On My Terms by D.B.McKinney

I was one of the hearty souls who did not submit to the extreme weather conditions on Saturday of the 1998 MS150. Overall, my ride went pretty well. The only mechanical problem I had occurred exactly one mile from the finish line. At the point where the road veers left and there was a volunteer on the side of the road waving on the riders, my rear tire went flat. I first attempted to fill it with air in the hope that it would sustain the mile ride, but within 50 yards it went flat again. While I was working on the tire, many riders passed me whooping and hollering at the prospect of only a mile to go. At the same time, quite a few shouted words of encouragement to me as well as commented on the bad luck of getting a flat so close to the finish.

As I worked, I took the time to bask in the moment of having made the ride this year, seven years since I last rode the MS150. By far, the weather on Saturday made this a much more difficult ride, not to mention being seven years older. I got a lot of satisfaction watching the expressions on the faces of the riders who were passing by: tired yet happy (and relieved). It brought home to me the real reason for the ride, which was raising money to help people with MS. I thought to myself, "Imagine thousands of riders toughing it out in bad weather, riding the hills of Bastrop, sleeping on the ground, all for a charitable cause. This is cool.

The volunteer suggested I walk the bike across the finish line, since it was only a mile away. I told him no way. After all of this effort I was going to ride across the line. In my hurry to get going, I did not give the inner tube patch sufficient time to dry. As a result, by the time I actually rode across the finish line, the rear tire had gone flat again. But, I finished on my terms!

I plan to be back next year. And if the only problems I have are rainy weather and a flat tire, I will consider myself very fortunate.

D.B. McKinney

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