Motivated to Succeed

TOMORROW IS CENTURY DAY!!!!

Work 8am to 5pm today, and then packing up my stuff for tomorrow! I'm excited! I can't wait for CENTURY DAY 2009! :)

 FIRST EVER CENTURY RIDE!  Mission : SUCCESS!

7:00 AM - Rain stopped and it was cloudy with a bit of sun. Roads were still wet but I went out there and did it. My mom and Harry were supposed to meet me for lunch, but stupid mapquest directions they got lost. They finally found me when I was at mile 83. Thankfully because I was out of liquids and out of money! :( But I refueled and tackled the mountain of doom into Massachusetts. It was pretty windy today. Only downer was that at mile 50ish a car of high school hooligans drove by and yelled and I almost fell off my bike. I hate jerks. Funny thing. I had to tack on like 3 miles at the end of the ride to make the full century distance. So I go onto a side street by Emma's house and I go to pull out and theres a little girl on a bike with crazy curly hair so I go out in front of her and speed away.. 1.5 miles later I turn around and come back, and the girl is there again. Only this time I see it's Emmy!! She met me at mile 99 and road the last mile with me :). She is such a cutie! She even gave my sweaty face a kiss! I'm on cloud nine!  More details to come later after I have a chance to recover. We're going to go out for ice cream now!

Total Distance: 100.5 miles  Total Time: 6:31:00 Average Speed: 15.4 mph

BENN'S FIRST CENTURY RIDE

EXPANDED NOTES:

So I woke up and the roads were wet with rain from the previous night. Jonn had SATs so he was up too and he was nice enough to snap a photo of me before I embarked on the century ride. The plan was for my mom and Harry to go in the van and meet me about halfway or slightly after for lunch. The ride was basically on three main roads: Route 29, Route 372 and Route 22. I was a little unnerved at the amount of traffic on the roads so early in the morning, but I decided to take it in stride (or pedal stroke?) and just kept plugging away. There was a slight west wind at 10-12 mph and it was in the low 40s at the start. I was glad to have my long sleeve shirt on underneath my jersey!

MILES 1-20: Riding on the back roads of Galway, Milton and Saratoga. Road to Spa Park and detoured to go into the park to use the restroom. Climbed the hill back out of there and back onto Lake Ave/Rte 29 going east towards Vermont.

MILES 21-40: After biking past the Saratoga National Monument I got a stunning view of the Green Mountains to the east by Bennington area and merged to Rte 372.  Rolling hills through Greenwich and Argyle.

MILES 41-60: Biked through Cambridge and turned south onto Route 22. Felt like hitting a bit of a wall because the westward wind went from a tailwind to a cross wind. I think cross winds are almost as hard if not worse than headwinds! Somewhere in here I had a group of teenagers speed past and yell at me. Shook me from my trance and I bobbled on the bike and ran into the sandy shoulder on the side of the road but managed to keep the bike upright and kept plugging away. At mile 57 I stopped at a Stewarts because I was completely out of liquids in Hoosick Falls. I felt good but needed to refuel. Called Mom and they were lost. They had somehow kept going on 29 to Rte 346 following the MapMyRide.com directions and ended up in Vermont! Oopsies! I grabbed a water, Gatorade and bought a cinnamon chip muffin which I quickly downed and was back on the road in about four or five minutes.

MILES 61-80: Still biking south, through Stillham, Petersburg, and Berlin. Had a low point about mile 75 where I started to doubt if I would make it. Maybe I was just cranky about not having lunch yet. My trail mix/GORP was running low and I was starting to feel the effects of fatigue. Plus it didn’t help that I kept having all those cars and trucks speeding past me. Little hills started to grow into monstrosities before my eyes. I reverted back to my long distance runs and broke the larger goal of finishing the century into smaller more manageable ones. “Just get to that light or telephone pole” I’d tell myself. Then, once there, I’d say “just to that next road”. It helped.

MILES 81-90: At mile 83 there was a gas station and Dunkin’ Donuts. I was now about 5-6 miles from New Lebanon where my dad used to work and also where I would turn east and go over the Berkshire Mountains. By now the wind was starting to cool me off a bit too much. The sun was actually not out much after the initial hour or so. I pulled off at mile 83.5 with a cumulative time of I think about 5hr17m. I took out my phone and was talking to my mom when she saw me! They were only a minute or so behind me. So finally I had my support crew, albeit after I had expected them. Mom bought me a coffee and I shared part of a bagel and used the restroom before suiting back up and heading out. I won’t lie. Seeing them drive into view was a welcoming sight. It is so hard when you do endurance rides to be out there by yourself because even though you know you can do it, you start to doubt yourself and your mood can change instantly like a lightswitch from optimist to pessimist. I felt reinvigorated and full of energy again and the next few hills weren’t all that bad, knowing that in twenty minutes or so I’d come up to them again.

MILES 91-100.5: As I pulled into New Lebanon I made out the form of the Chevy Express LT van my mom and Harry were in. I put my head down and pushed to meet them. My left quad was starting to cramp, so I felt my right leg trying to compensate and take some of the pressure off of it. My mom asked, “Do you need anything? Do you want to stop?”. I shook my head no and turned left on Old Route 20 and began “The Ascension”. Ascension to what I did not know. I’d driven this road countless hundreds of times to Emma’s house. I knew how long it was (somewhere between 2.75 and 3.0 miles), but I had never tried biking up it before. Sure I’d biked in the Green Mountains and the White Mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire in 2005 but I was about thirty pounds lighter then and the most I did in a day was maybe half the distance  I was covering today. I won’t lie. After biking 89.5 miles, a little dip in the road seems like a hill; now imagine having to scale a mountain range! It was do or die time. I’d gone this far. In a way I felt like Forrest Gump. I thought to myself, “Well, Benn.. you’re here. You’ve biked 5.5 hours and 90 miles. You can taste the century. Emma is waiting on the other side of the mountain. You can’t go under it. Can’t go around it. Have to go OVER it!”

So we all know I’m not Lance or Daniel Rasmussen. Yet when I turned onto Route 20 and began the climb, I felt like a Tour rider. I put the bike in the lowest gear on the second chain ring. (I rarely if ever switch out of the 2^nd chain ring), and put my head down. “Slow and steady. Get to the top.” Is what I kept repeating to myself. Slow and steady. Get to the top. My mom and Harry drove ahead and kept pulling over every .5 miles or so, expecting me to stop. But I didn’t. Maybe I secretly knew that if I stopped I risked not being able to get back on the bike and finish this thing. Maybe it was my pride and that I thought I’d be a failure if I stopped. Maybe it was my hotheaded determination to scale this beast of a hill as fast as possible. In any event I plugged away. I rounded corners as cars sped past me, hearing their engines switch over to super drive and knowing I didn’t have such luck. I was scaling the Berkshire Mountains on sheer grit, guts, and manpower.

Cresting the top of the hill, I began my favorite part of any climb, the descending. I got down in the tuck position, said a prayer, and started pedaling. Ten… Twenty… Thirty miles an hour.  I looked over to my Garmin watch and saw 36mph before it got too hard to look at my watch. I am pretty sure I passed 40 mph. My aerodynamic position made me probably look like a speeding bullet.. a white lightning rocketing down the mountain. I saw the van at the bottom of the hill pulled over at Hancock Shaker village. I rocketed past, and even when Mom and Harry pulled out and pulled ahead of me, I kept even with them for .25 or .3 miles. I was doing 26 mph on the flat. I had found a new gear and could taste the finish!

I crested the few little hills riding into Emma’s house, but saw I was going to be short by a couple miles. I turned onto a side street and started heading back towards the Shaker village. As I turned off a side street back onto Rte. 20 I saw a little girl with flowing curly hair and a blue helmet coming up the sidewalk on a bike. I decided to show her how a real biker biked and sped off. I climbed the hills I had just biked down, glancing at my watch. 97 miles…. 97.4 miles… 98  miles.. Almost there!

At mile 99 I turned around and started to bike back towards Emma’s street. There was the girl in her blue helmet with jeans rolled up like capris and flip flops on. As I got closer I realized it wasn’t just a girl… IT WAS EMMY! Mom and Harry had driven up Essex St. and told her I was right there almost to the house and to go ride ride ride and catch me! I guess she’d been trailing me since mile 97 and even yelled , “Hey dummy stop!!” haha. Oops! I guess I was so high on my cycling high that I didn’t hear her! Anyways she road the last mile with me, and holy cow she is fast on a bike! She wasn’t even wearing biking gear and was actually pulling away from me! I finally got to Essex Street and turned left and stared up the mountain. Emma’s street is a very steep hill and the last .5 miles of my century were going to be up it.

I got out of the saddle and put on my working cap. Do or die time. Everything else I’d gone through in the last six plus hours was worthless if I didn’t get up this hill and to Emmy’s house.  Pedal stroke by pedal stroke I struggled. Every pedal stroke my left quad got a little tighter. I think I can. I think I can. I hope I can I hope I can… After what seemed like forever, I finally saw it, Emma’s house. I got to her front yard, nearly fell off my bike and sprawled out in the lawn. I had done it. I had actually done it! I had ridden through two states, scaled a mountain range, and had ridden straight to Emmy’s house!

AFTER THE RIDE I walked back down the hill after a few minutes and thanked Harry, Mom and Emmy for everything. We took some pictures and then I just wanted to get a shower. Afterwards we drove to Northhampton, Mass. We checked out a possible wedding location, though we weren’t that impressed with it. Then we went into town and had a great time walking around to all the shops and went out to eat at Fitzwilly’s Restaurant. Mom and Dad had said I could have a beer. I’d earned it! We ended up getting icecream on Sunday the day after because we were too tired and full after Northhampton. I saw Emmy’s mom before she headed off to California to see Emma’s brother and sisterinlaw.  Thinking back on the ride now, after driving home on Sunday night, I realized I’d ridden a bike 30 miles MORE than the distance I drove home. Wow.

And now… as any endurance athlete wonders… what is my next goal?!

8:30 AM - Rainy and overcast. My final last night went better than expected. It was 25 multiple choice questions on alternavtive assessment and evaluation. I also had a take home essay and a project I handed in as well which will make up part of the grade. Hopped on the wind trainer this morning and did an easy recovery ride. Read more from Pears's An Instance at the Fingerpost. I am up to page 185 or so now. Wish it wasn't a 700 page book. It's good but it's taking me a while to get through it and theres a few other books I want to read at the same time! This week is supposed to be crappy weather wise, but I'm hoping on Thursday to drive to Massachusetts and help Emmy get the ground ready for a veggie garden! Also today I have my last final of my graduate degree. I still have my summer class and then student teaching, but hopefully NO MORE FINALS :).

Total Time: 34:00 Total Distance: 11 miles

9:00 AM - Well the Spring Semester is officially over. I took my last finals yesterday, though they did not start off smoothly. In my haste to go to Albany yesterday I grabbed the wrong blue folder and forgot all my articles that I needed for my first final. I quickly called my mom and we drove towards each other and met halfway about 25 mins from school. It was like a drug drop, and the Dunkin' Donuts gal that was taking a smoke break definitely gave me a weird look as I took the parcel and sped off into the sunset. There were a bunch of accidents and of course I hit every red light on the way back AND got stuck behind a tourist from New Mexico that spent 5 mins looking for his stupid ticket to pay the toll. I hate tourists sometimes. :) At least I'm a smart tourist when I go places I would like to think. Now we all know I wouldn't even have minded if I wasn't late to a final exam! Aggh! So I finally got there and our final was all on computers. Our teacher got every student a laptop to take the test on. So we had to write our essay on them and then email them to her. Kind of cool actually.  So now I am 12 days until my next semester starts. Twelve days is not enough I tell you!

Got on the bike this morning and read to page 235 in Iain Pears's An Instance at the Fingerpost. It's really getting interesting. Set in post-Cromwell England in 1663. It is a murder mystery where a young servant girl is convicted and hung for poisoning a former employer with arsenic. However, after her death, there are suspicions that she was not, after all, the killer. The book is written from four different perspectives in the first person. Really interesting. I just got into the second narrator's story today, and am on chapter five of that. It is a long book though. I have to get through this before the next semester starts!

Rode easy for an hour as I read. Am getting eager to come up with my next cycling goal. Was thinking maybe a circuit century could be fun.. plan out a 20 mile loop and do that 5 times? I don't know though.

Total Time: 1:01:00 Total Distance: 20 miles

2:45 PM - It was supposed to be rainy today, but it actually turned into a pretty nice day. Overcast and such but then the sun started to come out after lunch. I ran errands with Emmy this morning. We got stuff for the vegetable garden and then I got my Mom her Mom's Day gift that she mentioned she wanted. Had a cute lunch date at Panera Bread after we went to Charland Jeweler's for Emmy's 6 month ring checkup! While we were there we put a down payment and put our wedding bands on layaway! Exciting stuff! Then after stopping by her house quickly, we headed to the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail and stretched and went running! YES, RUNNING! According to my records the last time I went running was February 9th. And on that day I went 4.09 miles. I ran the exact same distance today, though part of the last mile was spent walking. I ran nonstop to the 5k mark though so that was good! Emma is so amazing to put up with me because 1) I was slower than heck and 2) I have a dorky cyclist tan on my legs and I am sure that was a bit embarrassing to be caught dead with this "newbie" It was really fun though! Then we came home and had dinner and am looking forward to a movie date before having to go to work tomorrow morning! Feels like forever since I blogged a run! Hit the 5k mark in 30:55 Splits were:

• Mile 1: 10:10
• Mile 2: 9:51
• Mile 3: 9:51
• Mile 4:13:55 (with walking)
  

3:45 PM - Partly sunny with light rain. Jonn was going out for a ride, and I offered to go with him, but I am a sucky partner. About 1 mile in he pointed out something was wrong with my wheel. I tried to continue riding, but my back wheel was messed up. Took it to the bike shop 15 miles away in Saratoga and sure enough when I heard the sharp "twang" at mile 80ish of the century it was me busting a spoke :(. I wanted to yell when I heard the estimate though. He goes: "yeah it will be 1.5 for the spoke, and 25 for labor." Figures!

Total Time: 8:15 Total Distance: 2.5 miles

Happy Mother's Day to all FRB moms out there! You are all amazing and truly the best! Moms make the world that much more survivable in my opinion. Was glad to get my bike back from the shop yesterday. Kind of funny that labor for a $1.50 spoke ended up being $27.00 but what are you going to do, you know? Went down to Albany yesterday with Emmy and Jonn and looked for pants at a Big and Tall store. Only thing was it was just big AND tall, not big OR tall. I usually just have difficulty finding the right length pants. So then I tried the big mall down there and I had a lot of luck :). I now know where to get my pants!

After church today I read a really fantastic read about Abraham Lincoln. By Pultizer Prize winner David Herbert Donald, Lincoln at Home is a compilation of letters and correspondence and also a biography of Lincoln's life while in the White House. He truly was an amazing man and Donald's work in here is a fresh voice of reason. I know there have been a lot of Lincoln biographies especially with his bicentennial birthday this year, but I have always liked Donald's biography on Lincoln. Now I think I want to reread Donald's biography. 

I hope everyone else enjoyed Mother's Day and gave their Moms and sisters and wives and hunnies some hugs and kisses. We truly are blessed to have amazing women in our lives! You stay classy, FRB!

Survived my first ever day of substitute teaching! Man I forgot just how much energy fifth graders had! Luckily the teacher I am subbing for is one of the best and the best that a sub could hope for. She has everything laid out for me to teach and is so organized! I had to teach Social Studies, Math, Science, English, Grammar, ELA, and Spelling to fifth graders! I forgot just how many subjects there really are! Anyone that said subbing was easy is definitely mistaken. After 4:00 when I finished I sat down in the teacher's chair and didn't want to get up because I was so tired. The only downer was that there was a fire drill and the kids walked so fast I couldn't keep up (my ankle is acting up and in a brace). Save yourselves I guess! Forget the teacher! Burn him! Haha! And I only had one written referral today: at about 3:10 one boy bit his buddy in the hand over a stupid argument and I had to document it :(. Oii oh and they already had me fill out paperwork for retirement. I go: "Oh is it that close already?!" with a smile. The lady laughed. I am back in the same fifth grade Tuesday. I hope it goes well!

8:15 AM - Sunny outside today, but I didn't want to go out on the roads as I am not sure how far I could go. Also mom had a flare up yesterday so wanted to stay close to home in case she needed anything. Hopped on the wind trainer and read a chapter from Team of Rivals. Up to about page 170, but still only about 1/3 of the way through the book if I'm lucky. I guess they liked me as a substitute teacher because got a call to substitute again today but I had to turn them down because I have to work the bookstore from 1pm to 10pm tonight. However, also had a call from the same school last night after I had just got home from subbing and I am signed up to sub next Tuesday for fifth grade again! :-D. I just hope I do a good job! Scary that I already filled out retirement papers and am depositing money into a retirement system! And I'm only 22!

Total Time: 1:00:20  Total Distance: 20 miles

12:30 PM - Rainy and windy morning. Temperatures in the 50s. Very blustery though. My mom hasn't been feeling well the last few days. Harry has been having heel problems so I drove him down to Schenectady to the orthopedist. Found out he has floating plates in his heels from growing I guess. The doc had never seen something like it. Only remedy is 600 mg of tylenol 3x a day and find some comfy shoes. I told Harry he should get those cool Old Man Shoes that all the 90+ year olds wear. Bring them in style for the younger generation, you know?

Read from Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals. Read about 40 pages today including the infamous Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 during which both men traversed some 4,000 miles through the Illinois countryside, engaging in great townhall meeting style debates lasting three or four hours. I am struck by both the eloquence of Lincoln's speeches as well as the dutifulness. Much of Douglas's argument lay in convincing the Illinois populace that Lincoln sought full emancipation and equality of the black man with the white man. And while much of the Republican platform of 1858 did rest on equality of all men, Lincoln was able to sway support in outlining the founding fathers's beliefs: "When the white man governs himself that is self government; but when he governs himself, and also governs another man, that is more than self-government - that is despotism. If the negro is a man, why then my ancient faith teaches me that 'all men are created equal'; and that there can be no moral right in connection with one man's making a slave of another. The difference between the Republican and the Democratic parties on the leading issue of this contest is that the former consider slavery a moral, social and political wrong, while the latter do not consider it either a moral, social or political wrong; and the action of each...is squared to meet these views." (pp. 202-204)

Total Time: 1:00:30  Total Distance: 20 miles

5:42 AM - Temp was in the mid 50s I'd say. Woke up at 4:40 to go get Jonny from prom. Saw pictures of him and his date. They were a cute couple :-D. I'll try to post a picture soon on here. No wonder why all the ladies like him! ;) Decided to get a bike ride in. Laced up, threw on a sweatshirt and hit the roads. Just did one of the usual routes into Charlton and back. My lower back started to tighten up a bit. Probably still a bit strained from the century ride. Being cramped up and hunched over for 6.5 hours on a bike probably isn't exactly what God intended our backs for! Felt really good though. And now the best part.. I get to go drive to see my sister's graduation! :-D. She is graduating college today! And double good news: She got a 4.0 this past semester and I too earned my third straight 4.0 semester! Who said grad school was hard?! pshaw!! Haha! I think I have started to try harder in grad school than I did in undergrad and perhaps that's why I am more likely to get a 4.0? Or maybe they mistyped my grade. Shh don't tell anyone! ;)

And now for a short poem about my ride: (I'm a regular Robert Frost or Emily Dickinson, hahaha NOT!)

Early morning, quiet and alone.

Before the birds chirp,

Before the cars zoom,

Before the sun shines.

Howling Commandos ride

For their job is never done

Spinning the world in circles

In a cadence fit for champions.

Blackbird why you fly so high?

Lilacs fill my nostrils

As do the blackflies and gnats.

Is that the sweet smell of nostalgia,

No. I was mistaken. It was sweet, sweet

Victory.

Total Time: 1:32:03  Total Distance: 26 miles  Average Speed: 16.9 mph

10:30 AM - Cloudy and windy after last night's whopper storm we experienced at Su's graduation and then reexperienced driving home. Got called into work tonight so I wanted to get a ride in but it was really windy out so I started inside on the trainer for 30 mins and then moved outside to the garage and finished the ride there. Played pingpong with Harry afterwards. Now time for a quick shower, lunch and off to work all day while the family goes to my cousin's graduation party. :( Stupid work.

Total Time: 1:00:30  Total Distance: 20 miles

WHY DO PEOPLE SUCK?!?! This question has gone through my mind a lot lately, but especially tonight. I was just talking to Emmy who was visiting a friend in Cape Cod, MA this weekend and she just got home. She had been selling a tv entertainment hutch on craigslist.com and this guy had seemed legit and wanted to pay for it and was going to give her extra money to keep it off of craigslist. So Emmy took the listing down and he said his 'secretary' was sending a check. Well lo and behold the check was written for 1,850 bucks instead of 185. He said rather than write a new check to cash it and then western union him the money.. well Emm checked the account and the check had posted to the account before she left for Boston and she went and western unioned the money to the guy. Then she came back today and the check had bounced! aka She had been robbed of two thousand dollars. Now I know money isn't the end all, though I know how hard she works for her money. Why do good people always get f*cking screwed? I know it's not the Christian thing to do but I want to beat him up. Really badly. Can Christians believe in Karma? Because from what I've heard Karma's a beeotch and hopefully he'll get what he deserves. I might not be blogging much. I am going to call work tomorrow and see if I can get extra hours if not I have to find a second job. 

5:00 PM - Overcast, windy. Temp around 53 degrees. Needed to get a workout in, so I went out to the garage and cycled 31 mins on the wind trainer. Was a bummer because the neighbors at the bottom of the hill were burning garbage which always flows up into our property and hence into the open garage. Hopefully I didn't get some weird disease breathing in some weird burning plastic. First day of class was okay. Getting anxious about Emma's and My yard sale at her house this weekend! I hope we make a lot of money. Any profits we get are going into our wedding account!

Total Time: 31:00 Total Distance: 10 miles

9:10 AM - Sunny, blue skies and temperature in the low 40s. What does that spell? Perfect weather for a hill workout! Rode north from my house, a change as the majority of my runs go south with hills at the ends as I ride north again to my house. This was a reversal. I forgot how hilly it is in Providence and Middle Grove north of Route 29. I wore a fleece jacket as I knew it would be chilly in the shade. I think I am going to try to do this workout at least once a week to start building strength. Rode on Barkersville and then Fayville and then back over to Antioch Rd. Saw a hawk and I raced him. I blew him out of the water. Highlight was the last complete 'lap' which is 5 mile increments. From miles 15-20mph I averaged 20mph or 3:00/mile. I rode this workout hard, perhaps the hardest I've gone so far this season. I think that riding a similar route each week will build strength, confidence, and stamina. Finished and now it's time for a shower and homework before getting stuff ready for the yard sale this weekend!! Oh yeah, another highlight today.. SET A NEW PR FOR FASTEST SPEED I'VE EVER RIDDEN ON MY ROADIE!  43 MPH and I wasn't even maxed out! However, this was by far the most taxing shorter ride I've done this year!

Total Time: 1:21:27  Total Distance: 21.7 miles  Average Speed: 16 mph

7:30 AM - Sunny, blue skies and temperature around 62. Projected high of 88 or 89 today, so I wanted to get a ride in early. I started off on the same route I went on Tuesday, albeit a bit sorer than earlier in the week. My legs are adjusting nicely to biking though I feel. Today was a mix of ups and downs. One of the good things was that Emma got her interview for her job. It is between her and another social mentor at the same place. I hope Emmy gets it. Though I am biased towards her because she is absolutely amazing! We are getting psyched about the garage sale this weekend at Emma's. Su and my mom drove a load of stuff down to Emma's today while I was at work. Had a great ride, including yet another FASTEST SUSTAINED SPEED PR!!  45.7 MPH!! Maybe I was pushing too hard, but yet another spoke busted, this time right after the 30 mile mark. So I called and took my bike into Saratoga the 15 miles to the bike shop. It was just in there 2 weeks ago to get fixed... well to make a long story short, I ended up with two new rims.. 430 dollars later! Luckily since my birthday is next Thursday, my mom offered to go in halfway, so I only have to pay 215 bucks. I am anxiously anticipating getting a ride in after work tomorrow before I drive to Emma's for the yard sale weekend! The ride today was tough though, with a ton of hills. I went north into Barkersville towards Northville, then back up to Antioch Road by way of Lake Nancy Road, then down into Middle Grove by the Stewart's gas station. Finished on Rte. 29 where I busted the spoke.

Total Time: 1:50:43  Total Distance: 30.01 miles Average Speed: 16.3 mph

7:25 AM - Sunny and blue skies temperature of about 44 degrees at the start and 75 at the end. Went biking before the Memorial Day parade in Galway this morning. Did about 31 miles followed by another 20 after the parade was done. The parade is always good because you see just how many people there are in this small town. It seems that every person in the town shows up for the festivities. Sometimes a bit weird though when you run into half the people you graduated high school with. Kind of like a mini reunion.

Funny thing at about mile 6 this morning, going up a hill and two deer jump out of the woods onto the road and just freeze. This was my maiden voyage with my new rims that I bought last week so I wanted to test them out. They are really quiet though and smooth riding. I had to scare the deer off the road so they wouldn't charge me by clearing my throat really loudly. Saw a couple other bikers out there. None waved back when I greeted them.. humbugs!

Biked into Charlton and back for the first half, then up around Galway Lake (big mistake. The roads up there are so bumpy and uneven!). Coming down into the village, I was speeding, going 38 in a 30 oops! Then I was drafting off a Ford Ranger pickup and look over on the left, and theres four police officers chatting probably about doughnuts and coffee. Luckily for me they didn't pull me over! Biked to my house, and then went around the block for the last 5.5 miles. Kind of funny that in the country to go around the block you have to drive that far!

Emma and I had a yard sale at her house on Friday and Saturday and sold a lot of stuff. All the profits are going into the wedding fund. We're going to try to sell more stuff next weekend too! So far total profits to date: $892.20!!!

Total Time: 2:51:43  Total Distance: 51.12 miles  Average Speed: 17.9mph

8:15 AM - Sunny and blue skies, a bit breezy. Temperature at the start was cold and only about 38 degrees. I biked to Saratoga and met my mom and Su at Borders for coffee and a bagel. Su had to bring her car into the shop to get a tire fixed an an oil change. I hung out there for a bit and then biked home, via Ballston-Galway Road which goes by Pizza Etc. I felt really strong today for some reason and there was no soreness from yesterday's ride. I think I'll take that as a sign that I am definitely getting stronger!

Total Time: 1:59:30  Total Distance: 35.01 miles Average Speed: 17.6 mph

 4:00 PM - Cloudy and breezy. Temperature in the high 50s or low 60s. Decided to go biking with my sister Su to the track. She was going to go jogging with a friend but we wanted to go sooner rather than later as it looked like rain. Plus I had just finished a paper I have to hand in tomorrow so I suited back up and went on a recovery ride with her. It was really nice, though she didn't get to run as the track team was using the whole track when we got there. Biked home afterwards.

Total Time: 41:46 Total Distance: 9.09 miles  Average Speed: 13.0 mph

*Another two miles (10:00) around the house after the second ride, chasing Aggie and then went around the property and down onto the road and pulled Harry albeit slowly on his skateboard. He really likes "boarding" as he calls it.

8:00 AM - Very chilly, in the mid 40s and rain, rain, rain. As I sat on my bike on the windtrainer in the garage this morning watching the rain pour down onto the hood of my car and pool in puddles around the basketball hoop, I started thinking about how much I've done in my short-ish life. In the last 22+ years I have done a lot: Eagle Scout, 13 years of perfect attendance, rode my bike from Ticonderoga, NY to Old Orchard Beach, ME, earned my BA in History, nearly earned my MS in Adolescent Education, completed 2 marathons and most recently 1 century ride. Oh yeah... and gotten engaged to my best friend!!! So as I was sitting there on the bike I was pondering where I am going in life, how much lies ahead of me, and everything that came before today. I feel like life is getting increasingly complex, and I truly am starting to understand the argument that there are not enough hours in the day.

Today's book of choice was Stewart Lee Allen's The Devil's Cup: Coffee, the Driving Force in History. I read the first 68 pages in Allen's work, and boy was it interesting! Perhaps one of the most interesting passages was towards the end of the ride when I was reading about the first known suppression of coffee drinking which began June 20, 1511 by Mecca's religious police. They testified that coffee caused mental alterations in the drinker and was therefore a type of 'wine' outlawed by Islamic law and the Koran. It's interestig to look at historical interpretations and how much society has chagned over the centuries. To think that people viewed coffee as an intoxicant is mind boggling. While I know it is a stimulant, I hardly think you can put it in the realm of drugs such as marijuana, opium, alcohol, etc etc. I will try to read more of this book tomorrow!

On a sadder note, today is my last bike ride as a 22 year old. Tomorrow I will be an old man of 23. :(

Total Time: 1:00:30  Total Distance: 20 miles

10:30 AM - Today's my 23rd Birthday! Temperature about 50 or so. Rainy and misty; much like all those cool pictures of the highlands and such. I went outside and hopped on the bike and read more from Stewart Lee Allen's The Devil's Cup.  Today's 70+ pages I read were really interesting. They centered on the Islamic World and the Christendom during the 15th-17th centuries and the various rules and laws enacted with regards to coffee drinking. There was an interesting passage about Murad IV, an Islamic ruler in the early 1600s that actually went out at night in disguise to the various cafes in Istanbul to root out enemies. He was chronically driven by a fear of being killed and targeted (as any ruler probably would be, eh?) and in the process of going to cafes and taverns he found that most of the people in taverns were simply drunk off their butts and talking incoherently or about nothing of importance. On the other hand, the cafes were frequented by intellectuals that he feared were plotting the undoing of government. He went so far to make it punishable by death and beheading of anyone visiting a cafe, drinking coffee, growing a coffee plant, or found with coffee beans on their person. In addition, no coffee was allowed to be exported from the Turkish Empire. Up until the early 1700s, the Islamic World maintained its monopoly on the yummy stimulant.

Total Time: 1:00:30  Total Distance: 20 miles

"Since hot beverages were rare and water unsafe, workers took midmorning beer breaks. Beer for breakfast, ale for lunch, stout with dinner, and a few mugs in between. The average Northern European, including women and children, drank three liters  of beer a day. That's almost two six-packs, but often the beer had a much higher alcoholic content. People in positions of power, like police, drank much more. Finnish soldiers were given a ration of five liters of strong ale a day (as much alcohol as about seven six-packs, or about forty cans)."

"Almost everything had some liqor in it, especially medicines. Anything that wasn't deliberately fermented went off in the summer heat. In the winter, the beer froze, causing the alcohol to separate into high-proof liquor. We can be sure the resulting moonshine did not go to waste. To make matters worse, the main nonalcoholic source of nutrition, bread, is now believed to have been plagued with the hallucinogenic fungus ergot, the base ingredient for LSD. Drunk doctors, tipsy politicians, hungover generals: the plague, famine, and war. Add a pope on acid, and medieval Christianity starts to make a whole lot of sense."   

- pp. 128-129 from The Devil's Cup, by Stewart Lee Allen

5:30 PM - Got out of work and the roads were wet and the skies were all cloudy. Very humid and temperature of about 65. Figures that the sun came out when I got on the bike. Biked for 45 mins and read up to page 193 in the Stewart Lee Allen book. I'm going to finish it tonight before bed! Up early for work tomorrow and then going to Emma's for the Tag Sale Round #2.

Total Time: 45:30  Total Distance: 15 miles

5:30 PM - Windy, sunny and mid 70s at the start. Didn't know how today was going to go as the culminating bike ride of my killer mileage week. Ended up going well though. Brought two water bottles with me. I rode down into Charlton and back along the normal routes. Stopped once to use the restroom (aka some farmer's field) but man today was stinky, literally! I don't know if you all know what I'm talking about but sometimes there's really sweet smelling manure and fodder. I don't mind that. But I think a combination of the wet weather and sun contributed to make for some 'stinky manure'. Almost made me gag every farm I passed. I spent an hour last night putting new red grip tape on my handlebars! They look hot. Add to that the biking gloves Emmy got me for my birthday on Thursday and I was one smokin' biker! Most of my splits (5 miles / lap) were between 16:30 and 17:30. I wasn't pushing super hard. Now time for a shower and driving to Emma's to help with the yard sale tomorrow morning! We sold a ton of stuff I guess today while I was at work! I am anxious to see how much money we will ahve for our wedding account!

Finished The Devil's Cup at about midnight last night and then read the first 40 pages of my next read, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom during my lunch break at work today. It is a very moving, and surprisingly quick read.

Total Time: 1:52:31  Total Mileage: 32.80 miles  Average Speed: 17.4 mph