September 23, 2011

Today we rode from Portsmouth, NH to Worcester, MA. It was 93 miles and 4200 feet of climbing elevation. (Yes, there's an equal amount of descending)! The first 70 miles were great! Cloudy, mid 70's, a bit humid, but better than rain. But, at about mile 70 after a stop at the Dairy Queen and consuming a small chocolate shake - the skies opened up! About a mile past the DQ I got a flat tire - then had chain and gear problems. I sent my riding buddies ahead and toyed with the idea of getting in the SAG wagon. But, after proving I'm not such a bad bike mechanic I got everything working...and rode on into the city of Worcester.

It's a pretty big city. I think every main street was torn up because I hit bumper to bumper traffic. Heck, riding the sidewalk is an advantage for us bikers! I didn't arrive at the motel until 5:00 p.m. - and then had our daily "route rap" at 5:45 p.m. I have to tell you the long, hot shower felt good - but washing out the dirty bike clothes wasn't so fun! I had a really good dinner of steak with all the trimmings - and a well deserved glass of wine!

It's now 8:00 p.m. and both Carol and I are whipped. Thus a short blog! Carol worked hard today - with several folks opting for a ride in the van - which means putting the bikes on the van racks - in the rain. Her day started at 5:30 a.m.!

We're in our third state - and tomorrow will be our fourth - Connecticut. Guess what the weather is predicted to be: heavy rain and flood warnings. Oh please, talk to the sun gods for us! This should be such a pretty ride, but it's hard to enjoy it when you can't see it!

September 22, 2011

Day one of riding is behind us...70.3 miles! I felt good all day. Okay, I'm only going to complain about the rain once (today) - then I'll casually mention it and you'll know it was an ugly day!

It was raining when we left the hotel at 7:15 a.m. in Portland and was still raining when we pulled into the motel in Portsmouth, NH. We're in our second state out of a total of thirteen on the ride. We only hit 15 states on the entire cross country ride two years ago. Today would have been a beautiful ride if the weather had cooperated. We followed the coast of Maine about 50% of the time - and not far from it the rest of the time. We did a group photo before we started this morning (above). The only other picture s today were of several of us standing on the shoreline with the Bush Compound behind us in Kennybunkport. Wow, what a georgeous little highend "burg" that is! (picture above - but the fog was so bad Idon't think you can see the compound)

One of our riders went down at mile 2.2 and he thinks he cracked a couple of ribs...but he finished the ride and will probably ride tomorrow. The only other incident was a broken chain - and Carol and Mac, the mechanic took care of that!

As you can imagine, we were all soaked to the bone and chilled by the time we arrived at the hotel. I hustled to the washer and dryer and will have clean, dry clothes for tomorrow's 90 mile ride to Worcester, MA (3 states in three days - not bad, huh)? And yes, rain is still predicted for the next 4 days! Not just rain, but thunderstorms and hard rain! Come on Mother Nature - turn on the sunshine.

To all of you who have contributed to the DPHA Scholarship Fund - THANK YOU! If you haven't gotten around to it there's still plenty of time. Let's help these kids go to college!

"Talk with you tomorrow".

September 21, 2011

A BIG hello from Portland, Maine. The fun and games are over! It's time for me to get serious. We start our ride tomorrow. It will be a 70 mile ride to Portsmouth, NH...and the first leg of a 1600 mile ride to Daytona Beach, Florida. Champ, (yep, that's his given name) Walker and I went out for an easy 10 miles this a.m. to be sure our bikes were put back together right (and that I could still stay upright after 10 days of running around the East Coast). Last Saturday I met Champ, and his wife Ronnie, and we toured North Central Maine where my mom grew up and I spent the first 15 summers of my life living with my grandparents in a rustic cabin (kerosene lights, wood stove etc.) on Lake Seabassticook. GREAT memories. You folks that like lobster may be a bit envious...I've had that delicacy from the sea 5 times in the last 5 days. (Not the best diet for my bike ride - but oh well!

We had our first group meeting this evening...introductions and our "route rap" for tomorrow's ride. We're all a bit blue. The weather report for the first 5 days of our ride is rain! Lots of it! I for one hate riding in the rain. It's tough for those of us who wear glasses. It's cold and the riding is a whole lot trickier. But, it is what it is...and Carol will be driving a SAG van so if needed I can always get a "bump". Speaking of Carol, I've hardly seen her since we both arrived here yesterday.

More tomorrow. Help my by praying for sunshine.

September 14, 2011

Hello from Duncannon, PA (outside Harrisburg). I'm spending three days with our son Steve (in picture) and his wife Andy as I make my way to Portland, Maine...the beginning of the East Coast Ride.

I left Sacramento on Sunday and did a short stop in Hot Springs, AR where I did a Showroom Selling Workshop for a wonderful, family owned business.

Steve has set me up with his bike on a trainer in the basement so I'll be able to put in a few "miles" while I'm here. I'm also going to see several high school, college and "old" work friends while I'm here in central PA. I'm excited about that!

Since I started serious training about 10 weeks ago I've logged about 2000 miles on my new Trek, 30 gear bike (all around the Sacramento area). I'm not quite in the shape I was for the cross country ride, but I think I'm ready for the 1600 mile jaunt down the East Coast. Let's hope they're done with the earthquakes, tornadoes, floods and hurricanes! I do know we'll have some detours along the way.

Carol leaves this Sunday for Hartford, CT and SAG (Support and Gear) driver training. This is a very responsible job and she's taking it seriously. Saturday I fly to Portland, Maine to meet Champ, my roommate on the 2009 cross country ride. Champ, his wife Ronnie and I are going to do a little sightseeing in that beautiful part of the country before meeting up with the team of riders and staff next Tuesday.

I'm ready, and pumped! I'm excited, I'm a little nervous but I'm also anxious to get started!

More next week!

Well, I promised to start my East Coast bike ride blog on August 29th - so here it is! In 2009 many of you know I rode my bicycle from Manhattan Beach, CA to Boston, MA...some 3600 miles. I did an almost daily blog of that ride - and if you missed it - you can still read it below. I just said "I did a blog of that ride" If the truth be known my wife, Carol, really did the blog. Here's how it worked: I would ride an average of 85 miles per day. I would take pictures along the way...then, every evening before the lights went out I would send Carol a list of bullet points of what I saw and did on each days ride. Then she turned these bullet points into a great blog.

There's no way I could adequately describe that thrill of seeing our beautiful country at an average speed of 16 mph! We traveled as many back roads as possible. The high points were the people we met along the way, the beauty of our country and the many historical points of interest. The low points were the wind, rain, traffic and drivers that don't like bicyclists on the road.

The tour company that I used in 2009 and will be using for the East Coast ride was/is CrossRoads Cycling Adventures. They are terrific! They offer a totally supported ride...that means we stay in motels every night, don't have to carry lots of stuff on our bikes and have two SAG (Support And Gear) vans that travel with us each day. All we have to do is ride our bikes from Point A to Point B.

This trip Carol has been "hired" to drive one of the SAG vans. I'm really excited that she'll be with me for all 25 days of the ride. She'll be working hard from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day so I'm not sure how we'll keep up with the daily blog. We'll see!

I hadn't done much riding since the cross country ride. Last summer I played a lot of golf (Carol's favorite sport) and when we're in residence at our Baja, MX home I can't ride. The roads are narrow, full of pot holes, hilly and the drivers don't know how to handle bicycles on the road.

This year's ride is a "reunion" ride of cyclists that have done the cross country rides with CrossRoads. My 2009 group had 16 people finish the ride. Eight of us are signed up for the 2011 ride. It's hard to describe the strong bonds that were created by riding and living together for 51 days. For the Past two years e-mails and phone calls have been flying through the airwaves.

When I decided to sign up for this ride and get back in shape again I did what I should have done for the cross country ride. I retired my 15 year old, 24 gear Trek bike - all 24 lbs. of it and treated myself to a new, sleek Trek Madone 5.2, 19 lb. bike...with 30 gears. I started training in earnest about 6 weeks ago and have logged 1500 miles. I'm doing 50 - 80 miles a day and am starting to feel like I might just be ready to attack the East Coast. Actually, as I'm writing this Hurricane Irene is hammering the very roads we 'll be traveling!

I'm taking my bicycle in for a "tune-up" tomorrow - and will keep training until September 11th - when I fly to Arkansas for a couple of days of consulting work. Then I head to PA to visit our son Steve and his wife, Andy - and other friends of family that we left behind when we moved west 33 years ago. Then on September 17th I'm meeting Champ, my roommate from the cross country ride - and his wife, Veronica in Portand, ME. We're going to spend three days exploring parts of Maine where my mom and grandparents lived. Carol will be SAG wagon training in Connecticut - and we'll all meet in Portland on Wednesday, September 21th. On Thursday 25 of us will climb on our bikes and head to Portsmouth, NH - our first night's stop!

How about if we do the next blog on September 14th - and we'll start daily blogs on Wednesday, September 21th.

If you're reading this you most likely received a "letter" from me announcing the trip and asking for a donation to the Decorative Plumbing and Hardware Scholarship Fund that Carol and I helped start - and that we feel very close to. If you choose to make a donation that would be wonderful. Please feel free to make comments on the blog site - it would be great hearing from you. We are so blessed!

In Training

Off today on a 70 mile ride. It's tough getting back in shape!

Testing the blog to be sure it's working!

Date: June 25, 2009 - Final Day of the Ride

Riding Route: From Burlington, MA to Revere Beach, MA (Boston)

Weather: Great!

Elevation Climb: Minor

Miles Ridden: 18

Today's ride is dedicated to my two riding buddies: Charlie Semperton and Bob Fuller. If you've read my blog you know about the circumstances of these two fine gentleman. You both made it to the finish line with us! The pictures above include our flag salute to Charlie. Bob, my man in blue, is still recovering from his accident! Today you were with us in thought and spirit!

I'm sitting in the motel room in Burlington, MA (Boston) with huge mixed emotions. The bike ride of a lifetime is over. I made it! I rode my bicycle across America - all 3420 miles of it! We went through 15 states, stayed in 43 different motels, climbed over 100,000 feet of elevation and pedaled about 985,000 strokes! We encountered all kinds of weather (both good and bad); all kinds of roads (both good and bad); all kinds of people (good and not so good). I ate more food (and burned it off) than I thought could have been possible. I saw America at 15 mph. I stopped and smelled a lot of roses. I took over 400 pictures - and now I have the job of trying to organize them and remember who, what, when, and where is going to be a challenge!

A couple of folks have asked me what were the highlights and the low lights. The highlights were: the camaraderie of the 16 of us that completed the entire ride; the unbelievable professionalism and quality of the staff of CrossRoads (the tour group) - their dedication to our safety, comfort, happiness et al far exceeded my expectations; seeing America at a slow pace and over the back roads vs. the freeways; the historical facts; having a number of friends meet and greet me along the way; the people we met along the trek; the accomplishment of being able to do the ride at my age - and so much more!

The low lights: having two original members not be able to complete the ride with us; some of the tough weather conditions; a few days when I just didn't want to climb in the saddle again; the small percentage of drivers that were real jerks to those of us on bikes; some of the road conditions; and always being concerned about personal safety (mine and fellow riders). Notice this is a much shorter list!

The idea of trying to raise money for the Rod Denhart Memorial Scholarship Fund for the Decorative Plumbing and Hardware Association - and seeing the unbelievable response to this has also been a highlight! I had set a goal to raise $25,000 - and we're close to $24,000. If you were waiting to see if the "old man" would make it before you committed, you can go ahead and make the pledge now. We're so darn close not to make the goal! It's a great cause for something I am passionate about. For everyone that has committed - thank you, thank you, thank you!

This morning we rode all together - 18 miles to Revere Beach. The last 5 miles we rode in twos - with an escort vehicle in front and in back. I was honored to be asked to lead the group. (I think age had something to do with it)! We all did the traditional dipping of the front tire in the Atlantic Ocean (picture above). There were 60-70 folks lined up on the beach to greet us as we came in. My good friends, Ted and Lily Mahoney, were there to greet me with black and white checkered flags - and a Boston Red Sox tee shirt! (pictured above). Thank you Ted and Lily! My son Steve, and his wife Andrea (pictured above), were with Carol and I for the celebration - thank you "kids"...for sharing in your dad's accomplishment! I can't tell you how much it meant to have you here! What a great feeling! Tonight we have a closing banquet and then we're all off in different directions. In case you're interested, my bike and I are flying home! I'm not going to do the East to West pedal!

This ride would not have happened without the incredible support of Carol . When I threw the idea out last Fall she said "go for it"! (Heck, it got me out of her hair for 7 weeks). She's really been a biking widow since November 1st of last year when I started seriously training for the ride. I've had a number of folks comment on my blog. Again - all the credit goes to Carol. I'd call her every evening with a list of bullet points from the day's ride! She researched all the historical information, she made it interesting, personal, and the great read that it was. Thank you so very much Carol!

So in the beginning of this last blog I said I'm sitting here with many mixed emotions:

• I'm glad the ride is over
• I wish the ride could go on (country roads with no traffic, the sun shining and the wind at our backs)
• I'll miss my friends so much!

So what will the next adventure be? I'm wide open for suggestions! Thanks to each of you for being part of this incredible experience!