I volunteered for sweep duty (very last rider down the trail to make sure we don’t lose anybody) on Saturday. We had a couple of stragglers that delayed the entire day, and I didn’t finish until 5:30 PM.
The weather was very warm on Saturday, with a 10-12 MPH cross wind, but the Munger trail has many trees down the side, so the wind was a factor, but the heat was what really got to people, the news I got from Will, the volunteer coordinator, was that we went through as much water on Saturday as we normally go through during the entire weekend.
I had dinner with friends, Chris and Cliff Canaday, and had a nice evening after the safety team meeting.
At the safety team meeting on Saturday, they said that the weather would be hot and miserable on Sunday, 20 MPH south winds, with gusts to 35 MPH, and a temperature in the 90’s and for once the weather forecast was unfortunately correct.
It was so hot that when I got to Wyoming rest stop, they had a cooler full of cheese sticks. I told one of the volunteers that they seemed to be getting warm, and maybe someone should add some ice. The volunteer told me, “There isn’t any more ice in Wyoming.” They had already cleaned out the convenience store, the gas stations, and the groceries stores.
I made it to the end of the Sunrise Prairie Trail, where we really needed Ride Marshals to police the trail but I was exhausted, the remainder of the ride was on the road where the SAG wagons and motorcycles could police the ride, I had bad saddle sores even though I had plenty of chamois cream, and was just tired, so I sagged at the last water stop. From a volunteer standpoint I felt bad about quitting before the end. My final mileage was 141.10 so I didn’t feel too bad about knocking off a little at the end from the distance perspective; that’s a long way in two days.
Over 1300 volunteers and more than 3,800 participants helped raise more than $3 million to support MS research and enable the many programs offered by the National MS Society for people affected by MS. Congratulations to all those who’s efforts helped move us closer to a world free of multiple sclerosis. We appreciate all you do!