I headed up to Blaine on Friday to hop a bus up to Duluth (more specifically, Proctor) for the MS 150 bike ride. We arrived in Proctor around 7pm and unloaded. I headed for the football field to setup my tent while the rest of the group claimed their space on the floor of the Proctor High School gymnasium. We chowed down some delicious spaghetti, headed into town for a couple of hours, then retired for the evening to our sleeping quarters.
Breathing in the cool, clean air made sleep come easily and I awoke at 5:30 am to the sound of people getting geared up to start the big ride. Normally, I wouldn’t be too happy waking up at this ungodly hour, but, today, it just felt right. I packed up all my gear, loaded it onto the truck, and met up with Team Chafe to begin our ride. We got started a little later than planned but there was no rush.
The beginning of the ride was interesting. The adrenaline was flowing and it was hard to resist the urge to kick’er down. Jon had just gotten a new road bike and was pretty impressed with it, so we took off pretty fast for the first few miles. About 6 miles in we crossed a beautiful bridge with rapids underneath and stopped to take in the view.
Eventually, we made it to the first stop and took a long break (waiting for a team members tire to be trued). We finally got back on the trail and made it to the next stop. By the time we started the third leg, I was getting a little bored. I decided to take off on my own and fight the wind. BAD IDEA. Biking into the wind by myself took a TON of energy and I felt pretty exhausted. When my pace started to slow, I was lucky enough to have a group of 4 riders pass me. I fell into their draft and got a much needed break. After drafting for several miles, I volunteered to pull for a bit. The leader said they were at 18mph so I started pulling at that. The wind was really tough but I kept pulling hard. Finally, I couldn’t pedal any longer and said I needed a break. After about 2 miles, I looked back and there were just two of us…whoops! We waited for them to catch up and found ourselves at the next stopping point.
I waited for the rest of the team to show up and headed out again. Having experienced a team that rode so well together, I tried to convince my team to do the same. For the next 12 miles, 3 of us rotated and we kept up a pretty decent (but not great) pace. We made it through the next couple of stops with engegy to spare. At the last stop before the finish I was getting ancy. I asked Jon if he wanted to burn the last leg to the finish and he was up for it. The two of us took off like a machine. We pushed 21-22mph while constantly screaming “on your left!”. It was a BLAST! My legs burned the entire time but it was totally worth it. We pulled into Hinckley feeling fantastic.
The rest of the crew arrived about 30 minutes later so we cheered them to the finish. We all relaxed for a bit, then I hopped a bus to the school to pick up my gear and grab a shower. I got back to the Casino grounds and setup my tent while the rest of the team headed to the hotel (someone had 2 extra hotel rooms so they didn’t have to sleep in the gym). I crawled into my tent and woke up two hours later to voices outside. Wow, that was a power nap and a half. Then we chowed down some Famous Dave’s food, watched part of the awards ceremony, and crashed for the night. The weather was absolutely perfect, and, once again, I slept like a baby.
Sunday morning I woke up early (5am this time) and got ready for the day. The team showed up around 6:45 and we hit the road around 7. The bike seat was _incredibly_ uncomfortable for the first mile or so, but eventually went numb. I followed a team from BBY/Geek Squad for the first leg averaging about 19mph. We arrived at the first rest stop in no time flat. I met up with some of the faster guys from the team and decided to ditch the rest of the group and ride with them. The 5 of us rode as a team (albeit a vagabond crew) but totally kicked butt. We rode the next 3 legs at an awesome pace (~20mph…sometimes 25 
). We made it to the last stop and parted ways. Jon and I waited for about an hour for the rest of the crew to show up. The final 9 miles was a piece of cake and we arrived in Blaine to a large crowd of people chearing us on. I saw Mare waiting at the finish line and gave her a high 5 before crossing the line.
I can’t tell you how much fun the experience was. I will _definitely_ be riding next year and will be recruiting others to come with. Team Chafe was an awesome group of people to spend time with. I’m also amazed at how well organized the entire event was. I can’t imagine a better setup for a long distance (long for me at least) race. Everything was flawless.
For me the absolute highlight was riding with our group of 5 on the last day. We clicked off miles in amazing time and being a bunch of screwballs passing teams with matching jersey’s and fancy gear made me fell so good inside I can’t wait to do it all again next year!
Here are the photos that I took
