One week ago we drove 488 miles up to North Little Rock so I could spend Saturday and Sunday riding the Bike MS Rock’n Hot Ride from Little Rock to Hot Springs Village and back. Thanks to all of my friends & family I’ve currently raised $2,791 and am the 4th highest fundraiser for this event! That’s without the $500 match that my employer will make this fall. It means the world to me that so many people chose to donate to the National MS Society in my honor, as I rode in memory of my godmother Barbara Hoffman who passed away last December after a very long battle with progressive Multiple Sclerosis.

Thank you donors! This year’s fundraising brings me up to a lifetime total of $15,460 over the last 8 years!

We arrived in Arkansas on Friday night at Garver LLC, an engineering firm in North Arkansas that graciously hosted the start on Saturday and the finish on Sunday. This ride only had about 200 riders, so the swag bag was pretty stuffed. The best thing was this awesome top fundraising jersey:

Early Saturday morning I put on that same jersey and we headed back to Garver to the start line. It was just under 60 degrees so I broke out my arm warmers for the first time in many months. They didn’t stay on very long after I started riding.

Once we rolled out, the route quickly turned onto miles of nicely paved hike and bike trails along the Arkansas River.

I was very impressed by the large pedestrian bridge spanning the river near the dam.

After crossing the long bridge, we rode along the south side of the river before crossing a shorter pedestrian bridge.

After getting off the trails, the cyclists spread out quite a bit and I rode by myself for long stretches. It was a beautiful day for a ride, cool, with very little wind and shady roads.

I was impressed by the number of cyclists I saw out riding on Saturday, including this large group. Given the small size of the MS ride, I hadn’t taken Little Rock for much of a cycling city.

In addition to this Ferrari, there were a ton of motorcycles out driving around. We came to find out later that the Hot Springs Motorcycle Rally was taking place.

Arkansas likes fancy bridges on the country roads.

The first rest stop was at mile 36, basically the half way mark for Saturday’s ride. It was the “lunch stop” so it had a lot of food inside this small little school building.

Look at the small class photos lining the auditorium walls!

Pretty roadside yellow flowers:

Graveyard tucked in under the trees:

Arkansas country side church:

Guys, liquor store 6 miles ahead!

As I mentioned, there were tons of motorcycles out on Saturday, including quite a few trikes and even one weird motorcycle that looked like a sports car in front, sat two people, but had only a single back wheel and looked like a motorcycle from behind. No photo of that unfortunately.

I didn’t realize before Saturday morning that most of the hills on this ride were at the end, after you make the turn into Hot Springs Village. I made the turn, and even then the hills were mild until after the next rest stop.

Hot Springs Village is a gated, huge, retirement community with a ton of amenities and outdoorsy activities.

It had nice bike lanes throughout.

The last few miles just seemed to go up and up, but with a few downhill rollers thrown in to keep my spirits up. At the last rest stop, a boy handed me an orange lei as I pedaled by. I managed to get it over my helmet while riding.

I was so excited to see this sign telling me only one more mile on the Hot Springs Village road!

Shortly after I left the gated community, I made a turn down into a parking lot by the Village Inn where the finish line was setup.

I got off my bike and stopped my Garmin bike computer to be greeted with a message that I set a personal record for climbing, 4,587 feet in one ride! It sure felt like it was concentrated in the last 10 miles. My grand total was 69 miles with an average of 17.5 mph. It was such a great ride!

For the rest of Saturday, we explored Hot Springs in the middle of a crazy motorcycle rally. We had lunch at a brewery in the Superior Bathhouse and then took hot baths at the Buckstaff bathhouse. It was definitely an interesting, and hot, experience that left my body feeling relaxed.

On Sunday morning we woke early and headed back to Hot Springs Village to the start line. It was only 48 degrees! I haven’t ridden in those temperatures since April. Luckily I had packed a few layers to wear along with my Bike MS Sam’s Club Round Up Ride 2014 top fundraiser jersey from last year’s ride.

After a quick round of announcements, we were on our way back out of Hot Springs Village. The hills out of Hot Springs Village were more down than up so we were really flying. I exited Hot Springs Village with an average speed of over 19 mph!

I might have to retire to this place. So many outdoorsy things to do!

Someone was out early on the golf course playing in the dewy grass.

After exiting Hot Springs Village we turned north and my average speed slowed. Saw a donkey and his friends:

I pulled into my first rest stop at mile 32, at the same school as Saturday. Carl met me here so I could shed some extra layers.

I saw 3 deer high-tailing it across a field towards the road I was riding on. You can just barely make them out between the two trees behind the little pond. While the GoPro takes nice landscape photos it does not zoom at all.

Saw some old fancy cars on a trailer:

Luckily it turned into a warm and lovely day. I rode through a lot of shaded roads.

Many lovely yellow wildflowers along the road:

I met up with two other riders, one of whom works for Orbea, a Spanish bicycle manufacturer that recently set up US headquarters in Little Rock. After many hours of solitary riding between the two days it was nice to chat with friendly locals. In general the volunteers and cyclists in Arkansas were less friendly / talkative than the ones I’ve met in Texas. Approaching the first, smaller, pedestrian bridge:

Crossing the Little Maumelle River, just as it comes into the Arkansas River:

After crossing the bridge we were riding on a combination of bike / hike paths and closed roads:

Riding up onto the second, longer pedestrian bridge spanning the Arkansas River:

Very impressive architecture – the bridge is quite high over the river:

After the bridge, we were almost to the finish line. The route differed from Saturday at this point, curving around behind the Garver building.

And just like that, I was finished!

Day 2 was 67.8 miles, 3,684 ft of elevation gain with a 17.2 mph average. I definitely felt the climbing but was able to finish strong and collect my finisher’s medal to add to my collection.

We celebrated with lunch at a brewery in Little Rock (surprise, I know) and a stop at a state park for a short hike.

Thank you again to all of my donors, I am honored by your generosity and am so happy to help the MS Society on the quest to find a cure for MS!