Even in torrential rain, there is nothing like riding the roads of Maine, especially along the coast. 3 days of Kennebunkport, and 3 days of rain, but it's still fantastic. Winding around roads with few cars and lots of rolling hills was precisely what these legs needed. I even found a favorite new "maawket" in Arundel and some new training strategies that are helping build more power and endurance.

Race for the finish...twice!

Benchmarking my training progress with two all-out, 3-mile sprints to measure heart rate, speed, blah, blah. 1st one was good, and I didn't crash or cough up a lung, and the 2nd was a little slower, but I crossed my artificial finish line with a smile on my face. Now, off to some long rides this weekend up in the hills of Maine. On the Lupus front, our daughter and family are struggling with a new bout of not great test numbers...this is definitely keeping my focus on the Ride mission.

A New Day, A New Ride...I'm changing my riding routine after a long plateau period of leg burnout. So far, so good. The miles are coming easier, now. I guess it's to be expected. This journey is all new although I'm meeting people now that have done such nutty events and survived them. Can't anyone keep the lights on longer at night? Note to German car manufacturers - your automatic high/low beam adjustments are brutal to cyclists and joggers...they don't turn off until you're on top of us!

Last night was a wonder...at the Life without Lupus board meeting last night, I got to hear about all of the tremendous community work that the group is doing on behalf of Lupus patients in the NYC area. Wow! If anyone wants to check them out, link to www.lupusny.org. Also, the surge is building for this crazy Ride. People are signing up to keep in touch, donating money and buzzing about this. Only two and a half months to go, and it's growing. It made that hill ride this morning a total joy!

Sunday Torture! 90 minutes of Hill Sprints up and down an immodest grade, with a Rascal Flatts blaring in my earbuds - sounds like fun...Ouch!

90 minutes of Hill Sprints!

Knight Rider

Wow, I forgot how energizing it is to ride at night. Instead of the morning sun and smells along with the forgotten creaks and cranks from football and wrestling...umm, a few years back...there is a bit of a demonish edge to the moon you don't get from the sun. 1.75 hours and a few all-of-a-sudden potholes later, I reeled off a boost of a ride prepping for a weekend of long distances. Great fun!

Ahhh Saratoga

Of all places - fortuitous luck and good fortune - I ended up in Saratoga Springs, NY for a business meeting. And, I brought my bike. And, I got to ride, not on the early morning streets of Long Island but the car-less and picturesque Catskill mountains. 2 hours later, I emerged out of the darkness on the backside of Saratoga Lake and wound my way around only to get pelted on the straightaway home by a surprise rain shower. No matter! As I peddled back into the town, I was stopped by a crossing guard letting 6-7 Thoroughbred racing horses walk over the street, back to their barn. The heat mist rolling off their textured backs was like a picture out of a magazine. Beautiful. Ok, back to reality...

Today: a long, steady, rolling hill climb of 45 today, to Catskill...strange - why are there 2 shut down cement factories and 1 thriving along 9W? Actually, it was pretty eerie. New tires (thanks to my crew chief, wife-Angie) and some good chain lube, and that made today a beauty. Fortunately, the ride ended just before the storm arrives.

A Surprise Wake-up Call

I started my ritual deep breathing and initial first spins at the middle of my driveway this morning. As always, I stopped at the end of it to check my bearings, wheels and tires just to be sure everything was in working order. It was very, very quiet. From a distance, though, I could hear a car head up our road, and then I saw its headlights coming toward me. I watched carefully as it pulled slowly past. A familiar whooshing sound passed through the air...Whack, Thump...after clunking me in the chest, there sat the neatly packaged NY Times and WS Journal at my feet. The dude backed up his car and said, astonished I could be standing there..."hey, where'd you come from?" All I could manage to whisper and laugh out was, 'oh, I live here. Sorry.' How pathetic. What happens in the morning, stays in the morning.

Thank God Gustav has weakened

With a clearer mind this morning, 40 miles came more easily than it did on Saturday morning. Knowing family friend Allison was in safe hands in Texas (get out there, though...it's coming that way, now) let us breathe a bit easier. Katrina left her without a neighborhood and the city she loved. So, stoking the miles this holiday weekend was a mixed bag of emotions with a hurricane in the background and our oldest daughter headed back to college. Weird: we're down to 5, again.

Threw in some leg weight training to build up my hill-climbing strength, and that's helping but, mostly, squeezing more carbs into my diet has majorly helped with stamina. Friday's 35, Saturday's 45, Sunday's quick spin of 20 and today's 40 packed some miles on my now-worn tires. One more day then a day off for some weary legs, new tires and a bike adjustment. Back at the office tomorrow - eager for it!