Cycling

Lots of saddle time this week

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BigRideWeek-May14Although this weekly mileage is nothing compared to what we will be doing during our XC trip, I’m pretty sure it’s my best yet (like, ever).  If I could have a few more weeks like this, I might even give Andy a serious run for his money sprinting to town lines!

Also, I learned something new… you don’t need to create a map to log a workout on MMR.  For little rides like between the hotel and the ferry, I just entered distance and time instead of creating a lame map that would probably never get used again.

Anyhow, I’m looking forward to the next ride: North Shore Tour de Cure!  Everyone will be wondering why I’m with the Oracle team but not all swagged up in Oracle gear… ha!

Cycling

Bike for MS

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What an awesome ride we had! I never thought I’d be able to bike sixty miles. Thanks to all of our good friends and families’ donations, we met the $250 dollar goal. (I still beat you :p ) It was fun to ride with all of your buddies from The Dennis Group.

Thanks very much for getting us a hotel room with your points. Even though it was a chillier walk than I expected, I had fun eating at the Anchor Ale House and listening to the old men sing karaoke.

The bike path to the Woods Hole ferry was so pretty! The pinkish sunrise over the calm water was a perfect start to the day.

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“Chris, don’t forget your ferry tickets!”  and then I forgot mine. {sigh}

It’s funny that we bought bagels for breakfast, and then found out that they had free bagels at the start of the race!

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Look, you can see the lines from the new Dennis Group shorts I have on under my spandex. Thanks for getting me those so that I fit in with the rest of the Hardboiled team.

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In this picture of us, you can already see the hints of pink on my face that turned into a full blown sunburn…. oops, we didn’t plan very well. Next time, we’ll have to make sure we use sunscreen.

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Left to right:
Me, you, Cameron, Andy, Chris, Tony, Dave, Abby, Nathan, Jeff, Jack

hardboiled

Look! We even surpassed the sixty miles to almost get eighty! Hot tamale, who would have thought I could bike that far and still be in a good mood; it must have been all of the yummy sandwiches and snacks they had for us along the way.

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Thanks for a really great day 🙂
I’m glad that I got to share it with you.

Thanks to these awesome people for supporting us (in no particular order):
Stevie
Leland
Max
Liz
Molly
Robin
Ashley
Allie
Nina
Julie & Casey
Corey, Kate, Maddie, & Ian
Mom & Dad Hogue
The Dennis Group

Cycling

Get excited…

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BikeMS…for our ride coming up on Saturday, the 2014 BikeMS: Ride the Vineyard!!  And since yesterday it’s official; I miraculously made it to the minimum fundraising goal of $250.

Anyhow, I found a route on MMR, which was probably the 60 mile ride of years past, but I’m assuming this years is very similar.  Looks like it will be great.  Just keep your fingers crossed that the weather will turn out well for us, looks good right now 🙂

Bike Touring, Cycling

XC Bike Trip Thoughts

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After talking the other day about when we would do our cross country (XC) bike ride (Spring 2015 vs. Autumn 2015), I had it on my mind and my bi-weekly drive from CT to PA gave me a lot of time to brainstorm/daydream…

The other day I described to you how long the trip would take, based on a few factors.  In order to make the trip the most enjoyable, I think we should pick a set of destinations (general or specific), but then leave ourselves the flexibility to deviate later on as we go along.  I think we had agreed that riding a route that’s more Southern than the I-90 route we’ve driven several times (you several…. me just once).  That way we could get to know some new states, even through driving through doesn’t really mean you know a state.

Here’s a recap of what I had described the other night:

  • 4,500 miles

  • 75 miles/day average

  • 5 riding days/week

  • 60 days; 12 weeks

However, if we change from 5 days/week to 6… the trip would only require 10 weeks (not saying we should cut it short, just for reference).  Of course there are plenty of other factors that we should take into account.  A rest day doesn’t necessarily need to be a no-riding day, either, it could just be a less-riding day…  Either way, I think we should be flexible about our route and schedule.

Anyhow, I’ll start by sharing some destinations I thought of which gave me the ~4,500mi slightly meandering route mapped below… (may not be in order).  I don’t have any specific locations where I think we should start or end (besides Atlantic to Pacific), but I was thinking either Maine near Corey and Kate, or P-town to start… and then Northern California or somewhere in Oregon or Washington to end.

  • Smoky Mountains
  • Virginias (mainly interested in West Virginia… I’ve heard a lot of good things)
  • Colorado
  • Southern Utah – Moab
  • Lake Tahoe
  • Grand Canyon
  • Yosemite
  • Sierra Nevada
  • Avenue of the Giants (Redwoods)

XC Bike Route Idea

Something else I was thinking we should do during the ride, is daily posts to this site, so that friends and family can keep track of us/our trip (and to look back at afterwards, of course).  Depending on internet availability, we might not be able to post them every day, but we would at least need to make a record of the day, and we could alternate days to keep it interesting.

Daily post content

  • Current location
  • Day #
  • Weather
  • Picture(s)
  • Summary of the day
  • Daily highlight
  • Daily lowlight
  • Daily stats and trip stats (to date)

    • Miles ridden
    • Saddle time
    • Ascent

Some things we’ll need to aquire before the trip (obviously not complete, just a few things I was thinking of…)

Okay – that’s it for now.  Hopefully this gets you thinking, I’d like to hear your thoughts on all of these ideas.  I just wanted to get all my thoughts on paper and start the process of slowly planning this exciting trip!

Chris + Rachel