A Day Without Rain Is A Day Of Happiness

Similar outfit, different day. Not quite dressed for rain, because it's not been predicted for today, I'm doing the happy dance!!! Today's weather is cloudy, hot and humid as we cycled from Worcester MA, to Windsor Lock, CT.

Our day began with climbing out of Worcester and continued with climbing almost the entire way into Windsor Lock. I never new how hilly Connecticut was. It's almost as hilly as our ride into Worcester...wait a minute, there were some hills that were longer and steeper then yesterday. Yeah, Connecticut wins, it has more hills!

Here is a picture of me crossing into Connecticut at the state line. We road through some very picturesque countryside where we saw leaves already changing on the trees. We came around one corner to see houses that had no roofs and the sides of the houses were missing. We were told this is an area that was hit by a Tornado. Trees were bent over and some were split like toothpicks. It was so sad to see how the Tornado torn through this small valley of homes!

As we continued our ride we cycled through Brimfield, Stafford and finally into Windsor Lock. I saw two smooched snakes today and loads of smooched frogs. They must have been out dancing in the streets during the recent rain storms, looks like it was their last dance!

The ride was 68 miles today and because of the hills it took about 5 and a half hours. We took a few breaks and were sure to eat some lunch before heading to check in to the hotel. All in all a great day.

After route rap I went for dinner with Carolyn and Lou McAdams, dear friends from our VBT Ireland trip. Thank you so much for making the trip to Windsor Lock, I really enjoyed catching up with you and hope Lou enjoys his new job!!!

Rain, Rain go away...PLEASE!

Today was a long day of cycling, 93 miles. We began with overcast skies and hopeful that the rain would hold off until we rode into Worcester MA.

There wasn't much to see on the first half of our ride out of New Hampshire. The roads were pretty good as we cycled through the countryside. Some roads were narrow lanes while others had wide shoulders to keep us out of the way of the traffic. I did see something I thought strange as we rode along, I counted at least 10 old banana peels laying in the shoulders. I was wondering what's up with that...was there a bunch of Monkeys living in the woods?? If there were, they had better to careful of the snakes.

Yep, I saw two smooched snakes today. Guess since there wasn't any rain today, they decided to venture out..big mistake on their part.

In the afternoon we rode into MA. I've seen this sign before when we rode into MA last year on my cross country trip. It was great to be in Massachusetts again. The sights changes as we cycles along, we actually saw some of the leaves had already changed and lots of Pumpkins for sales at the road side stands. I would liked to have gotten some pictures but about 3:00 with 20 miles left to go to the Hotel, the rain was back.

It started slowly then with about 10 miles left the sky opened up and poured! It made for an interesting time riding through Worcester to get to our Hotel. It was slow going but we finally made it. I immediately checked into my room, turn off the air conditioning and switched on the heat.

The ride today was about 7 hours long. That was due mostly to the rain in the afternoon and a lot of hills. It wasn't so bad going up the hills, but with the wet roads I pumped my brakes for a controlled descent, so it was slow going. We all want to know when do we reach the "flat lands"!

Tomorrow is another day and I'm hoping it's without rain, enough already. Go rain on someone else's parade! Hope you have a great evening!

Rain, Rain and more rain

Today was the first day of my trip cycling down the Eastern Seaboard. In my mind, it didn't exactly play out the way I thought that it would. I dreamed that it would be sunny and warm with a nice trail wind.... and then I woke up.

We began in pour raining and relatively warm weather. Thank goodness for the warm temperatures! As you can see I dressed for wet weather with my leggings and bright yellow jacket so I could keep my legs warm as well as be seen. Even Jan put on her jacket before leaving!

I know we were cycling along the coastline today because I could smell the sea. I just wished I could have stopped to take pictures, but with the rain and the fog we encountered we were lucky to have been able to see the beaches as we rode through Kennebunkport, Ogunquit and York Maine.

The rain finally began to slow down as we crossed over the bridge into New Hampshire. So I was able to take my second picture of the day as we rode into Portsmouth. The bright side of cycling in the rain today was that my snake count was a big fat zero. Unless they were wearing water wings, there weren't any to be seen, it may have been a wet day, but it was a good day!

The ride today should have been 70 but was actually about 75 miles. Doug and I just couldn't get enough of seeing the sights of York, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Following my ride I spent 45 minutes cleaning my bike and I'll bet when I get back to Richmond and have it tuned after my trip, they will still find sand from my ride today.

T- Minus 23 Hours and Counting.....

This morning was a great morning, blue skies sunny and warm. After breakfast Jan and I took our bikes out to do a short test ride and then back to the hotel to get our orange flags on the back of our bikes. It was so nice to finally get back on my bike.

Once our flags were installed we were off to explore Portland and several lighthouses. Here's a picture of me at our first stop. I have on my custom made Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund cycling jersey. I also met a "old Corp" Marine and his dog, a Bull Dog to be specific. The official Mascot of the Marine Corp.

The weather was great today for our 30 mile "test"ride, no winds lots of sunny skies and smooth roads. What more could you ask for.... I can't think of anything. We stopped at a local sandwich shop for lobster rolls and for me a chicken wrap.

On our way back to the hotel, I saw the thing I feared the most.... yeah, they have migrated to the North East to haunt me, I saw two smooched snakes! My ride hasn't even officially begun and I'm already seeing dead snakes, the count continues.

Have a great day an let's hope for smooth roads, sunny warm weather and lots of "photo ops" as I begin my trip south.

From York to Portland, Maine

I had the best time visiting with Char and Jay in York! Thanks for all your hospitality and for keeping the "tradition" alive with breakfast at the Goldenrod for waffles, my favorite!

I'm now sitting in the hotel watching it sprinkle rain. I do have my bike with me after dealing with several issues to get it up here and then a snapped rear derailleur hanger. It's all good now, as Kevin use to say, because I have a new rear derailleur hanger and I'm rearing to go on my test ride...now if the weather would only cooperate!! I've done my "sun" dance already this morning, where's the sun?

Last night I enjoyed a great dinner at a local Brew Pub along with Jan Lewis and Doug Squires from the XC2010 ride. Now we're waiting on the rest of the "crew from XC to join us and to meet the other riders, should be 25 in all for this years ride down the Coast.

Weather reports are calling for rain on Thursday, not the best way to begin, but it's not like I haven't ridden in wet weather before, besides I have my water wings with me! Wish us luck!

Well best run and get ready for my test ride. It will be great to get back on my bike, stretch my legs and see some of the sights Portland has to offer!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

T minus......

I've finished my "practice" packing of my two gym size bags and am happy to report this year I will be at the 15 pound weight limit on both. No boxes needed for me to ship stuff home! That was so embarrassing last year! I have learned to be an efficient packer.

I have also be busy recording the Injured Marine Semper Fi Funds that are still coming in by check and through my donation site: http://www.active.com/donate/SFFCOMMATHL2011/challbikerchick

To date, I have raised over $17,000 for my 2011 Eastern Seaboard trip. Combine that with the funds I raised on my 2010 cross country trip; which were over $28,000, I have been blessed and fortunate to have raised over $45,000 for The Fund. Thank you so much to my family and all my friends who have supported me through their kind words and donations.

So as I dream of reuniting with my bike, which I hope gets fixed before I pick it up...yes can you say Murphy's Law, when my bike was unpacked they found a broken derailleur hanger. Shades of last year and I didn't even fall on wet railroad tracks!! I'm so ready to get out there and begin my next adventure cycling along the Eastern Seaboard, I've heard it's all down hill from Portland to Daytona Beach!

I hope everyone has an outstanding day and remember to be safe out there.

Tick, Tick, Tick...

The clock is ticking down and I find myself in a calm state of mind.  I don't have the same butterflies in my stomach as I did before last years cross country ride.  My bike has been shipped and should have arrived at it's destintation today, as I practice my packing skills and get a few more miles in on my windtrainer.

I've actually enjoyed riding inside because I can listen to my IPod, which is a definite "NO, NO" when cycling outside. But for something different, listening to the late 70's and early 80's disco music helps me keep a fast pace!

I've attached a map showing the route that we'll be taking.  Hope this gives you some perspective of where we'll be cycling. Before I know it I'll be peddling my way from point A to point B and have the pictures to prove it!

Hope you have an excellent week, I know I will!