Groovy Trekkers: Suffering Pain for Others' Gain

A Successful Open House

2011-03-28T05:13:00.000-07:00

Ken and I decided to try something new this year to help bring in the money; We had an Open House this past Saturday from 10am-2pm.

I spent several weeks talking it up on Facebook and in person and via email. I invited everyone I could think of and then invited them again. I pestered people with cheerful reminders and then held my breath waiting for RSVPs. While I waited I baked and plotted and planned yummy foods and lined up gifts to give away.

Ken decorated by laying our Trek bikes out in the snow bank by the driveway (shiver!), hanging up his bike shirts on the windows and laying his medals out on the food table.

We served:

Chicken and Barley soup

Homemade Irish soda crackers

Pretzels/Goldfish crackers

Olives

Peach Trifle

PB/Chocolate Chip cookies

Oatmeal Raisin muffins

Veggies and dip

Grapes and Oranges

We also lined up 5 gifts to giveway to guests whose names were pulled out of a basket:

*a lovely basket full of goodies - soap, a pretty pillow, candles, jam, a decorating trinket, a heart shaped mirror and more.

*a Cheesecake, made with love by GrammaJ

*Toffee, made with love by Girly-Girl

*Granola from the Egglectic Chick Bakery

*Original Art from Beyond the Box Artistry

Only 5 people gave me a "fer-sure" that they were coming so I was a little nervous. Though we would certainly enjoy visiting with a small crowd, it would be rather disappointing to only pull in $20 after all my hard work!

Happily, 18 people came!

All of them donated - either money or cans/bottles for us to redeem or prizes for us to give away. Everyone seemed to have fun visiting and they certainly enjoyed the food! ;-)

When everyone was gone, Ken and I headed over to redeem the ENTIRE VAN FULL of cans and bottles. We got $43 for those! Then we came home and tallied up all the donations.

We made $317 in 4 hours. Not bad at all!

Better yet, we got another $20 the next day and several other folks wo couldn't attend have said they would like to donate. So all in all I would say the Open House was a BIG success!

Now if the weather would just warm up so we could ride more. So far I've been out for three 11.5 mile rides, each one colder than the last. COME ONNNNNNNNN, SPRING!!!!

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What? YOU haven't had a chance to contribute yet? You can RIGHT NOW. Just click either my or Ken's fundraising link in the sidebar (fear not, we share all our incoming funds) and use your credit card to make a tax deductible donation to the American Lung Association.

Whether you can give $5, $50, or $500, I and my asthmatic lungs THANK YOU!

Baby, It's COLD Out There!

2011-03-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

Thus far I have managed three training rides - all at 11.5 hilly miles. There is still snow on the ground and the rides have been chilly and uncomfortable. Yesterday there was an icy Nawth wind that kept me shivering the whole ride. All 3 rides were at 40º to 42º F, but with that wind the last one felt like 25º!!

I do ride better in cool weather - I don't tolerate heat and humidity well - But by "cool" I mean in the 60's, not the 30's or 40's!!

The biggest problem I have in the cold is my toes. They get so cold they go numb. Yesterday I wore a pair of wool socks and that did help a bit. The rest of me would have been fine with what I wore if it hadn't been for the wind. As it was, it took a long hot bath and a cup of hot tea to restore to normal and stop the shivering. Next time I'll need to check the weather/wind a bit more carefully and add a layer or two and a pack to stuff them in if I get too warm.

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting!

2011-03-11T05:01:00.000-08:00

It's warm today (in the 40's!) and I'd love to be on my bike, but it's raining like crazy. The good news is the warmer temps and the rain are MELTING THE SNOW! The bike miles will start piling on before the month is out. WOOOOOT! In the meantime we keep hitting the treadmill and lifting weights.

Last year, Ken got discount coupon for an ALA fundraising ride in New Hampshire. The coupon allows him to enter without raising any money beyond the entry fee. So yesterday he signed up to ride a "Century" (100 miles in one day) and the girls and I signed up as volunteers. That ride is on May 1. Should be a blast!

Fundraising for the Trek Across Maine is going well. We're trying hard to have all our money in my the end of April. I picked up more cans and bottles from a friend yesterday and we got a couple more checks in the mail. I'm sending out more "begging" letters today and we're trying to publicize our Open House on the 26th of March. I baked a cake a couple of days ago and froze it for the gathering. Today I'll be making and freezing cookies for the same. Once the weather clears up a bit, I'll take the van out and pester my neighbors for all their cans and bottles. I think I'll take the girls with me so they can contribute some cuteness to the endeavor!

Right now Ken has $279 of $1,000 and I have $280 of $1,000 toward helping the American Lung Association fight pollution and help research lung disease in Maine and New England. Please help us out by making your tax deductible donation. Just click Ken's or my donation links in the sidebar and use your credit card. Your money, be it $5 or $500, can really make a difference!

I and my asthmatic lungs thank you!

Fundraising Fun

2011-03-02T16:17:00.000-08:00

Training continues. The snow is still quite deep - unusually so for this time of year - so we haven't gotten on our bikes yet. But Ken and I are both training hard on the treadmill and with weights so we'll be ready to crank out some miles as soon as the roads are clear.

I've been trying to come up with some new tacks on the fundraising aspect. So far I have sent out my usual general begging emails, asked for cans and bottles on FaceBook, and mailed letters to several businesses we frequent. To date, we've raised $509 and 3 more people have pledged to give us "something" in the near future. That puts us at 25% in early March. Not bad!

The last Saturday of March we're planning to have an open house from 10-2. Ken and the girls and I will all wear Trek related shirts and bring up our bikes to use as decorations. ;-) I'll make oodles of food and I'm planning to give away one or more door prizes each hour. Anyone who donates any amount of money will be eligible for a prize! It should be fun, but we've never done anything like this before, so we have no idea how much money it will net in donations.

I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, if you'd like to donate to the American Lung Association via our Trek accounts (it's tax deductible!), just click one of the links in my sidebar.

My asthmatic lungs and I thank you!!! Ken thanks you too!!!

I mean it! We're REALLY thankful!!!!!

The Return of Cycling Mania!

2011-01-28T15:45:00.000-08:00

I'm Baaaaaa-aaaaaack!

Hello?

Anyone out there?

Tis the end-ish of January 2011 and Ken and I are once again starting to prepare for the Trek Across Maine. You know, that epic three day event where 2,000-ish people ride their bicycles 180-ish miles across Maines hills to the sea.

Why do we do it?

Because WE'RE NUTS!

No, no, not entirely. We actually do it to raise money for the American Lung Association of New England. I love that the ALANE is helping to make Maine pollution and smoke free. I so appreciate their efforts to help those with crippling lung disease through research and education. In short, the ALANE is Groovy!

Very soon-ish, I will have links up so all my faithful readers can...

What? I don't have any faithful readers? I am setting out to change that post haste! Twitter, FaceBook, Squidoo - Links to this blog will be everywhere.

You will not be able to escape me!!!

BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-ha-ha...ahem.

Anyway - I will have links up so all my faithful readers can easily make a tax deductible donation to either Ken or myself or to both of us. We're hoping to raise $1,000 a piece.

This blog is where I will keep you all updated on our training progress, our fundraising progress and where I will occasionally use the words fart and burp to keep your attention.

Stay Tuned For More!

We're Home!

2009-06-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

Ken and I got home safely last evening. Photos and a full report are coming soon...

We're OFFFFFFFFFF!

2009-06-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

I am leaving tomorrow morning for a day of volunteering before the BIG RIDE. Keep Mulletman and I in your prayers. Catch you on the other side!

(And many, MANY thanks to all of you who supported us!)

I'm As Ready As I Can Be...

2009-06-13T04:27:00.000-07:00

Only 6 days left until the Trek. Right now I'm up to 699 training miles and I plan to ride 20+ today, and 20-30 on Sunday. I'll probably take Monday off and ride 22 on Tuesday and then rest from biking until the big ride.

I. Am. So. PSYCHED.

I. AM. Ready.

2009-06-06T04:56:00.000-07:00

Only 2 weeks to go.

Am I ready?

For a while I wasn't sure. Doubts had begun to beat against my mind like sea waves in a storm. Especially when fellow Trekkers started ruminating on past rides:

Oh I hate the third day...the terrain is awful!

Those hills on Day 3 are tortuous!

Day 3 was the WORST!

I hear that Day 3 is the hardest because you're so tired and there's nothing but hills.

Thank you, fellow riders, for giving me somethiing to look forward to!

Last year's Trek was SO HARD for me! As you may recall, I had to bail out on Day 3...

Will I be able to do it THIS year?

I trained harder this time than ever before. I trained more often. I've ridden in horrific winds. I ridden in rain and in blazing sunshine. I've ridden next to snowmobilers with road salt and snow around me. I've purposely ridden hills that I didn't have to ride. I've gotten near the end of a ride and suddenly decided to add on a few miles. I've pushed myself to crank when I want to glide. I've made myself use higher gears than my legs were happy with. I've lifted weights and worn braces on my arm and ankle. To date I've ridden 658 miles and I expect to ride 140 more before the Trek.

So, was it worth it? Well, this past week I rode 22, 54, and 65+ miles successively. I tackled every hill and riding condition in our area. Today I am tired, but quite functional. I really feel like I could get on my bike and go again!

If I had to...

Which I don't!

So yes. Ken thinks I can do it. He was REALLY pleased with how well I rode and how good I was feeling post ride. I think my new level of fitness has taken a real load off his mind. (I'm telling you, I was pathetic last year; He was seriously worried about me!)

And I think I can do it too.

I think I can! I think I can! I think I can! I think I can! I think I can! I think I can! I think I can! I think I can! I think I can! I think I can! I think I can! I think I can! I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!

*******************
I do have a couple of areas that I'll seek to improve over the next two weeks:

1. I need to make LIBERAL use of A&D ointment for...um...chafing. I may also try adjusting my seat height from day to day to move "the rub".

2. I need to carry eye drops with me use them at every rest stop. I have small glasses with clip-on sunglasses, so wind (and dust etc.) hits my eyes with regularity.

I could wear my old prescription sunglasses - they are bigger, but they're butt ugly and they're heavier. They also invlove the trading-glasses-every-time-I-go-in-and-out game, which is annoying. Nonetheless, I'll try them on a few of my rides to see if the extra coverage is worth the aggravation.

Cute clip-ons:

Butt ugly prescription glasses:

3. I really need to work on my group riding skills.

I usually ride alone. I love the solitude! I am never bored; I can enjoy scenery, I can plot fiction, I can pray, I can compose funny and fascinating blog entries (which I promptly forget once I get home!), I can think deep thoughts about politics and ethics...well, ok, maybe not that last one.

At any rate, I so often ride alone, that I'm a little out of kilter when I ride with someone else. When my sweetie and I go out together Ken likes to let me ride in front so I can set the pace. On our Thursday ride I needed to stop and fix a problem with my shoe. I told him needed to stop BUT I didn't warn him when I actually did. He almost hit me!

Then, yesterday, toward the end of my second 20+ mile loop I suddenly heard an unexpected and chipper female greeting from behind, "Hey! I recognize that Loan Ranger jersey! Are you riding in the Trek?"

I said, "Yes" and stopped (we WERE almost to the stop sign at the corner...). She plowed right into me and then fell over on the asphalt because she was clipped in.

Ooops, I shoulda signaled that I was stopping.

I felt REALLY awful!

Fortunately, once we got her feet unclipped and untangled her from her bike, she was fine. No scrapes or bruises or broken bones or road rage.

We chatted a while and hope to see each other on the Trek, though she may opt for riding in front of me next time!

4. I need to buy some zinc oxide for my nose to go with the butt ugly glasses. I used 80 spf sunsblock, reapplied every 2 hours and STILL got burnt - especially my nose. I am extremely glad that I no longer struggle with PMLE, but my skin is still a bit on the sensitive side. *sigh*

Ok...That's all for now. This is my rest & restore day which means I get to eat many nutritious foods and not do any real work.

And yes, chocolate IS nutrtious!

A Tough Way to Log Training Miles!

2009-06-01T06:48:00.000-07:00

It all began as a normal Groovy Sunday - Up at 5am, at church for practice by 7am, staying through most of 2 worship services, a stop at the grocery store for necessities, and home. A usual Sunday afternoon would include lunch, a nap, reading the paper, doing the crossword (I use the term "doing" quite loosely here), and maybe a family game.

But this Sunday only remianed typical until the "lunch" part.

My mom, always on a quest for more natural food products had found a new, all natural soup she loved:

Mom, bless her heart, sent me home from church with a can of this gastronomical delight to try for myself. Generally, I love any and all things mushroom, so I had no qualms at all about stirring up a pot and ~~scarfing down every last drop~~ tasting it. My tastebuds weren't quite as enthralled as hers reported to be, but the soup was quite palatable and made a decent lunch when combined with a banana and a whole grain mini bagel.

I washed my dishes and went upstairs to sew the backing on Swaziland quilt #3 and listen to a riveting novel on tape. I'd been working about an hour when suddenly Mulletman trotted up the stairs.

"I just talked to Mom. According to the weather channel, we're going to have thunderstorms around 5pm. So if you're going to ride today, you'd better do it now." His intense expression left me no doubt that he'd only used the word "if" to be polite. What he really meant was, Get out and ride. NOW!

It was 2pm. I looked out the window and saw...

Well, not really. But I did see trees bashing together and debris flying and shade umbrellas zooming through the sky like missiles because the winds were gusting up to 849 mph.

Or something like that.

However, being the all weather athlete I am *cough*, I geared up, grabbed my bike and headed out. Don't worry though. I stowed my bright yellow rain jacket, "Just in case".

Heh-heh-heh.

It's 1.7 miles to the end of my road and before I'd gotten there, I had a stomachache. It was similar to the stitich you get in your side when you try to run right after eating. I found it rather odd because I had eaten almost 2 hours before and neither the soup nor the sides were very heavy. I hadn't even buttered the bagel! Oh well, I thought, I'll ride a little easier and it will pass.

It didn't. In fact, if anything, it got worse.

Oh. my. aching. gut.

It hurt so bad that I had a hard time taking any deep breaths. Not good when you are out on a traing ride. In stormy weather. Far from home. With 849mph winds.

I was puzzled as to the cause for a while. But then I burped; Soup - oniony, mushroomy soup. Yum.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, the soup had given me gas.

Stupid soup!

I decided if I was still feeling miserable when I got to a certain point, I'd take the "shortcut" home. I turned off the backroads onto a main highway and BAM!!!!!!! The wind hit me full force in the face. Yes, I was riding with a severe gut ache into the headwind from Hell. In front of me was THE WIND, behind me, an ominous squall line.

I was cranking my little legs around as fast as they could go and gasping for breath and moaning in pain and I was only going, like, TWO stinking miles per hour. I was NOT a happy Groovy! I was definitely going to take the shortcut (if I ever actually, you know, got there!)!

I had already stopped 3 or 4 times to put on my jacket (it was raining) and take off my jacket (the sun came out in all its blazing glory). Now I had to interrupt what little progress I was making to put it on again so I wouldn't get injured by all the flying rubble being blown down the road. Not to mention the fact that it was starting to rain again...

After an interminable amount of time and effort and struggle, I got to my turn off. Bad move. Bad Move. BAD MOVE! (I'm telling you, it wasn't a good idea!) The first 1/2 mile of road has nothing but wide open fields on either side. They might as well have been wind tunnels!

I could scarcely pedal. I had a death grip on my handle bars. The wind was grabbing my bike and jerking it around like an angry pit bull with a trespassing chihuahua. I hit a bump and my front wheel lifted momentarily off the ground. It never came down again! (I'd always wanted to be able to "pop a wheelie", but this was ridiculous!)

Then another, stronger gust hit and that, combined with all the soup gas that was building up in my insides, took me completely airborne!

I'm not sure how long I was up there. Unlike Dorothy (BRAVE Dorothy!), I had my eyes squeezed tight shut and I was praying for all I was worth. It was a simple prayer I learned as a child; Something along the lines of, "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPl!

I felt a jolt and opened my eyes. I was atop a hill about 2 miles from where I'd lifted off. I started peddling mechanically, but this exercise in futility lasted only a moment before I was swept into an updraft, once again airborne.

It was a very uplifting experience.

At any rate, other than suffering severe hand and arm pain from gripping so tightly and feeling like my stomach was going to explode and sweating to death inside my jacket while being pelted with all manner of rain, hail, tree branches, errant bumblebees, and small dogs, the ride ended well.

Somehow or another the gale swept me right toward my own street again. I skidded down in the oncoming traffic lane and managed to have enough presence of mind to swerve out of the path of the approaching cement mixer. The wind was at my back now and pushing me along at a tremendous rate toward home. So I just rested my legs and steered.

I spun into our dirt driveway, pulled around the back to the garage and promptly forgot that I was wearing toe clips:

I fell over sideways with my bike and we did a graceful somersault together. A graceful somersault where I landed full force on the harshell sunglasses case in the back of my bike shirt. I now have a lovely rectangular bruise in the middle of my back.

Oh...and those rumors about me swearing when that happened? Totally untrue!

I scraped my bike and myself off the ground and limped into the garage. My butt hurt, my wrists hurt, my back hurt, my head hurt, and my stomach was killing me. Mulletman was in the basement.

"Hi!" he greeted me cheerfully. "How was your ride?"

The funeral date and time will be announced later.

*************************************

I'm on a Roll!!

2009-05-27T04:53:00.000-07:00

Ack...that wasn't punny at all!

Well, folks. Since my last post I've racked up quite a few training miles on both my own bike and on the tandem. Since March I've logged 445 miles. It's supposed to rain today, but I'm aiming for another 22 miles before it does!

I'm leaner, more muscular, and VERY TIRED!

My asthma has been a negative factor, but I've managed to push through. Butt? Not too bad. Wrists? I've been doing some strengthening exercises that have helped tremendously. I also wear a brace just below my elbow on my right arm that seems to hold off the tendonitis.

The big up-in-the-air factor right now is the tandem. Ken and I were seriously considering taking it for the whole ride, but I don't think we are going to. First of all, it's got some serious gearing issues. It will shift just fine in the garage, but on the road it chokes up and won't go to the smallest sprocket. Not fun when we're cranking uphill or into the wind! It's also older and therefore a bit on the heavy side. Last of all, it really doesn't fit me - I have a long torso and even with the seat pushed back as far as it will go, I am still 3" closer to the handlebars (which are too low) than on my bike - so I get fairly uncomfortable after 20 miles or so. That's not a great feature when you have 50+ miles to ride!

As it stands right now we're considering riding our own bikes on Days 1 and 2 and maybe using the tandem on Day 3. I think that's the day I'll need the most help!

Once again I am rather discouraged by the fact that I am doing all this training and hard work, yet I KNOW from past experience the Trek will be very hard for me. Yet I see folks who are overweight and/or who don't train, who will sail through it. Not fair!

Oh well, I'm training probably as hard as I safely can. Whatever will be will be. I WILL give it my all!!

The fundraising is coming along in a painfully slow fashion. Again, even with all my clever pleas and internet connections and snail mail letters and personal begging and raffles etc., getting the money is like pulling teeth. Other folks seem to get their funds with no trouble at all.

Uh-oh. I'm whining and envious. Sorry!

(A quiet moment please while Sherry looks around for her thankful, positive spirit...)

OK.

-I know that the money will trickle in in time.

-I know that I will be as ready as it is humanly possible for me to be.

-I know that I am in MUCH better physical condition than I was even a month ago.

-I know that being a part of the Loan Rangers team ROCKS!

-I know that the ALA is a very worthy cause.

-I know that God will provide opportunities for me to lean on Him.

-I know that He will open doors for Ken and I to share His love.

Alrighty, folks. Enough of these words. It's time for me to pull on the shorts and gloves and helmet and RIDE!

And if you are inclined to help out...you can donate to the American Lung association of Maine by clicking the links on my sidebar.

I and my asthmatic lungs thank you!

I'm Seeing Improvement!

2009-05-01T04:24:00.000-07:00

After that last post, I found myself brought to a crawl by the virus for a few days. So I only got in 35+ miles that week. Fortunately, my vitamin/herb regimen worked beautifully and I was back to normal after 4 days!

This past week, I got in over 70 miles. It's been bizarre. I rode Thursday of last week and my asthma was so awful I had to take an unusual rest break. I'm not going to say whether or not that was me you saw pacing around and eating a fudgesicle ...

The next day I rode with Earlybird. Earlybird is in stellar physical condition; she's a long distance runner. She's also a fast cyclist. We rode 10-12 miles and I had a tough time keeping up with her on the first half of the ride. The whole outing felt like a sprint to me!

Sunday I took a walk outside and then biked 20+ with Ken on the tandem. I felt pretty good and worked hard. We had a lovely time.

On Monday I rested, then rode 25+ miles on Tuesday in muggy 85ºF temps with loads of sunshine. It was tough ride for me - I'm not a lover of heat!

That's OK, because on Wednesday I rode 22+ in the morning and...

It. Was. FREEZING.

I was so stinkin' cold! There was an icy headwind coming from the northwest. It gave me the equivalent of a nasty ice cream brain freeze for the last 45 minutes of my ride. Ugh!

However, all this riding in different conditions is paying off. Yesterday I rode with Earlybird again. Same route. I rode it 5 minutes quicker AND I could chat with Earlybird - even on the hills - AND I didn't feel tired at the end. Woot!

My asthma has been a real factor this spring, more so than I've ever noticed before. Fortunately, I am seeing my doctor next week so we can come up for a plan to keep me, you know, BREATHING!

Breathing IS what this is all about - being fit and being able to breathe. This ride I'm training for is to raise money for the American Lung Association of Maine. You can make your tax free donation to either my account or Ken's by clicking the links in my sidebar.

My lungs and I thank you!

Goal for this upcoming week? 100 miles.

Go, Groovy!

2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back

2009-04-20T05:21:00.000-07:00

My riding has been progressing well. I got in 52-55 miles in the past 7 days. My lofty goal for this week is 70 miles.

HOWEVER! I had a sore throat all day yesterday and today it is evident that I have a cold. Grrrrr! I am absolutely DETERMINED to not let this stop me. I am taking elderberry syrup, vitamin C, and zinc gluconate. If I feel too lousy to ride, I will walk/run and still lift weights. So THERE.

We also have 2 days of rain forcasted for the week. Normally, I'd ride anyway. But it's a little too chilly for wet rides yet - so I'll fire up the treadmill and Audio Adrenaline and keep the ole heart and legs pumping.

Here is some great news in the Groovy report: I was pretty much guaranteed to have a visit from "Aunt Flo" during the Trek. The Auntie and I don't get along well at all. She always slows me down and makes me feel horrid for 2-3 days and a bit weak for another day or so. I guess you could call her one of those toxic relatives! The proximity of her visit with the ride really had me bummed.

Happily, the Lord intervened and gave me "hug from Heaven"; He used the prednisone I was taking during the evil-allergic-reaction-from-Hell to alter my schedule. Now Aunt Flo will be visiting a week BEFORE the Trek. That makes this Trekker VERY HAPPY!

Something that would make me even happier would be if everyone who peruses this blog would click one of those donation links for Ken or I on my sidebar and contribute to our Trek accounts for the ALA. All the money goes to the American Lung Association to help folks stop smoking, improve indoor and outdoor air quality in Maine, and help prevent and treat lung diseases of every stripe.

Giving to a cause like that will make YOU hapy inside too, so GO FOR IT!!!

Thanks!

Groovy is on the Move...

2009-04-10T12:11:00.000-07:00

Spring has sprung. My bike has been tuned and inspected. And the training has begun in earnest.

Actually, I was in a really good rhythm of aerobics and weight lifting until the end of January. Then I was sidelined by a painful hip. I got that resolved over several weeks of treatment and started building my endurance and strength again. Then I got gastroenteritis and was knocked out of the loop for another week. I slipped in a couple of rides and some weight lifting and...

POW!!!!

I got totally slammed by a severe, whole body allergic reaction to a local public pool. I suffered through that for a few days, then was put on prednisone - which my body did NOT enjoy at ALL.

Roadblocks...stopping me in my tracks.

But that was then. This is now.

-*-The hip? Pain free!

-*-Digestive system? Doing fantastic.

-*-Allergy reaction? All cleared up.

-*-Prednisone? Threw out the bottle 2 days ago.

-*-Weather? Pretty darned close to perfect.

Groovy is BACK!!!!!!!

Now my focus is to train as hard and as consistantly as I can without injuring myself. This week I'll get in at least 30 miles. Next week I'm shooting for 50 miles. And every week after that the goal is 80-100 miles.

On top of "plain ole" riding, I'll be doing 2 days of fartleks to build up my endurance and recovery ability, walking/running 2-3 miles per day and lifting weights.

Ah, I hope I remember to use my inhalor fist. It's a bad asthma year!

Wanna encourage me? Wanna help me (and zillions of others) overcome asthma? Then please support the American Lung Association of Maine. You can do that by pledging my husband or me for our ride on this 3 day Trek. Just click one of those donation links in my sidebar.

Thanks!

Oh Spring, Sweet Spring; Where Art Thou?

2009-03-06T03:56:00.001-08:00

There ya go. Spring in Maine. Whee-Haw.

It makes training a bit difficult!

So do injuries.

I've had chronic hip problems and ankle pain that are making it very difficult to train the way I need to. Instead of intense intervals, I'm having to take leisurely strolls on the treadmill.

Not good.

I'm seeing my chiropractor and doing the best I can to get strong, but this stupid ole body of mine is making it tough.

On the plus side I HAVE seen a few bikers outside riding last month when the temps rose into the low 40's...

And So It Begins. AGAIN!

2009-01-30T03:49:00.000-08:00

It is nearly the end of January and FINALLY Ken and I have decided for certain sure that YES, we are going to raise money and ride in the Trek again this year - God willing, of course. We signed up yesterday for both the Trek Across Maine itself and for our beloved bank team, The Loan Rangers.

Why was it so difficult to make the decision? Because I had so much trouble making the ride last year. Ken spent much of those first two days worrying about me and circling back to check on me. And frankly, once I was done riding for the day, I had no reserves left to "enjoy" the rest of the day. In other words, the whole event was torture for me and a drag for him.

So why in the world, if it was so horrible, are we even contemplating riding 180 miles in 3 days again? Because, by golly, I want to climb that mountain! I want to say "I did it!" I don't want to quit when I know, with some changes, I CAN do this.

We've had many discussions about what I can do differently. I trained hard last year. I rode over 600 miles in preparation. I rode 3 and 4 hour trips, sometimes several times a week. I did oodles of 20 mile trips. But it wasn't enough. I barely had the stamina to finish the first 2 days, let alone the energy to recover afterward. So, after much research, here's the new training plan:

1. Lose weight. Last year I bought a lighter bike and that DID make a difference. I know there are some folks who can ride while carrying extra pounds on their body or in their gear, but I, apparently, am not one of them. I have already lost 8 pounds and I'm aiming to lose 10 more before the end of March.

2. Lift weights. Aerobic activity is not enough for me. I've begun lifting lighter weights (10-20 pounds) at high reps and will progress to heavier weights and fewer reps over the next couple of months. I'm building my whole body, but will especially concentrate on squats and lunges.

3. Aerobics 4-6 days a week, NOT counting my bike time. My husband runs 4-6 days each week. He continued to do that even when we riding to train. His endurance levels are stellar! I am going to follow suit, although I don't "run" per se. I walk, sprint, and, one day a week I'm going to dance and run stairs just for a change of pace.

4. Fartleks. My chiropractor, who was a competitive long-distance athlete in days gone by, thinks my problem is not so much a lack of endurance as a lack of recovery. He suggested I incorperate fartleks into my walking/running and into my riding. I snickered and giggled, like the mature person I am, then looked the technique up on the 'net. Consider it incorperated!

5. Riding with added weight on training rides. I'll stuff those panniers with a few unnecessary items to build myself up on my solo rides. However, I'll toss out all but the essentials when I'm on group rides so they don't all leave me behind!

So there you go. I'm working now toward the goal. Barring an injury, I AM going to complete the Trek this year and I AM going to have fun doing it.

Check back here periodically for updates on my training progress and any odd or groovy developments in our fundraising. And while we're speaking of fundraising, remember in the midst of all this sweat and athletisism that I have asthma. So...take a few moments and donate some $ to the American Lung Association. Because, folks, that's what this is really all about. Click either my link or Ken's link in the sidebar and you can donate with your credit card.

Thanks! Seeing your donations will help keep me working through those bad breathing days!

Day, The Fourth (Groovy Finally Has Some Fun!)

2008-06-24T04:45:00.000-07:00

This last day started as the one before with the truck backing up to the building at 5 am.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep

Was this going to be another day of agonized riding over hill and dale?

NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I got back on my bike, they'd be carting me off in the SAG before I made 10 miles. I had ridden 120 miles and that was enough for me. This last day I was going to volunteer. I was still tired, but I felt light hearted as I donned my day-glo yellowy green shirt and some soft, comfortable capris. What a relief to have the pressure off!

Ken and I packed up and had breakfast. Then I saw him off. He had left his sneakers at home, so he had to drive the van back to the house and then ride out from there. The team captain had recorded everyone's arrival times the day before and thereby had calculated what time everyone should leave on this third morning to ensure that everyone got to our meeting place a mile from the finish line near the same time. It was a nice plan, but most of the Rangers just took off when they were ready anyway.

My fellow volunteers and I loaded everyone's gear in the truck and helped pump up tires etc. Once all our cyclists were gone, the volunteers were going to eat and then drive as quickly as possible to the aforementioned meeting place to set up our Loan Rangers tent. I had already eaten, but being a fan of hobbits, I managed a little more. :-D

It was raining when we came out to get in the car and truck. Ick. A coldish rain. Even ickier. Miserable to ride in. At least there was no wind!

Then the "race" to Brunswick began. Of course breakfast had been rather leisurely and now we were following a well loaded U-Haul truck on winding, hilly roads. We also made a couple of potty stops. (One of our "volunteers" was a 7 year-old and the rest of us were sucking coffee like bunch of dry sponges. More, give more! Nuff said!) Then we got the bright idea that the bikers would be cold and might want some nice hot coffee. This entailed a detour to Duncan Donuts for a couple of "Boxes of Joe" and cups and fixin's. So speedy we were not.

We got to the designated corner a little before 10am and 5+ of our gang had already ridden in across the finish line! We sent a newly arrived Ranger on to the finish line to retrieve the others while we waited for everyone else. They were NOT thrilled about riding BACK from the finish line UP a hill, but most of them - good Rangers that they were - complied.

So there we were just waiting around for Rangers when we noticed that the turn for that last mile of the Trek wasn't terribly well marked. Bikers kept missing the turn and then having to turn around.

That's OK...we could take care of this! Within moments there were a couple of us standing out in the rain in our cheerful, VERY visible shirts and kept yelling, "Right turn! Only ONE MORE MILE!! Your ALMOST DONE!!! Whoo-Hoo!!!!!" I had a camera to catch pics of each Ranger as they pulled in and I was cheering and directing riders and was, in general, having a wonderfully fun time.

Then Ken rode up. He was wet and terribly cold. We pumped him full of warm coffee, but he was shivering uncontrollably and his hands were blue. He was hypothermic. So he decided not to wait to ride in with the team. He needed a hot shower and warm dry clothes NOW, not in a couple of hours. Off he went! We'd find each other somewhere, somehow later. Hopefully.

And it WAS a few hours before everyone arrived. Most of the folks stayed and waited, though there were a few other Rangers who were too cold and wretched to stay. We found some blankets and everyone wrapped up and huddled under the team tent while I kept snapping photos and cheering and dancing happily in the rain.

Finally, everyone was in. They gathered all together, waited for a gap in the Trekkers and crossed the road to ride that last mile to the finish together. It was so exciting! Unfortunately, the battery in the camera was dead,so all those great "Here they GO!" photos I thought I took didn't come out.

Once they were gone, we packed up the tent etc. Then we had a dilemma. Last year, the parking/traffic situation at the finish line had been horrid. There were reports that things were better this year (Different location and all), but we were afraid to drive down and find that we couldn't park, so we walked that last mile to the finish.

I did well with the cheering; The walking was a little tough! The ole thighs were a-talkin' to me the whole way. Nonetheless, we got there safely and then did a whole lot more walking to port-o-lets and to the finish line food tent for lunch and later to the road where the shuttles would take us away to our cars or showers or wherever.

I looked all over for Ken. I figured he'd taken a shuttle to the High School for a shower and would then come back for food, but I didn't see him anywhere. So I ate and I wandered, looking some more. My energy was waning and I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed again from the crowds and the music and the noise. I finally decided I'd just head up to the school because that's where all the cars and luggage were.

I looked for him in the school. No Ken. I looked over that-a-way and over this-a-way. No Ken. I asked Mike the Truck Driver. He got this mischeivous twinkle in his eye and told me to check the cab of the truck. I found Ken...He was all spread out fast asleep!

Well, this saga of the 2008 Trek is nearing it's end now. We loaded up all the bikes and luggage on the truck, divvied up into cars and headed back to the bank in Augusta. There we helped unload the truck and peel the Loan Rangers stickers off the side of it.

And, after bidding a fond farewell to all our newfound friends we hopped into Mellowman and EarlyBird's truck for the final leg home.

The girls greeted us enthusiastically and shared cards and a gift with their Daddy for Father's Day.

Was it an easy weekend? Not by a longshot!

Will I try it again? You betcha (God willing)!

I am already lifting heavier weights and doing longer workouts to prepare. So next year be prepared to send in your nickels and dimes to support the ALAME. I'll be riding all three days to help provide cleaner air in Maine and stamp out lung disease!

And I'll be sure to buy some sunglasses before then.

Day, the Third (aka the Second Actual Day of Pain and Agony)

2008-06-23T13:10:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I woke out of a dead sleep at 4:30am. I glanced at my watch, groaned and went back to sleep, hoping I wouldn't oversleep. No need to worry, our team truck backed up to our building at 5am sharp - just under our window.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep

Our team was thoughtful that way!

I got out of bed annd assessed the damage. I was moving slowly, but I was definitely moving and nothing felt broken, strained, or ruined. Yep, it looked like I was good to ride another beautiful 55 miles. I took encouragement in the fact that the day was 10 miles shorter than the first day. Piece of cake, right?

We packed up, loaded up and went to eat our breakfast. It was pretty much the same types of food as the morning before, except they had sausage instead of bacon and the coffee was, well...calling it mediocre would be a compliment. Oh well, you can't expect great coffee in a college cafeteria. We ate, I made several potty trips and we retrieved our bikes. This time it was easier because we were the ones who had put them away.

Ken adjusted my bike seat a little lower in the hopes that it would take some of the pressure off my hands. It did help somewhat, but what I really needed was to have the handlebars raised too - and we'd need a bike tech for that because my nifty new bike is so, you know, fancy and all. No problem though. There were techs at all the rest stops. I could get it adjusted later.

Ken told me to go ahead and take off. He'd goof around a while then pedal like crazy and catch up with me. He vaguely pointed me in the direction of the start line and I rode away. But wait, bikes were turning here and going there. Which way did he say? The college campus is right in town and is situated right on the regular town roads. So in a matter of moments I was confused and lost and overwhelmed.

I might add that confused is NOT a good way to start a very long and arduous day!

I just rolled to a stop and stayed still watching all the other bazillions of bikers as they milled around me. All that metal and the colors and the voices. It was mezmerising. Suddenly Ken wheeled up next to me. "What are you doing still HERE?" he wanted to know. He was already worried about me; It was clear that I wasn't thinking clearly. Nonetheless, he guided me in the right direction and we started the first 24 mile leg of the trip.

I felt mentally numb. My hands/wrists hurt. My butt hurt. My eyes were starting to hurt and I was getting a killer headache. The sun had not bothered my eyes the day before, but this day was different. It was hotter and the sun seemed much more intense. I was cursing my stupidity in not buying new sunglasses and wearing them.

(As an aside: I have glasses. When I got my current pair, I also got a lightweight set of clip-on sunglasses to go with them. They're awesome and I heart them, BUT the clip that holds them on is not strong enough to keep them in place when I am riding downhill or into a headwind. So, I started wearing my old prescription sunglasses for bike riding. They were perfect! Unfortunately, about 2 weeks before the Trek, I lost them. I mean REALLY lost them. I still haven't found them. I tried a few training rides without sunglasses and had no problems. I thought I'd be fine on the Trek without replacing them. However, riding in the sun for 2-3 hours here and there is WAY different than riding 6 plus hours per day facing the sun for 2-3 days in a row!)

Needless to say, this groovy gal was not feeling so terrible groovy. Fortunately, the terrain was not terribly demanding.

By the time I got to the first Rest Stop, Ken was getting REALLY concerned. He wanted to know if I wanted to stop riding. Quit. Give-up. Cave-in. I could take the SAG vehicle to the end and perhaps ride the next day instead. I, however, was determined that I would finish out the day. I would go at my own pace, no matter how slow it might be and I WOULD cross that finish line. There was a line at the tech tent and I didn't want to wait around, so off I went.

It was a miserable day. I walked up every hill beside my bike and spent the rest of the time trying not to cry. There was an 8 mile respite though, where I had to smile. We were riding through our old stomping grounds and there were fields of corn beside the river. The corn was only about 6 inches high and I could occasionally get glimpses of the water beyond.

Let's back-pedal (oooo, did I really say that?) a few years:
Matt was only 9 or 10 years old and his best friend (also Matt) was a year older. Ken and I decided to take the boys on a canoe trip down the Kennebec River. We drove "Nawth" several miles and dropped our canoe in. We had another car parked at the landing in our home town. Estimated float/paddle time? Matt's (this would be the other Matt) father, Louie, a lifetime resident of the area and experienced outdoorsman, figured we'd be on the water for maybe 3 hours.

Heh-heh-heh.

Silly man!

We got "lost" (a better word would be "misdirected") several times around islands in the river. More than once we ended up in the backwater and found our way completely blocked so that we had to turn around and paddle back upstream to get around the island. The boys thought it was great and Ken and I were still having fun, so no big deal. Except that the trip took more like 6 hours and Louie was getting worried. Apparently, TREMENDOUSLY WORRIED. He grabbed his oldest son, Marcelle, and they drove out to the river to try to see if we were dead or something. Of course, to get to the river they had to wade across acres of corn fields. It was August and Louie is short. The corn was over his head! A dedicated father and neighbor, he plunged right through the corn jungle hollering at the top of his lungs, "Ken! Sherry! Ma-att!" (The nice thing about the boys having the same name is that you only had to call one to get the other.)

When he finally got to the water and didn't see us anywhere, he fought his way back out through the corn and rushed home to call the police to report us all as drowned and missing. Imagine our surprise when we drove up to our house and saw 3 patrol cars, lights flashing, in Louie's driveway!

At any rate, seeing those cornfields again and picturing Louie and Marcelle running through them and yelling frantically made me smile. (Sorry...I'm warped!)

Good thing...because that was the only smiling for the day!

The rest of the ride was a jumble of slow uphill walks and slow, painful rides on the rest. At one point a SAG truck lowed down when he saw me walking. Did I need a ride? I put on my best show smile and gave a cheery, No Thanks, I'm fine!" (liar) Off he drove and I had to choke back the tears. Later, a medic who was riding a tandem with his young son passed me. Instead of yelling "On your left!", he asked, "Are you doing OK?" I was pedalling VERY slowly. "I'm tired, but I AM going to make it." At that point I only had about 15 miles to go. He pulled on past me but then rode fairly slowly ahead of me. I think he was keeping tabs on me!

Aragorn encompassed all that I was feeling when he said in The Two Towers, "...I am weary as I seldom been before, weary as no Ranger should be with a clear trail to follow."

All this time and all these miles were also punctuated by repeated visits from my anxious husband. However, by the time I got to this point (where the medic met me), I think I finally convinced him that I was going to finish the route under my own power if I had to crawl to do it. He shot ahead to check in at the finish and then ride another 5 miles uphill to our house to see the girlies and get the car. He said he'd meet me at our dorm room around 3pm.

Well, I finally DID make it to the finish line and you'd better believe I started bawling when I pulled through the rainbow of balloons and skidded to a stop in front of the Colby College bike Nazi. She was kind to me, but rumor has it she was a bit of a control freak with the earlier arrivers. I dropped my bike at the temporary "corral" and stumbled into the pizza tent. Each rider got 2 pieces of hot, fresh pizza and a cold refreshing beverage. I was actually more interested in the ice cream that was being scooped up on the other side of the tent, but there was a long line for that and I definitely wasn't up for standing around in the sun.

My stint without sunglasses had pretty much seared my eyeballs and my eyes were swollen. I had a horrible headache too.

Eat the pizza, drink something, find the team tent. The people there can help me find my room. I want my room. I want a shower. I want a bed. Now. Wait...maybe I should take my bike. I'm not riding tomorrow. I may not ride ever again. Ken will want to take the bike home. I won't need it. I am going to volunteer with the Range Rovers. I'll wear my neon shirt and glow with relief because I WILL NOT be riding.

I found the team tent and I also found, much to my dismay, that my dorm room was ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE HUMUNGOUS CAMPUS. I considered suicide, but that seemed a little drastic so I bucked up and followed some vague directions about the dorm being "over that way, past the library".

And.....I got confused and lost and overwhelmed. Yep. Might as well end up where you started.

Fortunately, some nice couple who were almost as lost as I (they were seeking the pub) had stayed in my dorm the year before and after ~~probably 100 miles~~ 15 minutes of walking, I found my cozy home. The room was much nicer than the previous night's lodging, but the beds weren't as comfy. I got my shower and laid on my bed in a stupor with bags of ice all over my owies until Ken showed up.

The rest of the day is hazy. We drove home to drop off my bike, we came back for supper and got to hear many a humorous tale of past Treks from an old geezer named Charlie and then we went back home where Ken interacted with the girls and I sat in a chair and stared at the wall. Finally, we headed back to the dorm. There were lots of doin's on the campus, but I saw none of them. I went to bed and slept the sleep of the weary.

Tune in for the next installment where Sherry/Groovy actually has fun on the Trek!

Day, the Second (aka The First Day of Actual Pain and Agony)

2008-06-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

Last year, Ken and I ran into some problems with the alarm clock in our room. Not this year; We never set it! There was no need to because bikers were up and skittering down the hall in their stiff weirdish biking shoes by 4:45 am.

Click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click

It sounded like a stampede at a stiletto convention.

See, bike shoes have those little, noisy metal thingies sticking out of them. That's because really ~~crazy, gung-ho~~ brave and up-to-date bikers use those shoes to clip right onto their special pedals. Presumably this increases efficiency in riding because you can pull up on a pedal as well as push down. Ken and I do not wear special shoes...come on now, just knowing we're wearing padded spandex shorts is quite enough weirdness for us!

Ken and I ~~dragged ourselves~~ bounced out of bed and quickly dressed and packed. We hauled our luggage out to the Range Rover, which was parked right in front of the hotel, and tossed it in. Once again, hurrah for the Loan Rangers because everyone else had to haul their luggage onto a shuttle and then haul it up to another lodge before they could load it on a truck! We shuttled to the upper lodge and went in for our free breakfast.

The dining rooms were loud and crowded and immensely colorful with all those crazy bike jerseys. It was serious sensory overload! Consequently, we both withdrew into our own little brainworlds and got our food. Oh praise God for good coffee! Unfortunately, I was only allowing myself 1 cup. The first leg of the ride was 24 miles and I didn't want to be making multiple bladder stops! (Not to mention the fact - which is stupid to say because I AM mentioning it - that I had already downed about 32 ounces of water in an attempt to prehydrate myself for the ride.)

I seem to recall the scrambled eggs being very good. That's quite a feat since I don't like scrambled eggs! There was also bacon and homefries and oatmeal and bagels and muffins and cereal and yogurt and all manner of fresh fruit and juices and milks and, of course, the aforementioned coffee of goodness. As a matter of fact, the whole Trek was a continual feast of wonderful foods. Our friend JB, who has ridden in 18 Treks, has redubbed the event "The Snack Across Maine". :-D

The trick is to eat enough in quality and quantity to meet your body's energy requirements without overloading your digestive system and making yourself ill. I'm proud to say that I did quite well on this front. I did not overeat and I did eat enough. Huzzah!

After the meal, we headed down for a potty break and then to find our bikes. Now THIS was a challenge! While we had been working on registering hundreds of Trekkers, our fellow Ranger, BigGuy was kind enough to deliver our bikes to the storage compound for us. The security dude let us into the building and HOLY MOLY, BATMAN were there alot of bikes in there. HUNDREDS of bikes. HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS of bikes. ALMOST 2,000 BIKES! And we had absolutely no idea where ours were! It kinda looked like this except there was the added challenge of hunting inside through ~~600~~ 6 or 7 rooms in bad lighting.

We had to systematically scan one room at a time, looking and looking and looking and looking. It took us a good 1/2 hour to locate our rides!

Next (after some deep breathing), I took another potty break. Then Ken and I joined up with our teammates and filled our water bottles and filled our tires and tweaked our cycles and paced impatiently. For safety's sake they would only release 50 riders at a time from the starting line. The Rangers queued up behind 100 or so other folks and chafed and laughed nervously and made lame jokes and compared handlebars and...I had to pee again. Oh well, no time to go now. The groups ahead of us were taking off!

Now it was our turn to listen to Ed Miller (Chef Executive High Muckety-Muck of ALAME) give us the safety spiel. The main gist of it was "Be careful! Don't run into another biker!" He also suggested that it would be terribly embarassing to wreck in the midst of a pack of riders in the first few hundred feet. As one who has never before ridden in a crowd, this was my worst fear. Here's a pic of our team all wadded up at the start line:

Thankfully, our team moved out smoothly and started the glide down the mountain. That's right, Down the mountain. For THREE miles! It was a chilly way to start, but we warmed up quickly once we hit the bottom and started pedaling. I wasn't as cold as some of the other folk because I was wearing an extra shirt. As some of you will recall, I am very sensitive to the sun. Last year, after volunteering for this very event for three days, I broke out in a horrible itchy rash. To prevent a repeat performance, Ken took me out this past Spring and we got a sun-repellent shirt from LLBean. It's much cooler than it looks and it (along with oceans of sunscreen) really did help protect me from too much sun. So, even though I looked somewhat geeky, it was worth it.

Before we'd even left the access rode for the resort, we saw medics crowded around a downed rider. Apparently he had been riding too close to his brother. They touched wheels and he flew off and landed on his head. Good thing they require helmets! We saw him at supper later that evening with a big ole cast on his arm (cracked elbow) and some serious "road rash" on his face. He had to do the rest of his riding in a van.

Other than that, the first leg to Rest Stop 1 was uneventful. The riding was fairly easy, mostly downhill or up gentle grades. My hands were already bothering me, but I was doing OK...a little on the slow side maybe, but OK. Well, maybe ALOT on the slow side. The phrase I most often heard (and that punctuated my sleep that night) was, "On your left!" That's what a passing biker is supposed to holler to slower bikers when they pass them. Bikes are much quieter than cars. If riders don't shout out a warning, you won't know they're there and could swerve out in front of them. Since they often passed in groups of 5 or 6 (Though none of them were drafting. Drafting is anathema and I saw absolutely No ONE drafting at any time. Yeah, right...), a mishap could cause several folks to go down. Hence, I heard, "On your Left!" quite often. Quite, QUITE often.

"On your left!" Once in a while someone would break up the monotony by ringing their bell or shouting a cheerful "Good Morning!" but it all meant the same thing: Sherry may be Groovy, but she is also slow!

That's alright, though. I determined that I would not let it bother me. If I was going to finish the course, I would need to do it at my pace. "Slow and steady wins the race" and all that.

Ken rode wth me for a while, then took off ahead. I'd putz along and he'd get worried and circle round to find me again. He probably rode 5 miles for every 4 I rode. What a sweetie!

Other than my hand issues, I did fine through to Rest Stop 2... Oh wait, lemme tell you about the Rest Stops. They were incredible! They set up port-o-lets for the riders (very important!) and a food/beverage tent (even more important) where the Trekkers could refresh themselves. The amount of food and drink was simply astounding. There was water, vitamin water, Gatorade, soda, and bottled teas. There were chips and pretzels and trail mix (my favorite!), scads of fresh fruit and baby carrots, Power Bars, small chocolate bars, cheese/PB crackers and, at the second stop each day, peanut butter sandwiches. There was also a board where each Trekker had to sign in that they had arrived and a table full of essentials like sunscreen, aloe vera, insect repellent, band-aids and antibiotic ointment, eye-glass cleaner, paper towels, Bag Balm ( for sore bums), and huge bottles of every analgesic known to Western Civilization.

I'm telling you, they REALLY take care of the riders!

At any rate, by Rest Stop 2 we had ridden 42 miles. I was tired,but still feeling capable. That's when everyone started talking about The Hill. They were sitting in the shade and dreading The Hill. Or they were gnawing on peanut butter and remembering The Hill from last year. Or they were waiting in the potty line and lamenting that The Hill was coming. To hear them all talk you would have thought it was the hill to end all hills.

It was.

Picture a road running up the side of this mountain and you'll get the picture:

Ok, ok...maybe it wasn't quite THAT bad, but it felt that bad after 45 miles of riding! In reality, the incline ascended over 500 feet in about 1.5 miles of continuous cranking.

It. was. gruesome. At one point I got off and walked my bike for a while. I was walking faster than many folks were riding! I think I even got to say "On your left!" once or twice. Others got off and rested part way up before finishing the climb. And finishing it took forever because every time you thought you were near the top...you weren't. The Hill, she went on and on and on and on and on!

But when it was over - when I finally crested the top - Oh the glory! The downhill run was steep and looooooooooooong and absolutely the funnest ride I've ever had in my life. The ALA had put up signs that said, "Steep grade, use brakes". I said, "I don't think so!!" and just FLEW. Luckily I had been going so slow before the dowhill that there was pretty much no one in front of me. Luckily too, I was able to skillfully maneuver around all the road cracks and potholes and thereby avoiding death and maiming. (This past winter was hard on the ole roads; They're in awful shape!)

After that though, things started getting harder for me. I was sweaty, my legs felt like lead, both my hands and wrists were in pain and my butt hurt. Ken kept checking on me, but I assured him I'd be OK. I'd finish the ride, but at my own pace.

And I did. I was never so happy to see a bunch of cheering hula dancers at the finish than I was that day after 65 miles! They immediately shooed us under a big tent for baked potatoes (surprisingly good). Then we found our dorm rooms. The Range Rovers (our team's support crew) had already deposited our luggage in our room and had put mints on our beds along with some encouraging notes.

I ran for a shower and Ken took a nap, then we traded. My wrists were pretty uncomfortable, so I iced them for quite a while.

Not much left of that day...We went to supper and hung out with JB and his teens and EarlyBird and MellowMan instead of eating with the team. I don't much remember the food, I just remember that we were sitting infront of an air duct and I was freezing! This dining hall's most popular attraction was the ice cream, but I was more interested in some coffee to warm me up. There wasn't any.

Sigh.

Ken thought I was acting a bit dazed and "out of it", so after a short walk around the campus, he took me back to the dorm and this groovy gal went to bed at 7pm. And she didn't move again until 5am the next morning! One thing I can say for the college we stayed at - the dorms are dives, but the beds were VERY comfortable!

And thus ends Day The Second of the Trek.

Tune in next time when you'll hear Sherry say, "Are we there yet?"

PHOTOS!!!!! (and a side story...)

2008-06-19T11:34:00.000-07:00

I went to our Tem's Website and lo and behold there were photos there. I pulled the pertinent ones to post here. You can double click the photos to make them larger if you wish.

First up, our team, The Loan Rangers:

Ya gotta love those day-glo greenish/yellow shirts. You could literally spot a Ranger from 1.7 miles away! Ken is the tall, dark, handsome fellow in the middle of the last row. I am the partial head to his left. Moral of the story? Short people should not stand in the back!

Here's part of the team in front of our extremely groovy "Range Rover" truck (Ken and I are there in our blue Trek volunteer t-shirts):

Here are some pics of Ken on his ride:

This one was on the last day in the bone chilling rain. My skinny knight in green armor was getting hypothermic!

And I am in these two pics. I am the non-photogenic geek with the long-sleeved tan shirt and no sunglasses. Later I shall elaborate on how idiotic the lack of appropriate eyewear proved to be.

***************************************
On our volunteer day, I had several opportunities to run from hither to yon in search of more t-shirts for the riders who were registering. These runs necessitated going through the lobby area of the resort. There was a huge fireplace and a cozy alcove replete with comfy couches and chairs. Lounging on one of those couches was a very, VERY large man with a rather sleepy looking demeanor. He looked somewhat like John Candy with a really bad dye job. (I think his hair was supposed to be red...)

I am sad to say that my first thought was, What's THAT tub-o-lard doing HERE? Then I immediately reprimanded myself. There were, after all, a number of Trekkers who had taken up biking as step toward fitness. Some of them had made tremendous strides in gaining strength and losing weight. And frankly, many of them, though heavier, could ride circles around my groovy self. Shame on me for being so rudely judgmental!

Then he spoke, his lips barely moving though his voice boomed across the room, "So Bob, You ready for some food, or what?"

This Trekker had all she could do to keep from laughing uproariously.

2 hours later, when I was out on a similar shirt run, he was still there on the same couch in the very same position, eyes half-closed. I wonder if he ever did get his dinner?

****************************************
Tomorrow I shall enlighten on the first day of the actual ride. Be prepared for SORE legs and butts!!

Trek, Day the First

2008-06-17T05:10:00.000-07:00

Thursday dawned bright and sunny. Ken and I did our final packing and made our final travel arrangements with our friends MellowMan and Early Bird. They picked us up from GrammaJ's house (she had first shift with the girlies) and we were off to the Kennebec Savings Bank in Augusta.

Once there with our teammates we had a wonderful catered lunch from Panera Bread (Seconds, anyone? How about thirds? Some for the road? Yesssssss! ) and loaded up our bags and bikes. Our team had their own truck and support volunteers, which made our lives so much less complicated. Thanks to them we were able to avoid much of the hassle and confusion of being "just trekkers". Instead, we were the "Loan Rangers" and we were treated like gold. The bank really took good care of us!

We carpooled over and across and up to Bethel, Maine and the famed Sunday River Ski Resort. What a lovely place! We arrived just in time to start our shift as registration volunteers, so we immediately checked in, got our meal tickets and headed to the registration room. Our duties were the same as last year: Hand each Trekker their info packet and the appropriate sized long-sleeved Trekker T-shirt.

It was quiet in the early afternoon, so Ken and I completed our own registrations and then he buzzed out to get our room key, collect our luggage from the truck and put our numbers on our bikes and helmets. He came back laughing. Apparently, the folks who put together the 2,300 packets got a little punchy at some point because I had the right numbers for my bike and my jersey, but I had someone else's number for my helemet. Ooops!

Riders trickled in a few at a time. We had set up one of those fun queue mazes to keep the crowd moving along once the buses (there were TWELVE buses coming!) arrived. However, they really weren't needed for these early arrivers, so we'd let people skip under the ropes from one check-in stattion to the next.

This elderly gentleman and his wife came in. He seemed pretty chipper, but she was shuffling along slowly behind him with a cane. It turns out he was a rider - our oldest Trekker at 90 years-old. He turned in his bike inspection sheet and turned to navigate the maze, wifey struggling along behind. I ran over and told them they were allowed to "cheat" by sneaking under the ropes. He smiled at me and said, "Well that's a good thing. It's no problem for me, but I'm not sure she'd make it all that way!"

(By the way, he was an awesome rider and outpaced MANY of the younger jocks over the course of the weekend!)

For a while I was privileged to work with 2 of the 6 original Trekkers that are still riding the event. Gail and Sue were on their 24th Trek! Gail guessed herself to be the oldest woman riding. I never asked her age, but her husband is in a nursing home, if that's any indication. I asked Gail about her training routine. She said she has a personal trainer at the gym who has taken her on as his "project". He has her lifting weights - heavy weights -on a regular basis. Most years she gets in 1,000 miles on her bike before the Trek, but she was a little disappointed that she only got in 864 this year.

I was stunned. I only got in about 500 miles and I felt like I was eating/sleeping/breathing on my bike all the stinkin' time! It really was a tough training year because the snow lingered for so long. I heard loads of lamentations over the short training season from riders.

No such complaints from my teammate MightyMatt. He actually rode up to Sunday River in the morning before we all volunteered while his wife (also a Trekker) brought his luggage up in the car. And when I say "up to Sunday River", I mean UP to Sunday River (It's a ski mountain, you know what I mean?). Into a strong headwind. We're talking a 2+ hour ride in a car. Yet when we arrived, there he was all smiling and cheerful and fresh looking. What an athlete!

And so the day progressed. Trekkers came, we gave them packets and shirts and goofed around. It was a good time! The buses started arriving around supper time and things got crazy for a while. Fortunately we had more volunteers in place by then, so Ken and I headed off to supper. Because we were volunteering on Thursday, we were blessed with a free hotel room at the resort along with free supper and free breakfast the next morning. You may join me here with a loud "Halleluiah, Praise the Lord!!"

The food was excellent, the service unsurpassed, and the coffee superb. Kudos to Sunday River for making our experience so pleasant.

We returned to find that the T-shirt table was now being "manned" by 3 children who were doing a wonderful job supplying shirts and directing Trekkers. Soon they were replaced by a little 9 year-old dynamo and her brother while Gail "supervised" (aka "dozed in her chair"). The little girl was amazing. She organised all the shirt boxes, then started trotting up to Trekkers who were waiting in line. (Things were a bit back-logged at this point.) In a very business-like manner she would demand to see their packet, note their shirt size, then retrieve their shirts. Her efficiency was admirable and, while she was definitely direct and no nonsense, she was also polite. She worked all the way 'til 9pm and then rode with her family the next day. Her dad and brother rode a tandem bike and pulled her on a tag-along.

Oh, and the brother (who was older)? He played under the table with his balloon while she worked. :-D

Here's a tandem:

And this is a tag along:

Sorry I don't have any "real" photos. I was so stressed about just making it through the ride that I didn't even bother packing my camera. I should be able to ~~steal~~ borrow some actual Trek images later (once they're posted) from our team website.

One fun perk of handling all those Trekker packets was that we learned so much about the riders:

The oldest was 90 years-old.

The youngest was 5 years-old.

At least two riders were in their 80s and there were a few in their 70s and several in their 60s.

Close to 2,300 folks signed up to ride, but only (only?) 1,817 actually started the ride. Excuses for bailing out included "No time to train", "Have company that weekend", "Family or friend died", and "Deceased" (Sheesh, what a slacker!).

There were 600 volunteers signed up and of those 543 actually served.

There were 148 teams signed up and the Loan Rangers was one of the largest (if not THE largest) with 50 members.

Finally, our day of service was over. It was 9:30 but we were both a bit on the tense side, so we decided to go up to the Loan Ranger's suite to visit and unwind. The bank had reserved a lovely suite and filled it with food and drink. There were sweets and crackers and cheese and beer and soda. Folks were scattered all over the room just hanging out and talking and eating and drinking. Ken and I grabbed a snack or two and just headed back to our room to unwind.

The room was large and lovely and comfy and he and I were alseep before 10:30.

And thus ends Day the First!

I Have Alot of Catching Up to Do!!

2008-06-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

Fortunately for me the catching up is in words and not in miles.

I have SO meant to keep this blog up to date with fascinating reports of our fundraising faux pas and our tortuous training rides. Instead, life (and my mom's recovery from surgery) has crept in and robbed me of so much time that I shall now, 1 week before the Trek, have to settle for giving a brief summary.

My apologies to all one or two of you that have actually come here looking for updates; You deserve better than this!

- I have put over 400 miles on my old LLBean Country Roads mountain bike.

- Ken and I tried a few rides on the tandem and decided to ride individually. It's fun to chat while we ride, but the truth is, Ken pushes hard when he rides and he ends up doing the brunt of the work when we ride tandem. We'd get off and he'd be spent and I'd feel great. :-O

It'll be much better/safer/fairer for him if we ride our own bikes.

- I have put about 17 miles on my brand, spankin' new Trek 7.2 FX. It is much lighter and peppier than my 12 year-old beastie and I am THRILLED to own it! I expect to log another 100+ miles on it before the actual Trek Across Maine.

- Ken has raised all his money, but I am still a bit short. This is TOTALLY odd, unfair, and unexpected because I did ALL the fundraising!!!!

- I think my biggest difficulty with going the entire 180 miles will be my hands. I've been having a bad time with them while training. In fact, I'm thinking that all the padding is shot in my gloves and that I may need a new pair before next Friday.

- I am really psyched about sleeping in dorm rooms instead of in a tent!

- I am desperately hoping it won't rain - or if it does, that it will be a warm, gentle rain. I rode in a cold rain yesterday and it took me a looooooong time to get warm again!

- I am scared to death that I'm going to fail, wimp out, not make it. I'm so glad we're riding with so many people because chances are there will always be someone slower than me!

- Having said that, I am already planning how I'll do my fundraising for next year... :-)

- So far the plan is to ride to Sunday River with our team, then home with them from Belfast as well. This will save our family all the time and trouble of carting us hither and yon.

- It's rather odd being on a team where we know so few people. It's even odder for Ken because he knows practically no one. I, on the other hand, have done some team rides and have been to a couple of meetings with the Loan Rangers. Even if I don't know all the names, I will recognize some of the folks and I've chatted to or ridden with a few of them.

- I am so thankful that my period will NOT be visiting me during the Trek. (Nuff said there!)

- I am starting to wonder what life will be like after the Trek...

- Every time I see someone biking I think, "Ooooo, another Trekker!"

- I am surprised at how all consuming the Trek has become for me. It is foremost in my thoughts the majority of the time. I'm thinking bikes, miles, speed (or lack thereof), muscle strength, Power Bars, water, nutrition, asthma, money, witnessing, praying, and "Gotta ride today!"

All. The. Time.

Even in my sleep.

It's bad!

- I think I'm just a wee bit psyched.

- Tomorrow? I gotta ride!!

Victory is MINE!

2008-04-26T04:22:00.000-07:00

I've made 2 rides since the unfortunate bag lady incident.

Ride one was a 13 mile route with several nice hills. And I didn't need to stop even once, not even when I rode up the very challenging hill toward home. OH YES! It's amazing what you can do when you leave all your baggage behind.

Yesterday, Ken and I took the tandem out. Ya know what? Other than some seat adjustment issues, I liked it way better than I had anticipated. It was kinda fun! I'm still not sure I want to ride it in the Trek, but time will tell.

My seat was tipped forward too much and I kept sliding. Consequently, I was leaning HARD on those handle bars and my hands are quite sore today. We adjusted the seat when got back - so we'll try it again sometime in te next week and see how that changes things.

Bag Lady Woes

2008-04-21T03:52:00.000-07:00

Ken and I are now at the sneak-a-ride-in-wherever-you-can stage. This means the bike rack is constantly on the back of the car. We'll drive to the grocery store and Ken will ride home. We'll drive to church and then I'll ride home. It's a good plan most of the time.

So Saturday we had a mega busy schedule. Ken and I led worship at a conference for people in prison ministry, then I had a baby shower to attend. Ken dropped me and my bike and my "stuff" off at the host's home. We partied a bit and, wouldn't ya know it? I won a prize! Oh yes. We played a few shower games and I guessed the mama's current weight and I won a candle. A LARGE candle.

We ate a some cake (a small piece!) and cheese and carrots and watched the mama open her gifts. It was a nice shower, but now it was time to head home because the man and I had a date planned for the evening.

I changed into my bike clothes and stuffed all my frou-frou clothes and shoes and my candle and my pocket book, etc. into my panniers.

What are panniers? They're like nifty little suitcases for your bike. See?

Have panniers, will travel!

I filled my water bottle, stretched a few minutes , and said, "Good-Bye." I had done much better this time - I was well hydrated and well fueled, but, once again, I didn't warm up and man, did I feel the burn on the little hill at the end of their street!

Oh well, I thought, apparently I am one who needs to REALLY warm-up before I ride! I made a mental note of that fact and pushed on.

A mile or so went by and I came to a hill. Not a HILL, mind you...

...just a hill.

I know this was only my fourth ride, but I've already conquered bigger hills than that. I sweat a little and breathe a little harder, but all in all, hills like that are just part and parcel of riding in Maine. So I shifted gears and started pedalling up. And I shifted gears again. and again. And I went slower and slower. I got about 2/3 of the way up. The end was in sight. But my legs felt like lead, I was gasping for breath, and suddenly I just couldn't do it any more. I got off my bike and walked and even the walking was hard - my legs were rubbery and threatening to buckle with every step. It was so humiliating!

What in the world was the matter with me? Was it that 4 bites of cake? Was I really just too old and decrepit? Was it just because it had already been a long day?

Fortunately, by the time I got to the top, I felt recovered enough to get back on and start pumping again. I did fine until I got to the hill up to my road. There are four ways up to my house. A very slow grade that I'd done the past three rides and an up and down mild roller coaster. Those were the two easiet rides, but they were way out of my way. Then there was the steady but doable hill and the killer hill. I was aiming for the former.

It definitely was steady and it definitely was NOT doable. Once again, about 2/3 of the way up I had to get off and walk.

By the time I got home I was pretty demoralized. I knew I'd never be able to ride in Trek and Ken would be disappointed in me and I was a loser and life stank and I was ready to cry and I just wanted to stretch out, soak in a hot tub and then devour my weight in chocolate.

Ken was out washing his folks' car. I told him my tale of woe and inadequacy and he was encouraging and sweet. It's early in the season. You'll do fine after a few more rides. You're going to do a great job! sniff.

I wuv my hubby!

I headed into the garage and proceeded to take the panniers off my bike so I could unload them before I took my sorry self upstairs to pout. And I nearly fell over. Folks, those panniers were HEAVY! After all, I had that monstrous candle and my heavy, chunky sandals and my purse in there. I dragged the bags back up the driveway (another hill, O goody) and wobbled up to Ken.

"I think I know my problem," I said with a sheepish grin. I handed him the bags and his eyes went wide.

"Good grief! These must weigh 15-20 pounds!"

AHA!

I was not pathetically inadequate and unathletic, I was a bag lady in training.

Groovy is on the Road! Finally!!

2008-04-18T04:13:00.000-07:00

OK, so finally this cantankerous Maine weather has sprung into Spring. We've dusted off the bikes and we've begun the training in earnest.

Ken has been riding the tandem with our little girlies. He makes a 4 mile ride with Girly-Girl and then repeats the task with Silly-Head. In between, he lifts weights and runs.

Me? I got my groovy ole butt on my groovy ole LLBean Country Roads mountain bike and started riding. The first trip, I went early in the morning and it was only 33ºF out! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! I only went 5 miles or so and I felt great afterward. Not bad for a first run.

My groovy ole bike:

I tried to also post a photo of my groovy ole butt here, but apparently Blogger found my black wind pants so shocking that it refuses to load the pic. Oh well...

Next trip I did a 13 mile loop. I pooped out half way through and had to take a pacing (gotta keep those muscles warmed-up) Power Bar break. 7-8 minutes of that and I was good to go again for the rest of the trip (all uphill, I might add!). I had virtually no muscle soreness (all those squats are paying off), but Oy Mama, was I saddle sore!

Trip 3 was on a busy road for the first 1/2. I made several mistakes starting out. First of all, I am on a diet that tends to be rather diuretic. I had spent much of the afternoon singing and I was dehydrated. Secondly, I'd also had no mid-afternoon snack. I wasn't hungry, but I was definitely low on fuel. Thirdly, I pulled out without warming-up into an uphill ride. NEVER a good idea!

I did down 1/2 a Power Bar and a couple of swigs of water before I took off, but it wasn't enough. The first half of my ride was miserable!

I had to stop at a friend's house to feed her dogs at about the halfway point. While I was there, I drank 2 glasses of water, 4 ounces of OJ and a spoonful of peanut butter. That made all the difference in the world! Even though I had uphill grades most of the way home, I felt immensely better.

Lesson learned!

Now I'm feeling antsy. It's beautiful out and I feel trapped inside the house. I want to ride. I want to feel that burn in my thighs. I want to hear the wind rush past. I want to race downhill at top speed after a slow, determined climb. But Ken is at work today til late this evening and I have the girlies.

Hmmmm. Maybe my Mom can babysit...

And maybe you can help me stay motivated by clicking the links in my sidebar and donating to my and Ken's fundraising accounts for the American Lung Association. A little bit can go a long way in finding treatments and cures for asthma, COPD, lung cancer, cystic fibrosis and more.

Your money could could also help stop (or slow down) the big tobacco companies from marketing their wares. Did you know that smoking/chewing tobacco is THE NUMBER 1 preventable cause of lung disease?

Your dollars will help fight pollution and help educate children.

Please click out and use your credit card to donate! Ken and I will thank you by riding our little hearts out the whole 180 miles. And who knows, maybe I'll even be able to get through the whole Trek without my asthma inhalor.

Then again, probably not.

It's a Cruel April Fool's Day Joke

2008-04-01T06:24:00.000-07:00

Bike Ride, anyone?

Snow, Snow, Go Away. I Want To Ride My Bike Today!!

2008-02-23T06:56:00.000-08:00

I suddenly realized that if I'm going to be directing folks to read my training blog, then perhaps I should write in it on occasion.

Of course, there's not much to write.

Currently our training regimen consists of running on the treadmill in the dark, depressing basement, lifting weights, and pressing our noses against the window waiting for the snow to melt so we can get on our bikes (or bike, as the case may be) and actually, you know, RIDE OUTSIDE!!

Now, I must confess that I have seen a few hearty souls out riding on the snowy roads, but I think they're totally and absolutely insane:

Those were not actual photos of crazy people riding down our street; I just lifted these from the 'Net, but they do give you an idea of what I see once a week or so. I wonder what road salt does to their chains?!

I am scared to death of road sand/salt (a wipe-out waiting to happen!) and I can't get warm enough to ride unless it's over 50º F (10ºC). It doesn't seem likely to happen this week since we just had a snowstorm and we're expecting another one in a couple of days and the temps have been frigid.

Maybe I'll just go down and ride in circles in the basement!

Soon we'll be outside, though...soon. (I hope)

Lookin' Great for 2008!

2008-02-01T04:01:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we did it again; We signed up as riders in the 2008 Trek Across Maine to raise money for the American Lung Association.

And we've begun to prepare in earnest:

Mr. B gave us an old tandem bike and Ken has been busy, busy, BUSY fixing it up for the Trek. He took it completely apart, soaked the chain and sanded and painted the rest of the bike.

No, you don't understand, I mean he PAINTED. The WHOLE bike. Even the cranks and water bottle holders! There were even some touchy moments when the silver paint wouldn't lay just right and he had to resand and repaint and he fretted and fussed because the crank looked "tacky".

I told him no one would even SEE the crank when we're riding the bike, but that didn't slow him down. I reminded him that mud and dust would quickly obscure all all his painstaking work, but that didn't stop him.

The man is a painting fiend!

We also got a new seat for the back of the tandem. It provides "anatomical relief" for women. Trust me when I assure that that's a GOOD thing!

The truth is, even after all his hard work, I'm not sure I want to ride tandem. I like to SEE when I ride, I like to be IN CONTROL. I like to coast when I'm tired and sight-see and dawdle along. I like to listen to the birdies sing and admire the wildflowers and stop for a snack.

Ken likes to get from point A to point B and check it off.

A couple of friends have suggested that I could just slack off when I'm tired and let him keep pedaling like a maniac, but even if I was inclined to freeload, I won't be able to. Our pedals are connected to the same chain and move at the same cadence. Thankfully for me, Ken is not an overly competitive man and he is kind and compassionate, so he'll back off a little for me. As to my part, I am doing my best to get in prime physical condition so I can keep up with him.

And I'm keeping my regular bike tuned up in case we decide to ride separately. ;-)

The Loan Rangers

2007-07-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

Here's our team photo, compliments of Karston Moran.

Thanks, Karston!

I'm in the third row back, second from the left. Ken is right behind me wearing his cool shades.

Part Two of The Trek

2007-06-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

**************************
The Trek Across Maine
**************************

First of all, I didn't get many pics, but Karston Moran, a professional photographer, did. Feel free to visit her site and browse away.

Unless you have an undying passion for photos of bikers, you might want to skip the "Searchable Gallery of Images" (over 2000 pics!) and just look at the much briefer slide shows of Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3. Mulletman and I can be found on Day 2, photo #31. We're not sitting together and neither of us are looking at the camera; Do you see us? I am the one with all the SILVER hair! (Ptooey on hair dye!)

Mm and I were actually involved in the Trek for four days. We made a two-hour drive to Sunday River Ski Resort on Thursday to help with registering all the other bikers. In exchange we got free lodging and free supper/breakfast at the Resort.

I'm not exactly clear on who paid our way, but I believe it was our team, the Loan Rangers. At any rate, we expected to maybe be a in a rustic dorm or something. You know, bunkbeds and a communal potty down the hallway. Instead we were blessed with an incredibly beautiful, large resort hotel room with a porch! WOW! Thank you Kennebec Savings Bank! We will ride with you FOREVER!!!! Mwa-Mwa-MMMMwwwwwaaaaaaa!

Ahem.

Registration involved long hours (2 pm to 9:30 pm) and truly, lots of fun. I bounced between passing out info packets and passing out t-shirts. Mm was striclty a packet man. He was so amazing to watch!

All the info packets were arranged in a series of 13 large Rubbermaid crates. The packets In the boxes were identified by each trekker's number and went (as they should) from left to right. BUUUUUUUUT, the boxes themselves were arranged from right to left.

Any perfectionists out there getting an ulcer?

The arrangement was quite confusing to D (our fellow worker) and myself, but Mm is dyslexic, so it all made perfect sense to him. The challenge of the day was to see if D or I could locate the packets before Mm did. We rarely succeeded!

Mulletman is most definitely The Grand Master of Trekker Packets.

He was also VERY funny. He joked and sparred and teased and made many tense and confused Trekkers smile or laugh outright. I tell ya, that man is always surprising me!

Naturally, we were quite tired after the long drive and all the excitement of checking in and working for hours and hours. We set the the Resort alarm clock for 6 am and hit the sack.

NOTE: Just because it's a resort and just because the room is absolutely lovely, it does NOT mean that the beds are comfy.

We tossed and turned and dozed and slept fitfully. Then the alarm went off and we both sat up wearily.

It was strangely dark for 6am in Maine. Usually the sky starts to lighten around (I am NOT making this up) 3:30am this time of year. I stumbled over to Mm's watch. It was 1:52 am.

NOTE: Just because it's a resort and just because the clock looks trustworthy, it does NOT mean that it works.

Needless to say, we were pretty bleary-eyed when we finally did get up. But get up we did, and packed up and hiked off to a very yummy breakfast.

Mulletman was a different man this morning. Tired, nervous, and overwhelmed by all the noise in the dining hall. He's a bit on the highstrung/high-maintainance side of of the scale (hence my delighted surprise at his light-heartedness the day before) and now his melancholy self was rearing up.

Sullen, up-tight, tense: Why was he here? He didn't know anyone, I wasn't riding with him, It was cold and foggy out, They wouldn't let us go back for seconds. What did I think of all this? (I was excited!), Why was his wife stealing fruit from the trays on top of the trash can?

Outside he wasn't much better. He's the grim looking fellow in the green jacket below.

They let the Trekkers take off in groups of 50. Once I'd kissed my sober sweetie good-bye and cheered him on his way, my own great race began. While they all tried to ride without crashing into one another, I had to slowly and carefully pick my way past them in the quest to reach my traffic corner before they did.

No matter how early I left or how skillfully I drove, there were always 2 or 3 speedy bikers who got there before me. Fortunately, these were always experienced athletes who knew the route well, so they didn't get lost.

My job was to stand in the sun, shoo them in the right direction, cheer them or perform silly antics until they smiled, and hold my pee. That's right, there were no available bathrooms. This was not good news for a mother of four's 43 year-old bladder, especially when the owner of said bladder drinks lots of coffee to stay alert and lots of water to stay hydrated in the hot sun.

Day 1: I was working from 8:30- 3:00. At one point, my partner gave me a break and I drove to the Trek rest stop. The rest stop was blissfully near, but the line for the Port-o-lets was painfully long!

Day 2: I worked from 6:30 until almost 4 pm. I did manage a real bathroom on the early shift, but later I had to water some bushes.

Day 3: I was alone from 8:30 'til 3:30pm when that last lovely Trekker came through. Early on a fellow volunteer came to sub for me and I drove several blocks to use a Micky-D's restroom. Alas, it was the last day of the Trek and all the volunteers were quite busy at the finish line so that was my only break.

It was only at the very end that I realized there was a lovely, clean, well-stocked port-o-let on the golf course across the street. It was right next to my van, but hidden by a bush!

Despite the lack of facilities, they took good care of us. Someone drove up to check on us and bring cold water or Gatorade every couple of hours. They also brought us wonderful lunches each day.

##################################################

The first actual Trekking night we were supposed to camp at the University of Maine at Farmington. When I drove in around 4:30 I spotted Mulletman right away. He didn't look any happier than he had that morning. He was disoriented by the crowds and Why did you take so long? I don't want to camp here! I just want to go home then we can drive back out in the morning. Whyyyyyyyy did you take so long? I've been so bored and lonely and... You get the picture.

Once I convinced that going home was not an option - It would mean leaving at 4am to get him back to Farmington then get my own butt back to my corner which is actually quite close my house - we decided to get some supper and then decide what to do.

Good move!

Happy Moment #1: We got in line for supper as soon as the door opened, so we didn't have to wait long.

Happy Moment #2: We managed to sit with 2 sets of friends from our church and relaxed and joked with them while stuffing our faces.

Happy Moment #3: Mulletman started to lighten up and enjoy himself; tragedy averted!

Happy Moment #4: We went to the showers while all the other dupes were in a mile long line for supper. We did not have to wait for the showers!

We set our tent up on the soft grass, hiked over to listen to some live music with friends and crashed around 8:30pm. I was SOOOO tired that I think I slept better in that tent than I usually sleep at home!

Of course, we were near the port-o-lets, so our dreams were punctuated with "creeeeeak, SLAM!" But that didn't keep us up!

Day 2 we woke up later than intended because Mm had never used the alarm on his watch before. He set the time right, but forgot to turn the sound on!

I had to wolf breakfast and then beat a cautious, biker-strewn trail to my 6:30am corner. In my haste, I brought Mulletman's helmet with me! Fortunately he was able to borrow one from Auclair's Bike Shop. Hurray for Auclair's!!

Since we live quite close to the second night's finish line, we decided to spend the night at home. Mulletman rode to the finish then rode home to shower and, believe it or not, mow the lawn. Is he The Man, or what?

I joined him at home after my shift. My legs were killing me from all those hours on feet, but our day was far from over. I grabbed a quick shower and we drove back to "C" College where Trekkers were being housed and entertained for the evening. We joined our team for a photo op then followed up our Day 1 performance and headed for supper as soon as the doors opened.

It...........was...........a...........sloooooooooow...........line.

Felt like it took forever to get through and get our food. It was hot too. Seems like "C" could spend a bit more on A/C!
However, the food was good and we met our friends again, so the company was great. We yacked and cut-up and had food fights and teased. It was quite relaxing! Suddenly we realized that the room was filled with hungry Trekkers with glazed eyes who were trying to find places to sit. It was time for us to clear out.

Once again it was evident that we'd made the right choice because NOW the food line went through the kitchen, down the hall, around the corner, out the door, and extended into infinity outside. Later we noted that there were STILL people in line after 7pm! (They were supposed to stop serving dinner at 6pm.)

We wandered around a bit, then settled in the bleachers on the track for speeches and stats etc. They kept the boring stuff to a blissful minimum and made the meeting very enjoyable. Then we hopped in the car and headed home.

The girlies had been out earlier with the folks. Now we were all home and decided to go ahead and celebrate a brief Father's Day together before Father and I collapsed. :-)

The next morning Mm and I bugged out early to bag our free breakfast and coffee before we hit our separate trails.

My station was just 5 miles from the finish, so I tried to be especially enthusiastic and cheerful for our bikers. They were almost DONE! I was trying to save my voice, so I took a whistle and tooted and chirruped and danced and bowed and clapped as they went by.

Finally, Mulletman rode back out to me from the finish and spent the last 45 minutes with. By the time I was done, pretty much all the finish line festivities were over.

I had missed it all...including the FOOD! Aaaaaaack!

Oh well. We dropped off our nametags and my vest and took a roundabout route back home with a stop at Tim Horton's for a chicken salad wrap and a detailed instructional course in all their coffee offerings (That was one THOROUGH manager!).

We were very tempted to go ahead and sign up as riders for next year - we have a friend who's giving us his tandem bike - but we decided to wait until next January to decide because we have aging parents and life keeps presenting us with surprises.

Mm IS planning on a couple of other biking events July. I should be in shape for a couple of shorter rides, but he has his sites set on a "century ride": 100 miles in one day.

Yes, he has already ridden his bike twice since the Trek!

And that was pretty much the whole story...Except for some "other stuff".

Stay Tuned for my next (and last) installment: The Darkside of the Trek (Insert ominous music).

Part One of The Trek

2007-06-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

Please forgive my dearth of photos. I got a few at the start and one at my first corner, then I was either too busy or too tired to take any more!

The Stats

2,200 bikers were registered for the ride.

1,750 bikers actually followed through and rode 180 miles over a hilly and scenic route from Sunday River Ski Resort near Bethel, Maine to Owls Head Lighthouse near Rockland, Maine.

There were 390 volunteers throughout the weekend. We all had terrific green volunteer shirts, but many of us on the route wore costumes to make the Trekkers smile. There were 2 or 3 clowns, a giant duck, and, naturally, a traffic pirate. The pic is shadowy, but it was the best we could do at the time. Later in the very hot, sunny day I lost the belt and green shirt and I donned a tremendously piratical orange safety vest.

The youngest riders were 7 years-old (on tandem bikes with a parent) and the eldest rider was 79. Yes, he rode the whole way and he looked great at the end!

The coolest bike was definitely the 4-seater tandem bike that one family rode the entire distance. They all had matching bike shirts; VERY groovy!

Mulletman and I managed to raise $991. The Trek as a whole raised over 1.1 million dollars to fight the tobacco industry and try to improve air quality in Maine and New England. (I am wheezing as I write this!)

The coolest story was that of a gentleman on our Loan Rangers team. He was obese and in poor health, so he made a tremendous effort and began dieting and exercising. Over the past year he lost over 100 pounds!

Unfortunately, his past caught up with him and in March he had a heart attack.

Then in April he had cancer surgery.

Then in June he rode his bike 180 miles and looked and felt great! See the cheerful Loan Ranger smiling at the camera? That's him!

...Stay Tuned for Part Two!

We're Back!

2007-06-18T07:37:00.000-07:00

We're Back.

We're Alive.

We're REALLY Tired.

Full Report Coming Soon...

Fingers Crossed...

2007-06-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

Thus far it looks like the weather is going to be fabulous for the Trek.

Sunny and ranging from 75ºF to 85ºF.

Oh Yes! This is a happy thing -maybe a HOT thing - but definitely a happy thing!

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Costume-wise I'm thinking pirate. I can DO pirate, ya know what I mean?

Count Down...

2007-06-09T06:30:00.001-07:00

Only 1 week to go.

This is when we start watching the weather and praying, Praying, PRAYING for moderate temps and sunshine - Especially since Ken is going on a long training ride today through the thick and evil black flies and a 70% chance of rain.

It's Almost Time...

2007-06-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

About Sherry: I'm happy to report that after a slow recovery and then a lovely bout with food poisoning, I am now a well woman. I've begun exercising again so that I won't pass out from sheer exhaustion after my first day of yelling, "Left...I said turn LEFT!!!" on the Trek corners.

I'm trying to think of something funky to wear so I can make the bikers smile. Perhaps some sort of fun headgear...

About Ken: Ken's been riding almost every single day that he's off work. Last week he rode to his dentist appointment and then took the long way home for what was, easily a 40 mile circuit.

About Our Fundraising: Happily, Ken and I have both raised more than the requisite $450. His fund currently stands at $451, with another $50 coming this week. My fund is at $520 with another $50 coming.

Many thanks to all of you who have contributed!

Now I'm going to go. I need to start decking out my white hat...

Say What?

2007-06-05T10:20:00.000-07:00

Ken dutifully took his bike, a 20 year-old Giant Rincon mountain bike, into an approved Trek Across Maine bicycle shop for a free inspection. The guy took one look at Ken's very well-maintained vehicle, raised his eyebrows and sneered, "You're going to ride 180 miles on that!!???"

Ken thought of several stunning, smart-aleck replies, but shock at the bike dude's rudeness prevented him from actually verbalizing any of them until he got home.

Ain't that always the way?

Needless to say (though I'm going to say it anyway), we won't be going back to Mattheu's Cycle Shop.

He's ridden this bike in two other lengthy treks with no difficulty at all. It's also carried him securely over the ruts, roots, and rocks of the Maine woods. It's a tough bike, a comfortable bike, a well-loved bike that performs equally well on road or off!

My husband doesn't need no stinkin' $1,000+ fancy-schmancy sissy bike. He's a real man! Arrr-Arrr-AAaaaarrrrrrrrrr!

Route Marshall

2007-05-11T05:08:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official. I am now a "route marshall" for this year's Trek.

Our team, the Loan Rangers, has been very supportive of my change in status. They're still donating to my account and they're letting me keep my cool team jersey.

Ken and I will also have the privilege to be paper-pushing registration volunteers at Sunday River the day before the big event.

Hey, we'll do anything for free food and lodging!

Struggles

2007-05-07T04:39:00.000-07:00

Well, the fundraising is going quite well.

Thank you to all of you who have contributed! Your donations will help in the war against over 20 lung diseases.

Ken is up to $240 and I am at $306 in our electronic ALA accounts. I have several checks sitting here on my desk (total of $92 ) that I'm about to mail in and I have an extra $100 promised to each of us that hasn't actually materialized yet.

I think we're going to make it.

Unfortunately, the "getting better" isn't progressing as well as the fundraising. Ken looked me in the eye yesterday and told me I should bail out and work on the road crew.

He thinks I should ask the doctor (whom I can't get in to see until the 15th!) to assign me some physical therapy. Then once I'm healed, I should start building up slowly and keep working hard over next winter so I can ride next year.

He's right.

Even when I am in "good" shape, I take a loooooong time to build up strength and stamina. One month (assuming my tendon/ankle actually heals in the next week) won't be enough training for me.

I'm bummed, but I'm also glad to still be able to be a part of raising money for the ALA. The experience of helping with the Trek is still worthwhile, even if I can't ride.

A Tough Ride

2007-05-05T04:26:00.000-07:00

No...Not the bike.

This COLD FROM HELL is giving me a rough ride, though! I get winded just walking from room A to room B.

The achilles tendons are healing up nicely. I think the rest and the therapy exercises and L-glutamine are helping. Hopefully, by the time I can breathe again I'll be able to ride.

Actually, it's a blessing that I've had both set-backs simultaneously. The cold has kept me from overdoing it and reinjuring myself. Besides, if they'd hit me on separate occasions I'd be losing a month of training instead of just (hopefully) 2 weeks.

Mulletman has been riding faithfully and lifting weights 4 days a week, no matter what the weather. A couple of days ago he rode on an excessively windy day. There were gusts up to 40 mph!

He said it wasn't too bad going out, but on the return trip the headwinds were almost pushing him to a standstill.

Oh well, resistance builds muscle, right?

A Major Setback

2007-05-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I've got some good news and I've got some bad news.

First, The GOOD News:

1. I rode my bike for a total of 89 miles in April.

2. As of today, I have raised $276 and Ken has raised $295, with promises of more coming in.

Thank you, THANK YOU to all of you who have given in support of the American Lung Association!!! Your money will help to educate people about lung disease, provide research funds, help folks to quit smoking, fight air pollution, and maybe even find a cure for asthma or lung cancer or cystic fibrosis.

You all deserve a standing ovation, but it's hard to type when I'm standing...

3. We got our very groovy Loan Ranger team jerseys!

Now for The BAD News:

On April 25 I made a 15 mile ride and I was feeling great. So when Ken suggested the very next day that we take a 20+ mile ride together I was raring to go.

I tend to be a slow, putsy rider you know "Slow and steady wins the race" and all that. Ken is a "Let's GO!" sort of a rider. I knew that I needed a little bit of motivation to step up my training, so a ride together seemed the perfect solution.

Ken was awesome. He never pushed me. He let me lead and even encouraged me to let him know if I needed to slow down.

Unfortunately, I had a little pride at stake, plus a desire to stretch myself to the limit. So I pushed myself.

We finished the ride in good time and I felt pretty good as I went through all my stretches. In fact, I completely forgot about my gunky, slightly sore throat (I thought it was an asthma/allergy thing) and that nagging little pain in my achilles tendon that I had felt while riding.

About 2 hours after the ride, everything had changed. My throat and chest felt "funny", my calves were in knots and BOTH my achilles tendons were very painful.

Translation? I have a sports injury and a rip-snorter of a chest cold. The combo will probably keep me off my bike for at least another week.

I am quite bummed about this because our time for training is so limited (The Trek is in mid-June!). When I do start riding again, I'll have go back to a tortoise pace and LOTS of extra stretching to prevent reinjury.

Translation? I may not be ready for the Trek in time.

After much inner agony I have decided that I'll do my best to heal up and do my best to prepare. If it's not enough, then I'll work as a Trek volunteer.

What else can I do?

In the meantime I'm sucking down vitamin C, lots of fluids, and L-glutamine for the virus (The theory is that over-training sapped my immune system), AND L-glutamine (Ooo, double duty! It helps maintain muscle mass/strength), glucosamine/chondroitin, calcium, and ibuprofen along with alternating heat/cold, massage, and stretching for legs.

As of this morning my sore throat is gone, so that's one step out of the hole...

Jet Propulsion (Not!)

2007-05-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

Written April 27, 2007

I didn't think I liked brussel sprouts at all. They had a very high "Eeeew" factor in my mind's inner food discussions. But a few months back a friend posted an unusual recipe on her blog for oven-roasting sprouts.

I have oven-roasted other vegetables and LOVED them. The heat carmelizes them and give the veggies a wonderful crisp/chewy texture. Suddenly my scientific interests were awakened. Could the loathsome brussel sprouts be transformed into a healthy and tasty treat?

Last week I went grocery shopping. The list read, "fruit, milk, yogurt, baby carrots, chcocolate". There was no mention of brussel sprouts, not even a thought of brussel sprouts.

But when I checked out, there was a pound of fresh sprouts in my cart. I was surprised to see them, but undaunted. This would be my oportunity to try them again, roasted.

I discussed my plans with my Mom and she said, "NO! DON'T DO IT! They will give you horrible GAS!"

What 43 year-old still listens to her mother?

The sprouts tasted absolutely and shockingly delicious so I ate 3+ servings thereof.

And I rode my bike the next day. For over 20 miles.

Eating brussel sprouts the day before a long bike ride will not result in the hoped for jet propulsion of one's bike. It will, however do a credible job of protecting the rider from dog attacks. The ride was...miserable.

Mom, I'm sorry for not listening. You were right!

Here's the recipe for any other fools out there:

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Roasted Brussel Sprouts (This is the recipe I used. It's spicy, but quite yummy!)
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1 and 1/2 pounds brussel sprouts (I only used 1 pound which may be why they were so spicy.)

3 TBL olive oil

1/2 tsp each of garlic powder, salt, black pepper, and dried sage.

Cut the bottom off each sprout and split them in two.

Toss the cut sprouts with the oil.

Stir all the spices together and then toss the sprouts with the mixture.

Arrange the sprouts in a single layer on a baking pan and bake at 400ºF. for 25 minutes.

Let's Talk MONEY!!!

2007-05-02T15:54:00.000-07:00

ANNOUNCEMENT: WE NEED YOUR MONEY!!!

I need your money. Well, to be more precise, the American Lung Association needs your money.

I have mild asthma, several of my friends/acquaintances have severe asthma, a dear friend died of lung cancer and my aunt-in-law died of emphysema. I have too many friends who are addicted to cigarettes and can't seem to quit, and every day I see and smell the pollution spewed from the giant chimneys of the paper mills.

"Maine, the way life ought to be."

I want to be a part of the solution, so in mid-June Ken and I are going to ride in the Trek Across Maine, a bike-riding fundraiser for Maine's chapter of the American Lung Association. We'll be riding 180 miles over three days time with the hopes of raising $1,000 each to fight lung disease.

If you'd like to help with a tax-deductable contribution toward our goal, we'd be most grateful!

You can contribute at Groovy's Fundraising Page

or Mulletman's Fundraising Page

(Since we're both REQUIRED to raise $450, please contribute to the scanter of the two funds!)

God Bless You all,
Sher/Groovy

A Long-"Winded" Update

2007-05-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

Written April 19, 2007

The latest snowstorm finally petered out yesterday. Ken took a training ride. He came back looking VERY tired and told me he had battled a strong headwind all the way home.

This somewhat weakened my already wimpy resolve to ride in cloudy, windy, 45ºF. weather. But then I sat down and looked at our Trek team's training blog. The team is going to ride 30 miles on Saturday morning.

30 miles? I've only had one ride and it was only 11 miles and it almost killed me. (Not really, but I like to be dramatic and incite LOTS of sympathy!)

I really NEEDED to ride again. So, I donned my bike shorts (and wore wind pants over them!) and helmet. However, I was going to be infinitely smarter than my husband. I was going to ride into the headwind first so I'd have a tailwind when I was tired on the second half of the ride.

It ws a nice try.

I don't know how it happened, but I had a headwind BOTH ways.

Only in Maine…

The First Training Ride

2007-05-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

Written April11, 2007

I made my first training ride today.

Maine has hills. Lots of hills. I forgot about hills. And wind - 45ºF wind - so refreshing.

Is that a boulder?

Good.

Would someone please just drop it on my head?

The Announcement

2007-05-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

I typed this at 6:00 am on April 5, 2007

Big News: Ken (aka Mulletman) and I have decided to sign up for the American Lung Association's Trek Across Maine. Over three days in mid-June we will ride our bikes over 180 miles across Maine to raise money for the ALA.

We've applied to be a part of the team from our bank, the "Lone Rangers". Last year there were 37 Lone Rangers. Sounds more like a PACK of Rangers to me.

Actually, I think it'll be great to be able say "Open Up! Groovyoldlady, Maine Ranger here!" when I get to the port-o-let at the rest stops. Then I can kick in the door and storm the potty!

Speaking of storms, Guess we won't be training today because IT'S SNOWING!

Here's a peek at my back deck this morning:

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Edit
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I recently found out that our team is not the LONE Rangers, it's the LOAN Rangers. Now isn't that a clever team name for a bank? Not as much fun at the port-o-let, but definitely clever.