Bike/Run Double

September 8: MS150 (100 mile bike, 6:14)
September 9: Skagit Flats marathon (4:07:17)
Mt. Vernon WA

My 4th year doing Bike MS, but having logged so few bike miles during my "sabbatical" in eastern WA, I was seriously doubting I could handle 170 miles in 2 days. So I decide to take the "easy" way out, ride the first day (95 miles, 4400 ft vertical) and run Skagit Flats marathon the next day. This is an old local race I'd never run before because it always falls on the same weekend as Bike MS (bike trumps the run), and overlaps the day 2 bike route. A true bike-run-swig, or actually, bike-swig-run-swig.

I'd been trying to convince Team BRS to ride Bike MS with me for years, and Dyno finally agreed. He and Skirtsteak camped on site, and I split a room with our team leader Lily. The Swedish team (the "Smyelin' Babes") was a bit smaller this year (in past years was over 100 strong) but still a lavish team tent, with pool o' beer, BBQ, free post-ride massage, and this year free arm warmers!

As part of the race packet, each rider gets a bandana signed by a person with MS. Dyno's bandana was coincidentally signed by someone named "Susie", and I guess he lost the accompanying paper explaining what they were, leading to some confusion.

I latched onto Dyno's slipstream early on and was pulled pretty much the entire day. As 2nd team in fundraising, we got to start 2nd in the chute so were ahead of most people in the beginning.

Was looking forward to the salmon wraps at lunch but we got there so early (like 9:30 AM) that most of the food had not even arrived yet. I think someone heard me lamenting that it was not a true "century" because the course was only 95 miles, because we missed a turn and ended up doing the extra 5 miles, with ~150 extra feet of climbing as a bonus. Be careful what you wish for. Still finished a minute faster than I did riding solo 2 years ago.

Dyno & Skirtsteak are already signed up for next year, what say you, Ocean?