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I've been taking it easy the last few weeks so I don't burn myself out before the ride. The last time I put in some major miles, I went out with my friend Keith again and rode as far north as we could. We got up to the Naval Academy in Great Lakes, about 15 or so miles south of the Wisconsin state border. There was a pretty seedy-looking town there... broken beer bottles all over the sidewalk just outside of the entrance, hole-in-the-wall bars and tattoo parlors. Needless to say, we didn't stay long - we just turned around and headed back :) We decided to swing west on our way back and rode through - you guessed it - the Botanical Gardens for a familiar ride back home. 68 miles.

The next week, I attempted to ride to Wisconsin (I swear I'm still going to do it!) - but got rained on, rather heavily, for a good ten miles. I was soaked and didn't think ahead to bring any of my rain gear with me, so I just hung out at a Starbucks and waited for Lisa to come get me :)

As far as my training is going, it's ok, but not quite where I'd like for it to be this close to the ride. I rode 51 miles last saturday with a friend I met through my chiropracter - he saw my fundraising poster in the office and asked if I wanted to go for a ride... and of course I did. We went up to the Chicago Botanical Gardens, which I've done a few times before, but at least this time I had some company. It was good to go with another vaccine rider because he really kept me on my toes - not too many rest stops :) The coolest part about that ride was that we left from our neighborhood - I didn't put my bike on my car to get it to the start of the "trail".

The day after that, I met up with my friend Lisanne and her daughter Evelyn and did pretty much the same path, only fewer miles - we drove our bikes to the trailhead instead of riding through the city like I did the day before. Total of about 34 miles that day. We even saw a family of deer on the way back! Starting out that day was ... interesting ... We parked in a parking lot I'd never been in before and decided to do some off-roading to find the trail. No such luck. After going through wood chips, dirt, mud, and over a few fallen trees, we finally landed about 15 yards from where we went into the woods. Oops :) We rode down the road a bit and found a real entrance to the trail :)

And of course, I've finally made all my travel reservations. I'm leaving for Montreal on the 4th of September, and flying back to Chicago on the 9th. Hopefully I'll be able to ease my sore rear into the airline seat! I've got my hotel room booked at a hotel near the airport, and I've made reservations for shipping my bike separately to Montreal. Now I just need to make sure I have enough gear! Clothing, tent supplies, a waterproof gearbag - you name it, I need it! :)

I've got a bit to update you on, but I promise I'll do my best to not bore you!

After testing out the road bike on the trainer, I decided to see how well I'd fare on some trails. So I packed up my bike and drove out to my friend (and sponsor!) Lisanne's place to ride with her and her 8 year old daughter. Should be easy, right? Boy was I wrong! Her daughter was quite the biker and put me through my paces! We drove up to where Warren and I and his father stopped for lunch a month or so ago (up in Highland Park, maybe), got on our bikes - destination, Chicago! We didn't quite make it because we both had things to do that night, but it was pretty fun! And a nice 20 miles, too. Lisanne and I have decided to try and ride every Sunday.

I rode to work the following Monday - nothing too terribly exciting there. Again, about 20 miles. I've decided I'm going to buy another bike lock (that'll be three total) so I can ride my road bike to work and get in some extra miles on the way home. It'll be really nice to have my rear-end stay in the same seat I'm going to be riding in September :)

The rest of the week was hectic, so I didn't make it out on either bike :(

Saturday, I hosted a fundraising houseparty which was GREAT! There were 16 people, and they all pitched in $2,505! I'm simply amazed at the generosity of the great group of people that I was honored to have in my home.

Sunday, much to my dismay, I woke up with a horrible headache (too much celebrating!) - but forced myself to drive out to Elgin where Lisanne and I rode another 20 miles, this time on the Illinois Prairie Path. We really need to start a little sooner so we can get in some more miles!

Ok, that part about my ribs hurting? Guess what - I have a broken rib :/

On a more positive note, my real ride website seems to be up, running, and stable... thanks to XO communications, my DSL line is finally working again. If you're rambunctious enough, feel free to even sign my guestbook :)

So about that rib. I was in a whole heap of pain earlier this week, but it seems to be feeling a lot better. I feel comfortable riding my mountain bike on the roads, but my road bike is probably a bit too stiff and bumpy on the roads for my comfort. Fear not, I'm still putting in some fake miles on my stationary trainer - I did 10 today to just see how things went - and everything seemed ok.

So for the time being, I'm just going to ride my mountain bike to work, make a few excursions on the way home, and keep the road bike in the trainer. sigh

Ok, riding to my new job was a bit of an adventure, especially given that my ribs are a little sore from skydiving. But it was mostly good except for the rush-hour traffic in the loop - I think I'm going to avoid riding between busses as much as I can :) About 15.5 miles round trip, but I think I'll do more mileage when A) I have more time, and B) my ribs hurt less :)

And the baggy shorts were great, even though they acted like wind scoops to slow me down a lot!

So my Dad paid me a visit this past friday, and not only did I get him out on a bike, but he also gave me a huge sponsorship! Thanks Dad! I lent him my mountain bike (I think it's more comfortable than my road bike and I also think it takes some time to build up a rear-end tolerance for it) - and we rode to a bike shop for a helmet. I also picked up some baggy bike shorts and a mini-pump for emergency use (hopefully I'll never have to use it!). Our next stop - the Taste of Chicago! We stopped in for a quick bite of lunch and then we headed back home. Round trip, about 20 miles. It was a nice leisurely pace hovering around 10 mph, and we had some good time catching up while riding.

Did I mention I picked up some baggy bike shorts? Now I'm going to be able to ride my bike to work again! I had been hesitant to ride to my new job because it's much more corporate -I'd feel a little embarrassed walking into the office in my spandex. Baggy shorts are definitely the way to go! I also now (thanks to my Mom) have a great gore-tex biking jacket, so I won't even have an excuse if it's raining :) Stay tuned to see how soon I actually ride in! :)

My DSL line is still down, but I think turning 30 (happy birthday to me!) motivated me to get out on my bike a little more. For instance, my mom sent me my birthday present via FedEx, which of course refused to leave the package without my signature. So I took the opportunity to ride my bike to the fedex station... 12 miles round trip. And the folks at FedEx were kind enough to buy me a bottle of water for my return trip :) Ok, so I'm a bit of a revisionist when it comes to history. But they were kind enough to take my dollar to the back of the warehouse and use it to buy me some water :)

Speaking of that particular bike ride.. I really wanted to ride my road bike, but guess what - it had a flat tire. As I had limited daylight, I didn't bother to see if it would hold air; I just hopped on my mountain bike. When I got back, I pumped about 50 psi into the tire and 5 hours later it seems fine. I've heard of slow leaks and bad patches, but this is ridiculous. That tire was fine for at least 35 miles - what happened to all that air?

Training, training, training... last weekend I only managed to get out on my bike once. I was going to go to the bike shop so I could pick up a new shirt. Unfortunately, I got a really bad flat tire. As in - I was riding on my rim flat in under 3 seconds. And I had no tire pump to put air in my tire if I patched it. Fortunately, I was within 50 feet of the bike shop. I had actually hit the curb near the bike shop and I think that's what wounded my tire. Unfortunately, the bike shop was closed. Fortunately, a friend (and potential sponsor - hi Jeff!) lives near the bike shop. Unfortunately, he wasn't home. Fortunately, I was maybe 13-14 blocks from Lisa's place. Unfortunately, she was out shopping. Fortunately, she had her cellphone and was almost finished shopping. Unfortunately, she got stuck in the checkout line. Fortunately, she picked me up after about 20 minutes. :) All tolled, about 10.5 miles.

Fast forward to this weekend. I ride to a DIFFERENT bike shop (thinking that the other one was jinxed) without trouble. I bought a seatpost-mounted rack and a bag to put on it so I don't have to carry all my stuff in my backpack. I rode to Patrick's place, and we went out for another Lake Shore Bike path ride. We got down to the University of Chicago area, and stopped for lunch at a deli on or near the campus. I suppose it was Patrick's turn to get a flat tire, because about 5 minutes after heading back, I hear his tire expel all its air. He apparently ran over a piece of glass that totally shredded his outer tire and innertube. Unfortunately, neither of us had a pump, but with the damage to his tire it wouldn't have mattered anyhow. Fortunately, a taxi drove by immediately after we located the offending piece of glass. Unfortunately, Patrick didn't have any cash. Fortunately, I did :) Also fortunately, the taxi driver didn't mind having Patrick load his bike in the trunk of the taxi. So I basically raced the taxi back to Patrick' place (about 8-10 miles). I almost won, because the traffic on Lake Shore Drive was horrendous! He barely had enough time to get home and change before I rolled up. After that, I had had enough, so I went home. All tolled, about 35 miles. And I've got some really nice sunburn for my effort :)

The new job has a lot of my time and energy sucked away.. :(

As far as training, the last month has been terrible! I had a really bad cold and the weather was horrid, so up until about week ago, I haven't been on my bike all that much. Last week, I did force myself out on my bike. My original intention was to ride maybe 10, possibly 20 miles. After about 8, I felt so good that I decided to call up a friend (who lived pretty close to that 8 mile point). As luck would have it, he was just getting ready to go out on his bike. We met up a few minutes later, rode down the Lake Shore Bike Path to the Museum of Science and Industry (and actually just a bit beyond that). We took a break at a promontory looking out over the lake, shivered a bit (I was cold!), turned around and headed back. All tolled, about 35 miles. Nothing too special about that ride - I'm getting a little bored with the bike path :)

This past weekend, I finally got Lisa, my girlfriend, out on a ride with me! I lent her my mountain bike, bought her a helmet, and we rode down to Bluesfest on Saturday. We took it easy because it was her first time on a bike in years. That was about 13 miles worth of riding. Then the next day, I decided to do all my errands on my bike - I rode to Lisa's apartment to put up shelves, I then rode to one of my clients' office to do some work, and then I sprinted (as best I could wih the stoplights along the route) back home for a total of about 20 miles. I think this is significant, because I rode for at least 2 hours each day, and they were back to back. I'm definitely going to be working more back-to-back days into my schedule as the summer continues, because the vaccine ride has 5 days, back to back, with some fairly hefty mileage.

I just rode 55 miles this past saturday.

This week was particularly fun; I drove to Winnetka with a friend, where we joined up with a group of riders that (I think) refer to themselves as "playa del lago" or something like that - or at least that's the name of the mall where they depart from. It was a nice, rolling ride through the streets of Winnetka, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, and a few other towns that I can't recall.

My friend, Warren, and his dad, Mike, and I finally turned around about 6 miles shy of Gurnee, primarily because Mike had to get back to town. The way back was beautiful - we found a route that went through some lovely neighborhoods - it felt like we were riding through peoples' back yards. About an hour after turning around, Mike turned up the steam to get back as quickly as he could, while Warren and I meandered around a bit more. We wandered through Fort Sheridan, a cool little town that used to be an army base - with all the original buildings still intact! All the officers' quarters had been turned into homes, and we couldn't tell what the barracks had been turned into - but they were huge!

Warren and I took a few rest-stops along the way because we were really getting tired. We finally made it back about 6 hours after we set out, and boy was I sore. I could hardly move the rest of the day and most of Sunday, but I think it was well worth the effort - riding with a group seems to be a great way to keep myself motivated!