Team Charlie A-Gamed It

Just a quick post to say "Wow! What a ride." Most of us on Team Charlie had no idea we'd be able to do what turned out to be a 70.8 mile ride. But let's send a big shout-out to Laura G., Jim M., the "mighty beluga" and all our amazing team supporters and Memory Ride volunteers who made the whole thing so superfantastic. Every mile was worth it because it looks like we raised over $10,000 and we still ask friends and loved ones to consider making a donation to Team Charlie. You still have time to donate!

Looks like we got photos to sort through and such, so it may take a few days to get a full report up here. But meanwhiles, I got more pics up on crackbook if'n ya wanna take a gander.

Ride Day!!!

We are ready, people!!! Just check out our Team Charlie terry cloth wrist bands. Thanks to everyone who supported our team, and look out for a slew of post-ride posts soon!

Oh lordy....

Well, looking at the weekend's forecast and after reading all of the comments about St. Christopher (who, according to Gery & Ellie, is the patron saint of carrying your bike over a bridge that's out), I decided to see if there were any steps we could take, pietisically speaking, to ensure somewhat more favorable conditions for the Big Day.

Here's what I found: Saint Medard, patron saint against bad weather. Basically, the story is that he was a rich French teenager in the 6th century. One day a buddy of his lost his horse, so Medard gave him one of his father's finest horses. Immediately afterward, it started to downpour and while everyone else was drenched (including the buddy and the horse), a giant eagle came up and spread its wings over Medard, keeping him entirely dry. From the versions of the story that I read it wasn't entirely clear as to exactly how much trouble Medard got in with his father for giving away his finest horse... but, hey, at least he wasn't wet, right?

Last training ride

Just a quick entry before we head up to Beantown...

Woke up this morning at 5:15am to the sound of water dripping into my office (inches away from my internet router, mind you). I thought the morning was going to be wash out and was bummed not to be able to get one last quick ride in before we leave. We've been ramping down our training regimen but still I hadn't been on my bike since Monday. Luckily, the skies cleared by about 9am and we were able to get out for a short ride.

I can't believe we're really going to do this thing! All this time it hasn't quite seemed real but here we come... GO TEAM CHARLIE!!

(This picture isn't actually from today. I have short hair now. And I don't actually have devil horns - thanks Nancy!)

So, I've probably biked more than anyone else...

So, yah, I've um biked, like, 7000 miles... so... I'm a really good biker. I'm probably better than a lot of other people... so...

I did a ride today.. and it was, like, 200 miles ... and I averaged 65mph... so I just think I'm a little more experienced at riding bikes than any of you...

Peace and Love

!#@%*$@#!!!!

Shot bloks? Swearing? Sucking wind? Hating people? Having my chain jump off the chain ring, fixing it and then having to start up again on a really steep hill and hating myself for being horrible? Been there. Done that!

Time to move on and try something new. How about a 65.8 mile ride to Carlisle via route 225 and back via route 4 through Chelmsford and Billerica (home ada Mikeys) averaging 14.9 mph?!! Not that there wasn't a lot of the former activities along the way, 'cuz there was plenty o' that, indeed. I also indulged in a pitstop at a dunkin donits on rt. 40 where a guy asked me about what I was up to, where i was coming from and where i was headed. I ended up telling him all about Team Charlie and he left me with best wishes to relay to all of you for a great ride on Saturday.

A word about hills, though. This ride yesterday had plenty of them. big ones, little ones, steep ones and gradual ones. But I realized looking at the profile of my ride that the biggest hill of all of them is the first five miles of the minuteman. I know, it sounds wierd, but from Arlington to Lexington is about a 280 foot gain, what some people call "false flats". And even though other hills climb as high in a fraction of the distance, it still requires a significant effort. So I thought about how to use this information to help me physically and mentally face those later, steeper hills. And my trick was to use my gears to maintain a good turnover or "cadence" and keep my legs warm and moving the whole 65.8 miles, not coasting everytime I needed a rest, only to have to rebuild the strength to start moving again. Worry about keeping moving, I told myself, not speed or time or hills. Bizarrely, I had a much easier time climbing, a better attitude, enjoyed everything about the ride more and made amazing time. Even one of the hills that seemed endless, was still manageable because I just geared all the way down and slogged it out with the mantra, "just keep moving your legs, marge!"

So, why not take a ride on my hot air baloon? The hot air baloon of my mind!

By the way...

We took Jim's boat out yesterday on Jordan Lake & went all the way down to the end of the lake where the dam is - right below the spot where that picture was taken. I looked up and thought to myself, I remember when I was there with people I hate. No, I didn't. But I did see a nuke-you-lar power plant. We had a great day and saw bald eagles fishing. There was no bike-riding involved.

PS - I have terrible photoshop skills, especially since I don't have access to photoshop.

Three rides... one blog entry

Okay, I am terrible and it's a proven fact that Polly hates me. I haven't blogged since the derby. So, in an effort to minimize the terribleness, I would like to tell you about three recent cycling adventures involving me and the littlies.

Ride one: 4th of July weekend. Ned, Hootie and I decided to check out the Devens route. Hootie mapped out about 42 miles worth. Basically, it was the last two thirds of the ride. It was a lovely ride-very scenic. The weather was in the 70's and mostly overcast...perfect for riding. Some highlights: Ned's new gear, alpaccas, parade in Peperell, minimal traffic and "Balls bluff". Overall, it was not as hard as we thought it would be--there were some hills, mostly they were okay, but there was a tough six-mile stretch about ten miles from the end of the route that was hill after hill. Neddie breezed through it whilst Hootie and I were sucking wind. (If I could breathe I would have cried...just kidding...not really...)

Ride two: Last Sunday. Marge, Hootie and I hitched up the covered wagons and headed North to Newburyport for a seaside cycling adventure. This was a 43-miler, but it felt like more with the cross winds. It took us about 4hrs... allowing me to listen to the Sox game for the entire ride (we won, btw). Highlights and pitfalls: pretty marshes, Rte 1 A bridge was out---whoops detour onto terrible Rte 1, black flies a bitin', Little Neck in Ipswich--so cute; Hootie and Marge put their tootsies in the water, Hootie got stung by a bee and Marge and me provided emergency roadside medical care, another bridge out on Dodge Rd--this time we just picked up our bikes and climbed over it, made it back to our friend Mike's house in time for a victory beer (Blue Moon w/lemon) and then off to Woodman's Clam Shack in Essex where we ate our weight (and then some) in seafood and ice cream...

Ride three: Yesterday. Hootie and I played hookie and got a morning ride in to beat the heat. 41 mile loop from our house through Lincoln, Concord, Carlisle, Billerica (home of the Mikeys), Bedford and Arlington. This was a great ride---lots of great scenery, well paved roads (well...until Billerica) and not alot of cars. We ended on the minuteman bike path. Sorry no pics from this one...but it was a beauty!

In sum, the above evidence clearly indicates that I am terrible, and in fact, hated by Polly.

Hootie and I have logged a little under 400 miles---so we are no where close to you 700 clubbers, but we feel good going into the ride. (the jet packs will really help)

p.s. S & W Sports can suck it because we are going to blow past the $10,000 mark in no time!!!

GO TEAM CHARLIE!!!

Hellooooo - anybody out there?

Where is everybody...anything interesting going on?

Woo Hoo!

Attention all Team Charlie riders (and blog readers)....as of this morning, we are officially OVER OUR MINIMUM GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!! I sent out another donation email last night, and the first response took us over $7,000. Hey Polly, I now pass the fundraising baton to you. We'll tag team it!

Do you think we'll get to $10,000?

Final Training Push

How's everyone doing in these last few weeks before the ride?

Here's a digest about our past week of training.

Last Sunday we took a ride down in the Brandywine Creek area. The book we found the ride in rated it "moderate to difficult". But we thought, "hey, I'm sure they're gearing this for recreational cyclists... it shouldn't be too challenging for us!"

Well... actually it was pretty difficult. It had hill after hill - and big hills. By the last leg, we were swearing every time we came to another hill. Below is just one of the many hills.
















On the good side, the ride had it's pretty moments, like this charming covered bridge we passed through - oh and a nice little place to stop and have some lunch too










(these are gratuitous eating shots for you snacking riders - or should I say riding snackers!).

And while we aren't ashamed to say we walked up a few of those hills, we did ride up more than we walked and we averaged 11.49 mph despite many stops to check the directions and of course... the hills.

During the past week we did a few shorter rides including some hill training on our favorite local hill - Wayne Ave and a loop around the Art Museum.

Our plan was to do our last long ride today of 45 mi - 75% of the miles we'll do on the Memory Ride. Since we had done such a hilly ride last week, we thought we would stick to a flat ride today. So, we once again set out on the Schuylkill River Trail . This time, we did not take the spur that goes from the trail to the Valley Forge Park. Instead we kept on the main trail until we actually met up with the Perkiomen Trail, which we had done a few weeks ago. So, we now have a better understanding of how those two trails connect!

We had a good ride - kept our energy up pretty well (except for me getting cranky less than a mile from home) and averaged 12.7 mph. Although we were tired this afternoon, we were not wasted and were actually able to do a little weeding in the garden.

So, our plan for the remainder of the training period is to continue with shorter sprint-type rides and do a 20 mile ride next weekend just to keep the muscles working.

We can't wait to see everyone in two weeks! Go Team Charlie!

Clipping In

O.K. guys, so I know this is not, like, huge news. But it's been a week since we had a posting and while we wait for the "scouting party" to show us the goods, I figured I'd tell you all about the "fitting" I had today at Back Bay Bicycles with BBB general manager Tim Libby.

My bike--which rides like fresh butter melting over a stack of Hootie's blueberry pancakes--had a couple of interesting issues. First, it was custom adjusted to fit the previous owner, David, who's not tall but has a long torso and extremely long arms. This meant that in order for me to reach the bars and the brakes, my back was extending over too far, causing strain during longer rides. Second, it had "Look" clipless pedals that were difficult for me to unclip from, given my wonky leg situation.

Tim helped me a lot with the fit: he fine-tuned the position of my saddle, adjusted the angle of my handlebars to a more upward position, switched out my "stem" to a shorter one and added some "spacers" to my "headset," all to create a much greater level of comfort for a long ride. He also helped me overcome my fear of clipping in by installing those shimano pedals (pictures above) and putting the new cleats on my new shoes. Then, he let me practice on the trainer until I achieved a basic "muscle memory" of how to get in and out of the clips. What a difference it made!

Also, I should tell you that I invested in a new pair of shoes after trial and error with another pair. There are a lot of nice cycling shoes out there, but what no one told me was that the ones they call "road" shoes (as opposed to "mtn" shoes) tend to have very little or no traction built into the sole. Who cares? Well, as I discovered after trying to ride Rte. 16 to Lynn last weekend, trying to step off your bike in traffic and put your foot on the pavement with shiny-smooth hard plastic on the soles of your feet can be kinda scary--at least for this novice. My new shoes are more of the "mtn" variety and have plenty of tread to help me not slip and slide around like a fool.

This has been a learning process but now I feel like I'm better equipped for this Memory Ride and for thousands of miles to come...hopefully.

(for a complete guide to all the gear-head bike jargon contained in this post, check out the diagram below or go to: http://www.casanovasadventures.com/catalog/bike/p2016.htm)

delayed report of our last 40 miler

OK, so Ellie says I'm a loser for not posting a blog in about a million years....so here goes. Today we went on a relatively short and ho hum ride (ie: no ice cream, or lobster rolls, or drinks, or anything interesting) -- our usual loop down along the Wissahickon creek and along the river drives (by the Art museum and back). Nothing to report there, except the goslings are all getting really big and now understand about staying OUT OF THE WAY. We did note all the police, fire and ambulance crews' preparation for the fireworks tonight.

Anyway, I wanted to tell about our 40 mile ride along the Perkiommen Creek (I know I didn't spell that right, but it's as hard as Schuylkill) that we did before we went down to Florida last week. It was a beautiful mostly paved path through woods and along the creek. Along the backside of a couple of towns. We would definitely do it again, except for one thing. There was a really steep grade that required warning...I thought, "Yeah right, sure, ha ha ha"

But they weren't kdding! Here's me trying to get up that grade....OMG that was a really steep climb. I really don't think that clip pedals even would have helped. So, aside from that grade, it was a very pleasant ride that I'd highly recommend. Luckily, at the top of the grade, a friendly neighbor along the path had put out oxygen and a water container the size of a keg, with some cups. I tell you, those suburbanites are really nice.

So, we're planning another 40 miler Sunday. We'll let you know how that goes. Maybe we can stop for bbq and brewskies around the half way mark. I think Ellie picked a nice route out in the Brandywine Valley/river area. TTFN.

Takin' it to the bank

In keeping with my company's green policy, I try to do my shorter errands on my bike. I routinely ride to the Post Office to collect our company mail and even ride to a client's office in nearby Mount Airy.

However, I hadn't tried riding to my bank (only a few miles away) yet because it sits atop a quite significant hill (one of the highest points in Philadelphia, in fact).

Today I finally gave it a go . Not including a short break part way up the hill, I made it! And coming down the hill was "wicked pissah", to borrow a phrase.

Here's a comparison of the hill on the way to the bank with one of the steeper hills on the Memory Ride.



It helps a lot that I just had my bike tuned up and now have sleek new tires that are much less road resistant than my old tires (much more mountain-bikey).

Oh, and by the way this ride makes 558 miles logged for me. So I think I am just a little better than you Marge ;)

Day off

53.41 miles in 4h 9m 30s, 12.84mph. Along the way, I...

A) skinned my knee on the BU bridge

B) completed a personal record for the Minuteman bike path (8.54 miles in 33m30s, or 15.2mph)

C) helped Felice Pomeranz of Sudbury--a concert and jazz harpist who's Felice Pomeranz Jazz Quartet is playing tonight at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum--change a flat front tire on her bike (though inflating it properly was a bit beyond either of us)

D) drank a milkshake at the Dairy Joy on Rte 117 (getting to be a habit)

E) Now completed 507 miles of training (including work commutes) and feeling like I just might be ready for the ride by the end of the month. Knock on wood!