# BP MS150 Houston - Austin



## MerlinAma

Anyone here among the 13,000 people participating in this ride which is less than 3 weeks away?

It'll be my first time on this MS150.


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## culdeus

This year will be my 2nd. There is one dude that's done what must be every last one of them.


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## culdeus

I'd say this

-Get to the line very early Sunday
-Don't even consider the express route, not for a second
-The "lunch" on Saturday is not worth stopping for and that rest stop is a cluster
-The lunch on Sunday is worth stopping for and is better organized
-The Saturday ride gets more difficult as the day goes on
-The Sunday ride is the same intensity
-Watch out for cones inside Austin. I hit one and I have no idea how I stayed up
-Eat like your life depended on it Saturday night. Never, ever stop eating, drinking. Eat till you can't eat and then eat some more.


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## OUTHOUSE

*How hard is it?*

I'm 26. In fairly good shape. Not great. Been road biking for about a month. Been doing 40 mile rides for the past three weekends. have been fairly easy. Train in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu during the week. Do some small 15 mile rides twice a week after work. Is the MS 150 too much for a newbie like me to tackle. I have a Specialized Tarmac but in the most relaxed position possible.

Im still learning posture and getting used to riding a road bike.

Does the ride have alot of hills? Can someone give me some in depth detail on what to expect and whether it is a good idea.

Thanks:thumbsup:


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## Kalrog

The ride is the distance between Houston and Austin. Some hills, but much of the country would just call it flat. Heck, Austin is only at about 700 feet above sea level so there is really only a 500 foot rise from start to end.

Are you able to do it? Well, you probably have the endurance to do it. But has your butt adjusted to 6 hours in the saddle? That is probably your biggest factor. Although I am pretty sure the 2007 ride is full, so you could easily be ready for 2008.


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## MerlinAma

culdeus said:


> I'd say this
> 
> --Watch out for cones inside Austin. I hit one and I have no idea how I stayed up
> .


Really! 

The buddy I ride with locally was in the ride a couple of years ago. A rider in front of him dodged a misplaced cone inside Austin but didn't "point it out". My buddy hit the cone and ended up in the hospital to get a few staples in his scalp.

I signed up in November just before registraton closed!

The great news is I have a old riding buddy who now lives in La Grange. So I have a bed and probably some home cooking just waiting. :thumbsup: 

Although I haven't done this particular ride before, it will be my 27th MS150 over the past 20 years.


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## culdeus

It's fairly hilly, but 9 out of 10 times you'll have a tailwind the entire ride. This tends to help out quite a bit.


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## OUTHOUSE

I am signed up. My wife works for a senator so Im in like flynn if I want to ride.


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## Tower

I'll be there! 4th year in a row.

Outhouse, Saturday is flat. The first half of Sunday is hilly for us Houstonians. Once you are out of Bastrop State Park, it's pretty flat again. Saturday is the tougher of the two.


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## hzb

*re ms150*

i've done the ride the last 5 years and will again this year. i strongly disagree with a couple of the previous posts.

lunch the 1st day is pretty good and clearly worth stopping for. lunch the second day is pretty awfull (premade subway sandwich).

the 1st day is much harder than the second (and longer). there are 45 flat miles at the start (i suggest taking it very easy). miles 45-80 are very hilly. 80-100 are a bit less hilly.

the 2nd day (sunday) ride is shorter. a few hills early on, the parks, flat after the parks/lunch, hilly the last 5-8 miles. mostly pretty easy riding. the parks are the main event. you should not skip them. they are the real fun part of the ride although potentially dangerous. narrow one lane road up/down rollercoaster type ride with very short very steep climbs. they do NOT block cars which are very few but really hard to anticipate while going 30 mph around blind turns.

expect heat in the afternoons (finishing early helps). the last five years there has been at least some tailwind. there are far too many people on this ride and it is very crowded especially early in the day. you will see many accidents and ambulances. they cling to the stupid (imho) idea of a mass start. also expect incessant fund raising efforts.

parts of it are scenic, the wildflowers will be out, and most of the people are friendly.


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## culdeus

All I saw on the 1st lunch was ham sammiches. At least the subway seemed like it was made that day. I also didn't see a single car in the park and AFAIK it was totally sealed off to traffic. 

If anyone has the topo map of last year I'd appreciate getting a copy of the pdf send me a pm if you still have it. thanks

I also looked at their gps coordintes and they are way off.


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## hzb

the road is most definitely not sealed off to traffic. i've seen a car/truck several years and about 2 years ago there were quite a few cars.

you are also off on the lunch. lunch the 1st day includes choice of 2 sandwiches, potatoes (great) or pasta, fruit cocktail, yogurt, ice cream sandwiches, and pepsi products. you can if you choose (not "legally") get both choices/seconds.


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## Tower

I've only seen 1 car in Bastrop SP the previous 3 years. I guess timing is everything.

As for the lunches, that's why I prefer to ride with a well supported team that has their own lunch set up both days. Much better than lunch with the masses.

The best part about this ride is meeting all kinds of people along the way. Couple of years ago a guy rode up next to me and started asking about my Brooks. I looked over and saw he was riding one of the Colorado Cyclist Douglas Ti frames so we chatted about that. Ended up he had traveled from California for the ride. Wanted to check out the Douglas some more but never did.

culdeus, a few weeks ago the ride website had topo maps of the entire ride. Seems they have been removed now.


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## culdeus

Topo of both days from a guy from my team.


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## culdeus

hzb said:


> the road is most definitely not sealed off to traffic. i've seen a car/truck several years and about 2 years ago there were quite a few cars.
> 
> you are also off on the lunch. lunch the 1st day includes choice of 2 sandwiches, potatoes (great) or pasta, fruit cocktail, yogurt, ice cream sandwiches, and pepsi products. you can if you choose (not "legally") get both choices/seconds.


You can have my seconds as I'm not stopping.


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## californiajeff

culdeus said:


> Topo of both days from a guy from my team.


culdeus-

Why does the topo start from -150 feet? I think Houston's altitude is ~50 feet.

Not that it changes the overall shape of the graph, just curious.


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## culdeus

californiajeff said:


> culdeus-
> 
> Why does the topo start from -150 feet? I think Houston's altitude is ~50 feet.
> 
> Not that it changes the overall shape of the graph, just curious.


Not sure. Probably some problem with the gps. I think it's the right shape it just started 150 feet or so offset.

If I had to hazzard a guess I'd think it was because he lives at about 150ft above sea level and that screwed it up somehow.


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## DolceVita

*help/my own opinions about the MS*

Alrighty,
This is my 4th year riding on the bp ms 150 and this is literally the highlight of my year. I'm a rather young rider so my elders are always helping me out. Thank god because through the years, their "minor" tips have helped me so much. now i feel its my turn to pass along some help.
1. as a personal opinion, it is a BAD idea to stop at either lunch stop. i mean c'mon its like 9 in the morning and its better to eat breakfast before you start riding. by the time you even reach Belleville/Bastrop, you'll be nigh 1/2 done and all ya have left to do is just cruise on into La Grange/Austin and stuff your face there
2. I've noticed a trend that most people on this thread think the 1st day is hardest. i strongly disagree with this point. especially if you take the park on the 2nd day. the first day, despite being longer, is a lot flatter first of all. Secondly, you're fresh and ready and excited for the ride. The adrenaline alone takes you 50+ miles easily. Thirdly, that dang saddle! Trust me, after 100 miles of sitting on that torture device, you seriously will not want to get back on in the morning. My advice: take advil before you even get on the 2nd day. I've appreciated its pain relieving qualities for the past 3 years and I'm not about to give it up.  
3. I've heard it said, and I strongly agree with this statement, that if you can ride 50 miles, you can do the entire thing. On my team, we only have about 3 rides that are over 50 miles. 2 of them are fairly hard but out longest (63 miles) is nearly totally flat. By my experience, if you can ride a hilly 50-something mile ride, you can do the ms.


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## MerlinAma

DolceVita said:


> .....
> 2. ....... My advice: take advil before you even get on the 2nd day. I've appreciated its pain relieving qualities for the past 3 years and I'm not about to give it up.
> .


You might want to rethink this. 20 years ago my buddies and I jokingly claimed there was no ride we couldn't finish with "two bottles of water and a dozen advil". That was an exaggeration, of course, but we did take lots of advil.

A few years later I developed an ulcer as a result.

http://familydoctor.org/271.xml

I quote - 

"What causes ulcers?
Doctors used to think ulcers were caused by stress or by eating food with too much acid in it. We now know this isn't true. Most stomach ulcers are caused by an infection. The infection is caused by a bacteria (germ) called Helicobacter pylori (say: "hell-ee-ko-back-ter pie-lore-ee"), or H. pylori for short. *Ulcers in people who don't have an H. pylori infection are usually related to heavy aspirin use, or heavy use of anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen (some brand names: Advil, Nuprin, Motrin). *Acetaminophen (brand name: Tylenol) doesn't cause stomach ulcers."

If your butt hurts worse than your legs, you aren't riding hard enough!


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## MCF

*Too late for me this year..*

I live in Houston (currently in Florence, Italy) and I hope to do the MS150 in '08 (assuming I can keep my conditioning up).....some of the comments on this thread are promising for me....I did the below ride (see link) yesterday so according to some of you I shouldn't have any problem with the MS150. I do AGREE, if you can't handle at least 3-4 hours in a saddle without much discomfort, I could not imagine trying to do a two day ride that consists of more than double that time.....and be careful with Advil/Ibuprofen. My wife is a PharmD and taking excessive Ibuprofen will eat up your liver - only take it when you need it!! Good luck everyone and BE SAFE!!!!

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=91838


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## Tower

The elevation maps are back:

http://www.ms150.org/ms150/maps/2007/Elevation_Maps.doc.pdf


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## culdeus

I heard they delayed the start at tully and rhodes almost an hour for fog. This made the first day fantastic because the throngs of people just weren't there for our group that left shortly after dawn from an alternate location.

The second day was a tremendous beating because of all the people clogging the road. And for all that some two hours after I finished there was still ia constant flow of people across the finish. A truly massive ride. I'm thinking of doing just the Dallas one next year to see what it's about.


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## MerlinAma

culdeus said:


> I heard they delayed the start at tully and rhodes almost an hour for fog.....................
> 
> And for all that some two hours after I finished there was still ia constant flow of people across the finish. A truly massive ride...


It was actually only 30 minutes. I was riding with the BP Team and we were supposed to start at 6:45am on Saturday. We started at 7:15am.

I did some math and assuming everyone finished Sunday between 10:00am and 4:00pm - then an average of 36 riders finished every minute! I'd agree that was a constant flow.

Bastrop State Park was a fun route! The climbs were steep but very short. It was really a relief to my buns to get out of the saddle and stand on these climbs at that point in the ride.

If the weather could have been any better, I'm not sure how.


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## OUTHOUSE

*Completed Ride*

I was a newbie at cycling. 1 month 3 wks. 

It wasn't easy but it wasn't "that hard" either. 

I will do it next year.

By the way. Day 2 is much more difficult than day 1.


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## MCF

*How do you register..*

I would like to do it in 2008....how do you register? Do you have to be part of a team or something or can you register as a single rider?

Also, about ending the first day, does anyone get a hotel room to stay at after the first day of riding? I was wandering if anyone maybe had a friend or wife drive earlier in the day and get the hotel, etc.....would be nice to have a nice bed, etc. to sleep in with all sorts of food of my choice waiting for me....any thoughts? I am not a big camper and sleeping on the ground or an inflatable mattress would probably make my 2nd day completely miserable...


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## MerlinAma

MCF said:


> I would like to do it in 2008....how do you register? Do you have to be part of a team or something or can you register as a single rider?
> 
> Also, about ending the first day, does anyone get a hotel room to stay at after the first day of riding? .....


You do not have to be part of a team. 

99.999% sure you will not get a hotel/motel room in La Grange. There are 13,000 riders PLUS their spouses/children/friends coming into a town of about 4,800 people. The fairgrounds becomes another city.

I've heard of some people driving back to Houston or Katy just to sleep in their own bed. The finish line is Austin is only 75 miles away on the bike route. So you can certainly drive somewhere to stay in a good bed. I even think they run busses to some of the closer towns, but my hunch is that they are booked very early also.


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