63 miles today

I road with a good group today. We started with 25, ended with 3. Hmm. I'm sure everyone got back ok. At the half way point, about 12 of us were left, then we started to jack it up a bit. Unfortunately, we (I) missed a turn. 6 followed, 6 made the turn. I found a nice recovery route, but my credibility was shot, so the other 5 went back. I met them on the short cut. One guy asks me if I think we can catch the other 6 - I said doubtful, but possible. He said let's get organized and go for it. I started moving quickly and lost three of them. We just kept going.

Near the end, we passed Ken Glah and Jan Wanklyn out for an easy ride. I told the other two guys to go ahead and slowed to chat with Ken and Jan.

Overally a good day, but I've got to get better at reading queue sheets when going fast downhill.

nearing 200

I rode into work 4 times this week - that's 160 miles before the weekend.

Our little 35 mile ride in the rain put me at the 195 mark. I might have to get out for another ride tomorrow (fathers day!).

riding wet

The forecast wasn't good, but you never know....

I arrived at the meeting place and was happy to see a few others as optimistic as I.

The word was that the ride leader had cancelled the 70 mile 'A' ride, but several of us still wanted to go for a ride. I offered to lead a 50 miler - 5 die hard riders joined me.

1 rider (Andy) introduced himself as a former high school classmate of my 21 year old daughter. He had just qualified for Kona with his 4:45 finish at Eagleman. Nice.

Another rider is part of my Tri club - and works at my company - they would both be doing Philly Tri next week (I am so jealous).

It was a good start - no rain, everyone at roughly the same ability level - no stragglers. Andy was a beast on the uphills - taught me some humility.

10 miles in, the sky opened up and the roads turned to rivers. I had to take off my prescription glasses to see better. The rain was pelting us hard as we road down hills at 30mph.

At 15 miles in, I gave the group a bail out option to head for home. It was unanimous - we started to head back.

The rain slowed a bit, so I added on several loops to get in some extra miles. We finished with 35 miles under our belt - not bad for a rainy day!

Philly Pro Bike Tour

I rode from my house down to the Philly International Pro bike tour today - about 70 miles round trip. http://www.procyclingtour.com/phila-home.htm

It was fun watching the pros - those guys and gals are amazing. I watched one pass at the base of the infamous Manayunk wall, then climbed to the top myself to watch another pass. It is amazing how fast they can climb. I don't think the climb is THAT hard, but to do it at a high speed, now that is impressive. I'm going to have to check it out sometime when it isn't so crowded.

I met a few cycle club friends throughout the day. That was neat. I guess I'm starting to feel a bit more at home in Philly area.

Speaking of crowds - the whole area is a great big party. I had to travel quite a few side streets to get to various places on the course, and everyone was having a good time!

The River Trail going out and coming back was super crowded. I went to pass a group, and a little girl on her bike lost control for a moment and almost shot out in front of me - she was well hidden behind mom, so I didn't even see her as I started to pass. Could have been a disaster!

On the way home, there was a big motorcycle gathering at Valley Forge Park. I stopped by and took some pictures. The bikers were very cool - only kind words for the skinny cyclist in spandex.

Well it is my lovely daughter's 21st birthday. Crazy!

Ricketts Glenn

This is a real gem of a state park about 3 hours north of us. We've postponed going here for many years, but the stars must have been aligned yesterday and we could find no more excuses to avoid the 3 hour drive and the 20+ waterfall trail hike.

It was spectacular and I only wish we would have done it sooner and more often! We had heavy rains for the past 4 days, which I'm sure helped the waterfalls put on their best show. It was just Sena and I and she did great on what was classified as a very difficult trail. My daughter Rachel was there a couple of years ago, and she suggested that we might not want to do this very difficult trail - I guess she just thinks her parents are too old (does she know us?).

Anyway, if you get a chance, don't miss this one - fantastic!!!

Next time, I would want to get there very early or perhaps camp there the night before, then do the trails to avoid the crowds.

Transformer: MTB=>Touring

I've begun to transform my mountain bike to a touring bike. A few minor tweaks so far...

Road-ready tires, strap on pedals, aerobar, rack and packs. Looks good, now I just need to find a time to try it out...

I hope to do some bike camping this summer, and I didn't want to dish out $1K for a new touring bike... not until I decide that I like this new adventure sport!