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!

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?