so far behind...

sorry for the lack of posts, the hotel in Pheonix had no internet and....aw, nevermind. I'll post up more images from the Tour in the next few days. In the meantime, I've set up a link to all our tour pics over at flickr - just hit the link listed at the right.

enjoy!

the starting line

ok, some pics in dribs & drabs. Here's a few from the starting line. 8500 riders in the predawn cold. Somehow the team stayed together, and my 1-man cheering squad was in full-force...

done.

just a quick note before I go to bed (I really, REALLY need to go to bed). I finished the ride in one piece with a final official time of 8 hours, 9 minutes 18 seconds. Just about what I was hoping to hit. Pics to come, but here's the obligitory finish line shot in the meantime...

bike pick-up + swag

The trip down to Tucson went without any problems - about 1.5 hours door-to-door. After checking in at the hotel we ventured out to find the convention center where the bikes would be waiting. One large parking lot was taken up by a convoy of 18-wheelers off-loading TNT bikes from across the nation. Looks there will be several thousand here.

We located the truck with all the tri-state chapters bikes without any problem ( the driver is a bit of a character & easy to spot :) I beat the rest of the team here by a few hours, so after reassembling the bike (which arrived in one piece) we headed over to the convention center to check in, receive my rider's packet, and check out the exhibitors. I needed to buy some CO2 cartridges anyway, but we also scored some decent swag. A free tube, some drink packs, a light, & some other stuff as well.

mmmm, swag.

and they're off!

yep, Thursday morning and courtesy of JetBlue we're jetting cross-country to Arizona. (I wish they would wash these windows more often...) Since Allison & myself flew separate from the team, we'll be driving down to Tucson from Pheonix and retrieving the bike at the convention center later in the afternoon.

Guess this is for real now...

MUD!

I've been looking forward to today for a looong time. Training is completed, so that means that I get to hop on my mountain bike again! I did notice that I rode for much longer than I used to. Guess all that hard work is paying off...

say goodbye to the bike...

so, what did YOU do Friday night? Me? I hung out outside a bike shop for 3 hours, waiting for a truck. Bike's on truck - truck's on road. Next, it's my turn.

sendoff!

so, last night we attended the official sendoff meeting for the Tucson ride. The team gathered (I forgot there were so many of us still!) and received our travel info. Plane tickets, meal vouchers, schedules - exciting stuff like that.

The interesting part came in the form of some stats. Check this out:
- As a team, we have raised $190,000 (so far!) I had no idea.
- the top fund raiser on the team has brought in $41,000. Damn. She may well turn out to be the top fundraiser for all the U.S. at that rate.
- and finally, after all the agony we've gone through, only 11 people dropped out over the course of the season. nice.

So, it was an educational evening. Friday - bike sendoff! (maybe that will be pic-worthy...)

one step closer...

this weekend we hit a milestone - our final training ride. Going out with a bang we completed a double-loop of River Road in Jersey before tooling it up to Nyack one more time. A hot chocolate at the end helped dull the pain a bit, for shure.

What's next? Our official sendoff meeting happens Wednesday (dunno what we do there - stay tuned...), and then the bike dropoff is on Friday. Then - a quick week before we hop on the plane on the 16th.

wind on my back

A chilly, windy day today. I set out on my own since yesterday's team ride was a washout. Started by heading east along the L.I.E. service road with the winds on my back. Flew the whole way. Until a flat, that is. Caught an industrial-size staple in the rear tire. Made for a nice break :)

I decided to head north and ended up winding my way up to Huntington, where I picked up the shoreline and did a little exploring. Turned out to be a nice ride - got 50 miles in, a good bit of hill-climbing, and some sight-seeing to boot.

rain, rain, go away

it was bound to happen. Really, we've been lucky till now. It's Saturday, October 28, and it's pouring outside. All day. Today was to be our second-to-last training ride. Not gonna happen. Actually, as of now the ride is still on, but it's too cold out (55 degrees) to risk getting sick.

So - Plan B. I'll head out on my own tomorrow pointed east and build up my miles solo. It'll be windy, but dry.

This is Butch.

meet Butch.

Butch is the man. Why?

because Butch is the guy that put me over the top. Butch and his donation got me over the magic $4400 mark. At $4400 I have officially raised enough funds to ride the tour. It also gets me soooo much closer to my full goal total of $6000. So c'mon kids, we're almost there.

Everybody say "thanks Butch!".


THANKS BUTCH!

75 windy miles

This Saturday's ride took us back down to the Sandy Hook area on the Jersey Shore. We did 75 miles on the ocean's edge in a "paceline clinic". The idea behind the clinic was to demonstrate proper technique when riding in a group. Turns out there are a few rules involved. It all revolves around the concept of drafting, ie. the guy in the front of the line breaks the wind for everyone following. If the group stays tight behind him, they all benefit from the clean air. Thing is, he'll tire quickly, so everyone needs to rotate the lead spot. Lots of signals are involved to keep things running smoothly.

Anyway, it way a beautiful if not windy Fall day, with our greatest distance covered to date. Good thing to, Tucson is coming up quick!

ever seen a grown man cry?

well, if you had ridden with us on Sunday you may have caught me shedding a few tears. We rode a 60-mile loop up the Palisades to Rockland County State Park & back. They beat us up - big time. It's monday morning now and I can still barely walk. On a high note, we did better on this 60 mile ride than we did a few weeks back on some of the same roads at only a 30 mile distance. That's pretty quick progress - amazing actually for some in the group.

I think right now a day or two off the saddle might be a good idea :)

Twin Lights

Last Sunday we ventured down to the Jersey shore to ride in the Twin Lights ride, a 50 miler down in the Sandy Hook area. Beautiful day, and as it turns out, a really nice spot for a ride. Slow rolling hills right near the water's edge, with HUGE estates, horse farms and golf courses.
Oh, the best part... wrapping up a long effort with a post-ride Blizzard at DQ. Yes!

$3,390.00!

great work everyone! Thanks to everybody who has reached out to donate for my ride in November. Because of your help I'm getting close to my target. Good thing too, as I'll need to have the full amout raising with the next few weeks. That means that anyone still sitting on the fence - get to work! And if you know anyone else that might be interested in helping, PLEASE pass along the info. $3390 - awesome!

the lack of oxygen

I ended up taking a slight break from training this past weekend to go to Colorado on some family biz. Turned out we had an afternoon with no commitments, so we took the opportunity to head up to the top of Pike's Peak. We rode the Cog train up to the summit at 14,000 feet. An absolutely breathtaking day! Cold temps (around 30º), and they had just had few feet of snow two days earlier.

Did I mention the lack of air? Turn your head too quicky at those altitudes & you see stars. Or you black out. Or both. I guess that's why they limit your time at the summit to 40 minutes. Oh yeah, we skipped the donuts.

Fall has arrived!

wow, what a beautiful morning for a ride. The commute in was full of blue skies, cool temps and fresh air. What a difference from the hot, sticky, smelly days of summer.

Enjoy!

typical commute

took these a while back - gives you a good idea of the terrain. Only difference is I shot these on a peaceful Sunday morning. There is no WAY I would be taking my hands off the bars on a weekday to snap pics. So picture these roads with MUCH more traffic :)

humming along Queens Blvd...



typical, beautiful landscape

reality bites

wow, and I thought I was doing pretty well. Silly wabbit. Yesterday the training team went on it's first "real" ride. (until now we've been training in Central Park - lots of distance but not too challenging) Sunday we crossed the Hudson and journeyed up 9W to Nyack. It'a a 40-mile round trip, but the distance really wasn't the point. It was the hills. The way up went ok, and I ran with the fast group the whole way. The way back was another matter. A series of hills at the start battered me one after another, and I crept along painfully as I watched the fast group roll out of sight.

I guess it could have been worse. I ended up completing the ride 4 minutes behind the fast group, and about 6 minutes before the middle group. I suffered though. Looks like it's time to get serious and start packing in more midweek riding.

On a bright note, my fundraising continues to go well. last time I tallied it up I was at $2990, just shy of the 50% mark. Keep it up everyone!

day 1

well, here goes. The intent for this site is to give you the idea of what it's like to ride the urban environment. Additionally, I am currently training to ride my first Century, the Tour de Tucson, so I guess i'll be keeping a running log of how that's going.

stay tuned...