Hello,
Back in March of 1998 I was told by my doctor that I was overweight and my blood chemistry was all out of whack. He said I should go on a diet and take some pills. I protested, "Can't I just do it with diet and exercise?" Dr. Hammer replied, "No Zach you look like you are way too busy a guy to take care of yourself in that manner. If you did not have anything else to do except take care of yourself then maybe. No you better take the pills!"
The gauntlet was down. I started riding my bike to work in March and basically rode every day I could. I think I probably put in around 1,000 miles before the MS-150.
This year was the 10th edition of the MS-150. Each year for the past 10 years I have seen the advertisements for the tour in the bike shops and have always felt that I was not in good enough shape to attempt such a ride. This year, however, I used my riding to work and general conditioning as an excuse to get in shape for the ride. I sent in my $30.00 and started going on training rides.
The day finally arrived. Hear is my
gear behind the car. We left Davidson Street and drove to the Caterpillar Tractor Plant in Clayton. Caterpillar had given over the visitor's center to the MS150 bike tour. Here is a picture of me in front of the banner. I like everyone else probably drank a bit too much water so needless to say there was a big line at the "porta-potties".All 600 of the
riders lined up on the road leading out of the visitor's center. No one wanted to be first in line. I lined up at the 15mph mark but no one was in front of me. I know for a fact there were a lot of 18-25mph folks in this ride. When it got near time to go everyone pushed up and I found myself right at the front. Next year I'm going to hang around the back of the pack just so I can get the feel of all those riders.The ride was not hard. I skipped the first rest stop and stopped at
the second rest stop. Good thing no cars were coming. The first day of the ride was all back roads to Kinston. The first rest stop I stoped at was located at a church. The lunch rest stop was in the fellowship hall of a church. I could have stayed there all day eating. The fellow in the foreground of this picture is taking it easy under a "shade-bush". The lunch break was at about the half way mark of the 75 mile ride. I spent some time tracking down a route map for the extra 25 mile loop at this stop. I was feeling good and decide to go for the extra 25 miles. I was a little worried since I had not signed up for the 100 mile ride when I first registered. But what the heck you only live once. A few miles into the extra 25 I came up on a little crossroads named Faro N.C. I remembered this place from my childhood. My dad ran a wholesale grocery warehouse in Mt. Olive NC and some of his customers ran stores in this area. I remember one time going with him on a cold and rainy day just after a B-52 from the local SAC base crashed near here. Many years later it was reported that this was the closest the US ever came to a accident that involved an atomic bomb actually going off.When I stopped here a fellow riding bike
number 571 was already there. That bike was just a plane old three speed and he was riding the century. Here I was all decked out in my Treck 560 road bike with lots of water and he was just toodeling along on his three speed. No matter what you do in life things allways seem to be put into perspective. I did not stay here long but long enough to wave to a few other riders going past. What was nice about this place was the nice cool steps. Rider 571 took this picture of me.After completing the 25 loop I rejoined the ride at the 50 mile mark. I remember that point. I looked at the route map for the century and it said 75 miles. I thought "Good grief! 25 miles to Kinston!". I looked the other route map I had for the 75 mile route and it said 50 miles. I thought "Good Grief! 25 miles to Kinston!". There was no way around it I still had 25 miles to go and I had ridden 75 miles. I noticed that all the folks who I was riding with were going very slow and looked tired. I noticed that the "SAG-WAGONS" were passing me. Then it hit me, I had rejoined the end of the ride by extending it 25 miles. This rest stop was pretty soon after the 50 mile mark and I told
these folks to smile I would put their pictures on the WEB. Well guys here you go. The next rest stop was the last one for the day. At that stop I joined up with a couple that had ridden the century also. He was doctor at Rex Hospital in Raleigh and remembered seeing me riding to work along Blue Ridge Road.After completing the 100 miles on Saturday I arrived at a city park in Kinston. I set up my tent, took a shower and started exploring.
There were tables set up and for 10 bucks you could get a massage. I did not get one but it sure looked relaxing. Here are some folks at the end of the ride who look like they are in charge of things. I think that most of the folks in the ride slept in motels at night. I wanted the full experience of the MS-150 so I selpt in my tent. The big tent at the back of this picture is the one with massage tables in it. At the last rest stop of this day I met the man on the motorcycle. He is a Ham Radio operator and has a motorcycle. He supplied support for the MS-150 by riding up and down the ride keeping in touch with folks. Here he is with the white shirt holding the soda bottles, Jim DuBreck . He and I used to work together when I first started working in the computer industry. Supper was grand, spagette, salad, bread, soda. Later they even brought in a keg of beer. I met a fellow at supper who was in his 70s and had ridden in all 10 of the MS-150 rides. I think everyone who participated in this event had a good time. The riders, the organizers, even the folks who dished out supper.The next day, Sunday, everyone got up early and hit the road. This time I was not on some lonesome 25 mile loop and I frequently caught up with and was overtaken by
"pace lines". This was completely different than the first day. It was a lot of fun zipping along with a bunch of other folks. At one time I actually rode with the CAT-TEAM. I left a rest stop just before they did and was moving along pretty good when they caught up. One guy yelled out "The Cat Team, Reunited At Last!" Well not quiet, they had mistaken me for a member of their team and were trying to catch up with him. Anyhow I fell in with them and, zoom, we were off. They were making over 20mph. Every so often the the front two would peel off and the next two folks would take over. It was a "double-pace-line". It did not take long before the guy in front of me peeled off and I and this young woman were in front. Well I was impressed so I yelled out "PULLING A CAT". The phrase "pulling" is used to describe the person in front. The pull lasted only about 5 minutes and then I peeled off. I was at the end of the line and I slipped back just a little bit. They spotted the guy they were trying to catch and, zoom, they were gone and I had been "dropped-like-a-stone". Other pace lines were a lot more sedate and I ran into some guys that work with Evelyn, my wife. Evelyn told me that they were in the race. Lunch on day two was under some trees near a golf course, nice and shady and cool. The last rest stop on Day 2 was just befor we got on NC route 50. It was hot. I was really tired. I was "limping" out of this rest stop when these four guys in a short pace line caught up with me. They had ridden the century the day before too. I fell in with them and we moved long pretty good. I did a long pull just before we reached Emerald Isle. We sort of broke apart when we reached the high bridge over the Inland Waterway. Once at the camp ground at the end of the ride I saw one of them and I said, "Thank you very much I needed you guys to get me here". He protested, no way, you pulled us. Wow, that made me feel good. Here I was an old 51 year old guy pulling a bunch of guys in their 20s and 30s. What a ride. I could not beleive that I made it 175 miles in two days.When I got to
Emerald Isle I decided not to take a shower but just to load up the bike and take the first bus back to Raleigh. I ran into another fellow I worked with at the same time as I knew Jim DuBreck. This fellows name was Gary Rolke. He was one of those "high-speed" types who hit the whole ride at 20mph plus. These guys don't do the century part of the ride. It would be a bit awkward for them to do anything but come in first. Gary was a bit surprised that I made it to Emerale Isle in time to catch the first bus back to Raleigh. There was another person who I met on the bus back that I had seen many times running around Shelly Lake. Evelyn and I walk around Shelly lake a lot just for exercise. This young woman had ridden a knobby tire'ed mountain bike the whole way and had kept up with the ride leaders at 20+ mph. I did not know this first hand, Gary relayed this info. He was a bit "wow'ed" by her performance. Next year I plan on hanging out at the beach and going for a swim etc... It was a bit depressing riding back in that first bus. I did not get the feeling that they were haveing fun. Somehow they all seemed to be just "taking care of business"...What a ride! When I got back to Raleigh I sat down and waited for Evelyn to come pick me up. We actually beat her to Clayton from
Emerald Isle. This was quite an experience. I am really looking forward to this year's ride.
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