MS Bike Tour 2007

I know it hasn't been many postings as previous years and I apologize for it, but here it is.

This year it was 6 of us that took on the MS Bike Tour 2007. As many of you know, we decided to join the "Z-Motion" team for this year. There were many reasons and I don't see why not join them for years to come as well. These are just some of the reasons:

1. Free Jersey
2. Early start on Day 1 and Day 2
3. VIP Tent at the finish line (Key Largo)
4. Free Massages
5. Free Dinner Party
6. Hotel Room discount

As I wrote, there were only 6 of us this year and the riders were, no particular order:

• Lorena Lama
• Lourdes Levy
• Wilmer Maradiaga
• Ray Medina
• Carlos Rodriguez
• Luis Velez

These are just that pictures that I took, soon we'll have more as the riders will send me the pictures that they took as well with some more stories.

http://s92402529.onlinehome.us/msbike2007/

Tour Info

If you haven't register, please do so now. You already missed the deadline to register for $20.00, don't wait until the last minute to register. Remember that the more you wait to register, the less time you have to collect your $300.00.

For those registered, see this link for your packet pickup -->(http://bikefls.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=BIKE_FLS_packetpickup)

Accommodations: If you haven't booked your hotel room, do wait any longer. Here is the list of current hotels -->(http://bikefls.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=BIKE_FLS_Accommodations)

Still early in the game, but I would like to setup a team meeting to discuss possible Fundraisers, Team training (Spinning Classes), Safety information, jerseys, etc.

Please reply to me with your availability and I'll pick the most common one. If you don't response, I'll decide data/time.

Everglades...

As you probably know, most of the Mega Riders decided to ride the Everglades before the MS Bike Tour in 2006. The riders then were: Lourdes, Lorena, Gerry, Wilmer, Carlos, and myself. And as you probably heard the story nobody, but NOBODY was able to finish this "RIDE OF DEATH". It wasn't because of the distance (76 miles), it was because of the wind and the road conditions. Okay, enough of this.

Mr. Carlos Rodriguez came over to me on 12/27/2006 asking if I would like to ride the Everglades again. The reason was... "To beat the Everglades before the year finished". Because we've been riding for 7 extra months after last time, I said... Sure, so we started looking for brave riders. We asked a couple of riders that did the ride with us last time and the answer was... "Sure, in CAR".

By the end of the day, we had everyone that was going to participate. The riders were: Luis V, Daniel F, Carlos R, and myself. We decided that we were doing this ride on Saturday 12/30/2006 starting @ 7am. Luis V picked up Carlos and Daniel picked me.

Saturday - 7:00am
We parked both cars at the visitor center when we decided to leave one car there and drive the other one in and park at Royal Palm Visitor Center.

We started our ride @ 7:30am as planned with a pace of 15 MPH which we had agree to maintain throughout the entire ride.We arrived without one single flat and no obstacle.. Pretty nice and steady ride at Flamingo Visitor Center at 10:00 (38 miles).

We left Flamingo Visitor Center 10:30am after re-fueling and restroom breaks. At around mile 46 or 50, Carlos and Daniel started to fall back. Luis and I started to slow down when Daniel stated that Luis had his keys. At that time Luis and I knew that they couldn't continue in the 15MPH pace that we were going to. Luis and I continued our pace and decided to leave them behind so that we could get Daniel's truck and pick them up.

For the next 27 miles or so, Luis and I stopped religiously every 10 miles to stretch and walk a bit to continue. The wind started hitting us head on, although there was a portion were the wind was hitting our back and we were able to speed up to 18-20 MPH.

We got the the truck at 2:10pm. We picked Carlos and Daniel at about 2:30pm. They continued their own pace and stopping as well. Carlos got a couple of really bad cramps no the way.

As I think we are all in the same page here... We are doing this ride ever again. Luis and I finished. Carlos and Daniel didn't.

This is an ugly and terrible ride, again, not because of the distance, but because of the environment. I can ride 75 miles anyday of the week and feel OK at the end, but I can't ride the everglades and feel good.. I finished on Saturday, but I know that I pushed my body in ways that I know I haven't done so in the past. When I woke up on Sunday, I had kinks in every muscle in my body.

Thank you Luis for the encouragement and not leaving quit!.

I don't recommend this ride to any fellow Mega Riders... or maybe... We should all do it before the MS... Just kidding!

There are some pictures below. I'm sure Daniel has more and I'll post them as soon as I get them..

Merry XMAS and a Happy New Year to all of you! I wish the new year bring you everything and more that you expected, especially, desire to ride.I've been working on the training schedule, but as all are aware, we don't ride at the same speed, nor can ride on the same days.

I've put a schedule/plan together and I wish we can all ride as a group at least beginning on Week 5 or so. Please review below. This is how you should be training for the MS Bike Tour. This is only 10 weeks training program. You actually have 15 weeks to be where you need to be starting on January 1st, 2007.

See Training Calendar -->

Easy - Means a leisurely ride

Pace - Means matching the speed you want to maintain during the Tour

Inc/Int - Means, you should work on inclines, preferably - Key Biscayne bridge or do Intervals (Sprints)Now, the question is... Where and what time????Most of us leave South, so you'll see "KL" in most of the schedule (which means Kendall Lakes).

See Training Schedule -->

Locations:

KL - Kendall Lakes

CG - Coral Gables

KB - Key Biscayne

Times:

AM - 5:30am - 8:00am

PM - 6:00 - 8:00pm

All rides will start right on time as we all have other commitments. If any of you need any help during training, please feel free to contact me.All information regarding our rides will be posted in our blogspot website @ http://megariders.blogspot.com.