The 150-mile bike ride had to cancel its initial leg two days in a row.

Bikes, beautiful weather, and bubbles, thousands of bubbles, greeted bikers crossing the finish line at the BP MS 150.

The cyclists rode into town Sunday on the final stretch of a 150-mile ride from Houston, or at least it would have been 150 miles, if it weren't for Mother Nature.

About 13,000 cyclists were expected to participate in the 25th annual BP MS 150 to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. However, since weather conditions put a damper on the first leg of the race, only about 8,000 cyclists rode into Austin.

		WATCH THE VIDEO
	BP MS 150 News 8's Karina Kling went to the finish line to learn a little more about who the race will ultimately affect and how they're cheering on the cyclists. The Finish Line Kling went to the finish line to find out about a race that raises millions for MS research. Bubble Bistro Kling caught up with one group beating MS one bubble at a time.

The setback, however, hardly set back those on the sidelines cheering on the riders and churning out the bubbles.

The soapy floating spheres are a more recent tradition in the MS 150, and Nancy Gerner is the woman behind them. Gerner found out she had MS 10 years ago.

"My whole world, the concrete just fell under my feet," she said.

Every year since then, her husband rides the race on her behalf, and every year she watches from the sidelines to cheer him on to the finish line.

She would blow bubbles to let him know where she was in the crowd, but then one day, four years ago, she collapsed from heat exhaustion.

"The ambulance driver told me he had done it for 11 years, and he got more MS patients than riders every year," she said. "And so that made me think we needed to have a shaded place for patients with MS to watch the riders come in."

	Nancy Gerner is the woman behind the bubbles.

And so, the Bubble Bistro was born. The tent provides a platform and a place for MS patients to participate and keep cool, and the bubbles remind riders who they're helping.

"We have professional bubble machines this year so we don't have to do all the work," she said.

Her husband may have a harder time locating her among the sea of bubbles at the finish line, but the message the bubbles send makes it all worthwhile.

	The bubbles remind riders who they're helping.

"It's the best medicine for us that we could ever get, and it empowers us," Gerner said.

All it took was a little shade and a lot of bubbles to give a group of people a sense of power, and a place to cheer on all those that donated some of their brute power for a good cause.

The event raised $15 million in 2008 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and hopes to raise $17 million this year.

For more information on the BP MS 150 or how you can help, visit MS150.org.

	Delays
The 150-mile bike ride had to cancel its initial leg two days in a row. The first leg of the ride from Houston to La Grange was scrapped Friday due to rain. As it continued to pour all over Texas Saturday, making for dangerous cycling, the ride was cancelled again. The second leg went as planned Sunday, starting in La Grange at the Fayette County Courthouse and finishing 70-80 miles later, in Austin. The cyclists rode into Austin on FM 969, then turned south on Red River to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, then turned left on Congress Avenue, to finish near the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. The event caused quite a traffic tie up in the areas around the route.