A turn of the wheel

For those of you wondering how Saturday turned out, well, I have to say it went pretty good. All in all my friend and I rode just about 50 miles, so I'm confident I'll be able to complete my metric century this coming weekend.

Trust me when I say I tried to create a map to show our route but failed miserably due to the technical flaws inherent in Google Maps. It's all the technology's fault. Therefore, you'll get a description of the route via the written word.

Started at Lee Highway and Glebe in Arlington. At 6:30. On a Saturday morning. The roads were very clear. Along with six other riders (a group that soon became four others due to some broken spokes) we headed from there to Great Falls (the Virginia side) for the morning coffee.

After splitting off from the group the two of us rode from Great Falls to Reston on a variety of roads, including a lovely jaunte down Sunrise Valley Drive, and then down to the Washington & Old Dominion Trail (the WOD). Fourteen or so miles later, at the intersection of the WOD and Columbia Pike, I passed my personal best for distance at 35.5 miles. By the time we made the turn onto the Potomac Trail by National, we'd done around 40 miles, just 10 to go.

The next five or so miles - National to Rosslyn - skipped right by. Hey man, I was thinking, this is easy. And then we got to Rosslyn and Lee Highway again. While riding from west-to-east on this road is pretty fun, it's definitely no fun going west. Straight. Up. Hill. For the last five miles. Not a serious grade, but just a long, dedicated pull up hill.

But I did it. And now I'm looking forward to the ride down in St. Mary's this weekend. Who knows, maybe one of these days soon I'll be able to throw away that "metric" tag and just do a real century.

As I mentioned in my last post, while I'm doing this for fun, my friend has a more important purpose in mind. He's riding 635 miles from San Francisco to San Diego in eight days next month to raise money for LIVESTRONG. And, while he's 80 percent of the way to his $5,000 goal, every little bit helps. So here's how you can help:

You can make a donation by going to his LIVESTRONG fundraising site
Enter an amount in the box
Click “Continue,” and follow the instructions from there

See you on the trails...

May the road rise up

Tomorrow, a friend and I are headed out for a little bike ride. For me, the ride will be the longest I’ve ever done – 50 miles. Not so much for him. He’s ridden 50s and more before, but it’s still an important ride.

You see, next week, the two of us will be heading over to Maryland for the St. Mary’s Century. For those of you unfamiliar with biking terms, that’s a hundred miles. I, personally, will be taking the wimp’s way out and doing the metric century – 100 kilometers (about 65 miles), so I’ll be setting personal bests on two consecutive weekends.

The thing is, while I’ll be curled up in a ball whining in pain the next day, my friend’s going to head back out on the road to see if he can do it again. There is a method to his madness: He’s training for an even longer ride for a better cause than just a T-shirt. But I’ll let him explain in his own words:

Colleagues, friends, family, and fellow cyclists,

As some of you may know, I am riding my bike from San Francisco to San Diego, Calif., next month as part of KPMG’s Chasing Daylight charity ride to raise money to help fight cancer. The Chasing Daylight Tour will cover 635 miles from San Francisco to San Diego in eight days from Oct. 10 to the 17.

This year, we are raising money for Lance Armstrong’s Foundation, LIVESTRONG. My personal goal is to raise $5,000. Our collective goal is to raise $200,000, which will make us the biggest single grassroots fundraiser for LIVESTRONG. You can be sure that your donations will be put to good use. KPMG and the individual Chasing Daylight riders are bearing all costs for the ride: transportation, lodging, food, and support. That means that 100 percent percent of the money that you donate will go to LIVESTRONG to help inspire and empower people affected by cancer.

Most of us probably know or love someone who has been touched by cancer. Please help me honor those people and help others who are currently fighting the battle by donating whatever you can.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can make a donation by going to my LIVESTRONG fundraising site
Enter an amount in the box
Click “Continue,” and follow the instructions from there

If you are interested in finding out more about LIVESTRONG, please click on the links below:
What We Do
Get Help
Our History
Milestones

Yeah, you read that right, 635 miles in eight days. In case you didn’t, lemme spell it out for ya: Six hundred and thirty-five miles. In eight days. San Francisco to San Diego.

As he said, “Most of us probably know or love someone who has been touched by cancer,” and that is true in my case as well. My brother-in-law was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease two weeks before he married my sister. And, come Nov. 1, it’ll be nine years since my mom died after her second go ‘round with cancer.

I checked this morning, my friend’s a little more than halfway to his $5,000 goal. Any help you can give to help him reach that goal is greatly appreciated.

Live. Strong.

“May the road rise up to meet you,may the wind be ever at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields.
And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.”