MS 150-Bike Ride From Houston to Austin

So we did it again!  This is the 8th time that our family participated in this amazing ride.  Have any of you guys done it? I'd love to hear about your experiences!  For those of you that have never done it or maybe even haven't heard about it... Here is our story:

We LOVE this bikeride!  It is a rain or shine event that has such wonderful, amazing, spirited and simply awesome riders and volunteers that it is hard to describe the atmosphere in words.  It starts on Satruday early in the morning with 3 different start lines.  It is about 100 miles of a ride if you start from the furthest one and 75 if you start from the closest one.  13,000 riders line up to do this ride.  Most of the riders have a team they ride with.  My dad, my husband and I have ridden with many different teams before, but this was out second year to ride with the Continental Airlines Team.  This particular team is super wonderfully organized!  We actually have support both days at lunch so we don't have to stand in line with the rest of the riders.  And aside from turkey and beef wraps they made me my FAVORITE food, peanut butter and jelly sandwich with bananas inside.  Gotta love it!

We spend this first night in La Grange TX on the county fair grounds. It is such a site!  Hundreds of teams set up their huge tents in the field.  Many with generators, kitchens, kegs of beer and fridges full of food.  Our team had lots of goodies and the evening spread included even a wine and cheese tasting party!  My mom and the boys as well as few friends of the family came to see us in La Grange and celebrated the evening with us.  We ate and drank and chilled out, but at 9pm sharp the lights are OUT.  And good thing since we had to wake up at 4:30am to get in our fabulous breakfast of eggs, yogurt, cereal, coffee and other goodies, get our bikes back in shape and hit the road!  That second day we rode 75 miles of hilly Austin countryside.  The weather was absolutely beautiful and we rolled up and down those hills without much delay.  It was such a fabulous ride!  I was so proud of my dad, who at almost 60 years of age did an amazing job both days!

We finally got to Austin around 2pm on Sunday and we were welcomed by crowds of spectators including mom and the boys as well as friends of ours.  We even managed to have dinner with some friends who live in Austin after they were nice enough to let us freshen up in their showers :)

I wish I could have all of you guys inspired to do this ride one day. It is just the most wonderful event I've even been in and I strongly encourage you to try it!  It is just such a great ride!