BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

You will show me. I command You.

Get home before I go to sleep and I will. Otherwise you wait with everyone else.

Those look FANTASTIC! I need to swing buy an pick up one of your guys blue jersey sometime soon.

These are fabulous and funny! (are those baby bents?)

Big wheels!

That jersey just may be the tipping point for me. I really need to start raising some money.

My five-year old son loves it! (okay, I do, too...) I know there have been threads elsewhere on the board about MS150, but is there any easier way to sign up, and how do I join Team Thick specifically?

When you sign up there is an option for being a member of a team, search for Thick Bikes, lead by Christopher Beech. If you've already signed up and can't figure it out, feel free to call/email Lauren, she'll take care of you.

I dig it!

But I need to see how mad the group I ride with will be if I switch.

man, i will be out of town for this ride again this year! i keep missing out!

I'm back in again this year. Looking forward to it! A different team asked me to join them, but I'm going to say that Thick probably has the best all-round group of folks. And, obviously, awesome jerseys.

Love it!

Ps according the training schedule, today is the first day you should start to train for this ride (unless I counted wrong)

Training....fundraising...all these things I need to do that will most likely be put off until a much later date.

kayla, i think you will be ok for this ride. you're young and thin and i have never seen you struggle on a ride.

i usually like to start as early as possible and ride at a pretty good pace the first day, and tackle the century. i am contemplating riding single speed or fixed for this and just doing the regular route at a slower, more relaxed pace. buuuttt i do love getting centuries in, especially when they are fully supported. i am hoping the temp isn't in the low to mid 90s again this year. we are due for a weekend with 72 degree weather. it has been at least 4 years since it was decent, i think.

I still need to sign up and commit.

really? i *always* think it's too damn hot but iirc the temps last year were pretty mild?

oh no, last year was pretty bad. very humid and in the 90s the first day. i had water in a camelbak and kept filling my water bottles up with gatorade. i was still not peeing much. just thinking about gatorade makes me want to puke. second day wasn't too bad. it has rained the second day the past two years around the lunch rest stop (for me). in 2009, the first day was also pretty hot. i didn't hydrate the first day and ended up pretty ill with heat stroke. i don't handle extreme heat very well.

@stefb: I'm in the same boat with extreme heat, especially on long rides. I found that filling a long sock, arm warmer, or other similar porous tube with ice and draping it over the back of my neck worked wonders; tuck the ends inside your collar to keep it in place, and you've got an hour or more of blessed cool relief.

In a pinch, it works pretty well with a Camelbak bladder, too, but your beverage warms up faster that way.

I did the ride in 2008, or 7 temps on the first day were so hot our tires were sticking the road. fun!

i didn't do the century so maybe i finished before it got too hot. i definitely do not like the heat either - even today is kind of hot by my standards...

i kind of like the rain - it's better than the hot. although, my first ms150 (1994?), all my friends ditched due to the weather forecast but i went. it held up its end of the bargain by raining basically the entire day, plus ridiculous winds. wow did that suck.

anyways - despite my recruiting efforts, i seem to be the only member of my team again this year, so maybe i should join team thick.

I like to get out on the road as soon as possible. I try to leave with the first group if it’s at all possible. They had bad morning fog a few years ago and it messed up the start. If you can get the first few legs in while it’s still cool it helps.

Hey, I'm doing my fundraising for this. I wanted to come up with some sort of gift I could send people who donated money. Anyone have suggestions? My initial criteria are:

a) something that would appeal to non-cyclists, but somehow relate to bikes

b) small, since about half of these would be going in the mail

c) cheap/homemade. I'm marginally crafty, and using free/cheap/recycled stuff would be a bonus

If I can't think of anything, I'll just come up with a nice photo from the bike ride and have that printed and sent off. I don't really want to wait until June though.

Maybe you could make something neato from cut up pieces of THE authentic innertubes you used on the ride?

The rubber material is nice, tactile stuff.

With scissors you could make earrings for those with pierced ears. Snip into interesting shapes and jab onto french hooks available at craft stores.

A friend of mine had a tailor make an amazing zippered cat suit made of old tubes, but that's probably more time consuming than what you had in mind.

That sounds cool and I am going to totally do it. Thanks Pseudacris. Now I just need something for the lesser gender

inner tube belts?

You could take the money you intend to spend on the thank you gift, and the postage to send it, and add that to the donated amount, and just send them a thank-you email instead, letting them know you bumped-up their donation total, and let them feel that much more generous!

You could deliver something via bike for them. Sure, you can't send that in the mail but maybe send them a gift certificate you made for them to make it official.

I send people email updates about my rides and to let them know that there are others with loved ones that are impacted by MS. Each year there are more people I learn about who are affected, and then I let the others know about it. It has not created cross-communication but it can help them know they are not alone.

I say thanks to people who donate (either in person or in email) but mainly I just make sure to contribute to whatever they fundraise for. Ideally this leads to a circle of donations that spirals out of control.

I just got the team email from Chris - if you were thinking about signing up please do so ASAP and let Chris know what your jersey size is. The sizes have to be turned in on May4th. Please refer to the email from Chris below. Ride on!

Team,

In case you haven't heard... Our jerseys are sponsoered again this year with our all new design. Colin Burch came up with a nice Pittsburgh theme that will surely stand ot once again. I need to know everyone's sizes for our new jerseys ASAP. Our custom order with Hot Shoppe has to be confirmed on May 4th which is next Wednesday. If you are on the MS150 team you are entitled to a free jersey of the new design but I need to know your size. Call, email or comment on the facebook post but let me know somehow. I want eveyone to get a jersey that fits. We are doing men's and women's jerseys this year so please specify which you would prefer. Thanks.

Chris

Thick Bikes phone number is 412-390-3590

I guess I really need to decide if Im going to ride in this or not...