# MS150 anyone?



## SenorBlanco (Feb 16, 2005)

Anyone else heading off to the MS150 on Saturday? This will be my first MS150 event, but I'm excited about the finish in Canon City as I've been looking forward to riding the Royal Gorge bridge.

Anyone else?


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## JayTee (Feb 3, 2004)

Have fun. It is a terrific event. Don't know if the forecast is as hot as in the past, but start crack-of-dawn early to avoid the heat. Seriously. 5:15 or so on day 2, especially if you are gunning to do the Gorge loop.


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## SenorBlanco (Feb 16, 2005)

jtolleson said:


> Have fun. It is a terrific event. Don't know if the forecast is as hot as in the past, but start crack-of-dawn early to avoid the heat. Seriously. 5:15 or so on day 2, especially if you are gunning to do the Gorge loop.


Forecast is mid to upper 80s with scatter storms, which for mid-July isn't too bad. We'll be starting early for sure.

I've heard the Gorge loop has a "wall" that you have to climb as you approach the bridge, but that it isn't too terribly long. And I am definitely gunning for the Gorge loop, I'll be very upset if I can't make the turn-off by 1pm for some reason.


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## John Nelson (Mar 10, 2006)

We did that climb up to the back side of the bridge in RTR too. The director compared it to the last 1.5 miles up to Ward, and I think it was an appropriate comparison. So if you've ridden to Ward, you know about what to expect. About 90% of the cyclists were riding and 10% walking when I was on the hill, but others reported 90% walking and 10% riding when they were climbing. The hill rolls a bit, so there is some temporary relief during the climb. It twists and turns, so you can never see very far ahead, and you're never quite sure where the top is going to be. I thought I got there about 6 times before I did.

Have fun. Riding over the bridge is a real kick.

There's a climb out of the bridge on the other side too, and that surprised a lot of riders. They thought that the climbing was going to be over when they got to the bridge.


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## j-dawg (Apr 24, 2004)

*I did that route last year*

I'm out this year but I believe the route was the same last year. The 'wall' is tough but you expect it and it's pretty short. Last year they actually had someone staked out about 2/3 of the way up with one of those portable water sprayers so you could ride through a cool mist. And since the temp last year was about 96 degrees it felt good. 

I actually thought the harder part was heading up Hwy 50 from Canon City out the the Gorge turn-off. It's a pretty good slog and the (hot) wind was pretty brutal. Me and my buddies hopped on a pace line that got about 15 people strong and that helped a ton. The descent down to the Ark. river before the Gorge turnoff is fast, fast, fast. And so is the descent back to Canon City. 

Enjoy the ride and don't stop for hitchhikers. It's the Corrections facility capital of the world down there.

j


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## SenorBlanco (Feb 16, 2005)

j-dawg said:


> Enjoy the ride and don't stop for hitchhikers. It's the Corrections facility capital of the world down there.


LOL...I think that is how they get most of the rafting guides down there, as it seems like all the major rafting areas have a correctional facility very near.


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## SenorBlanco (Feb 16, 2005)

The post ride report....

Ugh.

Saturday was the most miserable day I've ever spent in the saddle. The rain and cold temps (mid 50s) really made it a painful day. My rain jacket was saturated within 30 minutes, shoes had pools of water in them and it was hard to see through my sunglasses at all. 

The splash back from people in front of you was too brutal to even think about trying to catch a draft as all the sand that had washed into the roadways and shoulders was pretty brutal. You had to literally stay about 20 feet behind someone to avoid just being pelted with road debris.

But with all that being said, I finished. They stopped Day 1 at lunch for a lot of people due to a big outbreak of hypothermia amongst the riders. 158 miles and over 11k in climbing. I was surprised at the difficulty of the route, kind of expected the 'creampuff' type route. I never really felt too bad physically, but mentally I was pretty defeated on Saturday.

And "The Wall" really wasn't that bad IMO. Yeah it was steep, but it had several flat sections where you could recover in between the really steep stuff. IMO Sunshine Canyon (and many other climbs on the front range) west of Boulder is much harder as it never lets up.


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## JayTee (Feb 3, 2004)

Geez. Sorry about the weather. I definitely thought of you (and others I knew on this year's MS150) when the weather turned bad. Were you camping? I been there was a run on every hotel room in Colorado Springs...


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## SenorBlanco (Feb 16, 2005)

jtolleson said:


> Were you camping? I been there was a run on every hotel room in Colorado Springs...


We were supposed to be camping, but the area for tents had standing water and the skies looked threatening so we quickly snapped up a hotel room. We finished early enough that I think we were probably a little ahead of the curve of getting a last minute hotel booked.


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