This past weekend, Mike and I rode our bikes over 150 miles over two days.

More pictures are up at Mike's Flickr page and my Flickr page.

A few months ago, we decided to participate in the MS150 City to Shore bike ride to benefit multiple sclerosis. Initially, I was very reluctant to sign up, thinking that 150 miles was a ridiculous distance and that I would never be able to make it. Mike knew we could do it, though, and after some convincing, I agreed. We trained pretty diligently, gradually increasing our mileage from 25 to 30 to 43 to 50 miles. Still, I wasn't sure if I could complete the 75 miles, much less do it two days in a row.

We woke up at 5 a.m. Saturday morning to discover that it was raining pretty significantly. The roads were soaked, it was very dark, and I was not feeling too great about the whole thing. (This probably had much to do with the simple fact that I was awake at 5 a.m.) It was extremely slow going at first because the rain made my brakes almost completely non-functional.

After about an hour of riding with puddles in my shoes and water dripping off my helmet into my eyes, the rain stopped. It was still cloudy and my shoes were wet for the rest of the day, but it turned out to be nice weather. The first day flew by because there were so many other riders--over 6,000 in all--providing good people-watching entertainment. The rest stops were well-stocked with food, and although we were burning tons of calories, I think we got most of them back along the way by eating a ton.

The second day was far, far tougher. When the alarm went off at 5 a.m., Mike and I both confessed that we strongly considered rolling over and going back to sleep. The thought of doing it all over again was almost too much. Our muscles weren't in pain, per se, but were just extremely fatigued from the day before. But we sucked it up and got back on the bikes.

The second day's challenge was more mental than physical, as we both struggled with plain old boredom. We were simply sick of being on the bikes. The long roads through the Jersey pine barrens all looked the same, and our asses were in pain.

Despite the problems, I am so glad that we stuck it out, because crossing the finish line the second day was such a phenomenal feeling. I'm proud of us. Also, I'm proud that I made it to work the next day 15 minutes early, and I rode my bike! My muscles weren't even that sore, proving that our training was pretty effective.

We're going to sign up for next year's ride soon, and we're thinking about doing the century ride (100 miles) on the first day, for a grand total of 175 miles in one weekend.

Thanks to everybody who donated money and supported our efforts!