Corinne has been hearing about my lack of updates here on [tw] from her friends, who I think mostly just want more pictures of Lauren (I don't blame them!). I've been much too quiet lately.

I'm going to pay for that quietness, soon. The PMC is in less than two months, and I haven't raised a penny yet. What an idiot.

This particular update, however, is not about Lauren, Corinne, her friends, or the PMC. It's about my riding (and weight loss) over the last month. I'll start with:

Ride #37: Birthday Loop with Steve

Steve Davis came down on May 23rd to ride the storied Birthday Loop with me.

Steve is in fantastic shape, much better for mid-Spring than I've ever known him to be, since we started riding together years ago.

I, on the other hand, was still getting over my cold. I'd only ridden three times in the previous two weeks, and was still coughing quite a bit.

The result: Steve was very patient with me. We did the whole ride, of course, but averages only 17.5 mph. He easily could have handled a 19 mph average, which is quite impressive with all the climbing.

My stats are missing a couple of miles because my bike computer mysteriously shut off for a little while. However, Steve had exactly the same average speed as I did when we were done, so I'm just going to stick with what mine said.

Stats: 52.56 miles (84.62 km) in 3h 0' 0" for an average speed of 17.52 mph (28.20 kph).

Ride #42: Cracked 260

This ride is notable only because I finally cracked 260. That is, my weight finally dropped below it.

I thought that was quite an accomplishment, so I checked my stats for last year. EXACTLY THE SAME DATE!! Oy! Still, last year my weight was only below 260 for two days, then it went back up and stayed there for another month. This year, it's continued going down, and I'm hoping to drop below 250 before the end of the month.

How far can I drop before PMC? This will be my sixth PMC, and I've never been below 250.

Stats: 43.91 miles (70.69 km) in 2h 17' 12" for an average speed of 19.20 mph (30.91 kph).

Ride #44: Lightning Has Struck My Brain!

Sorry, the title for this ride was just a hook to get you to read the story. (Ok ok, I'll stop. I'm sure Sean, at least, is moaning by now...)

This ride was on Sunday, the beginning of our current heat wave. I left the house planning to do the birthday loop again, after spending 45 minutes carefully cleaning up my drivetrain. The first 20 miles were quite hot, but I can handle hot. After the first ten miles, I saw the storm coming in but hoped it was going to pass to the North.

No such luck.

I climbed Cossaduck hearing thunder. Second time this year I've managed to climb it "out of the saddle" from bottom to top. Once again, I forgot to set the lap timer on my bike computer, so I have no idea how much I've improved. (My first trip up the hill this year was a pitiful 4:40!!)

Heard a lot more thunder while I was on Gilliver, but they were still five or six seconds after the flash so I figured I was ok. At that point, I was riding away from the storm.

In the last mile of Route 49, just before the turn onto Wyassup, the sprinkling started and I knew the storm was going to catch me, but now I was in farm country. What was I supposed to do? I kept riding.

On Wyassup, with the thunder rolling almost constantly, I crested one of the hills telling myself "think negative thoughts! Think negative!" But, at the top of one of the two hills (I can't remember which, now, but I think it was the second), everything around me when bright purple! I'm not kidding, I thought for a split second that I'd been struck. There was enough time for me to yell "yi" before my "yikes!" was drowned out in the loudest thunder I've heard in 30 years.

I wasn't hit, obviously, but it must have been cloud-to-cloud right over head. That was exciting.

(When I was quite young, I remember standing at my grandparents back door in Berkley, MA, when lightning struck the back yard. That was some kind of loud, and I've had a love for lightning every since.)

After that, the rain started in earnest and I just rode home. That took about ten miles off the ride, but it was fun. (Now I need to clean my drive train again!)

Stats: 44.67 miles (71.91 km) in 2h 30' 21" for an average speed of 17.82 mph (28.70 kph).

Oh, and I'm now down to 254. :-D

This was the third year in a row that I participated in the Huckleberries ride. This is a 95 mile ride from the border between New York and Massachusetts (on Route 102 in West Stockbridge) to Sturbridge, MA.

A few things about this ride never seem to change: the core group who has been doing it for eleven years, the heat, and the pain of climbing the longest hills.

One thing that does change is how we all handle the weather and the climbing from year to year. Two years ago I rode quite well (for me) in spite of heat and humidity like I've never experienced (on a long ride) before or since. Last year was hot but rainy and I suffered with stomach cramps for the second half. This year...

Read the Full Story

As I mentioned, Steve and Mike came down for an 80 mile ride on Thursday. We actually rode only 73 because we started a little late and Steve had to head home for a school concert with one of his nineteen sons. (Nineteen, four, whatever.)

The route was basically a combination of my various training routes, but I really did try to avoid any significant hills this time. (Two years ago, Steve dubbed Cossaduck Hill Road, "I Hate You Dillingham Hill." Couldn't do that to him again!) We started at the house, went up 184 to 117 into Ledyard, Col Ledyard Highway most of the way back but then cut over to Pumpkin HIll Road (to avoid having to climb Pumpkin Hill itself), to Gallup Hill Road for a few hundred feet. Then I said, "Let's do something fun," and they followed me DOWN DOWN DOWN Town Farm Road's crazy-steep hill (and my bottle bounced out of my cage at 47 mph, so I couldn't coast out at the end, had to go back for it). Right on Wolf's Neck, left on 201, right on Al Harvey, right on 184, left onto North Stonington Road, across 27 onto River Road into Mystic. Left onto Route One and over the drawbridge.

Then we stopped at the Henny Penny in downtown to recharge our bottles, then stopped again just a mile later at the New & Improved Mystic Cycle Center. I said that they have a full scale model of the old store in the changing room. That was a joke, but it almost could be true... the new store (well, they've been there for over a year now, but it's new to Steve and MIke) is really big.

Continuing East on Route 1 North, then a right onto Green Haven Road all the way to the Pawcatuck River, where it makes a hard left and turns into River Road, and then into Mechanic Street just before it ends back at Route 1 in downtown Pawcatuck. Right on Route 1, through Westerly, then onto 1A into Watch Hill. We stopped for lunch at St. Claire's Annex, same as two years ago. Finally pulled out the camera and took the only shots of the day: one of Mike sitting at the table (looks like he wants to hurt me, but I don't think he even knew I had the camera out), and two outside after we ate.

After lunch we finished the loop around Watch Hill, saw the big hole in the ground where the Ocean House used to be, and continued to Misquamicut Beach.

I could tell that we were going to have a tail wind along Atlantic Avenue (Misquamicut)... yeah! I love flying down that road. It's as flat as they come around here, and with a tailwind you can really fly. I was at the back of the group, and started to pick up speed. As I passed Steve, he said something like, "Restrain yourself!" but I couldn't do it. I maintained 31 mph for about 1/4 mile (all the way around the big beach parking lot), then noodled along at 18 mph waiting for them to catch up with me. (They apparently hadn't picked up their speed at all.) Normally I would try to average 25 or better for the full length of Atlantic Ave.

Left at the end of Atlantic, up into Dunn's Corners, stopped to recharge our bottles again at the Mobil station. Crossed over Route 1 onto Bradford-Dunn's Corners Road to the other property Gary and Ellyn own (rental property). Stopped in to say hi (and use the bathroom). Ellyn and Katie were there, cleaning up after the previous renter before the next weekend rental. This is when I talked Ellyn into having a Memorial Day picnic on Sunday, by tempting her with Lauren. :-D

The rest of the ride could be summarized in one word: hot. (Not that I would ever leave it at just one word, right?) We continued on 91 to Collins Road, past my parents' old place, to Maxson Hill Road, to Frontier Road, to Route 3, to Wellstown Road, to Route 216, to Route 184.

When we reached the rotary for Routes 2 and 184, Steve was so hot he was in imminent danger of self-immolation, so we stopped at Mystic Pizza II so he could splash nasty, algae-infested water on his neck from their outdoor fountain. Yuck!

From Mystic Pizza II it was eight uneventful miles home.

Steve (and Mike) even met Lauren! She was sleeping when we arrived, so I took a quick shower and then woke her up. She even stayed happy the whole time.

Great ride guys, thanks for coming down!

Stats: 73.11 miles (117.7 km) in 3h 58' 45" for an average speed of 18.37 mph (29.58 kph).

2006 was a good year for me and mine, in many ways.

To all of my family near and far, to my ecclesia here and worldwide, to all of my friends new and old, close or distant:

Happy
New Year!

Hoping 2007 will be even better, for all of us...

I took a day (Friday, October 27th) away from the code to ride with Steve Davis and Mike Lucas. This was to be our final almost-century of the year.

Earlier in the week, I had teased them about the amount of planning they were putting into this ride. "It's only 80 miles!" All three of us are experienced riders, and have done rides of this length dozens and dozens of times. Yet, if it were up to Mike, I think he actually would have planned the weather itself.

Well, all I can say now is, "Thank you, Mike." Thank you for all the planning, and thank you for not somehow separating yourself from us. Without all that planning, we surely would have been lost forever in the wilderness of South Eastern Massachusetts.

Mike even provided cue sheets! Two pages of cue sheets. I think we averaged one turn for every mile of the trip, both ways. That's why we would have been lost: he managed to find a back-roads route from Steve's house in Mansfield to downtown Plymouth that was as direct as taking the highway! Even better, most of the route had little or no traffic.

None of us had any mechanical difficulties, and there were no accidents. We joked about almost getting lost right at the start when Steve tried to lead us down the wrong road, but that only lasted about 30 seconds. The weather was bright sunshine, nearly windless, and chilly in the upper 40's when we started to the lower 50's at the warmest.

We kept the speeds low... I'm not really sure why, but at least I expected it this time so I wasn't worried about our pace (well, not much). There was a moment when another rider appeared about 1/4 mile ahead: Steve quietly said, "Seth, a rabbit!" The greyhounds in my legs took off at full speed... I caught the rabbit in nothing flat, but that was no great accomplishment as he was barely moving.

I don't remember ever being to Plymouth before, which is weird since I grew up in Massachusetts. We stopped at "the rock" where the Mayflower supposedly landed. It's just a big rock with a date carved in it. Not as big as it used to be, as 75% of it was chipped away for souvenirs over the centuries (a couple of museums, including the Smithsonian, have mailbox-sized chunks). Now they protect the rock with a gazebo-like structure that lets you see it but not touch it: to get a piece now, you'd have to jump down about eight feet to the sand, then climb out again.

Lunch was at a small restaurant whose name I can't remember. I'd forgotten my card, so I still owe Steve (thanks!). Excellent food, though: a bread bowl of New England clam chowder (of course), and some sort of chicken wrap.

After we ate, we stopped at the tourist info center to use the facilities and so Steve could warm up. ;-) The gentleman behind the counter tried to talk us into seeing all the sights, but we didn't have time so we settled for a quick ride up the hill to the National Monument to the Forefathers. It's BIG!!! It's also the prototype for the Statue of Liberty. All the characters around the base had creepy eyes. Did I mention that it was really big? 81 feet (24.5m) tall, and most of it is carved out of solid Granite. Good grief.

After the statue, I realized I had left one of my water bottles on the sidewalk where the bike had been parked during lunch, so we rode back down. While I zipped back to the restaurant, Steve and Mike checked out the recreation of the Mayflower. Awfully small for the number of people it carried: I think they would have fit better in the monument. ;-)

The only notable from the return trip was the two Brazilian guys who caught us. One spoke little to no English, but the other did and was a pro (?) racer living in the area. They weren't pushing hard, and we could have ridden with them for awhile longer, but at the point we were all together the traffic was pretty heavy and we got separated. Nobody was interested in pushing it, so we let them go.

Before I show them, let me warn you that the stats make us look like we were barely moving at all. It wasn't quite as bad as that... the ride time includes the putt-putt-putting around downtown Plymouth, and the very slow circles we made around the monument to see all the writing. Instinct tells me our actual speed was closer to the low 18's, not the mid-17's.

Stats: 81.78 miles (131.6 km) in 4h 40' 10" for an average speed of 17.51 mph (28.19 kph).

(No pictures this time, sorry. I don't have a camera small enough to carry on the bike, and Steve didn't think he'd use it. Must remind him to bring his camera next time, no matter what. :-)