July 15th The ride begins

July 15 40.7 miles 3:17.14 hours/minutes/seconds

Day one of the ride to San Diego. We left Fauntleroy about 1:15 PM. We made a left out of the church parking lot, which meant we had to climb a hill. The first hill was followed by another hill. I was already wondering what I had gotten myself into 5 minutes into the ride. I wsa panting like a dog and my heart rate was way up. Several people passed me going up the second hill, which was a bit disheartening at the outset of the ride. My solace was most of the people passing me by were 20 or more years younger than me. It could be a long ride with people passing me on hill climbs.

Once the road leveled out and we got out of Seattle traffic and on the bike path, I caught up to some of the folks who had initially passed me at the start of the ride. I dropped my cell phone, shortly before we entered the bike path. Of course, I did not have the new plastic protective case on it when I dropped it. The phone came up and the battery went flying. I was able to retrieve all the parts and put it back together. The fall took a nice piece out of the glass front and a piece out of the metal rim around the glass front. I had taken the protective case off to put a new battery and had not put it back on since it was so hard to take off. Lesson learned. The good news is it appears the phone still works.

The bike path was great to ride on. No traffic, aside from other bikes and walkers, and no traffic signals and no hills. It may have been a bit boring, but it was safe. I could ride on such a path all the way to San Diego. At the end of the bike path, it was back to “city” riding, cars and traffic lights. The 15 miles or so of the ride I rode with Al, a member of the church where we stayed in Seattle. He is avid cyclist. After worship several people encourage him to join us. Turns out he had ridden much of the ride we were doing the day before with his wife. Al is a defense attorney. He defends people facing federal prosecution. He has been an attorney for 40 years. His wife was a college professor. She has retired and Al is making plans to retire in the not to distant future. They have grown children and three grand-daughters. Al was a very pleasant riding partner, and he was very caring when I had my crash about 5 miles from the church. My pedal or buckle on my cycling shoe caught a high curb, that was painted black and not very easy to see in the late afternoon soon. I went flying off my bike on the concrete sidewalk. My bike has some cosmetic damage, but is otherwise fine. I too have some cosmetic dings, bumps, scrapes, and a swollen right ankle. I am worried that my ankle and sore wrist might be a problem on tomorrow's 60 mile ride. I am icing the ankle and the wrist with the hope that by morning the swelling will be down on my ankle and the wrist/thumb won't be as stiff.

We are staying at the Urban Church in Tacoma, WA. The church is very large right down and as luck would have it ¾ of the way up a very steep hill with 4 traffic lights. I had to stop at one traffic light. Thankfully I was able to clip out and get around the corner a bit so as to have level ground to start up when the light changed. I did a little cross traffic jay walk with the bike to reach the front door of the church, in order not to have to stop on the hill again.

Right after I arrived at the church a homeless woman, who appeared to have some mental health issues as well came to the front door looking for the jacket she had left at the church earlier in the day. I explained to her that I did not work at the church and did not know if anyone from the church was availabe to look for her jacket. She started to walk up the stairs and then promptly turned around said, “they can keep the coat,” and walked out of the building. One of the other cyclist in out group carried my bike downstairs, while I waited for ice for my ankle and my luggage so I can go to the Y down the street to shower.

The Y was small, but nice. The shower felt good after a rainy, wet, ride that included my crash. After showering, I returned to the church to wait for dinner. The kitchen we had access to was tiny, which made it difficult to prepare dinner. For dinner we had baked potato with chilli. I am on breakfast, laundry and whatever Allen needs us to do.

After dinner several of us played rummy. The funny thing about our rummy game was that myself and Sarah were the only people who knew how to play rummy and I did not do the best job explaining the rules, which for interesting play. Lights out was at 10 PM. I got to sleep on the couch because of my mini accident. I slept much better than the past two nights.

July 13th Bicycle Adventure Orientation

Friday the 13^th! The bicycle group is gathering at Fauntleroy UCC in Seattle. The church houses the local YMCA, which is where we'll be showering tomorrow after our shake down group ride. 15 of us had lunch at a local restaurant down the street from the church. Our waitress was very fun, but a bit overwhelmed by how many of us there were at lunch, and of course we asked for individual checks. She was operating on one leg due to a broken leg. Before we knew she had a broken leg we tried to convince her to join us on our ride. She thought about it for a moment, then she showed us the soft case on her left leg.

We made it back to the church just in time for our first orientation session. We went around the sanctuary introducing ourselves and saying the three things we would take on an island with us knowing that we would survive and had our bicycle and bible. The three things ranged from a cruise ship with a full crew to a kindle to a kayak to a coffeemaker/grinder with a solar panel. The group is diverse as the things we would take on the island. The bikes each rider will be riding are as unique as the riders, although there is a little giant posse, which I'm proud to be a member of. There are several folks riding treks, a couple cannondalee, a fuji, a jamis, a couple of motobacanes, and a mix of other bikes. Most of the bikes are aluminum, but there are a few other carbon fiber bikes.

For the first week, I'm on chore group number 4, which is breakfast, laundry, and whatever else Allen, the group leader needs us to do. Good thing I'm a morning person and I like doing laundry. Laundry duty means doing everyone's laundry.

It's free time now, some folks are at the grocery store shopping, a handful of us are hanging out at the church chatting and working on bike stuff, two guys went for a bike ride, a novel thing to do for people about to ride 1,650 miles, and a group went into Seattle to explore the city. I did my exploring yesterday, which is why I'm here writing my blog.

July 12th Seattle, WA

My full free day in Seattle started with a wonderful home cooked breakfast by my friends Dave and Chris. Dave is a friend from my Key Biscayne days. He's another New Englander. We used to play roller hockey, roller blade, snorkel and other fun stuff on Key Biscayne. Chris is Dave's wife. I am also very happy to say that I was the person who officiated at their wedding on the Cape in MA, a decade ago. They have two wonderful girls. It's been great catching up with them and seeing their life here in Seattle.
After breakfast Dave and I headed to the Coast Guard station where he works as a civil science officer, not sure what his actual title is. He gave me a tour of the research vessel he works on when at sea.

The ship is undergoing renovations in preparation for its next research mission to the Arctic Circle. Dave will be going on part of this mission.

When the tour was done and we successful avoid the Admiral who was on base for a tour of the station and a change of officers, Dave headed to his office at the Station and I headed downtown. I walked along the waterfront bike/walking path to the ferry terminal and then climbed the hill to 1^st street. From there I headed to Pike Place. I wish I lived in a community with such an awesome public market. The fresh fruit and vegetable stands and all the amazing fresh fish/seafood. I did not catch a fish, but I watched as others did and I ate a very over the top fresh baked cinnamon bun with frosting and chocolate chips. The only thing that could have made the cinnamon bun better would have been a great cup of espresso, but I'm off coffee during this bike trek/trip to Southeast Asia.

In Pike Place, I happened upon an artist who make clocks out of recycled bicycle parts. I just might to to order one when I get home in honor of my ride. The clocks were very cool. My limited space will keep me from buying non consumable items along the way, at least for the bike part of my trip.

From Pike Place, I continued on foot to the Space Needle with a stop for lunch at the Virginia Inn along the way. The Space Needle was fun and the sky was clear blue or as clear blue as Seattle gets. I took at great photo of the Space Needle rising out of the clouds on the morning drive into downtown. Sadly, I did not have enough time to visit the garden and museum connected to the Space Needle.

Some really good sushi for dinner, a little laundry and time to write a piece for the blog. Dave and Chris at a dog training school. The Forcucci family has a third child as of three weeks ago a little puppy named Willie. He's very cute and full of energy, like most puppies. Tonight was the first night of dog training school. I think the school is probably as much about training the parents as it is training the dog.

Bicycle Adventure Covered by local newspaper

http://www.herald-mail.com/news/local/hm-hagerstown-pastor-to-ride-for-housing-20120708,0,3983880.story

A good quote for a long bike trek

“Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.” William Barclay

4th of July Ride

I went for a 31.96 ride today with some members of the Cumberland Valley Cycling Club.  We started from the Weis Market at Longmeadow at 8:30 AM.  Good thing we started at 8:30 because it warmed up by the time we were closing in on the finish around 11 AM.

I rode on my 30 year old Fuji del Rey.  It turned 30 a few weeks ago.  I purchased this bike 1982 shortly after I graduated from high school.  It's been a solid ride all these years and many of the components are original.  I had to ride this bike today because my carbon Giant Advance Defy 2, which is 10 lbs lighter than the Fuji del Rey and a technological marvel, is at the bike shop being disassembled so I can ship it to Seattle, WA.  My Fuji del Rey was somewhat of tech marvel back in 1982 the steel had a special alloy mixed in and the geometry was designed for longer rides.  My Giant Defy is also designed for longer rides, but at 17.58 lbs and STI shifters it flies over the road compared to my Fuji.

I was very slow today on the ride and struggled up most of the hills.  Some of that has to do with the fact that I, like my Fuji del Rey, am 30 years older than when I purchased it.  Not sure if the bike or me has aged better.  I do know that the seat on my Fuji is not nearly as comfortable as the seat on my Giant.  The good news is folks waited for me and I labored up the hills and sometimes across the flatlands.

One week from today, I'll be in Seattle and 4 days later the ride begins. Thank God it will be on my Giant!

Riding the roller while watching the Tour de France

I wanted to take one final ride on my bike before it is boxed up and shipped across the country, 3,000 plus miles, to Seattle where my 1,650 mile ride will start a week from Sunday on July 15th.