Today would have been Day 1 of the MS150 from Houston to La Grange - A distance of 100 miles. The organizers decided to cancel Day 1 last night 12 hours before 13000 riders were due to roll into the start line. It was raining heavily last night when I got home from work to prep for the ride (4 pm) but it continued to rain all day today. By sheer bad luck - a huge storm system dumped 2-4 inches of rain on La Grange yesterday and there were thunderstorms, tornado watches in force and lots of lightning for most of the day along the route.
You can see why they cancelled the use of the fairgrounds - A lot of teams and the general riders just use sleeping bags on the ground and it would have been a total mess with all the riders walking around, even if the rain had stopped. Parking would also have been a problem as there are not a lot of sealed surfaces. Another 2- 4 inches of rain expected today and the forecast for La Grange is rain most of the day. Also with the rain bands over the bulk of the ride route today it was definitely the right decision to cancel the ride.
The weather tomorrow looks fine as of 6 pm but there is still a NW head wind which will pick up to 10 mph by about 11 am and runs through the afternoon, so the earlier into Austin, the better for those riding the 80 miles tomorrow...After much deliberation, I have decided to pull out. The ride start time from La Grange has been moved to 8 am - 9.30 am and I have a work commitment requiring me to be back in Houston by 4 pm in the afternoon. Starting this late will not give me enough time to complete the ride - even if I didn't have breaks - as the journey back to Houston is just under a 3 hr trip.
I am very disappointed to miss out on the ride, given the number of good folks who have sponsored me. All that training and a shame to miss out on the ride itself - Although in the middle of day 2 one always has to dig deep to finish, it is such a blast to get to the end and the finish line in Austin. Over the course of the last 3 training rides in March/April (Tour De Houston, Space Race and The Great Escape Ride) I have covered the 180 miles but I intend to log additional miles in May to make up for missing out......
About 100 of the 130 riders we have will finish Day 2. The society has managed to raise $12M of the $17M target and will prob finish close but a lot of people are disappointed at how things have turned out for the 25th Anniversary ride. C'est la vie.......At least everyone is safe - those storms would have been dangerous and heavy going...
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