Just a little background for those who may not be familiar with the MS-150 ride in the Phoenix area: normally, the ride is a 160+ mile two-day ride from Phoenix to Parker Arizona on the California border with an overnight stop in Salome, Arizona 90 miles into the ride. At the end of the ride in Parker Arizona, riders have a choice of two routes to the finish line: a short cut straight for the finish line (and food, beer, friends, and rest!); or ride for an additional 17 miles over the Colorado River into California, wind north along the river to the Parker Dam, cross back to Arizona over the Parker Dam, then head through the town of Parker to the finish line. Thus, the ‘Dam’ in the MS-150 Best Dam Bike Tour name.
The normal festive atmosphere of the event was diminished this year by several factors. Unfortunately, the MS-150 this year was shortened from the normal two-day, 160+ mile ride to a single day. This was due to the large amount of rain we have been receiving here in Arizona during the past three weeks. As incredibly unbelievable as it may sound to many Spring Flingers, Arizona does get wet and sometimes it gets REALLY wet. As I write this on Monday evening, it’s raining again, and - I am not making this up - tonight on the ride home from work on my mountain bike, I had to ride through water up to my handlebars for ¼ mile and another mile in water over my hubs (honest! Many roads serve as riverbeds during heavy rain). In fact, even more astonishingly, Arizona was in the national news last week due to the weather rather than a political scandal. In the news was the Arizona town of Wenden, which has suffered massive flooding over the past two weeks. Wenden is a remote area with a small population and it is also where 2000+ MS-150 riders and support personnel spend the weekend during the event on the route from Phoenix to the California border. Normally MS-150 participants stay overnight at the high school or the elementary school in neighboring Salome. However, these facilities are currently in use as shelters for many families who have lost their homes in the flooding. Additionally, the weather this week called for even more rain before and during the MS-150. The soil in pretty much all of central and southern Arizona is saturated from all of the rain and it didn't seem like a good idea to the event coordinators to put thousands of MS-150 participants in an area of repeated flooding with more rain predicted during the event over the weekend. On top of that, the two schools where we would normally stay were housing a lot of people in a terrible situation.
Given these factors, it was decided that along with using the event as a method to raise funds for the fight against MS, the ride would be dedicated to the people of Wenden and used as an opportunity to solicit funds, food, and items to help the folks in the flooded areas. Instead of being called the Best Dam Bike Tour, it was renamed the Shortest Dam Bike Tour and dedicated to the community where we normally stay overnight. All of the items collected and donated by the MS-150 participants were then taken to the flood victims over the weekend.
So, what was the Shortest Dam Bike Tour? Essentially, it was 1/2 of the normal first day’s ride doubled back to the start. The normal route goes from a start at Dysart High School on the west side of Phoenix to the town of Wickenburg about 39.5 miles from the start point. Usually, riders stop in Wickenburg for lunch as the midpoint of the first day of a 90-mile ride to an overnight stay in Wenden/Salome Arizona. Instead, rather than continue on through Wickenburg to Wenden and Salome, the modified route was to turn around and return to the start point for a 79-mile ride. An optional century route was established 6 miles from the finish. So, 6 miles from the start/finish line, if riders wanted to head out on a 16 mile out and back side road, they hung a sharp right turn and rode off into a long, 16 mile hill climb, turned around and headed back for a 106 mile century ride.
The riders found out about the ride being shortened earlier in the week. It was a bummer to have the ride shortened from two days to one day so late in the planning stage, but given the circumstances, it was definitely understandable and our GM Desert Proving Ground Team spent the remainder of the week soliciting support at our facility for the Wenden flood relief. It rained Thursday and Friday before the ride as well as late into Friday night. Friday night I couldn't sleep at all because I was so nervous and excited. I was excited because the MS-150 was such a great event for me last year. EVERYONE I met was so positive - it was such a great experience to spend an entire weekend surrounded by so many positive people and I was really looking forward to that again. I was nervous because I knew that I was going to attempt the century rather than the 79-mile ride. I was nervous because I knew that last year at the 85 mile point of the ride on the first day, I was so sore, tired, bonked, and dizzy that I barely rolled into the overnight rest stop at about 92 miles. It took me about an hour to be able to get up and walk around in somewhat of a normal manner after I got off the bike. I KNOW that I could not have done 100+ miles in one day last year, so I was nervous about this year. My concern was well founded and the rain and cold weather didn't help matters much.
At 3:00 AM I got up with rain pouring down outside. This was going to be the third bike event weekend in a row that I would totally immerse myself and my bike in water, mud and sandy grit - ugh! The first weekend was fun, the second weekend was OK, but by now I was starting to get tired of riding in the rain (I know - we Arizona riders are spoiled). I got a shower and then went out to prep the big bike. With all of the rain, I should have known to put extra chain lube in my Camelback. By the end of the ride it sounded like a flock of birds chirping and screeching as I went by due to the squeaking and creaking every time I pedaled or sat on the seat.
The start point is about 1-1/2 hours from my house, so I headed out at 5:00 am for the 7:00 am start. At the start location it was cloudy but not raining, so that was a good sign. It didn’t last long. I met up with other members of our MS-150 Team and we gathered up at the starting area. I am pretty much used to people looking, pointing, laughing, yelling or throwing stuff as I ride by on my BMX bike (and that’s among friends!), but even so, sometimes it's a little disconcerting standing for a long period of time in a crowd of bikers dressed in all manners of high tech clothing (primarily roadies) while I'm atop a 20" BMX bike in baggies, skate helmet, and checked Vans. Instead of my normal old comfy T-shirt, I had on our nice new team jersey. I’m not sure it matched my choice of fashion apparel. You be the judge - my picture follows near the bottom of the post. At any rate, once I am riding I’m not too self conscious (this is self-evident to anyone who has ridden with me!), but just standing there surrounded by all those people is a little nerve racking, but fun nonetheless. I’ll probably get flamed for this, but actually I think some of the outfits I saw looked worse than mine and cost a couple of orders of magnitude more, but hey, I wasn’t pointing and laughing...
The ride from the start to the turning point in Wickenburg was essentially a steady 39 mile climb with about 1100 feet change in elevation. In the overall Arizona mountain bike scheme of things, 1100 feet is not too big of a deal, but at the turning point in Wickenburg I was already starting to have a back ache and was drenched to the bone from the rain. It pretty much drizzled during the entire 2-1/2 hour ride to Wickenburg but the time passed incredibly quickly, as this is when the adrenaline is at its peak. More fun, however, is the many people who slow down for a few moments to exchange pleasantries as they blow past me - it sure makes the time fly and is a lot of fun! There are three rest stops on this leg of the trip but I was feeling good, had a rhythm going, and so I decided to ride straight to Wickenburg non-stop. What normally happens is that people pass me up, stop at a rest stop for a little while, hop back on their bike, and then come up on the BMX'er that they thought they passed about 10 miles ago. Most riders at the start are convinced that I'll never make the whole trip, and when they see me a ways into the ride, or, pass me twice, most often they ask if I had a support vehicle pick me up and then drop me off at a rest stop later in the ride (a lot of people do this). About 20 miles into the ride, there was a photographer on the side of the road snapping pictures of the riders as they went past. Everyone was waving, giving the thumbs up, doing no-handers and stuff. My brakes were still working at this point, so I wheelied as I passed - I'm glad that I didn't loop out! (every so often I get lucky) The adrenaline started pumping again!
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In Wickenburg, I re-filled my Camelback, had a couple of small plates of pasta salad and a lot of water. Along with re-fueling, I was enjoying shooting the breeze with various individuals but the rain was increasing in intensity and the temperature was dropping. When my teeth started chattering, I figured that I had better warm up before my joints and muscles really got stiff, so I remounted for the return trip. At this point, the floodgates opened up and it started pouring. At least the return trip was downhill, but with the wet and cold conditions I think it took some of the fun away for many of the riders. After Wickenburg, I saw fewer riders on the road and most looked very determined to just get back to the finish. More and more of the vehicles I saw on the road were support vehicles hauling bikes back from Wickenburg (bummer). Later I found out that they sent a big Ryder truck and a motor home from the start/finish gathering area into Wickenburg to pick up many riders who were cold, wet, and tired. For me, after I started pedaling, it wasn't long before my teeth stopped chattering and I started wishing that my glasses had windshield wipers.
At about 4.5 hours into the ride I reached the decision point for the century ride: straight ahead to the finish 6 miles away or turn right for a 16 mile climb and 32 additional miles total. The straight-ahead option sure looked inviting but it was perfect timing for hanging a right: two roadies pulled up along side of me and asked if I rode the whole way. As I gave the reply ‘yes’, they rode straight through the light for the short-cut and I hung a right telling them have a great ride! I proceeded to the next turn-around point and a rest stop 16 miles away. During the extra century leg, I encountered even fewer riders. I’m not sure how many riders opted for the century ride, but I didn’t see a lot on the way out and back again. Although by this time it had stopped raining, this part of the ride became drudgery. There was hardly any traffic (which was nice), but the scenery was somewhat drab, the sky was overcast, and it was just a long, long, grind in one gear. The incline was perfectly set against my gear choice: I couldn’t get enough torque while sitting but when I stood, I wound out my cadence in just a few strokes. Normally, in situations like this, I practice wheelies to pass the time, loosen up, and have a little fun. However, my brakes weren’t working very well at this point because they had a lot of grit inside the bushings. Thus, I rationalized to myself that this was a good reason not to practice them. The reality was that I was too tired and sore to do it! I finally made it to the century portion turn-around and rolled into the rest stop.
After the extra 16-mile climb, another downhill felt great! The clouds were lifting and it was turning into a beautiful afternoon. Finally, the last few miles were ticking away and I hardly saw anyone else on the road. I spent the last 10 minutes trying to decide how I should celebrate when crossing the finish line. I turned around and saw that the closest rider was at least a mile back, which was good! I knew that I stood a significant chance of crashing and I wanted to minimize the audience attendance for the crashing event. Last year was a wheelie across the finish line, which felt so good! This year I wanted to try something different and I was running two scenarios through my mind: a front wheel 180 and ride across the finish line backward or the old-skool rock-walk. I know - I’m a lame, old, squid BMX rider and that’s the best I could possibly muster after a few hours in the saddle! I’m not up to back flips yet and unfortunately there is an inverse relationship between a rider’s age and their busting big air factor. So, I tried the 180 to a back roll, but I didn’t have enough momentum, balance, skill, and everything else - so it ended up being a wobbly rock-walk. In my defense - I didn’t dab!
The Wobbly Rock-Walk Finish
So that’s it - I finished the ride the long way again, I had a great experience and met many wonderful people. For anyone who is interested, I will post pictures as they roll in or become available. Thanks again for everyone’s positive feedback and support. Specifically, I would like to thank the following MTBR members for their sponsorship of me this year:
Your support was FANTASTIC!!!! This year my sponsors pledged $337.50 for the National MS Society with $200 coming from fellow MTBR Members!!! Thanks SO MUCH in helping me for a good cause!
As a corporate plug, I would like to also thank General Motors. They provided $250 of support for EACH of our team riders, provided two full size vans, two trailers, team jerseys, gas, and a lot of other tangible and intangible support for MS-150 bike tours both in Arizona and Michigan this year.
With everyone’s support I met my goal of raising $500 this year for the MS Society and had another incredible time of my life doing so. And finally, I am looking forward to next year’s ride!
- Alex -
