AZ MS150 Just Around the Corner

The Arizona MS150 — a benefit bicycle ride for the National MS Society — is just barely over a week away. On Saturday and Sunday, November 8th & 9th, I plan on joining approximately 2000 other bicyclist to ride from South Phoenix to Gila Bend and back, approximately 150 miles over the two days … only this weekend left for training rides and one last week for soliciting donations and pledges!

Route Map for November 8th
Route Map for November 9th

The only difference between these maps are the order and locations of the rest-stops.

Tom Adams did a little bit of research on the weather we can expect next weekend:

Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 14:26:26 -0800 (PST)
From: Tom Adams
To: azms150-Teams
Subject: AZ MS Rides MS150 Weather

I looked up the Phoenix and Gila Bend climate history for Nov 8 & 9 to see what we can expect “weatherwise” for the MS150.

Sunrise will be about 6:55am, and sunset about 5:30pm. The average daytime high is 80, the record high was about 92, and the record low high was about 63. The average nighttime low is 50. The average rainfall is 2/10ths inch. The average wind in November is from the East at 5.3mph, although we can expect 7 days with gusts between 20 and 39mph. The long-range weather forecasts put our area at 40% above normal temperatures and 40% below normal precipitation.

Based on this, I’m forecasting a high of 85, a nighttime low of 56, no rain, and a 6mph East wind. Perfect weather for the ride, I just hope it comes true!

Here are the weather and climate sources so you can make your own forecast.
NOAA Phoenix weather www.wrh.noaa.gov/Phoenix/index.html
Arizona climate history www.wrcc.dri.edu/summary/climsmaz.html
Phoenix climate (Wind) geography.asu.edu/cerveny/phxwx.htm

tom adams

I certainly hope Tom is right. Year before last, the wind was terrible and blew against us both days — much harder to take the second day.

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