Jeff Hernes

2000 Team Norske Picture

It was uphill and into the wind, with the sun mercilessly beating down on us thirty-five miles into the first and last training ride before the MS150 ride. The pace slowed almost to a crawl as my chain was shifted into the lowest possible gear. I didn't think we'd make it. Make it home, yes, but not make it 150 miles in two days. Melissa wasn't quite putting out the horsepower I'd hoped for in the stoker position...

Melissa and I were out on the road with a practice ride for the MS150 (multiple sclerosis ride of 150 miles sponsored by the MS Society) which was held last weekend. I've been on the ride the past four years, and Melissa expressed an interest in joining me this year. I wasn't completely sold on the idea, but I mentioned her interest to my friend Warren and he jumped on it, finding a couple of sponsors to meet the minimum funding required. Sooooo, I couldn't say no! The training ride was an arbitrary fifty miles, with Melissa on our Burley Piccolo--a one wheel bike that attaches to the rack on my bike. The ride went all right, but slower than I was hoping for. My bike handles like a truck when we're both pedaling, making it difficult to keep a straight line. A stiff tandem frame with synchronized pedaling would have been welcome!

The Friday of the ride I only worked a half day so that we could get going early for the MS150. Warren swung by with his van and trailer, and his four kids (Katie 14, Wes 12, Rachel 9, Wally 7), his recumbent, a rented tandem recumbent for Katie and Wally, a rented trike for Wes, a rented recumbent for Rachel, and four bikes to drop off for the weekend because of all the rentals he'd gotten carried away with! During the reshuffling of bikes, we got to try out the various oddities around the cul de sac. The recumbents certainly use a different muscle set than what I've developed on my traditional diamond frame!

The departure point was the Anoka County fairgrounds on the northwest side of the Cities. We'd been standing in the line for ten minutes or so for loading the bikes onto semi trailers when someone came along pointing and saying, "You, you, you, you, and you! All your bikes are odd size so we'll load them later. Just put them over there...." That was fine with us! From there it was to the buses. We got on around 3:30 and settled in for the ride to Spirit Mountain ski resort on the south side of Duluth. It was about 95 degrees out and the air conditioning was struggling to keep things cool. But, a couple of hours into the ride I ended up turning off my vent. And, when we got to Duluth, we noticed everyone had jackets and pants on, compared with our shorts and T-shirts. It was 48 with a 20 mph wind blowing off Lake Superior, and a lot of southern Minnesotans weren't prepared for that! Melissa and I had barely enough clothes along but we layered up and got the tent set up. The seven of us then walked to McDonalds (not exactly the greatest carbo loading meal we could have had before the ride, but Melissa had been looking forward to it all week). On the way back, we went through the bike coral and did find that our bikes had made it safely. "Lights out" that evening was around 9--sunset.

It was a sleepless night for many of us. A band in the main building played quite loudly until midnight, ending with a not too bad rendition of "King of the Road." The wind was rattling a lot of tents and sucking any heat out of the tents, and neighbors were snoring and the anticipation of the ride was strong, so we woke up tired around 5. It took a while to get the seven of us organized (and find the eighth member of our official Team Norske). We got going about 7:09 (Melissa is quite persistent in remembering exact details :-) in a heavy fog and slight tail wind for Hinckley, 70 miles down the road.

Melissa and I went on our own while the other six stayed together at a slower pace. Melissa reacted positively to all the other cyclists, most noticeably when we were getting passed or passing someone else. There was always a little extra "kick" during those moments, something I began to anticipate so we wouldn't go careening into the cyclist or off the trail! I had expected to spend more time at rest stops than I would going solo, but we both got chilled in the damp, cool air so kept on moving with just enough time to "go potty" and slam down some food. We hit the midpoint/lunch stop around 10--Subway sandwiches and potato chips. The real food (and salt) is always welcome at this point in the ride.

The cool weather hung on with some occasional sprinkles until a mile north of our last rest stop, and twelve miles north of Hinckley. There was the most abrupt transition any of us had ever experienced: one breath was cool air, and the next twenty-five degrees warmer (80 degrees?) and considerably more humid. Normally such a transition is marked with high winds, thunder storms, etc., so this one was unexpected and freaky. As the first cyclist who passed us after that said, "Welcome to Malaysia!" At the rest stop everyone was pulling off wind/sweat pants, sweaters, jackets, etc., back down to shorts and T-shirts.

The last eleven miles we picked up a headwind out of the southwest, so I figured we'd be slogging into Hinckley. But, Melissa was determined to get there so put in a solid effort and our speed didn't drop considerably. Most of the first day is on the Willard Munger trail, an old railroad grade that's been paved over. This last particular stretch is flat, straight, and tree-lined, making it the most difficult stretch mentally for me. I welcomed her effort. :-) A mile out of Hinckley, the tail whipping caused by the Piccolo seemed a little excessive so a brief glance downward confirmed that my rear tire was losing air, and losing air fast. We weren't going to make it to the city park. I pulled over and tried pumping it up for one last quick run, but it just wasn't going to go. With gobs of cyclists passing us, going for prime camp sites :-), we got the flat fixed (a small piece of aluminum). Another cyclist pulled in behind us with a flat, asking if we had a pump. The fellow had had three flats that day but insisted there wasn't anything embedded in his tire and his rim looked okay. I wasn't going to argue. I also didn't ask why he had three spare tubes and no pump!

We pulled in around 1:15. A couple of Hinckley youth hockey players asked if they could help haul bags, so I rattled off seven numbers and we went looking, finding all but two. Melissa went to get root beer floats while I got the tarp and tent dried out in the welcomed sunshine. We got it set up and got Warren's tent out to start drying. Showers were at the Hinckley high school. I wasn't quite comfortable with having Melissa head off into the women's showers all alone, but I didn't have much choice, and she took it in stride. (Her comment afterward was "There were a lot of naked girls in there!!")

Wes and Wally rolled in around 4, Wes having traded positions with Katie. She came in next, followed by Warren and Rachel, and John, the oldest of our team. Warren said that in the future he'll have the kids do a little training ahead of time on the bikes they'll use for the ride; the recumbent was a little much for Rachel to handle, but she made it.

Before they arrived, our neighbors came over, pleased to see us again, as we'd visited a little with them at a rest stop. They had been intrigued with the Piccolo, and me having brought Melissa along on the ride. A little while later he brought over what looked like straws, and wanted me to have them since I do a lot of bike commuting in all conditions. They were plastic "straws" with 3M reflective tape on them for bicycle spokes. He said that he and some friends were trying to get the word out and get them marketed. The key had been finding a plastic that the tape stuck to, as 3M is quite particular about products marketed with their endorsement. I took a couple of sacks for my two bikes, and then he gave me more for the kids bikes, and then another five for Warren and kids, and then some more for friends' bikes who may be interested. So if anyone is interested in a sample, let me know!

We had our team picture taken around 6, followed by a spaghetti supper after the line had gone down a bit (with 3000+ cyclists on the ride, it gets hard to avoid meal lines, porta-potty lines, rest stop lines, etc.). We got back to the tents around 7, at which time Katie, Rachel, and Wally crawled in and went to sleep. Melissa and I read a bit, hit the high school around 8 to avoid the tooth brushing crush, and read again in the tent until 9 or so (sunset). The heat of the day had left and it dropped down to 44 that night, but without "King of the Road" and flapping tents.

Sunday morning we were up shortly after 5. We had pancakes before the line grew too long (it helped that breakfast wasn't listed as being served until 6), and got going at 7:07. John, Wes, Melissa, and I took off as a group, with the other four sticking together. Wes was back on the tricycle, raring to go. I was tired from Saturday (I find I push harder overall with the Piccolo attached than I do by myself) but was able to set a decent pace for the four of us. Melissa was tired, and between the second and third stop she said that all she wanted to do was go to sleep. She also said she almost did a couple of times. I thought the ride was going to drag on from that point, but at the next rest stop she gained a second wind. The halfway point/lunch stop was right at noon in Cambridge, again Subway sandwiches. It had finally warmed up so after a leisurely 45 minute lunch, we stripped down to shorts and T-shirts, put on the sunscreen, and took off. Three more rest stops followed, with the lines for the porta-potties getting smaller at each one. We seemed to be moving ahead of the bulk of the pack.

John recorded an official arrival time of 3:14pm, and my odometer said 87.6 miles for the day at 14 mph. The winds had been either favorable or not too much of a hindrance. (The day before was 70.4 miles at 14.5 mph, most with a tail wind except for the final eleven miles.) Tasks upon arrival included hauling bags, eating an excellent pork barbeque meal, and waiting for the others.

They arrived an hour or so later, a little sooner than we had expected. :-) During the same stretch where Melissa had almost fallen asleep, a passing rider mentioned to Warren that his rear wheel was wobbling a little too much and it might be worth checking it out at the next rest stop. He did: 5 broken spokes. "So *that's* what that twang was when I hit the pothole just outside of Hinckley!" Warren is a big guy--over 300 lbs, so I have no idea why the wheel didn't collapse on him. I'm at less than half his weight and I get concerned when one spoke breaks, but no more. :-) He said there were a dozen people in line at the rest stop's mechanic, most waiting for air and brake adjustments, etc. He said he convinced the mechanic to look at his wheel while he took over fixing/helping people where he could. After the wheel was fixed, the four of them sagged to the next stop in Cambridge.