packing and prepping

these last few days before i head off are always filled with bits of anxiety.  i was talking about this at dinner last night with my daughter halle .  i'm in that middle gray zone between finishing up all my prep work and waiting for the ride to start.  my bike is packed and shipped and i can't do more training.  i get filled with all the "what if's" while i'm waiting.  what if i haven't trained enough.  what if i'm not ready for the hills.  what if i'm too slow for everyone else.  what if my shoulder doesn't hold up, or my left hand doesn't recover from the nerve compression, or i have another bout of saddle sores.  yes, i worry about everything.  i've done all this before and faced all those challenges before, but it doesn't stop me from worrying anew.

i'm sure that, once again, i've packed too much clothes

the past couple of days have been all about shopping lists and checking to make sure i've got everything i need for the ride.  my experience last year told me that i need to prepare for more than what the ride organizers suggest.  you never know what the weather is going to be (an icy cold lesson we learned years ago while riding across montana in the middle of august!), when you're going to get a chance to do laundry, or what other unexpected twists and turn might occur.

and, hopefully, enough tools, supplies, equipment

besides all the clothing and equipment, there's been the matter of shipping my bike and my clothes to the starting hotel in san francisco.  i'm going out ahead of the ride to spend a couple of days with jesse and samantha, my son and older daughter, out in los angeles where both now live.  as a result, i not only had to get my bike shipped ahead of time, but am also sending my ride gear ahead so i don't have to schlep it all the way to l.a. and then up again to san francisco.

the lads at sid's bike shop

so, as i'm about the head out of here, i do want to thank those who have been helping me along the way.  thanks to the guys at sid's bike shop.  once again, they were great at getting my bike prepped for the ride.  they even boxed it up and dropped it off at the ups store for me.  thanks guys.

thanks to my trainer michelle adams.  through all my complaining, she helped me overcome my knee, hamstring and shoulder challenges and got me into much better shape for this ride.  thank you michelle.

and, finally, thanks to todd edelson, my physical therapist.  according to the orthopedic surgeons, i should have had some serious shoulder surgery by now.  however, with todd's expert interventions, i've been able to stave off the surgery, at least for the time being.  and my shoulder is much stronger and has a lot more range of motion that should allow me to complete this ride.  thank you todd.

now comes the fun part.  "see you" in san francisco with a pre-ride check-in.

vermont, day 3 and reflections

my original plans, based on the forecast for balmy, 60+ degree days this weekend, called for another long ride today.  three things conspired against those plans:  the rain that was forecast to start a little after noontime; finding out that we were, indeed, renting the house for a year, so i'd need to spend a fair amount of time packing up clothes as well as ski and hiking equipment; and the fact that when i woke up this morning, there was no way i actually wanted to ride again.

"up for breakfast" in downtown manchester

but plans are plans, so i bucked the usual routine of heading into town to load up on a hearty breakfast at "up for breakfast," my favorite local morning stop for stacks of fresh blueberry pancakes.  instead, i wolfed down some toast, yogurt, orange juice and tea and was out the door.

this morning i headed south towards the village of jamaica.  actually, it's not just south of winhall/bondville on routes 30 and 100, it's also downhill from where i was.  i forgot just HOW downhill it was.  it's only about eight or so miles away, but the last three and a half miles are all down a steep 8% grade hill.  lovely going down it; a hummer coming back up.

hey!  not settled in 1761!

the poor folks in this town have had the worst luck.  if you think it was bad with our house having water from the creek/river up into our living room, consider this -- our house is on the floodplain.  so, in that once-in-a-hundred year storm called hurricane irene that hit us two years ago, we got it good.  but the river that overflowed into our living room picked up some serious speed when it went downhill into jamaica.  so much so that it took out the bridge and road going into town as well as the road leaving town.

the river in calmer times.  note the scouring up the sides of the riverbank

basically, both figuratively and literally, jamaica became an island right after hurricane irene hit vermont.  for days afterwards, the only way to get supplies and help into town was by boat.

the rebuilt bridge into town.  they're still working on the riverbed

                                   


and you'd think the folks in jamaica had had enough with super storms, but when sandy hit, yup, it knocked out the power in, of all places, jamaica.  winhall was fine, as was manchester, but poor jamaica couldn't catch a break and couldn't find its lights for days afterwards.

looking back in three days of riding up here, i have yet again come to learn things about myself and the things going on around me.  i wasn't sure i'd be strong enough to climb the hills i set out to attack this trip, but i'm more than glad i was.  that will really help me as i get into the psychology of the sierra nevada's and the rockies.

another good spot for breaky

however, just to keep my wits about me, it's nice to get slapped upside my head every once in awhile.  this morning was no exception.  there i was, feeling cocky about attacking the last mile of the 8% grade this morning.  had a nice cadence going; not rocking too much back and forth as i was settling into my climb.  feeling good.  then, out of the corner of my eye, i see a guy ride past me, easily doing nearly double my speed.  looking good with a nice, smooth rhythm about him.  and yeah, as my son jesse reminded me later this afternoon when i was telling him about my ride this morning, the guy was probably a good 20-30 years younger.  but it reminded me to take things in stride, not get too full of myself and to remember to be mindful of what's going on all around me, not just right in front of me...at all times!

being that it's springtime up here in vermont, i should have remembered that it's black fly season (as well as whatever other small, dark flying creatures are out and about this time of year).  i should have remembered because i have a bad habit of breathing through my mouth when i'm riding, not through my nose.  as such, my wide open mouth was a perfect funnel for all the insects i swallowed these past three days.  who the hell needs protein bars when you've got the live stuff on the tip of your tongue!!

dorset west road, the best leg of yesterday's ride

i want to give a quick shout-out to keith, the bartender at solo, the place where i've been eating dinner the past two nights.  keith and i got talking after my first day's ride about bike routes around manchester.  he's the one who suggested the ride through arlington and up and around dorset.  the sweetest part of this weekend's ride was the dorset west road.  smooth, freshly paved, with gorgeous homes all along the way and lilacs and tree blossoms making the smells as wonderful as the sights.  at one point, i'm cranking it up to 20+ mph, settling into a tuck on my aerobars while van halen was cranking out "panama."  for a couple of minutes, it was pure heaven :-)

hmm...ate breakfasts at the counter; ate dinners at the bar.  anyway, this is a classy place in south londonderry.

finally, i don't know what it is about my ipod, but i swear it's possessed.  and in a very good way.  first, for those who are shocked that i ride while listening to headphones, i keep the volume turned way down.  i can still hear the music or a monologue from eddie izzard or lewis black, but i keep it low enough so i can hear either a car or truck approaching from behind me as well as a fellow cyclist letting me know if she's coming up on my left.  i may be crazy, but i'm not stupid.

anyway, i don't know what it is about my ipod, but it has it's own sixth sense about my musical needs.  i always set it on shuffle when i'm going out for a long ride.  shorter rides, i'll just select a specific playlist, but longer rides i'll just let the ipod wing it.  so how does it always seem to find the right tune for the right moment?  why, when i'm battling fatigue or doubt will it play a song such as elton john's "the bridge?"  or why does it play van halen's "top of the world" just as i'm approaching the top of a major hill climb?  i kid you not, if i'm not feeling it and i need a moral boost, the next song on the ipod is never something like handel's "water music" or al green's "take me to the river" or even a comedy routine -- it's always some hard-driving tune that pumps me up (yes, including elvis costello's song by the same name) and gets my head back on straight.  it's as if my ipod is hardwired into my central nervous system.  it just knows what i need.  whatever the reason, i'm just glad it does.

next stop...san francisco.

until then, remember what you learned at last year's bondville fair:  "never suck all the juice from a tractor."

vermont training, day 2

veni. vidi. vici.  (trans.  "i came.  i saw.  i kicked its ass!")

view from near the top of the big climb looking out on equinox valley (taken on the way down!)

the big hill i came up here to climb isn't as big as it was this morning, or all the other mornings for all the years i've driven up it and wondered if i could make it up it on my bike.  today, i put that fear behind me and climbed the damned thing.  5.5 miles worth of uphill climbing.  about half way up, a park ranger was walking along the side of the road and, almost pitying me, warned me that the steepest part of yet to come.  but, i got up it.  and still had my granny gear in reserve.  didn't need it.  but i do want to thank creedence, the chili's and, especially linkin park for the musical accompaniment that helped me get up the mountain (more on that tomorrow).  i have come to learn that if i can sing while i'm riding, my lungs are working well.  by the time i got to the top, i was singing "sweet hitchhiker" along with ccr.

oddly enough, i'm not nearly as sore today as i was yesterday.  while i had two huge climbs today, the 58 miles were relatively mild compared with yesterday, especially the finishing hills up to stratton.

there's actually three more hiding in the brush

today was a great day of rolling hills and riding along the river that runs throughout the equinox valley (or, as it's called up in dorset, the "stone valley" owing to all the quarries in the area).  great sights, great smells (the lilacs are just starting to blossom up here and their special fragrance was wafting along the roadside all day long).  the sun popped in and out of the clouds and, this time, the weather that was supposed to be in the high 60's, actually was.



along the way, there were a number of
dairy farms, sheep farms and the odd llama or two.  the surprise was a shrill sound of squawking that i heard as i was approaching the covered bridge on the way to arlington.  i couldn't figure out for the life of me what it could be.  then, there on tree stump, were a dozen guinea hens.  by the time i stopped to take the picture over half had flown off across the street.  i haven't seen them since i was in africa.

this covered bridge is one of the few remaining intact throughout southern vermont.  i had to stop, not only to take the picture, but also to get close enough for you to see the sign warning of speeding fines.  gotta love a vermont sense of humor.

late in the day, i stopped to refuel at the dorset general store.  a very cute place with great fresh baked goods that i highly recommend, including stopping by to see the rest of the village.  while loading up on water and gatorade, the proprietor and alice, his baker, convinced me to try her wares.  she had just taken a batch of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven.  hot, sweet, and delicious.  a nice treat.  she was disappointed that i only took one cookie.  i didn't have the heart to tell her i had my mind set on hitting the ben & jerry's ice cream stand over in manchester before attacking the route 30 hill.



okay, history fans out there, i need some help.  what the hell is the significance of the year 1761?  was there a great migration from europe, or from the south from the new york city area that year?  why were all the towns and villages around here established/incorporated/settled/chartered in that year?  okay, for incentive, i'll throw in a bottle of t'jara for the first correct answer.

yes, i know the moose didn't settle in 1761.  what the heck, i had another picture and just wanted to balance to end of this.

training in vermont - day 1

the theory goes that if you are going to climb the rocky mountains on a bike, it's wise to prepare.  that preparation includes having your bike in top shape, having your body in top shape and, most importantly, climbing other hills, just as steep, just as long.  the climb in manhattan up to riverside drive from the hudson river bike path doesn't quality.  ditto the hills in new jersey.  yes, they have hills and some are quite steep.  but, for the most part, you're dealing in half-mile climbs.  so i'm up here in vermont for the weekend to get my legs, arms, lungs and, most of all, head into shape for the western states ride.

Welcome to Vermont!!

i thought i'd take it easy this first day in the hills.  there's a loop around our house up here in winhall [or bondville, i can never remember in which town the house actually is -- it's on the borderline] that goes into winhall, then up to londonderry, then up to bromley mountain and then back to bondville.  it's about a 25-mile loop with some good, long climbs.  i added a bunch of miles by diverting away from bromley when i got into londonderry and headed into the quaint village of weston, home of the vermont country store.  the original [only there's another country store just across the street that advertises as being there longer and that THEY where the original.  ya gotta love yankee spunk!].  that added another 15 miles and another good, long climb.

just for grins, or grimaces as it turned out, and to push myself stupidly on the first day, i then rode up the stratton mountain access road.  if most of the hills i rode today were somewhere between a 6% and an 8% grade, this road had to be double digits steep.  i refused to start my first day of hill training using my granny gear, but, up this road, i was in the next best thing.  at the end of the already long day, this just added insult to injury.  my right knee was barking and my right shoulder wasn't much better.  still, i wound up getting up there.  and back.

stratton mountain.  yes, there's still some snow remaining.  it was a cold spring up here.

lori told me to call her when i finished so she knew i was still alive.  she asked if i carried my driver's license with me.  in all these years of riding, i've never done that.  i always have my phone, some cash and a credit card, but never my driver's license.  spooked by her suggestion, i thought for sure this was an omen.  and yes, i wound up taking it along with the other stuff, threw it in a baggy and stuffed them in my back pocket of my bike jersey.  thank goodness i didn't need it [and no one else needed it to identify the body!].

a long bath and a nice meal and i'm done with day one.  now for some much needed rest.