came and
took care of that. The wind was relentless. My average speed for this ride was 13.6 mph. There were plenty of times that I
looked at my speedometer and saw single digits. I was on the course for about 8.5 hours on Saturday. I logged 94.5
miles with actual wheel time of just under 7 hours. The rumor is that 1200 started the ride on Saturday and only 300
or so actually finished that day. On Sunday, I rode 63.2 miles to finish the ride. The weather was great, but that wind persisted.
The good news is that I was only on the bike for 4 hours.
In case you are keeping score, I've traveled 318 miles and spent 20.5 hours
on my bicycle in order to raise money for MS research. The Red River Challenge
was the most challenging thing I've ever done physically, but by no means as challenging as the barriers those with MS must
face every day. I encourage you to donate to MS and help me with my efforts in finding a cure for MS. Two of my
co-workers have close relationships who are battling MS. This Red River Challenge was dedicated to Marcy Schmieder
and Jean King.
I will update the Hiney Buster News very soon, so keep checking back.
