Truth be told, I was a bit of a nervous nelly on the drive out to my start point in Waller, TX, just outside of Houston. It has been on my to-do list to really train hard for this ride, but between school and the yard and the house, there hasn’t been a whole lot of time for that. So before setting out on this 150-mile-bike ride with 13,000 other rides, I had not ridden any training rides over 20-miles or trained on any hills or ridden any rides with more than a couple of other riders. Ever.

For a flatland Louisiana girl who spends most of her time in the same gear, I got over my dislike of switching gears pretty quickly. I also got over my fear of riding with massive amounts of people. The hills were brutal (my quads still burn every time I stand up and sit down), and oh-dear-me the saddle soreness. But (amazingly… miraculously?) I finished all ~142 miles of it! (I didn’t do the super hard challenge route up and down the steepest hills that would’ve made it 150+.) YC managed to nab a shot as I was crossing the finish line in Austin:

If you ever are interested in doing it, sign up. I can’t wait for the next one. It was such a beautiful ride through the countryside. People come out in droves to support you and cheer you on. They wait on their porches and in their front yards and sitting on the tailgates of their trucks in little towns all along the countryside between Houston and Austin, serenading you with fiddles, thanking you for riding, holding up signs, passing out beers and water, high-fiving riders. For all of the 13,000 rides between two pretty huge cities, it really makes you feel like a small-town community with one really big common goal.

Today I got back, still on a high from finishing my ride, and found the hens still clucking away, three eggs waiting in their coop, and a few of the earliest veggies on the plants.

Jalapeno Pepper

Serrano Pepper

Tomatillo Flower

Early Girl Tomato

Now, if these heat waves/cold snaps don’t totally ruin my plants, I will hopefully have enough for some canning this year!

How are your plants doing? Seeing any promising signs yet?

-kg

More than 13,000 cyclists will ride from Houston to Austin this weekend.  Here is your hour by hour forecast for temperatures, winds and humidity.  Click image to see the forecast.

I took receipt of a 2011 ICE Vortex FS at the end of January.

I took her out for the first real (over 10 miles) ride on February 2nd.

Having full suspension has allowed me to double the distance of my rides, making what used to be my “long” rides – between 20 & 30 miles – my new “short” rides.

I’ve also been incredibly blessed to find a group of cyclists to ride with. Here’re some of the guys posing – upon my insistence – at Froberg Farms,

where we often ride. And where we also-often partake of the remarkably delicious fried pies made with fresh fruit grown & harvested right there. (MMMmmm pie)

Life is good. Life with cycling is better. Cycling with friends is incredibly joy-filled.

My new-to-me 2011 Vortex FS is, quite frankly, heaven on wheels :0)

I wanted to take a moment and post about the BP MS 150 I will be doing in April. The BP MS 150 is a two-day fundraising cycling ride organized by the National MS Society: Lone Star. This ride is the largest event of its kind in North America. Here is information on the ride
The ride is a two day, 180-mile journey for MS from Houston to Austin. (Awesome, right?!)

What I need is some help with is fundraising, any amount is greatly appreciated no matter the numbers!

I will be back on Monday to post a life update and pictures!

For now, thank you so much and have a great weekend!

The BP MS 150 was a truly incredible experience. Personally, it was one of the toughest physical challenges I have ever faced. The most I’d ridden in one shot before Saturday was 50 miles. (And for some reason I thought going from 50 to 100 wouldn’t be a big jump… Oops. It was.)

Day 1 (Houston to La Grange)

(Me and my riding partner Sarah)

(A sign of hope at the last breakpoint before Austin!)

(The victory shot!)

Hats off to Jeff and all the other ride marshals, everyone who rode and to the folks who put it together. A great weekend, and for a very important cause!

I still have some time to reach my goal — only $200 short as I post this — so if you want to help fight MS and support families struggling with this unpredictable disease, go to my fundraising page! THANK YOU!

For Chris, of course. He completed his 2-day ride from Houston to Austin on doing the MS150. I am so proud that he did it. When I saw him crossing the finish line and I was screaming at the top of my lungs for him. I can’t imagine the feeling that he felt as he came across the finish line.

We kept in touch with each other through those 2 days and the first day was absolutely rough for him. It was windy (about 25 mph) and the hills were so steep. Then both of his knees were starting to give him problems. It was starting to get to him but I think usually the 1st day is always the toughest. I was relieved to hear that the second day was better for him. Chris said he would absolutely do it again next year. That makes me happy for him.

Our friends Eory and Lena were absolutely wonderful for taking me in for the weekend. They were also great cheerleaders for Chris too. A million thanks for them for helping me (well us) for the weekend. Good times.

Lena made me take a picture in front of the Capitol.

Thanks Lena for being our camera woman!

My husband Chris is just only 2 days away from doing his first (ever) MS-150 ride. I am so excited for him! I know he has came a long way since his bike accident 2 years ago. His goal was to raise $400 and so far a lot of our friends has donated about $276. That’s about 31% away from his goal. I’m very sure he will reach his goal.

This week has been really crazy for us because we are trying to prepare for this. We had to start gathering his stuff he needs for the MS-150 like getting his bike inspected, getting the tent, the air mattress, having his supplements and so forth. I had to arrange my parents to babysit for the weekend because I have to drop him and two of our friends off at a location to where they can start riding. After that, I will have to head straight to Austin to stay with our friends’ Lena and Eory for that Saturday.

I am more nervous for myself because I have never really driven out of the city by myself. Everyone told me it’s pretty easy to get there so I shouldn’t have to really worry right? I wish I had my old car because I had GPS in my car and it was very easy to rely on that. All I have right now is my iPhone so that’s the best I can do. Nothing like a few good ol’ sugar free Redbull, blasting the radio on loud and enjoying the weather. I can do this! I can do this!

I think the last time we went to Austin was 4th of July and I am excited to go back. I love visiting my friends Lena and Eory. They are such awesome hosts and always shows us around to have a good time. I cannot wait! I think I am more excited that Chris is doing this ride. He says he is nervous but he is riding with a group of our friends. Our friend James says he will make sure that Chris will make it to the finish line. I really believe that Chris can do this. It has been so hectic for him because he is balancing a full-time job that requires him to be there for 60 hours a week, training for the MS-150 and helping me around at home. Props to him. =) I’m pretty sure he will do this again next year.

Wish him (and me too!) luck for this weekend. It’s going to be a wild ride this weekend. Woohoo!

I rode my 1st MS 150 back on 2010.  I was just about a year into road cycling and my brother-n-law talked me into doing it.  I’d done two centuries by then, so why not do a two day ride like this.  Heck my 1st ever ride with someone besides my brother-n-law was the San An to Austin Tour de Cure in 2009 and that was a two day ride.  So let’s do this.

I had a blast doing it and I did it wearing my Red Rider jersey.

I did it again in 2011 with an amazing group of men and women.  A fellow Red Rider told me about the team he was riding with and told me they had an open slot if I wanted to do it again.  It was his 1st time to ride it, so I said sure, I’ll come ride.  I will have to say that last year was an awesome ride.

After the ride last year, I spoke up and said I’d ride in 2012.  I did that because the team I rode with last year was Iceman, a group put together by Dave for his good friend Chris.  Chris also happens to be a good friend of Mike, the Red Rider that got me involved with them last year.  Chris is a great guy and his family is pretty terrific.  Iceman does it up right, so I know going into this year, that I’ll have a blast.

Through a friend at work, I connected with a  young lady that was just getting into cycling and wanted to find out if it was too late in the game to start training for the MS 150.  This was back in January.  I told her that it wasn’t too late and I’d help her get ready if she wanted me to.  It’s been fun riding with her and her two friends as they train for their 1st BP MS 150.  The cool thing about this, is all three of them are going to ride in the Houston Tour de Cure!

The ladies have been great.  We’ve done several of the “t-shrit” rides that go on around this time of year and they’ve been putting the miles in.  Houston doesn’t have many hills and the ones around here aren’t that big, but they can be tough for us coastal flatlanders.  The four of us have had some cold rides, some long rides and today some hilly rides.  I’ve helped when I could, encouraged them as they ride and hopefully helped them gain a love for cycling.

One thing I love about getting out and riding with them on these rides, is all the “GO RED RIDER” I hear.  I pretty much always wear a Red Rider jersey when I’m out riding.  It’s rare to find me on the bike and not in a Red Rider jersey.  Last week towards the end of the ride, I met a man living with Type 2 diabetes.  He pulled up next to me and starting asking about what diabetes I live with and about the Red Rider jersey.  I told him all about the Tour de Cure and the Red Riders.  I saw him this morning as we were rolling out, he asked me if I was the guy he talked to last week and then informed me that he had gone home and signed up for the Houston Tour de Cure.

Last week’s ride also showed me that no matter what, while out on a ride, keep putting that sunscreen on, even if you think you put enough on before you rolled out that morning.  I put my sunscreen on, went out and did a several hour ride only to get back home and see that I should have kept reapplying the sunscreen at the rest stops.  I give you exhibit A

Today, while riding along, a lady came up beside me and started talking to me about diabetes.  She told me that she had ridden in the Houston Tour de Cure and loved the ride, she loved the fact that the ADA gives riders living with diabetes a Red Rider jersey.  She told me that the Houston ADA staff and the hundreds of volunteers put on a very well organized ride.

Thanks for reading and remember, it’s never to early to sign up for a Tour de Cure ride.  You can find one near you at http://www.diabetes.org/tour or you can come ride with me at the Houston Tour de Cure and be a part of Team Red Houston, http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/SoutheastTexasArea?team_id=528076&pg=team&fr_id=8067

GO RED RIDER!!!!!!!!

December 2011 – At his company Christmas party

Here’s how it started when Chris made this goal. Chris really loves to ride his mountain bike and road bike. This is his passion and hobby. We purchased our first home together in July of 2009 and he was riding the trails with his friends after work and on the weekends. He loved it! He would meet up with his friends (since they didn’t even really live far from us) by riding his bike to their house. At that time, the street in front of our neighborhood wasn’t completed. It was just a two-way street and there was construction miles down the road so there was a ton of debris.

In October of 2009, I went grocery shopping. Chris called me to let me know he got done riding with the guys and he was on his way home. He told me he would help me unload the groceries by the time I got home. I received another phone call from Chris again within 10 minutes. He was screaming really loud on the phone. He yells, “Babe, I’m hurt! Please help me.” At first, I thought he was playing a joke on me. Chris casually likes to joke around until he screamed again and it sounded like he was in pain. He goes, “I think I broke my arm. Hurry, please! I’m in front of the neighborhood where the construction site starts.”

I was 5 minutes away and I started to look for him on the side of the road. I parked my car right by our neighborhood entrance. I saw him pushing his bike with one hand and clinging to his other arm. He was limping. Our friends pulled up right behind me and Chris didn’t seem much like he was in pain. He said he remembers riding his bike so fast and all of sudden his handlebars went sideways and his bike flipped. He thinks he ran over some debris. We looked at his arm and it sure did look broken. He said at that time, he had so much adrenaline running through his body that he didn’t remember the pain till I drove him to the hospital. His friends told him he really needed to go the ER and get an x-ray. Thanks to our friends, they loaded his bike into their car and help me unload the groceries so I can take Chris to the ER.

After 4 hours in the ER, a huge hospital bill and an hour at the pharmacy, Chris had a broken left arm. His forearm bone was broken in half. He was told he needed to see a orthopedic doctor the next day. Chris has a great relationship with his customers and one of his customers is an orthopedic doctor so he was very flexible about working us in an appointment. The doctor told him his arm needs surgery to repair the bone. He was going to place a metal and screws to connect the bone together. He said he could skip the surgery but he will be putting himself into a lifetime of pain and developing arthritis at an early age. We went for the surgery and we were scheduled within the next 2 days. Chris’ insurance was wonderful and it was covered for us. I took an unpaid leave at work to take care of Chris.

The surgery was 3-4 hours long. The longest part was trying to put Chris under anesthesia and the nurses were having to find different alternatives to put him to sleep. He was really, really nervous about the surgery. Chris has a high tolerance for pain so he was very, very much in pain. I would schedule my alarm clock for every 4 hours to make sure he could be ahead of the pain. He was put in a cast for 5 weeks and he was feeling better about it. Although the pain didn’t stop in his right hand… Yup, he said his right hand hurt since the day of the accident. He thought it was sprain and thought it would heal on his own. That same day he was getting his cast removed, his doctor asked his assistant to give him an x-ray on his right hand.

His right hand (near the thumb/wrist area) was broken too. He had shattered bones in his hand and needed them to be remove. His orthopedic doctor referred us to a orthopedic hand specialist doctor where he also said he needed screws in his hand. I still can’t imagine how Chris did it though. He had one surgery in October and then he did his second surgery the week of Christmas. A few days after his first surgery, Chris sold his bike and didn’t ride a bike since then. Right around when I was 8 months pregnant (Nov 2010), Chris started rebuilding a bike (Single speed 29er) again from top to bottom. I encouraged him a lot to get back into riding his bike. I’m glad he did. I didn’t want an accident to stop him from what he loves to do. After slowly getting back into riding his bike with the help of his friends, he built his confidence and awareness up. He was motivated more and wanted to ride the MS-150. He wanted to do this for a good cause and for himself. I am so proud of him.

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