Big hearts and an even bigger RV: The 2006 Valero MS150.

Peak Fitness Athletes are more than talented bike racers. They are members of the human community who know a good cause when they see one. And if that good cause can somehow involve 150 miles of bike riding, good times with fun people, and traveling in style in a gigantic RV, then answering the call to service is just that much easier.


Riding 150 miles in two days in Texas in the Heat requires a few early mornings. Luckily our Team RV had a coffee pot. Morris got to work drinking the 8.7 gallons he has to ingest to be able to mix nouns with verbs to form sentences.


I can't stress enough how gigantic this RV was. I have never been inside anything like it. It is larger than any apartment I have ever inhabited. It could have had a tennis court and a bowling alley. We could have given the space shuttle a ride back to San Antonio if NASA was in a pinch.


The 'driver's vestibule' is almost exactly one Becker in length (aprox. 6ft 8" & pure muscle).


It even had Satellite Television, displayed here by Kelly and Heather.


It also came with a Driver, Captain Bill McMillan. He kept her steady on the road and took care of the team like a Pro. We were a lucky bunch.


Although we could have hung out the entire weekend in our mobile five star hotel, we managed to get out and ride our bikes. The event started each day in a tangled mass of do-gooders, some of which might have been riding a bike for the first time. We left with the second Throng, a few hundred riders back. It was decided that a quick pace might help us avoid any un necessary tangle-ups. Maurice helped set tempo and we passed about 14,000 riders, working our way to the front of the ride. Some people tried to keep up, because it looked like Mo was smuggling wine in his jersey pockets.


The first hour, however, was not without incident. Someone decided to sit up, slam on their brakes, and try to put their bike in reverse after the pack came around a corner. Morris touched wheels and went down, left butt-cheek first. He was not shy about showing everyone the mutant raspberry that had become of his posterior terminus. It was pretty gnarly.



The rest of the day was smooth sailing with two Peak Fitness Athletes grabbing the 3rd and 4th spots. Not too shabby.

There must have been something in oatmeal in Beeville, as Sunday turned out to be a 60 mile mini Texas Championship Road Race. People were biting at the bit with the front group showing an average speed of 26 mph for the first hour. One rider, in full aero gear, even went so far as to have a team car feeding him food and drink through the day. That’s some pretty hefty competition for a Charity Ride! Fortunately, Peak Fitness Athletes are not ones to shy from a Bike Fight, countering moves throughout the day, with two teammates sprinting across the line at 2nd and fifth. Nice work, especially considering there were 3000 people.


We headed back to San Antonio. But first we stopped off for gas. Luckily it was really cheap.


Special thanks to Wachovia and USAA for their support of a great cause. Solid work team! See ya'll on the next training ride.

Becker
eric@peakfitnessnow.com