This Sunday morning, weather permitting, I plan to be in Bastrop, Texas climbing the hills of two state parks, among my 80 miles of that day’s cycling for the MS 150 ride. (I say weather permitting because the weather forecast looks a little messy right now.)
The weekend before Easter I cycled through the parks, having completely different experiences for each direction. Fortunately, I’ll be going the ‘easier’ direction and even more fortunately the experience taught me to keep my focus on God for a successful ride. So I’m planning on another exhilarating experience this year.
On the MS ride, I’ll come up to a rest stop right at the beginning of the parks and soon after I will see this sign:
That’s when the roller coaster of fun will begin. (Well, actually, that’s not true. There is quite a drop just before the parks. I think I got up to 32 mph on the descent last year. And that was squeezing my brakes for much of the way.)
For anyone who is riding, it will be a little less than 12.5 miles after that sign that you’ll be through the parks and back to the highway for a little bit.
Through the parks there will be lots of volunteers along the route, pointing out the steeper drops and curvier parts. Also, all the road hazards like potholes will be marked in bright paint. And this year the cattle guards have been filled with cement. (Last year they were covered in plywood and I was trilled to see a cyclist jump fly over them. SO cool to see him go airborne and zoom past!)
In comparing notes about last year’s ride, my husband told me that last year he and another man were crawling up a steep hill and a cyclist flew by shouting something along the lines of “Sit back in the saddle, keep your knees in, lean forward and pedal.” Well, I think of that almost every time I am climbing a hill… and it works. Plus I also focus on using the whole pedal stroke by pulling up just as much as I press down. Using all those muscles makes a huge difference for me.
I am excited for the ride… just a little apprehensive about the weather. But there isn’t one thing I can do about that except pray and pack for the best and the worst. So that’s what I’ll do!
It’s almost here!
Leave a Reply