Trip Mode

In just 16 days I am back in the saddle and off to Seattle. I am really looking forward to leading the trek again across America. To date the riders have raised almost $180,000 for the charity. It looks like it will be a wonderfull ride. I am so excited by the nervous energy the riders all have wondering if they will be able to ride a bike across America. They, like countless before them will have a trip of a lifetime. After my solo crossing last year spending 48 day with a group is going to be a blast. I just have to keep them fed, watered and safe.

Soujourn Bike Tours

I have just returned from Vermont and a meeting with the great folks at Soujourn Bike Tours. I am hoping to join this first class tour company and co lead a few tours this fall or next spring. http://www.gosojourn.com/sojourn_bike_tours.php They are first class opperation and provide wonderful touring vacations for cyclist of all ability. During my tour of their operation, I met friendly and energetic staff. Their bikes and gear all was tuned and in excellent condition. If you would like to go on a week bike trip, eat wounderful food, enjoy fine wine and stay in some of the best inns of America I highly recomend this company. So please give Susan a call and come, along you won't regret it.

It was great to be back in my home state of Vermont and I had a chance to see old friends and make some new ones. Now I am home in NM and boy it is good to be home again. I must say that airline travel is at an all time comfort low. United has shrunk the seat space again and in doing so added more seats per flight. I am not a big person and my legs were jamed into the seat ahead of me during the flight.Oh well!

Training now begins in ernest for me as do preperations for me to be gone for over 2 months. It is nice to be getting into trip mode and I welcome it.

Countdown

Big Ride countdown = 1 months 2 weeks, 5 days, 18 hours, 58 minutes, 44 seconds

48 days
3,300 miles
Seattle to Washington, DC
June 23 - August 9, 2008

This will be my third and not my last crossing of the American continent on a bike. This time time I will be leading 45 other cyclist in their quest to spend 7 weeks on a bike.

There are 260 million people in the United States going about the daily routine of living. In any given year, a few of them will do something extraordinary. Something will move them -- stir their imaginations -- and they will step out of their comfortable routine to make their lives truly memorable.

Some will do that by riding their bicycles across the beautiful expanse of earth we call America. Why they do it is something they can never quite explain to someone who asks, but never need to explain to anyone else who has done it. They come from all walks of life and all ages from 18 to 79 to accept the challenge of riding a bicycle from sea to shining sea.

As you can imagine my life has gotten rather busy. I just returned from the first Ertl amputation Symposium where I had the honor to speak. It was a real pleasure to spend the weekend with Will, Jan, and Chris Ertl, Three of the world leading surgeons. For a layperson to be asked to speak at a medical conference was quite an honor.


My 46th birthday came and went quietly as did the 8th anniversary of my broken leg. Some how it does not seem that long. Yesterday I gave notice to my winter employer and have begun to prepare in earnest for this trek. It was great to take the winter off from cycling and doing my long treks but it is just a wonderful to be back in Trip Mode again. I am back on the bike and will be in condition in no time. I travel to Vermont to meet with a bike touring company next week and will see some friends. then it is home to NM and train, train, train.
I am enjoying my role as tour leader. I sure have tons more experience than when I first led a tour in 2004. I have enough time in the saddle now that I can see the excitement, fear, and doubts the first time riders have. It is much like some of the amputees I coach thru the process. you see they can and will rise above their own expectations. It is a nice feeling to help them attain their goals.