Today was my first ride of the year. It was for the Horsham Rotary Club and called the Rotary River Ride. Firstly I have to say my weather team Kicked B….. opps sorry Sisters. After two days of heavy rain today was a beautiful day starting off at 50 but warming to the 70’s. Because the weather has been so rotten I have not done as much outdoor riding and it showed. The ride I participated in is 100K (63 miles) long. They had a good mix of hills and a lot of beautiful scenery.

The money raised today will help the Horsham Rotary Club continue the good work they do for the community. One current project is their “Everybody’s Playground”. It is a universally accessible playground. Children in wheel chairs can swing and play just like everyone else. This is a new park they built on land donated by the township.

It is great to help them out by participating in this ride. Motrin for everyone!
Next ride is May 20th The American Diabetes Assoc. Tour de Cure 100K

Gardenia Blooms For Sale

My Gardenia bush has so many blooms I decided to offer them on Craigs List for donations to The Lance Armstrong Foundation.

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/grd/320453318.html

Rain, Rain Go Away

I don’t like to ride in the rain. Two years ago I was in the Tour de Cure ride from Baltimore to Washington D.C. It rained over 8” that day and the day before. Local police shut down the roads and so I didn’t get to ride. I waited in the crowd for Lance Armstrong to arrive and talk to us. His first words were, “If this were the Tour de France they would make us ride”. Everyone, including myself called out “Let’s Go!” In the picture I am on the left side, front row by the letter 'e' looking up at the sky.



Ever since then I have a secret team who works to assure that the days I ride will have good weather. They are better than David, Hurricane, Carol and Cecily or any number of forcasters all rolled into one. They are my Weather Team.


These are the Sisters of Saint Joseph who teach at St Luke School in Glenside. From left to right they are: Sister Marie Jude, Sister Sandra Kessler, Sister Michael Eileen, Sister William Adele and Sister Alice. What a great team – and – they don’t even make me stay after to clean the chalk out of the erasers!

Philly's work on the trails

Has anyone noticed what a great job the city is doing on the bike trails. Especially the trail from Forbidden Drive at Lincoln on down to Ridge Ave. That section was looking pretty bad last year and they have done a great job bringing it back to life. The section of the Wissahickon where it turns at Lincoln drive has a small rapids and I think is one of the most beautiful areas of any of the bike trails in Philadelphia. Anyone want to nominate another area?

I do have to say how disappointed I am that someone decided that they needed to tag the new stone retaining wall about half way down the trail. Hopefully it can get cleaned to restore it to the beauty that the city has worked so hard to create.

RoadBikeRider

One newsletter I read every time is from RoadBikeRider.com. Ed and his team do a terrific job of providing relevant information to us. You can sign up for the newsletter at http://www.roadbikerider.com/

From time to time I will highlight a story they have which I find interesting and think you may also. They also have a Forum at http://forums.roadbikereview.com/

Items in this weeks newsletter concern Floyd Landis and Ian Basso's problems. I am glad that they don't test me for TastyKakes and Cheese Steaks -- I would fail every time.

Some other comments worthy of your view are concerning how to ride safely in the street. Under the Headline of Wave, Don't Weave there are several good comments about what I call "Playing in Traffic". I usually ride 3 feet from the curb or side of the road surface. That is the distance from your nose to the end of your finger on an outstretched hand. It puts me close to the place where the cars right wheels would normally be. It does two things.

1. It draws the drivers attention to me because I am in the roadway. They can easily pass and if they get too close I have room to move without going over the handlebars.
2. The road surface, especially if it has been dry and hot for a while, is less slick from the accumulation of oils, etc. because of the car tires "cleaning" the road.

If there is a stretch where there are parked cars with a gap between clusters of cars that are parked I will stay out in the roadway after passing the first set of parked cars rather than move back in to the curb and then back out again at the next parked car. Initially I thought it courteous to move in and then back out but in reality I find that it confuses the drivers. Somehow they don't expect me to move back out when I am coming up on a parked car. I stay out until I have passed all the cars and then move back in. I call it riding consistently and I think it helps the drivers respect my place on the road. It works for me.

Safe Riding

An evening with WHYY

We had a great evening with the people of WHYY Philadelphia's Public Radio and TV stations. Seeing the work that they are doing and meeting their great people affirmed to us that the money we donate each year is well worth the investment. Not a member? Swing over here to become a MEMBER.

I look forward to the possibility of working with these great people.

This Sunday

This coming Sunday is a special day. Father Joseph Murphy is celebrating his 60th year as a priest. He has been an educator as well as a priest. He is truly a gift from God to us. He has a great sense of humor. In his note to parishioners last week announcing the 6:30 AM mass to celebrate his day he said, "Having a Jubilee is like being a corpse at a funeral. One needs to hold the event, but nobody expects you to say very much."

Father Joe, I cannot be at the early mass this Sunday because I will be on my bike but:
This Ride Is For You

And we are off

Tonight is the start of this blog. Somehow I feel behind before I even start!

Speaking of behind
Because of the poor weather I have not been riding outside as much as I should. My first ride of the year is this Sunday. It is a subscription ride; by that I mean you pay money and you ride. It will be a 100K ride for the Horsham Rotary club and surprisingly it is called The Horsham Rotary River Ride.

My legs should be good because when I am not riding outside I am riding inside a couple of times a week. The part of the anatomy which matches the bicycle seat is what, right now, is in the least amount of shape. For those new to riding the training schedules you view all describe your training in hours not miles. You ride so many hours this day, so many the next, etc. Over the weeks you are spending more and more time in the saddle getting that part in shape.

My rides this year are:

Horsham Rotary River Ride 100K April 29
Ride of Silence and LiveStrong day May 16
Tour de Cure for diabetes 100K May 20
American Cancer Society 100 M July 15 Riding as a volunteer safety
LiveStrong Challenge Philly 100M Aug 26
MS City to Shore 175M Sept 29 & 30
LiveStrong Challenge Austin ?

My sponsors are great. Without them and the money they donate to these charities my riding would be meaningless.

The people I dedicate my rides to are great inspirations to me to do more and push my limits as they do in their lives. You will read more about them along the way.