Road Cycling - Bp Ms150

Just finished the BP MS150 Houston-Austin ride. Interested in hearing from anybody else who was along for the ride. It is an amazingly well-organized event. More than 12,000 riders.

i watched the finish today... i thought how it was interesting that there was virtually NO bianchis at all at the head of the group (about 5 total in the first finishing hour) and then a ton later on... all other bikes were scattered and distributed evenly

i know its not really a race, and that some people started at different times, but there was a very definite correlation

I did the ride for the second time this year and my wife did it for the first time. We both had great rides yesterday. (We ride in different paces.) Yesterday = Perfect!

She had a great ride today. I on other hand can say that I finished it! (Yes, I finished it last year, but had a bit of problem this year.)

Well, as many people know there were tons of flats in the "park" due to some lovely person putting carpet tacks down. Well, I flatted, started back up the hill, and snapped (my brand new last week) chain which promptly wrapped into my front wheel throwing me to the ground hands first. Lucky: No broken bones, no road rash. Unlucky: Sprain.

Well, after that My chain tool broke and I waited 50 minutes with NO sag support. Finally a buddy with a chain tool stopped I patched it together but still had 5 loose links. Rode the 3 miles to the next stop, had mechanical work (30 minute wait due the the fact they were changing flats - people - learn to work on your own flats!) on taking out the bad links (nope, could not use my big ring.) While I went to medical. The used Bio Freeze and a rigid brace. Did not work so I rode in without a brace. Had it rewrapped at the finish. So, that is one of those "rides to remember" - All things said very lucky, as I saw others get really hurt. Did not really look forward to finishing but got back in the groove. Made up some time by skipping the lunch stop and cranking up the speed. Picked up one of my other friends who is not as fast a pace and finished together.

How was your experience on the ride?

I did the ride for the second time this year and my wife did it for the first time. We both had great rides yesterday. (We ride in different paces.) Yesterday = Perfect!

She had a great ride today. I on other hand can say that I finished it! (Yes, I finished it last year, but had a bit of problem this year.)

Well, as many people know there were tons of flats in the "park" due to some lovely person putting carpet tacks down. Well, I flatted, started back up the hill, and snapped (my brand new last week) chain which promptly wrapped into my front wheel throwing me to the ground hands first. Lucky: No broken bones, no road rash. Unlucky: Sprain.

Well, after that My chain tool broke and I waited 50 minutes with NO sag support. Finally a buddy with a chain tool stopped I patched it together but still had 5 loose links. Rode the 3 miles to the next stop, had mechanical work (30 minute wait due the the fact they were changing flats - people - learn to work on your own flats!) on taking out the bad links (nope, could not use my big ring.) While I went to medical. The used Bio Freeze and a rigid brace. Did not work so I rode in without a brace. Had it rewrapped at the finish. So, that is one of those "rides to remember" - All things said very lucky, as I saw others get really hurt. Did not really look forward to finishing but got back in the groove. Made up some time by skipping the lunch stop and cranking up the speed. Picked up one of my other friends who is not as fast a pace and finished together.

How was your experience on the ride?

I had not heard about the carpet tacks. We opted for the alternate route out of fear that the hills in the parks would create quite a traffic jam. Alternate route was uneventful, though we did encounter some headwinds coming through Webberville into Austin. No major problem though.

Sorry about your less-than-ideal Day Two.

I had not heard about the carpet tacks. We opted for the alternate route out of fear that the hills in the parks would create quite a traffic jam.

Oh man, that sucks. Did someone drop the tacks on purpose???

My wife and I did our first MS150 this weekend, but only the first day since we couldnt find someone to keep our 3 kids overnight.

I was amazed at how well organized the whole thing was...we had a great time, even if it was a long day.

I rode my mtb, a GF Tassajara basically stock but with slicks and clipless pedals. It was actually pretty comfortable. Wife was on a borrowed, older street bike.

I was pretty happy the one day worked out well, and I made my first century without too much pain. I hadn't done any biking in almost 10 years (and that was only about a year of mtb'ing before kids cut into the time I had). I had only trained for about a month for the MS, so I was a little worried if I would make it....but no SAG wagon rides, no walking any hills, overall I couldnt complain.

BTW, THANKS to EVERYONE who did the ride......my wife's mom has MS and it is a horrible disease. We decided to ride it because her Mom can't.......it sounds like a cliche, but its really true. If you saw a BIG guy with a B&W pic on the front under my #, that was me on the bike with my wife's mom "riding" with me. The amount of money that comes from the MS rides really makes a difference for the MS Society, and it means a lot to those with the disease that SO MANY people care enough to support the fight to find a cure.

This was the first MS150 in over 10 years for my wife and I. It sure has grown. The last time we did it in '92 had only 6,000 or so riders and now there were over 13000. They did an incredible job organizing everything. The start on the second day was the only thing I think they could improve upon. We lined up around 6:15 and finally rolled out at 7:45.
The tacks in the park was a major pain but we managed to avoid any flats the entire ride. I heard there was at least one injury accident because of the tacks. They halted the ride for a while to get the ambulance through. Hard to belive someone would throw down a bunch of tacks for a joke but there is no other explanation. This road is only used to go through a park. No regular traffick goes this way.
Overall this was a great ride and we will be doing it again next year.

I heard about the tacks from other riders is Austin -- I did the park last year, so this year I took the bypass (despite the razzing from a guy in my club :) ) and I guess it's a good thing I did. Overall the ride was great, but I think they're approaching the limits of how many riders they can put on the roads at one time. The marge of the Tully & Rhodes traffic was brutal -- just as things were thinning out a bit I was suddenly surrounded by a huge pack of riders. In order to get ahead of the crowds I skipped all the rest stops between the start and Bellville, and then only spent 10 minutes in Bellville before taking off again. That worked pretty well and got me ahead of most of the traffic and the ride was really nice after that. Got into La Grange around 1:20 and into Austin at 12:30... wanted to make sure there was still beer left when I got there! :D

I was there as well and really enjoyed the ride. I went through the park as well and only learned later that it was tacks that caused the chaos. People should really pick up there tubes and CO2 though, I saw probably 20 discarded tubes on the side of the road and I was through there moderately early.
Great ride though, the wind helped more than it hurt, weather was great, I got in early enough both days that there was little if any lines for the showers. It was my first ride and I really enjoyed the riding once I got away from the crowds by skipping rest stops like the poster above. I rode it on my fixed gear and thought it was a great ride for the bike. The park in particular had great rythm, it was a lot of fun. Not sure if I'll ride it next year or not. Not becasue of the riding, but because of the sheer number of people, I may try and get to a less attended event elsewhere to see new scenery, meet new people and still help and raise some money for the fight against MS.

The last two years on RAGBRAI in Iowa, someone has thrown tacks down. There were hills where your speed could reach 30-35 mph. It's sad that someone thinks this is funny. The first year I had a flat, and it was a thunderstorm and you couldn't see the tacks. Last year, my cycling friend had a flat. We were like the 6-7 person, and told the mechanic at the stop. They called in the police and a street sweeper to clean the street.

Yeah, I luckily missed catching a carpet tack in the park, but I saw a lot of people who did get them. They were all over the road and quite clearly were deliberately scattered about on purpose. My buddy got one in each tire. He only had one spare tube with him and had to sag to the top of the hill and ended up missing what was probably one of the most fun parts of the whole ride. Whoever did that is quite clearly a pathetic fool if he needs to be cruel and destructive to have fun in life.

As far as the ride goes, this was my first MS 150 and it won't be my last. I've only been cycling for about a year now and I can completely see why people do it over and over again each year. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it was going to be, yet it was much more fun. The finish in Austin was great - I know that finishing downtown was a one-time thing in honor of the 20th anniversary, but flying downhill through the UT campus after a hard day's ride was a great experience and a perfect way to finish the ride.

That said, I have heard a lot of negative things about the ride ("clusterf**k" is the term I have heard applied the most) with its large size and the number of inexperienced novice cyclists out there and I have to say it's true. A lot of the people out there have no idea how dangerous they are with their constant passing and swerving and sudden stopping. A lot of times I would pass someone in a safe situation only to have that same person blow right past me in a more dangerous situation when a slower speed was more appropriate (ie crossing a solid yellow line to pass on a blind curve). I am sure a lot of these people wouldn't do in their cars what they did on their bikes this weekend and it was completely unnerving at times.

One more thing - I know it didn't make much a difference to me and it's not my problem per se, but I was surprised at just how poorly most people technically handled the hills, especially on the first day. I would say 75-80% of the riders were wearing themselves out unnecessarily with their too-high gears and then coasting on the downhills to catch their breath.

All in all though, it was a great experience for the first time and I will definitely do it again in the future.

Yep, the only plausable reason for the tacks is that it was done in malice. They were spread over way too far of a distance for a box to "accidentally" have fallen out.

All in all Saturday was perfect and even Sunday was a great day. Got into LaGrange around noon, into Austin around 1:30 after my 90 minute "Park" delay.

I too think I will look at doing the Bike to the Beach or the Red River Challenge next year since they are smaller. I think the BP Houston to Austin ride is just getting a bit too big. I said that last year but really wanted to participate in the 20th anniversary. (Plus my wife was riding for the first year.)

I do have to say that I think that the ride was wonderfully well run given the mass of people. (Though I was not happy never seeing a SAG in nearly an hour...in the first time I could have ever used one in 10k miles.)

And of course it is a great cause. One of our club riders is fighting MS himself so it really puts a face to the ride for us.

Oh yeah - I forgot to mention the most dangerous thing I saw this weekend.

On the approach in to the finish as we were screaming downhill on 26th street about to turn into the campus, some guy pulled out his cell phone to call his family at the finish. A ride marshal was nearby and told him to put the phone up and he told the marshall to "buzz off" (different word, same meaning).

Maybe if he had pulled off or something and then ridden ahead, but he tried to call while going 20mph on the bike in heavy traffic on a downhill and twisty road.

What a dumbass.

I had a blast. As I was going through the park, I noticed something was not right when I saw approximately 10 bikers changing flats only 2 miles in. I finally heard a lady say she had a tack in her tire. I was nervous but what can you do but ride. I was fortunate I didn't catch a tack even though a had a flat the first day. In that 11 mile stretch I would say I saw about 40+ riders changing a flat, many having both tires flat. That's just a sick joke.

IThis was my first MS150 in all my years of cycling. I thought it was alot of fun and I really was touched by the number of people with MS who came out to thank the riders.

The winds were great, weren't they? And the tacks were uncalled for. I didn't have any mechanical problems - the only problem I have is with using the Blue Rooms. Why oh why can't they get more at the rest stops?

The best part for me? At the finish line, there was NO LINE for the women's showers!!!!!

I finished at 2:30 on saturday and 12:45 on Sunday.

Next up for us - The Shiner Ride

I also did the ride this year. It was my first MS150 and I have to say that I really enjoyed the experience. This was my first time in Texas, having flown in from Florida to participate. I thought Houston was nice, Austin was wonderful and the people were fabulous throughout! We rode for Anaderko and had a great experience with them. The jerseys were very nice and the support throughout was also good. If I had it to do over again I would have camped at the LaGrange site instead of going to a hotel in Flatonia. I got there on Saturday night and they didn't have any hot water. All in all the ride was great. I didn't have any difficulty with the length and the scenery was pleasant both days. I found the hills in the park to be fun, although I thought they were over when I came to the last one. I have to say that I struggled over it. I wondered why so many people had flat tires and now know why. I can't believe that someone would put others in jeapardy like that.

I have to say that I agree that they have exceeded the limits for safety on the ride. There were far to many times when riders were four across on roads with slower riders spending way to much time in the middle of the lane. I have to admit that on Saturday I did pass on the left of the yellow line on multiple occations to avoid being admitted into a psychiatric ward. I also had concerns about the traffic getting so close around and following the last rest stop.

Would I do it again next year? Probably.

Mike

This was my first time in Texas, having flown in from Florida to participate.

Where you on the litespeed that we talked to? (2 guys in Copaxone jerseys)...

This was my first year to participate in this wonderful ride, riding for my fiance who has MS. The ride was absolutely awesome i will most definalty do it all again next year. Its sad that there were quite a few accidents, even one involving a public safety officer, the mass number of riders makes it incredibly difficult to be safe. Like bean4158 said, there were many times that riders were 4 abreast and slow riders were 'trapped' in the middle. Heck often times slow riders were on the left rather than the right. I cant count the times i had to pass on the yellow or over it to maintain my pace even after calling out that im passing on the left. They really need to beef up the safety on the ride, there were way to many inexperieced riders on the road.

See you guys/gals out there next year for sure :)

Just finished the BP MS150 Houston-Austin ride. Interested in hearing from anybody else who was along for the ride. It is an amazingly well-organized event. More than 12,000 riders.


Yeah this was my first one...I rode with TeamUT (UT Health Science Center-Hoston) raising the money is a task though, but it's a great cause. I had an uncle die from M.S.

Where you on the litespeed that we talked to? (2 guys in Copaxone jerseys)...

This was my first year to participate in this wonderful ride, riding for my fiance who has MS. The ride was absolutely awesome i will most definalty do it all again next year. Its sad that there were quite a few accidents, even one involving a public safety officer, the mass number of riders makes it incredibly difficult to be safe. Like bean4158 said, there were many times that riders were 4 abreast and slow riders were 'trapped' in the middle. Heck often times slow riders were on the left rather than the right. I cant count the times i had to pass on the yellow or over it to maintain my pace even after calling out that im passing on the left. They really need to beef up the safety on the ride, there were way to many inexperieced riders on the road.

See you guys/gals out there next year for sure :)



No Mymilkexpired, we were riding with Anadarko. My friend did have a Litespeed, but I was riding a black Connondale R1000. I just got it a few weeks prior to the ride and it was perfect throughout the ride. I had on the new Anadarko jersey and blue shorts on the first day and a yellow sleeveless shirt and black shorts the second.

My sister-in-law passed away a few years ago from MS complications. I also have a brother-in-law and neice who have the disease. It is a horrible disease for the patient and their family. I'll continue to ride in MS150's as my way of raising money for the cause. I'll probably ride the Central Pennsylvania ride from Hollidaysburg to State Collge and back in July as my next major ride. It is a more traditional 150, with 75 mile rides on both Saturday and Sunday. It will be much smaller, but just as much fun.

Mike

[...]I went through the park as well[...] [...]I rode it on my fixed gear[...]
Sorry for the slightly out-of-context quoting here, but this is just plain sick -- you rode the park hills on a fixed? :eek:

For those not familiar with "The Park" (actually, Beuschler State Park), it has some very steep hills -- the climbs up are a grind no matter how many gears you have and then the donwhill parts are crazy fast. The hills aren't very long, but they make up for it by being very steep -- riding a fixie through that is not a trivial thing.

You can say that again about the fixed gear. I told him way to go in the fg forum.

I was an unhappy camper for the second half of the park given that I only had 6 gears to work with. (Sprained wrist = no shift on the frong derailer and the bent derailer hanger = no shifting to the biggest three cogs on the back.

Anybody who does it on a fg deserves a big pat on the back.

I didn't see anyone on a fixed gear except for the guy on the large wheeled unicycle. I heard he went through the park, but I bet he walked the steeper hills. I saw him finish around 5:30 on Sunday. There was also the old time high wheeler, several paraplegics with hand cranked three or four wheelers (Wow), a bunch of recumbants and a few skaters. Anyone who did it on a non traditional cycle, my hat is off to you.

Sorry for the slightly out-of-context quoting here, but this is just plain sick -- you rode the park hills on a fixed? :eek:


Yea, it was really cool, the hills were just on the border of being too steep so at the top I was turning over at something like 20-25 rpm just mashing for all I was worth. Then the roll over the top and spinning up to 160 or so, I only had to ride the brakes 2 or 3 times to keep my legs in check. It was the rythm of the place, a very zen thing, definately my favorite part of the ride.
Riding it on a fixed really isn't that big of a deal, I run 42-16 which is a normal medium/low gear and I'm comfortable cruising anywhere from about 13-22 mph which is where 90% of riders ride anyway. I was actually a bit suprised that I didn't see another fixed anywhere on the whole ride. I did notice a guy on a SS mountain bike, and of course the guy on the highwheeler (he's sick) but I didn't think it was that weird to ride it on a fixed. After all, it's just a bike.

I got a picture of Dan on his highwheeler, maybe i can get it scanned in today and post it up... he was averaging about 10mph on that bad boy :eek:

how about that guy on the big-wheeled unicycle? He looked to be at about 100 rpm cruising on the flats at 10 mph.....ouch. I actually saw him in a crash (didn't see it but sounded like maybe it was kinda his fault given what people were saying as I rode by) around mile 30 or so (IIRC). I can't imagine if he could make it up the hills even on the first day. I thought I was slow (due to waiting for my wife), but I can't imagine he was able to finish much before dark.

Dan (the highwheeler) was among the very last to finish the course both days because he was limited to one speed since he has no gears... i bet your right about uni-cycle kid. I saw him around mile 5 when i passed him we were all cheering "Your my boy big blue (he had a blue helmet)" Not but 30 seconds or so after that i hear oh **** coming from behind, he had to bail off the uni :eek:

I cant wait for next year to participate in the ride again.

Yeah I passed the unicycle guy each day and on Sunday we had already been through some hills when I saw him. Damn tough, he is. I as impressed.

This was my fourth BP MS 150. I rode as a ride marshal for team, Halliburton/Landmark ( www2.lgc.com/ms150 ). Day one just flat rocked! Got a bit congested at the route merge before lunch. The fajitas & massage at our tent was great, and the Shiner Bock at the beer tent was cold. Cap this off with some bird watching in front of the tent & the fireworks. What more do you need?

Rode the park route, wouldn't miss it for the world. Blasted off the hill before the park, telling the fred in front of me, 'slower riders right & I AM FASTER THAN YOU'. HeHe.

I held one of those thrice-damned tacks in my hand. If there is any justice in the world, pain & suffering will be the house of the inbred toad responsible for the tacks.

Worked way too many crashes Sunday. The dual route mixed slower riders back with the fast riders after the park. A tired Fred can be relied on to swerve left when looking left, a dangerous thing. Plus TT bikes cannot handle the fast curves coming out of Bastrop State Park well, as several folks learned, one the very hard way.

The finish in Austin was fantastic! What a great scene.

I haven't seen the final numbers, but well over 13,000 riders registered. The ride is getting too big. My team captain agrees that it is time to think about limiting the size of the ride. Four years ago, there were 8,013 riders, I wish my 401K would grow like that!

I'm going to the wrap meeting, so let me hear any ideas you may have for improving the ride. How about ditching the Rhodes start? For sure ditch the 'lunch express'.

My thoughts on improving the ride without limiting the #'s ?????

Encourage more seperate team starts. I started with the ExxonMobil team just west of Tully Stadium and it was great. We had 300 or so riders and it was quite managable.

Keep the Rhodes start but maybe have completely different routes until the Giddings lunch stop. Then split again until La Grange. I know it would mean twice the logistics mess but it sure would make it safer.

There has to be some way to get the riders out of La Grange on the second day a little faster. Now everyone lines up together then splits off at the same exit of the fairgrounds to go to the park or the express route. Could there be another exit out?

Overall a very well organized ride and I would still do it again next year without any changes but any improvement would be apprecitated.

Thanks for being a ride marshall!

The MS group tried to work out a route from Rhodes that was completely separate until Belleville, but could not make it work. For those riding the park, there is a second exit out of the fairgrounds (but only the vets know about it).

It felt good to do more than just ride, to help with the ride. You are most welcome, sir.

I thought they closed that "secret" 2nd exit last year and made sure to keep it closed this year.

I don't know how practical it would be but something needs to be done about inexperienced and dangerous riders somehow - maybe require safety certification in order to participate and not just allow it to be optional as it is now. Refer to my previous posts. Certainly people are going to do dangerous things and there is no way to stop it, but I think a lot of the dangerous stuff like crossing yellow lines and passing unsafely just stems from people being inexperienced and ignorant. Expose them to the proper way to do things and I would think some people might be a little more conscientious next time.

Improvement Ideas
Larger Reststops / More portocans (this will always be an issue)
Forced certification class on safety
More Team Starts, this will definatly help with congestion
Teams starts on day two
It would be cool to have two seperate routes for day one from each stadium that meets up at lunch time for a single unified route into la grange
Thats all i can think of.

At La Grange have a spot for RV's seperated from tent camping. Two years ago some A-hole pulled his RV about 10 feet from my tent and ran his damn generator all night. He apologized but said he couldn't do anything about moving it. Well we weren't too friendly to each other considering I was there first and he was not one bit considerate about the whole thing. I had to end up moving my tent.

Keep the tent spots available under the tree grove and have teh RV's park out in the sunny areas being that they have AC's and canopies. That's my biggest gripe!

The secret exit was open, but controled by cops & ride marshals this year. We had two riders who had to catch a flight out of Houston Sunday night, so we sent them that way early.

Some teams, like BP, are making rider training manditory. My team captain has proposed doing the same, with a three year refresh cycle. Perhaps require all riders to complete the on-line quiz at a minimum would work.

My pet gripe was headphone & cell phones. What part of the ride rules did these clowns not understand? When I could hear the music from a rider's phones is when I got pushy about no headphones. I would reach over & pull the phones out of their ear. Maybe some wirecutters next year?

But seriously, what did you think of the ride marshals? I head rumors of marshals riding unsafe. Is more marshal training needed?

How about a bit more friendlier ride marshals? There was one lady that yelled right in my ear: "STAY ON THE SHOULDER!"

Of course I had to ride in the right lane to get around her as she had her bike across the shoulder as she was 'helping' two riders who were also blocking the the shoulder.

This was just outside of LaGrange.

Mandatory safety classes for all as well as mandatory inspections for all riders. Too many unsafe bikes/riders out there.

I honestly have to say, I do not feel mandatory safety classes are the solution.

As someone who rides club rides year round with a strong safety focus, I would resent having to spend a day in a "newbie" class. Yes, I might pick up a thing or two, but I do not feel that the class would drive others to act better.

Those that are going to do wrong are likely going to do wrong, especially when a century ride is a stretch for them and they are over tired. Headphones are a perfect example.

As for ride marshalls, 99.9% are great, but like anything there are a particular number who are on an ego trip. More training will not necessarially prevent that.

Off subject a bit but does anyone know what happen to the young lady that fell early into the day two ride. We were coming out of a decent (first pack to be let loose that day) about 15-20 minutes into the ride and she went down real hard. I would estimate we were doing over 20, one of the people on the shoulder said they could hear her scream before she actually hit the pavement.

Anyone know how this one happened?


I think these are the kinds of things that you need to bring up in your meetings. We should be asking HOW are these accidents happening. WHAT can we do to correct them. I alone saw over 15 accidents during the two day tour not counting the all the riders that had bandages over their knees and arms. Maybe when you have the meeting it should be made a priority to contact some of the SAG wagon drivers to gather more information about the accidents they helped fix / cleanup. Day two was just cluttered with emeregency vehicles all over the place for the first 2 hours. Not Cool.

I did the MS150. :) I was Houston Command operating with The HAMs. I mainly handled the medical traffic and priority message traffic. I also helped with the Trackers in all of the vehicles by getting the systems up and running, to a point. o_O

;)

Yep, the only plausable reason for the tacks is that it was done in malice. They were spread over way too far of a distance for a box to "accidentally" have fallen out.

All in all Saturday was perfect and even Sunday was a great day. Got into LaGrange around noon, into Austin around 1:30 after my 90 minute "Park" delay.

I too think I will look at doing the Bike to the Beach or the Red River Challenge next year since they are smaller. I think the BP Houston to Austin ride is just getting a bit too big. I said that last year but really wanted to participate in the 20th anniversary. (Plus my wife was riding for the first year.)

I do have to say that I think that the ride was wonderfully well run given the mass of people. (Though I was not happy never seeing a SAG in nearly an hour...in the first time I could have ever used one in 10k miles.)

And of course it is a great cause. One of our club riders is fighting MS himself so it really puts a face to the ride for us.

Sorry for the doubel post.

We recieved a report from one of the SAG vehicles that "tacks had been accidently scattered across the road." Hahahaha. Yea, everyone laughed.

And about SAG vehicles: At one point they were actually seperated from the pack because they had to take a diversion. Nearly EVERY SINGLE SAG and two ambulances as well as the transport trucks. I forget where it was that this happened; and they had to back track against the flow to help anyone from the point where they were seperated to where they came back in. THAT was a FUBAR.

On one interesting note, anyone here who is familier with Amateur Radio has probably heard the term APRS. It is a technology that allows one to hook up a GPS unit to a radio and a TNC and broadcast their position to what's known as a digipeater. Well, at some point during day two, we had problems with the Tracker on the Turtle, and he was being reported as going 890 miles an hour north bound. o_O Not on topic, but thought I'd share. ;) An illustration that technology does not cure all.

Do any of you know how to obtain an accident report from the MS society? I have been trying for almost two years and they keep stonewalling me. I think six broken bones deserves some consideration. Any help out there?

Ok so I have to ask: why didn't anyone note the tacks and clear a path?

If I was riding in a group ride and came upon a bunch of tacks in the road I would stop and warn other rides weather I got a flat or not. Seems odd that more than 10 or so riders would have had an issue.

I don't think it was one particular spot that the tacks were in. They were spread out over the first few milles of the park. We were in the later groups going through the park and still saw the random flat because of the tacks.

Do any of you know how to obtain an accident report from the MS society? I have been trying for almost two years and they keep stonewalling me. I think six broken bones deserves some consideration. Any help out there?


I'm sorry for your accident, but I have to ask - didn't you sign some sort or waiver before you rode? I would doubt that the MS Society would provide accident reports, nor provide "consideration" if you signed the required waiver.

I'm not trying to sound harsh, and I don't have any connection to the MS Society, but based soley on the small bit of info you've provided it sounds like you might be barking up the wrong tree.

Linda, how about police or EMS for an accident report?

On the carpet tack issue, the hot news at the Team Captain meeting was that the toad responsible for the tacks is in jail. As he should be, with six separate law agencies looking for him.

This just in: The MS society CLOSED registration this morning at 13,000 riders!