If you’re not familiar with it, the MS 150 is a two-day bike tour from Houston to Austin that raises money for Multiple Sclerosis research. Emergent sponsors our team and a good number of Emergent employees ride and volunteer, along with a healthy sprinkling of their families and friends.
Rolling Through the Hills
The weekend goes something like this: We gather in Katy, Texas at sunrise on Saturday morning, and set out en masse for Bastrop, crossing our fingers that the wind will be at our backs and the downhill portions will outnumber the uphill (they never do).
By Saturday afternoon, having enjoyed the wildflowers and rolling hills of southeast Texas, we make it into our beautiful private campgrounds at Dog Trot Farm (generously shared with us by our supporters: Tom “Boysh” Buescher, the Radcliffe family, and our sister team Salient Partners). Once at camp, massage therapists greet us and proceed to rub away the stiffness and pain from our long day of riding. We also have the luxury of a salt-water swimming pool, hot tub, fire pit, plenty of cold beverages, a gourmet fajita lunch, and a hearth-cooked pizza and pasta dinner.
Exhausted and content, we crawl into our tents, set up for us by our cadre of volunteers, and rest a few hours, knowing that we have it to do all over again tomorrow. Sunday morning we arise again at daybreak for breakfast tacos and another long day of cycling through the hill country. As we pedal along, we see a wildfire-scarred Bastrop State Park and, finally, roll into Austin for a monster finish line party at the capital building.
Satisfaction Beyond Words
The ride this year was challenging as always but, as always, the company, camaraderie and everything else made the weekend a blast. Hopefully next year work won’t be as hectic and I will actually find time to train more, as opposed to using my brother Trey’s “concentraining” system. He designed this program a few years back, before he retired from riding to act as Camp Foreman: The program pretty much consists exclusively of thinking about training, but not actually doing much!
As difficult as the ride was at times, as painful as it was to put our bottoms back on the saddle on Sunday morning, as steep as the last few hills seemed on Sunday afternoon when we pulled into Austin, crossing the finish line and knowing the difference we made for MS patients always makes everything else seem trivial. Knowing our team raised over $20,000 to help find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis is beyond satisfying. I just don’t have the words to explain how good it feels.
I would like to thank the entire team and our incredible cast of volunteers, supporters and donors for facing the challenge bravely and riding, working and contributing with such grace and nary a complaint. The volunteers worked tirelessly to set up tents, cook, navigate logistics, move bikes, cars and people, clean, and generally make sure the only thing the riders had to focus on was pedaling.
We talked a lot this year about how Team Emergent thrives on a series of deep, meaningful relationships amongst a bunch of people that really only spend about 36 hours a year together. I just love the inspiration and encouragement the truest of friends always share with one another.
Taking part in the MS 150 with our team has been, and continues to be, an amazing, life changing experience for me. And from what I can tell, for the team as a whole. It’s too late to ride or volunteer this year, but if you’d like to be a part of it through a donation, please visit our team page here: LINK
Thank you!
Kris Looney