San Frantastic Ride!!!

Wowzah!! Last Monday, after 2 unusually hot days in the beautiful city of San Francisco, Sarah and I decided to pick the 50-degree, windy and foggy day to rent bikes and ride across the Golden Gate bridge into Sausalito and up to Mill Valley... et je ne regret RIEN!!! It was sooo fun, but OH MY GAWD it was windy up on that bridge. Sarah got blown off her bike.

We stopped for hot chocolate in Sausalito and then rode up to Mill Valley where we hugged some Redwood trees. Then we biked back to Sausalito and caught the ferry back to Fisherman's wharf in San Fracisco. On the way we got to see Alcatraz up close and personal. Miles logged this trip: 20.

Mother's Day Minuteman Ride

On the subject of slacking, we have totally dropped the ball on the blogging front and as a result we have 3 biking adventures to report on. The first was a lovely 20-mile jaunt out the Minuteman path and back on May 10th (Mother's Day). I was joined by Ta and Ned for what was Ta and my first real bike ride of the season. Ned was on point with his rockin' new removable sleeve jacket (... beige socks slightly less awesome).

True confessions

Ok, we admit it - we're a couple of slackers. We haven't been on a ride in almost a month - not even a spin around the block or to the store. We're terrible, obviously.

But finally today, we made an attempt to reduce our terribleness. We got the bikes out of the shed, strapped 'em on the back of the car and took off for the Perkiomen Creek Trail. This is the same trail we did last year although last year we did the whole trail out and back - about 36 miles or so. This time, we weren't as far along in our training so we did 25 miles of it - up to the 12% grade and back (no, we did not go down the 12% grade because of not wanting to come back up it).

It was a lovely day but unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures this time. So, instead here is one from last year crossing over the creek.

More Spring Training

Editorial Note: I wrote this on April 26 but never posted it, so here it is delayed...
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Hi all!

Nancy and I continued our training yesterday with a 17 mile ride around the river drives in Philly. We made a short pit stop at the Azalea Garden on the grounds of the Philly Art Museum. As a result, we decided that our theme for this year's training blog will be plants and flowers we see on our rides (to counter balance all the shots of everyone eating snacks along their rides last year!).

So, in keeping with that, here is a photo of one of the beds at the Azalea Garden. The azaleas weren't quite in bloom but the beds had lovely plantings of bulbs and other attractive annuals and perennials.

Ready Set Go!

Ok, Team Charlie riders, I'm ready!

I may not have a fancy-schmancy indoor trainer (I do have trainer envy though) but I have officially dusted off my Schwinn, pumped the tires and taken her out for Spring test ride.

Let the fun begin!

"Spring Training"

Papi, Pedroia, Youk and Paps aren't the only ones who are "gettin' it done" this Spring. Ta and I have dusted off the ol' bikes and have hit the ground running... well, maybe hit the ground jogging, or at the very least we've hit the ground at a light trot, but make no mistake, we have officially hit the ground!

For Spring break, we headed south to Ft. Myers, FL to take in a few Red Sox Spring Training games. While we were in the area, we hopped over to Sanibel for a lovely 13-mile bike ride through the Ding Darling Wildlife Sanctuary.

The rental bikes were not quite what we're used to (but, hey, I could get used to a ginormous seat with crazy shock absorbance... and the basket was pretty handy, too) and there were many stops along the way to check out various avian species.

All in all, we completed the trek in just over 2 hours.

[See more photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/CCArmsby/SpringTrainingEtc#]

Since we've been home we've renewed our resolve to keep to our training schedule of 30min/day on our trainers (that doesn't exactly mean we've been doing it, but at least we have a renewed resolve to do it).

And yes my bike does still have it's 2008 Memory Ride number on it (i.e., no, I have not gone for a ride since July 26, 2008.

Team Charlie was amazing last year, raising a total $11,427.25.

This year, we welcome Jim Morlando to the team, so barring any injuries, we should have at least 8 riders!!!

Visit http://memoryride2009.kintera.org/teamcharlie to make a donation or to join our team.

Go Team Charlie, Go!!!!

Not Quite Biking Weather

Well, we were all set to start our training for the 2009 Team Charlie ride... but then...










it snowed. So instead we finally got a chance to cross country ski. Hey, it's cross training right?

Anyway, both Nancy and I are now officially enrolled in this year's incarnation of TEAM CHARLIE. I noticed we have already slipped from second to fifth place. But of course we haven't even gotten started yet. So, we hope to see some more names up on the Team Charlie roster soon to keep Hootie, Sarah, Nancy and I company.

Meanwhile, we're gettin' it done, frosty style!