Jul 29, 2009
Bike MS: BP Wild West Ride Great Success
BP Wild West Ride Great Success
The BP Wild West Bike MS event was, I think, our best yet.
Day 1 was incredibly hot--it was 104. I think this is the hottest tour I've ever done. Luckily we had plenty of water and the funnest rest stop ever. Toward the end of our ride at an especially tall hill, was the rest stop that was run by our top fundraising team, Western Builders. They had signs leading up to it that said "Coolest rest stop ahead." And they weren't kidding. They had misters and evaporative coolers and had it arranged so that they basically had a "cold sauna" going. Needless to say EVERYONE stopped there and many of them didn't want to leave! The weather was only supposed to be 92, so when it turned out to be almost 15 degrees hotter, I was so happy to see what they had planned for their rest stop. And of course, they won the award for "Best Rest Stop." The last rider was in by 3 p.m..We had only one injury--a rider whose chain broke and caused him to fall about 5 miles into the ride. His helmet was cracked so Lisa accompanied him and his wife while he was checked by a doctor. Luckily, he is fine and went home to recover.
Each year we try to focus on some area to improve and this year it was our finish line festivities and our celebration dinner. We recruited a finish line "guru" and a handfull of peppy volunteers (in other words, college-age girls) to help her. We finally had some excitement at the finish line and every cyclist who road in was greated by mass applause, cheering, cow-bells, lei's, medals, etc. We also worked with our Teva rep to bring in a speaker for the dinner. Marathon walker Karen Stewart from Denver flew in and delivered a funny, entertaining and thoroughly motivational speech. She was amazing and I have been constantly complimented on her speech ever since. We also had two volunteers ask if they could handle the decorations. The room looked beautiful. It was a luau theme and they had vibrant floral arrangements and table cloths.Area Mason's groups teamed up to cook steak, shrimp and chicken which they also got donated from a local grocery store, so our dinner cost was zero. The dinner just wrapped up day 1 in such a fun and uplifting way.
For Day 2, we welcomed a "cold front" which cooled it down to the mid-70's. It was a nice change from the day before. It was also overcast and sprinkling. It made for some humidity, but with a light breeze it was actually very nice weather for a ride. We made the best time we've ever made with every cyclist in (56 miles) by 10:30 a.m. Afterward there was a hamburger cook-out. The bus was suppused to arrive at 1:30, but we were wrapping things up at 11:30 and I was worried about the lag time. Fortunately, the bus arrived very early at about 12:15! So we were all loaded up and on the road home by 1:00.