MS Ride

(Slide show at the end)

     What a great weekend!  We stayed in Camarillo Friday night, then the boys and I drove to Santa Barbara Saturday morning while Will rode his bike there.  The weather was perfect for the ride!  

     Will raised a total of $1,200 for the MS Society!  Thank you to everyone who donated!  The event raised a total of $750,500!!!  What a great cause to ride for!  At the beginning of the race the announcer said, "While you climb those tough hills, think of those people suffering from MS and all that they go through."  

     There were over 1,000 riders on Saturday!  There were a lot of teams riding together; it looked like the Tour De France!  My batteries died when they all took off - it was a great sight seeing so many cyclists!  The batteries also didn't work when I tried to take a picture of the host of Amazing Race!  He was riding with a team and he got to speak at the beginning of the ride. 

     Will said the first 30 miles was FAST.  He rode about 26 mph in the middle of about 50 riders - a few teams.  He said it was fun to draft and be in the middle of it all.  Next time we'll have to get a real team to ride with.  (Our "Team Larson" just cheered on the side of the road!). Will rode 100 miles from Camarillo to Santa Barbara in 5 hours and 13 minutes.  

     We were at the start line at 6:30 am, went back to our hotel for breakfast, then drove to the beach to wait for Daddy and play.  After the race there was a huge blow up slide that the boys went up and down about 30 times.  (Sorry, didn't get a picture of that either.)  They enjoyed the drummers, watching all the riders and of course playing at the beach!!  They slept well last night! (Will included).    

     Here's our slide show of the big event.  *If the slide show has stopped, click on the x in the right hand corner and it will play again.

     We wish Will would have had a camera on the ride to take pictures.  He said it was beautiful.  They climbed up to about 1500 feet elevation (and started at about sea level)!  They had rest stops along the way and tons of food and drinks throughout the ride.  He only stopped for lunch (they had Subway sandwiches for them) and stopped for water.  Next time we'll mount a camera on his helmet so we can see it all!  What a fun day.